Deathwatch Apothecary Gerhardt.

 

The campaign to retake Attica from the Greenskin hordes had been proceeding to plan under the experienced, watchful eye of Lieutenant Albo. Casualties had been light thanks to masterful use of the Deathwatch forces, Brother Gerhardt thought to himself.

He proceeded along the route scouted by Killteam Von Drak, accompanied by Killteam Seras. The Primaris marines moving as one, they covered each others blind spots and checked for Greenskins hiding in the rubble.

A recent report of a platoon of Astra Militarum lost to so called Ork Kommando's had led extra caution to the Astartes patrols.

Even so, Brother Leto of the Novamarines, threw himself forwards as he heard the ping of a Stikkbomb boobytrap being triggered. 

The warrior launched himself on top of the device taking the explosive blast full in the chest and being hurled away in a cloud of dust and rubble.

Gerhardt was with the stricken warrior almost immediately, his practiced eye running over his companion, it was not good.

Leto was missing his left hand, as well as most of the left side of his torso, which was a mangled mess of flesh and armour.

Worse was that he was missing everything from the waist down it seemed.

Sergeant Seras ordered his Killteam to cover the Apothecary and to address the sporadic firing which had started with the sound of the explosion.

Gerhardt knelt about to check the vital signs of Leto when his right hand surged upwards and caught the Apothecary around his own right wrist in the old warriors greeting.

"The others?" Leto asked in a strangled voice.

"Through your sacrifice they are all safe brother" Gerhardt replied, ducking slightly as a bullet ricocheted off his pauldron. Leto seemed to visibly relax at this news, nodding to the Apothecary kneeling above him.

"Your vitals are failing brother, I can administer the Emperor's Absolution before I harvest the progenoid glands" Gerhardt said as he was actively monitoring his Narthecium.

"No" Leto's voice came fiercely, "I'd rather know that you recovered the progenoids before the end".

"A fine choice Brother" personally Gerhardt thought that all Astartes should prefer to see his progenoids recovered and know his genetic legacy was secure for the future.

"I will ensure that these are returned to Honorum personally"

Leto nodded, moments later he was dead. The deep, rending cuts of the Narthecium snuffing out his life faster then it was failing.

Gerhardt had succeeded however. Reverently he secured the seal of the silver flask into which he had placed the two organs in sterile liquid. 

He placed it in the rack of his medical equipment and secured it closed, this was far too precious to risk loosing.

"Apothecary ready, Sergeant Seras" he voxed as the Killteam made ready to move on.

*****

Hello.

In the ongoing saga of painting all the things I have managed to get another Deathwatch model finished off, namely my Apothecary (if the fluff above hadn't given that away!).

He's built as stock as I like the entire kit. I even followed the example of an Apothecary from the codex, which the black armour and red apron.

Not much to report about this one. He uses my now standard Deathwatch colour scheme, supplemented more by reds and whites.

The fallen Astartes at his feet was a bit of a pain, as there is no way for me to swap out his shoulder pad for a true Deathwatch pad, so I painted it silver to match all the other ones.

It also gives a chance to look at this Marines chapter symbol, which appears on his knee rather than his chest or shoulders.

It's basically a red Maltese cross symbol, which shows that Gerhardt is a member of the Hospitaliers Chapter.

One thing I would mention is that even though in the fluff, Leto is terminally injured, I chose not to model or paint up the wounds other than the few little sections present on the model.

I choose not to take that step as it's not something I feel needs to be modelled, we know what injuries can happen during warfare and combat (look up a reference book), that's not part of my hobby.

Nothing to show for Hobby Bingo for this miniature however, I'm saving my last few boxes on this first grid for my Warmachine project, which is another story entirely...

Until next time...

- Lewis