They say a picture is worth 1000 words, that you can tell so much about a subject purely on a visual level. What does this tell us, then, when we look at the army of the Protectorate? Almost every warcaster has either their mouth covered. Almost every solo has their mouth covered. Choir, Zealots, Flameguard, all variants of Exemplar- mouths covered. It’s an epidemic.

The only visible mouths in the Menite arsenal?

Harbinger of Menoth
Feora (both versions)
Daughters of the Flame
Gravus
Vilmon
Idrians
One of Rhoven’s guards
Deliverer unit leader
Sunburst unit leader

So as a general rule the leaders of the Protectorate are concerned with people noticing their bad dental hygiene… but Feora and the Harbinger clearly are in sincere need of some eyebrow tweezers, which must be banned in the Protectorate, hence the covering of their eyes and upper faces. Denied the opportunity to display their beauty through the application of eyeliner and mascara, they’ve opted for lipstick instead, and leave their lower faces uncovered accordingly.

An additional benefit is that they can be heard more clearly – the Harbinger when she declares the word of Menoth, Feora when she barks invectives at her subordinates.

The Idrians are clearly bare-faced by virtue of being savages, only barely grasping the meaning of the True Law and not quite getting the need to shield the lower face of males, in order to hide the spinach in their teeth.

There’s just no excuse for Vilmon and Gravus, clearly their positions as ranking officials in their orders have gone to their heads. At least Vilmon has the good sense to try to shield his face with his arms and sword.

So, being a fan of randomly thematic armies as I am, can an army be built around the bare-lipped Menites? We have two of the more effective solos in the Menite arsenal, so for a lark let’s go with the Harbinger, load her up with a couple of warjacks and toss in the rest.

Harbinger of Menoth
- Castigator
- Devout
High Exemplar Gravus
High Paladin Dartan Vilmon
Visgoth Rhoven
Deliverers (8)
Idrians (10) + UA
Sunburst
Daughters of the Flame
749 pts

Harby’s clearly the main event in this list, with the Devout there to protect her from incoming spells and ranged attacks, and the Castigator to handle the heavy lifting.

The army consists of two sections – those ranging forward, the fire support team.

Gravus will lead those charging forward, thanks to his mobility. He won’t be as effective as he could be, thanks to the shortage of Exemplars to grant him tokens, but he’s still a weapon specialist who ignores shields, which could be darn useful against Lancers and the like.

With him, the Idrians provide close-range fire and the Daughters leap all over the bloody place to poke their pointy blades into any squishy targets that present themselves.

Back at home base, the Harbinger slowly advances with her Devout. Rhoven helps the Deliverers and Sunburst by letting them have autofire on any direct hits – yes, a direct hit with Deliverers is generally unlikely, but you never know your luck, and if Harby can knock a target down…

Roving somewhere between the two, Vilmon and the Castigator. Vilmon’s a quasi-indestructible cruise missile, even moreso with Martyrdom in effect, and the Harbinger’s immense control area means the Castigator can range out to the forward squad if need be, or can hang back to handle incoming infantry with a well-timed combust.

Alternatively, epic Feora could work too.

Feora, Protector of the Flame
- Castigator
- Redeemer
High Exemplar Gravus
High Paladin Dartan Vilmon
Visgoth Rhoven
Deliverers (8)
Idrians (10) + UA
Sunbursts (2)
Daughters of the Flame
748 pts

This list would work much the same, with the exceptions that there’s a second Sunburst and a Redeemer to set even MORE things on fire for Feora’s feat turn, and the Daughters could be in your opponent’s setup zone on the first turn, all immolated and stuff, just daring your opponent to hit them.

Now, I freely admit there’s some issues here – the both lists contain Mk I Sunbursts, which will give many Protectorate players a chill up their spines… both lists are carrying models that are generally seen as overcosted… neither list packs an infantry tarpit, arc node, or even a choir…

… but I play for fun, remember? ;)

To run the first list, I’ll need to assemble the Harbinger, a task that I’ve successfully put off for over 6 months now. That model scares me.

To run the second list, I’ll need to purchase a second Sunburst, a proposition that would have received sincere derision prior to the Mk II field test; now it’s not so bad an idea, even if it’s 6 months early.

Once I’ve completed one of those two challenges, we’ll have to see how the bare-faced Menites perform.