This is Squad Darius, the personal bodyguards of Grand Master Simandus. They are led by Paragon Isidorus, who stands above the skull of the Herald of Khorne that he slew during his eight quests to become a Paladin. These three have solemnly sworn their loyalty to Grand Master Simandus, honorably renouncing their oaths to the Brotherhoods to which they once belonged. Their holy duty is to protect the Grand Master at all costs, to throw themselves into the thick of combat and carve a path with their Nemesis Lightning Claws through lesser foes so that Simandus may focus his righteous hatred upon only the most dangerous of enemies. Whether it be in the hold of a Stormraven or upon the crackling plates of the teleportarium aboard the strike cruiser Indemnity, Squad Darius begins every battle at their Grand Master's side.
I'm very proud with how these guys turned out. A few months back I was reading through some Grey Knights lore and came upon a mention of Grand Master Malquiant. He's a pretty obscure character who I don't think has much of a backstory, but this passage said that his weapons of choice were Lightning Claws. The image of a Grey Knight with sparking blue Lightning Claws was so rad in my mind. The next day I went out and bought a box of Assault Terminators, rummaged through my bits box for my countless Paladin sprues, and put together Squad Darius. The claws give a sense of weight and ferocity that I think is super cool. If I could change one thing about their design, it would be the box that I drew the Lightning Claws from. The Assault Terminator box is pretty dated at this point, and the bulky claws in there have some pretty meh poses. I've since bought a box of Deathwing Terminators, and the claws in there are so much more dynamic. Look at this guy:
There's so much more subtle menace in this pose. He looks battle ready, as if he is standing at his Grand Master's side. I have the bits for the Deathwing Termies, so maybe I'll expand on Squad Darius in the future. Or maybe I'll make a Grand Master with Lightning Claws of my own.
On the tabletop, Squad Darius consistently performs valiantly. The Paladin Squad is one of the best units in the Grey Knights Codex. Their extra wound and extra attack over standard Terminators elevates them just enough to be exponentially more survivable and deadly. They don't die to a lucky autocannon shot, and only one in three regular Smites will kill a Paladin (whereas a Terminator dies to the average Smite damage of 2). Throwing Sanctuary on them gives them a 50/50 shot of surviving any anti-tank shots that come their way. Like anything else in the Codex they still die to massed fire, but that's mostly unavoidable these days. Because Grey Knights can't actually take Lightning Claws, I run Squad Darius as if they were equipped with Nemesis Falchions. With an Ancient nearby and the new Shock Assault rule, Darius makes 18 attacks in the first round of combat. Which is a lot for three dudes! They regularly waste entire squads of Primaris Marines in a single round of combat, and once even deleted an entire 30 man blob of Cultists (I utilized the Honour the Chapter stratagem, which is just so fine with them). Probably their greatest achievement, however, is tearing an unwounded Drukhari Tantalus out of the sky. Truly marvelous to behold.
The sad point, as always with Grey Knights, is when Squad Darius teleports into battle and then fails their 9" charge, even with Simandus yelling in their ears and letting them reroll charges. Then they just spend the next turn getting shot to death. Honestly, they probably spend the next two turns getting shot, because TDA only allows for a 5" movement and my opponents are always super keen on getting as far away as possible from Darius' glowing blue Nemesis Lightning Claws. That fear when they land is palpable. Which is a pretty good feeling in and of itself.
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