Hi everyone! My name’s Simon, and I am one of the contributors and hosts over at D6 Evolution, a Tactics channel for Warhammer 40,000.
James has asked me to talk a little about my Imperial Knight Army, House Brannigan, or as they are also known, The Mortuary Knights.
THE BEGINNING
So, how did the army start? Well, After completing the original army, which was a collection of knights painted in different colours including red, blue, and purple, I wasn’t super happy with the cohesion of the army – it looked like a collection of freeblades rather than a traditional household theme, and it became affectionately known as the Power Rangers!
GO GO POWER RANGERS!
So a new look was in order, a more unified look, so, where do I begin? Luckily, I had been working on my Mechanicum at the time, and I initially took some inspiration from that colour scheme.
Here’s some of my Admech I need to finish…
So work began on repainting the entire army using this new colour scheme so that it would tie into my AdMechs Forge world army.
Work begins…again!
This worked out fine for a while, but then the Harlequins finally got a new codex for 8th edition and I decided to switch over and finish that project, putting the Knights repaint on hold.
After I had finished the Harlequins and had taken them on a couple of tournament outings (I even got a best painted army nomination!) I needed a new project to work on, so I thought I would revisit the Knights again and finish painting them…
…but got bored of brown quite quickly, and desperately needed to work out a new direction to take the army.
One trip to my local Games Workshop later, and I had returned home with the shiny new mausoleum kit for Age of Sigmar, and I was suddenly awash with inspiration!
I had seen people mounting buildings to the top of models for a while, and decided to try a new approach with this third repaint by mounting the mausoleum buildings to the carapaces of my knights!
Work begins… again-again!
But it didn’t look quite right, so I added some ruined ground to build up the area on the carapace.
That’s better!
I knew straight away the direction I was heading now, and thus, the Mortuary Knights were born!
BACKGROUND
Brannigan, The lost Household
During the Great Crusade, a world was discovered of great beauty. Far from the war front, it was seen as a peaceful, non-inhabited world. They named this world Verdantis.
But what should be done with this planet? Was it to act as a new warfront staging area? A home for millions of imperial settlers? Or maybe the Adeptus Mechanicus could turn this verdant world into a new forge world.
It was decided that none of these ideas were fitting, and it was decided that the world was to become a mausoleum world – a place where great heroes of the imperium would be laid to rest.
During this time, the mausoleum world came under attack many times from different enemies; the Aeldari would come to try to reclaim it as a lost Throne World; the Orks were intent on Looting the graves; and even the Necrons, having heard rumours of sleeping warriors, attempted to take the planet. All were pushed back by the Imperial Knights of House Brannigan, who were sworn to keep ward over the planet.
After many centuries, the world would eventually be forgotten. The Heresy of the Warmaster meant that many worlds would be lost to the imperium, and Verdantis was no exception.
In time, Mogar, High King of house Brannigan, would grow arrogant in the apparent peace his planet had been gifted. He ordered that any Warrior lost in battle would be buried with their war machine, confident that they would no longer be required to protect the empty world.
It was when a new Eye of Terror opened that he would be proven wrong. Daemons invaded his home, slaughtering the inhabitants and forcing him back behind the walls of his fortress monastery.
Mogar Fell, as did the remainder of his Household, the few survivors burying him with his Imperial Knight as a last act of irony.
Years later, as the warp rift grew in intensity, a rumble rose from the grounds of Verdantis. It seemed the Emperor had not yet finished with house Brannigan just yet….
Rumours arose of Knights fighting against legions of chaos, their ruined chassis groaning as they slew dozens of warp spawn, carrying on their carapaces the tombs of the emperor’s most gited soldiers, their battle lust felt by anyone with an affinity for the psykana.
Brannigan leads a new war campaign against the forces that dare contest the great Imperium, seeking vengeance and redemption.
Whats next?
With the army as it is now, I’m looking forward to getting some of the forge World Cerastus Knights added to the force, so they are on the painting table ready for their new life in the greater force of the Mortuary Knights.
For now, I’ve finished my favorite model in the force, the Porphyrion, which was a very intimidating build considering it involved putting buildings onto an over £300 model. It took a lot of patience and trial and error to get right! Now I look forward to expanding the force further as more cool models get released!
Thanks for reading everyone! If you want to see more of these models, you can check out the battle reports they have been featured in over at D6 Evolution on YouTube and Facebook.
Thanks to Simon for providing us a little insight into his sweet army! If you like what we do here at Master of Magics, consider becoming a Patreon supporter through the link below, and check back next week for more Warhammer 40k content.
