Platoon Commander: 3Lt Galbrio

Hello everyone, thanks for stopping by again.  As promised on Monday, today I'm going to focus on my platoon commanders and their Honour Guards today.  As well as a bit on the modelling, I'll try and cover the gaming and background as well.

So, who's in the spotlight?  Today it's 2 Platoon's turn, with Lieutenant Galbrio and his command squad.  First, the pictures:

Painting

Lt Galbrio and Cmsr-Lt von Russ (front, L-R), with Honour Guard
led by the Platoon Armsman, Over-Sergeant Hadrius (rear right)

As you can see they are mostly painted up as per my standard scheme, with white caps and webbing.  This represents their status as Honour Guard.  The commissar is painted in the 'classic' colours - this is because all the Commissars in the Palladian Guard are Cadians, so I decided to stick to their fairly vanilla colours.

The models are not converted - they were all out the box jobs.  Four Mordians, the Mordian Lieutenant and one of the standard Commissars.  All my officers are on large bases, to make them stand out a bit as they all have characters and histories.  This does annoy some people from a rules perspective but almost all my games are friendly, non-tournament affairs where my foe doesn't mind.

Gaming

They count as a standard platoon command squad - the officer, four Guardsmen with lasguns and a commissar.  (All that's left is for me to do as a future expansion is convert a platoon standard and bugler, which will count as a vox-caster.)

I tend to keep the command squads cheap as they often end up in the forefront of the fighting, then dying heroically.  If I'm going to win a close combat, it's going to be with the 30 bayonets behind the platoon commander; not his power sword.

I also use some special house rules - basically, the Platoon Armsman (equivalent of a UK Company Sergeant Major or a US First Sergeant) gives the command squad the Stubborn special rule, and for those of you who follow my Officer House Rules, Lt Galbrio has The Old Man trait.

Background

Lt Galbrio's service record

Galbrio is an aspirant officer - meaning he's not part of a military family and so can't inherit a commission.  He's had to start off from scratch, and having completed the Military Officers' Academy has to serve a 2-year probationary period as a prospective officer, before he gets a proper commission - hence the unwieldy 'Third Lieutenant without Commission' rank title.  He's got a lot to prove - the Palladians are very snobbish about this sort of thing and don't like commoners as officers.

He had the opportunity to prove himself in the Battle of Taros Centre (see Battle Report), where he charged a tower full of scout snipers and cut his way through with a chainsword - getting a Mention in Dispatches for his efforts.  Although he's still a bit of an outsider to the other officers and not allowed in the mess, this means he devotes himself entirely to his men (hence The Old Man trait) and in return they respect him.

And there we have it!  I'm hoping to do a few more of these profiles over the coming weeks, as they show how with a bit of planning you can link all the aspects of the hobby together.  What you build/paint has an effect on your army on the gaming table, which in turn affects the background and experience your army accrues.  If you have any comments or suggestions pop them in the comments section, it'd be great to hear how others have approached this.

That's all for today folks, thanks again for reading!  My next post (on Friday) should have a decidedly madcap, steam-powered theme to it ...