The closer Emperor’s Children get to their models and rules release the more I feel compelled to tweak some of my existing minis and future proof where possible. Obviously it’s all done in the dark at this stage as we have no idea what we’re going to get. Some things feel more likely to remain a valid choice than others. It seems unlikely there won’t be some Chaos Lord or equivalent choice but would the Emperor’s Children get a Master of Executions? Maybe, hard to say?

Jius Sirovocos is one of my favourite kitbashes for my Emperor’s Children so far and to future proof him a tad (hopefully), I’ve switched his loadout to that of a Chaos Lord.

The main body of the mini is the Chaos Space Marine Master of Executions. The head has been swapped in from the Horus Heresy Eidolon mini and the hammer, left shoulder and plasma pistol arm are all taken from the Chaos Lord mini that was previously Obsidius Mallex in Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress. The apothecary backpack and gear is taken from the Primaris Apothecary kit.

Between the flesh-coat and the Apothecary tools in a chirurgeon style he feels every bit the former protégé of Fabius Bile which was the look I wanted. But a former protégé who has demonstrated the level of ambition to seize control of a warband of his own. Jius is a devotee of Slaanesh, addicted to the infliction of agonies on his enemies – whether by his own hand or through the warriors of his warband.

Finally, a little fluff snippet to go with Jius:

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Jius Sirovocos’ face held all the stern hard edges and lofty disdain so common to those last scions of the Great Houses of Europa. So many of them had been offered up as tithe to the Emperor’s Legions and a great many found themselves amongst the brotherhood of the Emperor’s Children. Eyes like blue shards dissected and disassembled everything with a clinical coldness and that detached focus was on the brawl that had broken out amongst some of his battle brothers.

It was always the way when warbands were brought together, the boasting quickly turned to violence. Where once duels might have been fought to first blood for the right to lead the vanguard on an assault, now rival Champions sought only to gratify their barbaric urges to deliver pain or death and to prove their superiority.

They hadn’t even outlined the plan of assault yet. Whilst Jius Sirovocos lamented the loss of his brothers’ dedication to the pursuit of perfection in all things, he knew that they were both less than and more than what they once were since being welcomed into the embrace of The Youngest God.

He saw his former master, Fabius Bile, stood on the fringes of this assembly of his brothers. Disdain writ large across his features.

“The Spider has always looked down on the rest of us,” drawled Azyvius through his thick tongue, seemingly following Jius’ thoughts.

“Fabius hates us because we remind him how far he has fallen,” Jius responded, his tone distracted. “He made us. He made me. But he is uncomfortable with the reflection he sees in the mirror that we hold up to him.”

“I would wipe that self-important sneer from his face.”

“Whatever the Clonelord is, he is still our Lieutenant-Commander,” Jius clipped.

“He holds no rank if he’s dead,” Azyvius said with a wet chuckle.

Jius was shrewd in how he played the game. There were some amongst this gathering he perhaps had need to be concerned by and then there were others, like Azyvius, whose job was to fight and die for their betters. If that death needed to be a demonstration to others of the limits of his patience, then Jius felt that a fair trade.

“You’d be surprised just how much the trans-human physiology can survive, Azyvius,” he warned, with a voice like daggers of ice. “Don’t tempt me into demonstrating the breadth of pain that you could suffer through.”

Azyvius to his credit fell silent, there were many who would have compounded their mistakes and ended up on the slab subjected to Jius’ careful ministrations.

The brawl had ended with death, inevitably. Jius could see there were two fallen marines and that Nicepherous Grycas, the self proclaimed Blade-Prince, was gloating over a victory.

Fabius stirred himself then, setting attendants to gather up the choicest organs and samples from the corpses of the slain.

“Always such a greedy one, master.” Jius called to Fabius as he rose from his seat and stepped into the now empty ring that had formed to allow the combatants to settle whatever petty differences had sparked their violence. “My brothers and I are worthy of nothing but your disdain in life and yet in our deaths, you show such tender care…”

“Jius,” Fabius said. No matter how many corpses his former master had inhabited, that voice never changed. Jius felt the familiar stirring of something close to fear at the core of him at its sound. “If you remember anything that I taught you, then you’ll know that one should never squander the opportunity to harvest fresh materials.”