Space Knights Battle Pack - Crusade Vanguard | OPR Grimdark Future

The Space Knights Battle Pack is a crusade in miniature: a commander to swear the oath, five paladins to break the enemy line, and five scouts to find it first. Three units, eleven physical resin miniatures, supports already removed and surfaces cleaned, ready to assemble and paint.

Supplied unpainted.

The Templar Commander leads from the front with a two handed power sword, a bolt pistol and a reliquary cross rising from his backpack, every plate of his armour carved with crosses and battle honours. The five Templar Paladins behind him are the heavy end of the force, terminator scale knights in slab armour carrying blades, halberds and storm shields, each one a different pose and a different set of relics. The five Templar Scouts complete it, lighter armour and carbines for the models that go forward first and come back with the enemy's position.

All eleven were designed by Atlan Forge, whose Templar range runs to fourteen sets covering heroes, squads, bikes and a dreadnought, so this pack is the front rank of an army that already exists rather than a dead end.

Built for OPR Grimdark Future and Grimdark Future: Firefight. A hero and two five model squads is a legal force you can field the day it arrives, and it drops straight into a larger Knight Brothers list as you expand. It suits any 28mm to 32mm grimdark sci fi ruleset just as happily.

OPR Grimdark Future: approximately 520 points

One way to field the pack as a Knight Brothers force:

• Templar Commander as a Knight Master Brother, 60pts. Quality 3+, Defense 3+, flamer pistol and close combat weapon.
• Templar Paladin Squad as Knight Battle Brothers, 230pts. The unit is exactly five models, which is what this squad is.
• Templar Scouts Squad as a second Knight Battle Brothers unit, 230pts, or as a three strong Knight Purgation Brothers at 145pts if you would rather run them as a small specialist unit.

Points come from the Knight Brothers army list v3.5.3, the Templar detachment of the Battle Brothers. Unit sizes in Grimdark Future are fixed, so treat this as the core of a force rather than a finished roster, and build the real list on Army Forge.

Painting Guide: Crusade Vanguard

The classic crusader scheme is black armour with bone shoulders and gold relics. It looks severe on the table and it is forgiving to paint, because the contrast does the work rather than blending.

1. Prime

• Black spray primer over all eleven models. For a black armoured force this is most of the base coat done in one pass.
• Give the shoulder plates and tabards a light grey zenithal dust from above, so the bone comes up cleanly in the next step.

2. Black Armour

• Leave the primer as the base coat. Edge highlight with Eshin Grey, then a finer second pass of Dawnstone on the sharpest rims only.
• Keep the highlights tight. Two thin lines read as polished black plate, a thick one reads as grey.

3. Bone and Tabards

• Base the shoulder plates, tabards and cloth in Rakarth Flesh, wash with Agrax Earthshade, then layer back through Screaming Skull to Pallid Wych Flesh on the raised folds.
• The chainmail skirts take a Leadbelcher base and a heavy Nuln Oil wash, no highlight needed.

4. Gold and Relics

• Crosses, seals, scroll cases and the commander's reliquary in Retributor Armour, washed with Reikland Fleshshade and re-highlighted with Liberator Gold.
• Parchment in Ushabti Bone with a thin Seraphim Sepia wash pulled toward the edges to suggest age.

5. Red Accents

• One accent colour stops a black and bone force looking flat. Mephiston Red basecoat, Carroburg Crimson wash, Evil Sunz Scarlet highlight on cloaks, cabling and helmet crests.
• Use it sparingly and put it in the same place on every model, so the eleven read as one unit.

6. Bases

• Texture paste over the base, Rhinox Hide, then a heavy Karak Stone drybrush for pale flagstone.
• A little rubble and a few tufts is enough. The armour is already busy, so the bases should stay quiet.

This is an adult hobbyist collectible, not a toy. Not suitable for children under 14 years due to small, detailed parts.

What is included

Every miniature in this pack is also sold on its own. Follow any link to see more photographs of that model.