I've decided to start Kriegposting, which here means posting my Veteran Guard as they are completed and chat a bit about them under the cut. It's tricky to see in this light but I used some gray contrast on the handle of the trench club to differentiate the metal.
The bruiser veteran is only distinct from their extremely disposable colleagues in their willingness to look at an 8-foot tall bug monster with the same disdain you might reserve for an errant roach. Even among the suicidal Death Korps, the Bruiser Veteran's utter disregard for self-preservation is impressive. Their trench club is good enough to mark them out as a "melee" Guardsman - batting a .660 average and stunning their target on a critical hit, their expertise lies in delaying the enemy more than actually killing them.
How does a Krieger see death, anyway? Not in the abstract, like a death cult might see their distant suicide - how does a Korpsman see death as it approaches, at the tip of an Ork choppa or in the teeth of a Tyranid? Do they accept it with the calm grace their everyday posture implies, or at the last moment does the atavistic need to live one more day come screaming to the surface?