About Face!(ings)

A bit of a development on the Praetorian front…Whilst they were originally supposed to be just a loyal 32, that idea was shelved pretty sharpish as I fell head over heels for the models. In a move that most saw coming as I never used the blasted things, my languishing Imperial Knights were sold off, to fund, yes, you got it, more Praetorians. I will never be able to run them as infantry heavy as my Vostroyans, the supply just isn’t there. But what, then, to run them as?

The Vigilus Campaign book, Vigilus Defiant, offered a solution in the form the Emperor’s Blade Assault Company; A hard-hitting, fast moving main line of infantry in transports, either in the classic Chimera…or the less then great looking Taurox, backed up by a separate detachment of tanks, using the same regiment as I use to support my Vostroyans, the Pardus Armoured. My Praetorian infantry, all 44 of them, would be used as Mordians for the purposes of the Regimental Doctrine, as this is both fitting to the models heritage, but also the Praetorian lore of them being stubborn men, fighting in immaculate uniforms, in tightly drilled formations. The stratagems in the detachment also encourage an in your face play-style, radically different then my Vostroyan gun-line; with vehicles being able to overwatch even if they were not the target, and to hit on 4’s instead of 6’s while doing so, which apparently stacks with Mordian vehicles hitting on 5’s in overwatch, leading to my transports hitting on 3’s, better then their normal ballistic skill, in the opponents charge phase. I quickly came to the conclusion(perhaps wrongly, if anyone has any ideas on this, please comment!) that while the Taurox is ugly to say the least, it has dual autocannons and the potential for a heavy stubber, for more firepower then a multilaser and heavy flamers on the Chimera. In total, the list would have 2 Chimeras, 4 Tauroxes, 3 Leman Russ Tank Commanders, and a Baneblade. A solid list, I think.

With my plan made, and the majority of the Praetorians on the way from distant lands, I decided I needed to do one test figure; and I got hung up on the silliest detail…regimental facings. You see, in the 18/19th century, uniforms had two colors, the obvious one on the outside, and one you’d only see when you turned back the cuffs. These “facings” differed wildly depending on the country, with some having entire branches of the military having the same facings, or in the British example, whatever the founding Colonel thought was a color suitable. I imagine that, even in the 41st Millennium, that more formal regiments follow this idea; You see even the disciplined Mordian Iron Guard in differing uniforms, the Vostroyans with different color turn-backs. I imagine that the Praetorians follow this anachronism as well. The original Praetorians, the 24th Regiment, had dark blue facings and trousers, a quite striking combination that has been emulated quite often. Some others have gone for tan uniforms, some for green uniforms. But the facing colors have always been there, and always a different color. Making mine different was important to me, but it seemed all the good colors had been done already.

In the end, I settled on a light grey, more specifically Ash Grey from the Army Painter line of paints. I figured if it really didn’t look good stripping them would be easy as they are metal. So, here is a member of the 90th Praetorian Dragoons, a mechanized regiment.

It was actually quite an easy paint job, a little under an hour. My whole methodology is that basic troopers get very little time, and I figure I can batch paint these guys to this standard in 2-3 hours in groups of 10. Easy to do, if a little flat looking. I can always go back and try highlighting if my hand-tremors will allow me! Any comments on the colors are welcome and appreciated!

But, that is all I have for you lovely people today, so as always, Ave Imperator, and happy war-gaming, wherever in the world you are from!