Landsknecht Pattern Exo-Suit

This is one of my favorite and most useless models I’ve made. It doesn’t count as anything in the game, it’s just one of those ideas I couldn’t get out of my head. A mech suit modelled after the flamboyant garb of a Landsknecht. I wanted to pay tribute to my Swiss and German roots with a sort of robo-mercenary so I took inspiration from the colorful Swiss guard, and the giant swords and broad feathery caps of the Landsknechts.

The main part of this kitbash is obviously the AdMech Kastelan Robot. The rest is really simple. I replaced the head with a torso from a Kharadron Overlords kit. I really liked the padded leather collar which gave it a touch of the old world steampunk feel. The head is from the Empire Greatswords kit. And the sword is from the Greyknights Nemesis model. The head on his back is from the Chaos Lord on Manticore.

As usually happens, while I was working on this guy, I couldn’t help but write lore for him. So I came up with the imperial world of Valais IV. In fact, if you’ve been reading my crusade lore posts, Valais IV is the world where the Calixis Crusade itself was formed. It was mostly destroyed during the opening of the Great Rift, and it’s where my Black Templars have their fortress monastery now.

I wrote it before I knew anything about Imperial Knights but it’s basically that. It’s a feudal society where the general population lives like medieval peasantry, while the nobles walk around in mechanized knight armor. The Landsknecht pattern is smaller than even the Armiger class, and is used for local enforcement more than interplanetary warfare. And of course, “local enforcement” on a feudal world means collecting tithes and making sure the dirty peasants aren’t hunting in the lord’s private forest. This particular dude just got back from hunting a large predator-beast for sport.

At the time I painted this, it was a major step up for me. This was the first time I drew checkers, the first large model I ever painted, and I think even my first time using transfers. Now I look at him and think he needs a completely new coat of paint. I mean, the only way I knew to make oily streaks was to drench it with agrax earthshade. But I still love it. I have another Kasteland Robot body ready to go when I want to try again.