Gigas The Samarithan

Pict capture of XIVth Legion Apothecary Gigas "The Samarithan" at some stage during the age of darkness. A native of Barbarus, The Samarithan rose quickly through the ranks of the Death Guard, eventually becoming a Primis Medicae in the Legion prior to it's fall. Here he is armoured in a suit of MKIV plate, complete with fully functioning narthecium. Note the extensive battle damage on the armour of The Samarithan, typical of the legionnaires of the XIVth.

He is armed here with a modified bolt pistol, complete with extended barrel (most likely for increased accuracy, with a high probability of a slight decrease in rate of fire) and some form of chemical augmentation, possibly to increase the lethality of fragmenting bold rounds. He also carries an archaic chainsword, ironically dubbed the Emperors Grace. The Samarithan was a brutal battlefield medic, with one of the highest euthanising rates within his legion. Weather this is due to the inhospitable nature of the war zones that the legion often fought in, or simply the fact that Gigas used it as a motivational tool for his troops is unknown. Gigas was also a vocal proponent for conducting unsanctioned gene-seed research, so it is probable that he overzealously harvested his fallen brothers gene seed for his own gene seed experiments within his legion. Irrespective, a "visit by the Samarithan" became a byword for battlefield euthanasia within some chapters of the XIVth.

The Samarithan also continues to display the prime helix symbol on his tabard and right shoulder pauldron awarded to him prior to the events of Istvaan. The left pauldron has been significantly modified, complete with additional reinforcing and some form of arcane technology, possibly for defensive purposes. 

Also of note is the decapitated head hung from the armour. While displaying trophy kills are a rare but utilised practice amongst some legions, this skull has been positively identified as that of a fellow traitor Death Guard legionnaire, further legitimising the claims that the Samarithan used battlefield euthinasia as a tool for reinforcing the morale of those fighting under his command.

An extremely cool resin MKIV apothecary from Forgeworld, this model was an easy include in my Death Guard army. The MKIV armour looks great, and isn't something that I have often used in my army (mainly sticking to MKII, MKIII and 40k era Death Guard), but I think is well suited as an occasional addition, to reinforce the mismatched feel of legions without regular supplies during and after the Age of Darkness.

I gave the model plenty of battlefield damage using drill bits of various sizes, as well as hacking some parts away with a scalpel to increase the damage. I've just noticed that I forgot to go back and chip and weather the red paint on the chainsword. oops! I'd better get to that!
I also added a couple of pipes to the weapons of the Samarithan. I wanted them to be able to represent more interesting weapons, rather than just a bolt pistol and a chain sword, so converting them a little lets me do this. A poisoned ancient chansword with a cool name could easily be a charnabal sabre, for example.

I gave the model a 40k era resin Death Guard pauldron too. This helps to make him look like a bad guy, what with a rotting head hanging off it and all!

I don't know what's in all of those vials hanging off him, but I made it glowy and blue.
It's a little hard to see in the photos, but I also gave him a blobby, mutated, fleshy foot appendage thing. Perhaps he's been performing gene-seed experiments on himself, perhaps its from a toxic, highly irradiated battlefield he's been fighting on, or perhaps its from a more chaotic source. It probably needs another purple wash to help it stand out. It is a little washed out in the picture, but not as bad in real life.

With a rules change imminent, I thought keeping the armament flexible was a good idea for now. We will see how that pans out in the future, and I might need to change them at a later date.

I decided to keep the medic kit on him, as he can be a medic or primaris medicae in 30k games, and a chaos lord, or even count as Fabius Bile in 40k games.

Unit stat-wise he might look like this for 30k...

...for the next few months anyway! Who knows what a new edition is going to bring!

But job done for now, :)