These Familiars are attuned to the mental signature of the Librarian. They can boost his battlefield awareness by allowing the Librarian to see and hear through them, and he can even launch attacks with them. Space Marine Familiars can take the form of a cherub, psyber-creature, or servo-skull.

For a mere 10 points, Familiars grant a +1 Initiative bonus, can attack in close combat, and serve as another model to soak up damage. That's a good deal. Thus, in the near future, we expect to see most Librarians accompanied by Familiars on the battlefields of the 41st millennium.

The modelling opportunities for Familiars are many. If you don't feel like converting, you have the cherubs and servo-skulls from the Daemonhunter and Witch Hunter ranges (the Witch Hunter servo-skulls are particularly cool). What's more, there are a lot of Warhammer and Warmaster models that will work as Familiars with minimal conversion work (see the Hordes of Chaos Classic Familiars). For those who want to make their Familiars unique to their Space Marine Chapter, this article presents a few ideas to get you started. If you click on the photos on the next two pages, you can see larger versions.

Next: Chapter-themed Familiars