Grizzled Veterans: Part 2 - Please Shoot Me in the Face

The first thing to say about this post is that, of course, it is not an appeal for anyone who reads it to actually shoot me in the face or any part of my anatomy, assuming that anyone actually reads it...It is of course a brief and light-hearted look at the marines from the RT era who for reasons best known to themselves decided to enter the fray on a futuristic battlefield where weapons that could blow you into atoms are wielded by men of questionable sanity and aim without the aid of a helmet.

I should stress that I don't fall into that strange category of forum-users who seem to think that the fact a mini has been sculpted without a helmet means that the actual in-game entity they represent counts as having no protection on his/her/its head as a result. The pose is just intended to convey the energy and heroism of the character, not define his physical parameters on such a mundane level. Even if the mini has no helmet on his person, I think you'd have to be mental to assume otherwise.

Let's start with a both a sergeant and somewhat of a cheat on my part in that I hated the head of this old chap so much that I lopped it off and replaced it with that of a plastic scout. The interesting thing about this marine is the weapon mounted on his right arm in combination with the power fist, which makes me wonder if he was an early, vague idea of what would become Pedro Cantor. There is actually a weapon like this being wielded by one of the marines on the front of the original 40K hardback.

I had to have this mini up near the top of the post as he's possibly the ugliest marine in history, just have a look at the uneven features and the hunched posture that always remind me of the Hunchback of Notre Damme. I assume that his weapon is a power axe, I realise that it looks like a glaive or halberd of some kind, but that was what passed for an axe back then.

Too much wash on the face here makes this guy look as though he's been out in the sun too long. One issue that I find is the fact that people often assume a marine with no helmet has to be a sergeant or other officer, but that way I seem to have too many chiefs and not enough Indians. I like to think that if the squad splits in two, this is the guy who serves as the "other" sergeant...or something like that.

I think this is described as a captain or similar commanding officer in the old catalogues, but he'll probably end up as no more than a sergeant in my chapter, it's just that tough to get to the top! He managed to keep his power sword for the simple reason that it's a pain to attach a new one at that particular angle.

Some marines were originally intended to hang off the side of the old rhino and ride it into battle, but whether they were supposed to be part of the crew or part of the squad inside is something I never figured out. Luckily for me GW put tabs on the bottom of the minis as well intending them to be removed before being mounted on the rhino, so they fit a base quite well. Personally I hate the idea of having marines hanging off the side of a rhino (it just looks like a disaster waiting to happen) and think he makes a fairly good veteran who looks as though he's just jumped back in surprise before reacting to the threat before him.

For me this is one of the best minis from the RT era, simply because of the fact that while it's not OTT the details are well done and the proportions of the body seem to work better than most others from the same time. The flamer pistol is lacking in detail, but I may remove that in the future.

Wonder how he ended up with that augmetic implant in place of his eye? Probably nothing to do with a habit of waving his chain sword in his face. This mini also shows the fact that the sculptors at the time were capable of fine detail when they needed to include it. Just look at the interior of the left shoulder pad that would be out of the way were the arm in almost any other position.

This mini had another awful power sword that just had to go and the addition of the bolt pistol makes this a very simple and understated marine. Perhaps the only really outstanding feature here is the eyebrows, how big and thick do you need to sculpt them? Is that why most marines simply don't have them?

You really should see the greaser quiff that this guy has from the other side, it's quite impressive. As far as I know there's no real reason for him to have a skull on his shoulder, but back in the RT era there was really no reason not to simply add stuff that just looked mean and tough. I think it looks good, for what it's worth.

The thing on this marine's nose looked like a sticking plaster to me, so that's the way I painted it. Perhaps it's one of those little devices that's supposed to keep your nostrils open and stop you snoring in the night? Apart from the odd nasal detail, this is a nice and compact mini who looks as though he could punch well above his height.

Lastly we have one of those marines from the RT era that I just love for the fact that you would never see anything like them again. A head full of implants and bulging augmetic eyes make this guy look like a specialist in whatever he's twiddling with who's not a man to be messed with.

Grizzled Veterans: Part 1 - The Beauty of the Beak

I make no secret of the fact that I love the old school minis that GW produced back in the days before the coming of the GrimDark, when shorties rode their bikes and Jokearo forged their bizarre devices for their bizarre purposes. For all the heroic stature and shiny new sculpts that are the mainstay in the here and now, something still makes these often illogical and sometimes even seemingly deformed marines special. It's almost as though they were the guys who got mangled in the gears of progress and gave up their own vigour and beauty along the way in order for the new generation to stand so tall and proud.

Apart from the inconsistencies and retrospectively baffling choices of war gear, perhaps the most iconic feature of marines from the RT era is the pointed front grille of the helmets that was the norm. Now well and truly ret-conned as a feature of Mark VI, or "Corvus" power armour, back then it was simply the shape that most marine helmets happened to be. No one called it anything like "Corvus" armour though; some oddly chose to term the wearers "Badger Marines", but more common was the name "Beaky" based on the obvious resemblence to an avian's gob parts.

You have to think that there's a real affection for the things as well, even in the rarified confines of the GW headquaters when you consider the fact that along with the studded shoulderpad, it's one of the few features of the original style or marine power armour to survive into the modern era as part of the most basic plasctic kit in the range. So for this first look at the marines that make up the veterans of my chapter, I thought I'd start out with the best of the beakies.

While this is by no means the oldest marine from the RT era, I wanted to start with him because as well as being one of the best sculpts of the time (some might say that there's little competition for that end of the spectrum as opposed to the other) he seems to me to have been based very closely on the marines that graced the cover of the first edition of the 40K rulebook. Take a look at the proportions of the helmet and the eye sockets in particular and see if you agree with me.

It's possible that the same idea was intended for this guy as was the first example; the lines of the helmet seem almost like a first attempt. But this mini suffers from the all too common issues that charaterised the marine range back in the day. Stunted, lacking in detail below the waist and looking as though he's struggling to hold his bolter, this chap must have been though the mill to end up looking like this. He even needed a mound of greenstuff under his left foot to stand properly on the base.

The strange lack of coherance in the range shows up here when we seem to have a marine hefting a heavy bolter as easily as the last one was carrying a standard bolter. Is this marine super strong or is the previous marine some kind of weakling? It amuses me to think that heavy weapons began in the marine range being side slung like this, then changed when the RTB01 plastics were released only to go back again in the modern era. Make your mind up, please.

Compensating for something? Some of the best minis from this period are the ones that bear Terminator Honours on the shoulderpads, a feature which apparently gave the sculptors the motivation to add more detail and quality to the marine overall. Get that stuck in someone and you'll have a hell of a time getting it out again.

Proof positive that before the arrival of Hive Fleet Retcon there was no concept of heresy attached to the use of xenos tech or weaponry. If it worked and it killed the enemy that was all there was to it. Like the rare minis that GW produced of female mercenaries in powered armour at the time (often mistaken for female space marines), this is one of those little quirky artefacts of the past that it's simply fun to own as it sticks two fingers up at the idea of Imperial conformity.

Much as I love the marines from this period, there is one thing that's truly my own personal Kryptonite: the power swords. This was the owner of what was in my opinion the worst of the lot, so in the end the entire arm went, replaced by one from the RTB01. Almost as an afterthought I also got rid of the bolter and have never been anything but happy with the results.

Apart from the god awful power swords (come to think of it, the chain swords were pretty shit as well), the shoulder mounted heavy weapons that came along later were hard for me to love. I warmed to them some and still have a few waiting to be painted, but there's nothing better for my money than the much later heavy bolter. Perhaps the chunkiest and most satisfying of all heavy weapons.

I like the occasional marine that's doing something more diagnostic than screaming, posing with a bolter or screaming whilst posing with a bolter. The idea that someone might pause to use an auspex rather than charge onto a minefield seems logical. But I accept the other side of the argument: a marine paying attention to his gadget on the battlefield might be as foolish as someone in the modern world walking under a bus while reading his texts.

I can never remember if this marine was part of the first blister pack that I ever got my hands on or included in a set of minis intended for the Timescape expansion for Talisman. I always wondered if he was advancing into a very strong wind.

This was without doubt part of the first blister pack I owned and in the case of this one I always thought he looked somewhat sly. Maybe he's just learned something interesting on his little scanning device like all Blood Angels wear women's knickers under their power armour? Again I added a newer bolter because the original was rubbish.

This is another of those old school marines that I was very keen to own, for some reason the idea of two power fists was well good back in my misguided youth. But then you start to think that the guy might have clowned himself if he's more than a few metres from someone with a gun. I suppose he probably has a pistol of somekind as backup, but how would you do anything but crush it trying to fire it with a power fist?

Back in the RT era anything goes was the motto when it came to equipment lists. You'd never see a marine with an autogun these days, mainly because they're crap, but the point still has to be made. In fact, does anyone use an autogun in 40K anymore?

Want to know why I didn't remove this crappy power sword, don't you? Because the devious bugger who sculpted it made sure that it was actually attached to the leg for its entire length. Happy now? Anyway, Brother Pedantious here has something interesting and enlightening to tell you based on his scans of the pile of dead orcs in the corner: he thinks there might be orks involved in this battle.

I may have mentioned earlier that I don't have much love for the RT era shoulder mounted heavy weapons, but then the multi melter is the exception to the rule. I love it for the simple reason that it just looks as though whatever's on the recieving end is going to get seriously f*cked I mean messed up.

Join me next time for the marines from the RT era who were just too tough to wear a helmet in an article that I call: "Please Shoot Me in the Face!"

Space Marine Armour Variants - Part 1: Mark IV

I love the history that has been built up over the years to name and explain the evolution of the power armour of the space marines and some of the best miniature sculpts that GW produced in the nineties were produced to illustrate this. Mark IV or Imperial Maximus Armour is one of the most interesting in my opinion due ti the fact that it was intended to be the culmination of the previous types and consolidate their strengths while also making up for their weaknesses. Stalled in production by the Horus Heresy and then hijacked by the traitor legions that overran Mars, the suit ssems to me to hint at the direction in which the Imperium was headed before it was doomed to superstitious stagnation after the Emperor's internment in the Golden Throne.

Although Forge World have recently started making components for some of the early armour variants, it might actually be cheaper to search out these original miniatures on Ebay and other second hand sources. This is due to the fact that they sell for typically sell for under fiver including P&P and the FW components are in excess of\twenty pounds and still require a tactical marine box set to assemble. In addition, these are discontinued miniatures and as such will only appreciate in value, adding to the value of any collection.

The Mark IV sculpts are fantastic miniatures that are a must for any marine collector and in addition represent an alternative type of power armour similar enough to later types to make the inclusion of even a single model in a unit a point of interst.

PS: You may have noticed that part one of this series focusses on Mark IV armour rather than Mark I. This has nothing to do with anything other than my own shambolic organisational skills. But here's a fun game - try to guess which armour type I'll be looking at next!