A Legion Rises

The three members of my command retinue are the most extensive kit bashes I built for this small force. Each member of the retinue is based on a body from the Anathanoi/Varangian kit.

As you would expect, the Bodyguard is the tank of the unit, with a shield improving his defensive abilities. He also has the Tenacious rule, which allows his regiment to ignore one failed defence roll each time it is attacked. This Bodyguard uses the arms from a Praetorian and the head of the Legionnaires unit leader. I also used a set of Praetorian shoulder pads with the right pad cut down, to add a little more armour to the model.

Next we have the Duelist, who is probably my favourite member of the retinue. I came very close to building two of these.  With one more attack than the other members of the retinue, plus Flurry and Flawless Strike, I anticipate the Duelist will outperform the others in combat. He also has the Parry ability, giving him a degree of protection against incoming attacks. I had originally planned to use Athanatoi arms on this model (which would’ve been a lot easier!), but I liked the way the Praetorian arms gave a different look to the model, so I opted for a little conversion work. The head is taken from the legion kit and uses the plume from one of the Praetorian helmets.

The final member of the retinue is the Warrior who is the hardest hitting of the trio. Although he won’t be landing as many blows at the Duelist, Cleave 2 ensures that when he hits he will punch through enemy defences. However with no other abilities I suspect the Warrior may prove the least versatile of the retinue options.

This model was built with the arms and axe of a Varangian but like the others has a head taken from the legionaries kit. A single Praetorian shoulder pad adds a little bulk and changes his silhouette from the standard Varangian model.

Unfortunately the Varangian and Legionnaires kits have very different head joins. This meant a bit more effort was required to do what could’ve been a simple head swap!

For anyone attempting this, as the Varangian heads and necks are cast as a single piece, It is necessary to trim the head away with clippers and a blade. I used a needle file to shape the cut edges roughly into a neck stump before gluing to the body. Once the glue has set you can work more easily on the neck to make it compatible with the legionaries socket joint.