Pods to Drop and Lands to Raid (and Speed) Pt. 10

It's been awhile since we got anywhere with this thread huh? With time pressed as it is, although I've been working on this project I wasn't to a point where I felt good about sharing anything. Well here it is the final step on the Land Speeder Typhoon:

Here we are, after what seems like 2 months worth of procrastination -yes, this has been done since January and I'm just today gluing the bloody missiles on!

And presto! -It's finally together!

So after a few minutes holding each rocket pod on, I was finally satisfied that the glue would hold! These are the original metal parts and they're solid and heavy! I was afraid that they would be too heavy and cause the speeder to tilt on the ball joint, but no, this has held together well so far.

Here's some outdoors shots in natural lighting:

I'm very pleased with the red rockets. So much so that I think I will go back to the 1st drop pod (not much progress on the 2nd one since the last time I brought it up BTW) and repaint the rockets red, as they contrast so much better than the white ones do.

 Bird's eye view. I notice in the pic that the passenger side rockets are slightly off a bit... considering that I just used super glue and the likelihood of if separating during transport I figured I would wait until the inevitable separation before worrying about it further.

Turned out well for a model I fished out of the trash about 10 years ago huh?

So, two more of these to go! And for this column (the Pods to Drop & Lands to Raid) I still have:

• Minor touch ups on the Land Raider Crusader
• A 2nd Land Raider Crusader  (Mhahaha!)
• 2 more Land Speeder Typhoons
• and about 3 more Drop Pods.

Not counting any Space Wolf foot troops.

Oh, and with recent developments in my Dark Heresy game, the Dark Eldar have all but been calling out to me for paint and assembly... :)

A review: Red & Black

Red & Black by James Swallow

I have always resisted the idea of 'books on tape/CD/MP3/etc' as I have always preferred my own pace and prefer my own voices in my head (I hear my pals rearing up for comment on that line). Listening to documentaries and interviews is one thing, but I always thought radio dramatizations felt a bit corny, especially the English ones (heard a lot these while growing up there).

 And yet I needed so desperately to quench my thirst for more Eisenhorn stories so I gave in and ordered Thorn and Talon  and while I was at it I figured I would pick up Red and Black as well. I might review Thorn and Talon some other time (it's excellent, what more could I tell you?) but I really wanted to discuss Red and Black as it was surprisingly different from the standard BL war-smut. And not just 'cause it's all about women! -With big guns and flamers!

 OK, it's hard to describe ANY of this story without feeling like I'm opening the Pandora's box of spoilers, so be warned!

While driving through southern Pennsylvania on a business trip, I was thrilled and captivated by this engaging story. It's starts off simple enough, with Adeptus Soritias Celestian Miriya being introduced to a woman who is apparently a clone! Normally such an aberrant would be destroyed apparently, but she is from a world, Holios,  that was previously lost in warpstorm. Now the liaison from Holios, this clone, has been sent to make contact with the Imperium and Miriya has been assigned to 'check it out'.. And it pretty much hits the fan the instant Celestian Miriya leads her Sisters to the world of Holios as Miriya quickly discovers that the clones run the entire world while the pure-humans are more-or-less the labor class. As you can imagine, this doesn't sit well with the Sisters, even more so upon being attacked by supposed insurrectionists.  

It's too easy to spoil this story, so I won't say more about specific plot points, only that I was surprised that despite the 'feel' of this audio-drama, it quickly 'sucked me in' and melded itself to my personal interpretation of the 40k universe. Red and Black, the typical 40k gamer might be under the impression that the title refers to the colors that the Sister of Battle wear, but no, it's a far more clever twist than that!

• Did I like it? I really did. The story had different vibe from the typical Warhammer 40,000 adventure, and felt almost Star Trek-like at times, however, the 'Grim Dark' will not be abated and those Star Trek vibes are put right back in their place by the time this story concludes.
• Was it hard to put down  stop? Pretty much impossible really. I even drove past a rest area because I didn't want to stop! LOL
• Could I care about the characters? Sort of. It's amazing how hearing a voice can sort of color one's impression of a character. Yet I found myself a tad enamored with the main clone woman's sense of wonder and innocence (a problem with audio books: you can't just flip it open to find a name!). Some of the more fanatical Sisters of Battle were a real treat too, they really sounded pissed off and blood-thirsty! My favorite character was probably the Tech Priest, who was just totally cool even though he pulled that 'in the last 2 minutes of the Episode solution' that -surprise- damn near every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation ended with.
• Did the writer truly grasp how the 'world' of the 41st millennium works in the sense that it doesn't betray or retcon previously established (as I know it) lore? Or is this the work of a hack chasing a paycheck vs. establishing his mark on the ever-expanding 40k universe? I think he did. In fact, I'm finally going to read the other two Sisters of Battle novels that he's written. He captured the sense of fear and heretical dread that the Sisters of Battle and to a lesser degree, the Tech Priest had towards advanced bio-technology.
• Was I being talked down too? Tough one... I would say not, but there was a 'haughtiness' about the whole thing that I noticed but was able to deal with. I just assumed it was more with the whole audio drama format than anything, but perhaps this was intentional?
• How predictable is this story? Not very. I smiled when the twist was revealed: "Red and Black. Got it."

OK, so my first venture into world of audio dramas went well, so much so that I'm eager to dive into James Swallow's other Sister's of Battle books. Check this out, it's quite enjoyable. I'm itching to share it with Red Bird, who plays a Sister of Battle in my Dark Heresy campaign, to see what inspiration she can get from this.

A book review: Atlas Infernal

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I've spent the last 2 months working virtually non-stop, with only a brief window in February to do a bit of painting. However I do find time while traveling and before bed to immerse myself into the world of 40K fiction.

This is the 1st book that inspired me to write a review.

I haven't come up with any sort of 'scale' that reviewers and blogs like to use, and I honestly think such things are always a bit misleading, I mean, it's not like people who write Amazon reviews are professional copy editors with stacks of degrees in literature to back up their opinions or anything and I certainly am not either! Rather I will just tell you what I think based upon a few broad guidelines:

• Did I like it?
• Was it hard to put down?
•  Could I care about the characters?
• Did the writer truly grasp how the  'world' of the 41st millennium works in the sense that it doesn't betray or retcon previously established (as I know it) lore? Or is this the work of a hack chasing a paycheck vs. establishing his mark on the ever-expanding 40k universe?
• Was I being talked down too?
• How predictable is this story?

I'm sure I could come up with more, but you get the idea.

My 1st review is on the book I just read over the course the past 17 days and finished on a plane about 2 hours ago. It's called Atlas Infernal by Rob Sanders, published by Black Library,  and it's set in the 41st Millennium of the GW's 40K universe during the time of Abbadon's Black Crusade.

1st off, I need to establish that for the past 2 years all I have been reading in the way of fiction is the Black Library's Inquisition line of 40K books. For the most part, I consider a lot the Space Marine stories to pretty much being 'war-porn' with somewhat simple plots, usually with a twist where the protagonist dies -cause that what makes this stuff "grim-dark"! Oooow! But when I started GMing Dark Heresy for my gaming group, I found that I needed some deeper inspiration. The Eisenhorn, Ravenor, and Cain omnibuses were all great and enjoyable reads and definitely fit the criteria I listed above and the needs for inspiration for Dark Hersey. Upon completing Defender of the Imperium, I began looking for something else...and what do you know, this new book leaped out at me!

This is a story featuring the character of Inquisitor Bronislaw Czevak, a name that's been around for 20 years at least as a quotable expert on either Chaos of Eldar lore being as he is the only known human visitor to the Black Library, usually seen in small quotes found in Warhammer 40,000 rulebooks. But this is his first featured novel. This is a tough novel to really delve into as it's easy to throw out spoilers on a book with this many twists.

It starts off with an aged, I mean venerable, Grand Inquisitor Czevak engaged in a heated debate with other Inquisitors including the Monodominant (basically ultra-fanatical zealot Inquisitors) Inquisitor Malchankov who is immediately established as an adversary that Czevak is going to have to watch his ass for.

"I claim your blood, Czevak. Do you hear? I'm coming for you High Inquisitor..." -Malchankov

And indeed he does, with machinations that essentially push Czevak into the hands of the Eldar when he disrupts Czevak's expedition into a crashed Eldar craffworld that has him abducted by Harlequins and taken away to the Eldar Webway. As the story unfolds many year's later Czevak's assistant, Raimus Klute is now an Inquisitor in his own right, who has devoted his entire career searching for Czevak, So much so that he has turned to some extreme radicalism in this pursuit. He succeeds in finding Czevak who is now rejuvenated and very eccentric, and insanely knowledgeable having been imprisoned for years in the Black Library of Chaos by the Eldar. Now he's on the run, and he has in his possession the Atlas Infernal, a very powerful book that sort of maps the web-way.

 Comparing these two Inquisitors, Czevak and Klute, to the role playing game or the other Inquisitor books, one can not help but take a keen interest in their retinues. We have Torres the Rogue Trader, who probably spends much of her time regretting being involved with these people as her ship gets busted up the further you delve into this book; a renegade tech-marine who has a few awesome scenes, particularly against some Grey Knights and a Khorne Berserker; Epiphani the witch, whose skills are used in lieu of the navigator who has gone mad and spends his days in a gibbet cage; and Father, the servo skull familiar of Epiphani who is in fact actually her father. Strangely enough, he was probably my favorite secondary character just for the weirdness of it all. Joaqhuine the Idolatress, an immortal Living Saint seems to exist in this book as Sander's twisted need to endlessly torture someone to the point that one might think he came up with these ideas while binging on Highlander movies.

I already told you about Malchankov, but he's a lightweight compared to the real villains of this book: Ahriman and his Thousand Sons Space Marines. Seriously, Rob did a great job making me think that Czevak was totally screwed and NOT getting out of this book alive. I was truly fearfully of Ahriman whom I think is more powerful here than his table-top stats would suggest, at least in the current incarnation. The Eldar, or rather the Harlequins that hound Czevak throughout this novel, I thought were handled very well. I'm always fearful that writers will fail to keep them 'alien' enough and force human qualities to them that are familiar as opposed to strange. In this I felt that Sanders did a good job and didn't lower them to our level.

In his efforts to out-smart his many enemies, and to also evade them, Rob Sanders pretty much takes Czevak on a tour of the Eye of Terror, to the strange systems of cold stars (hehe), to worlds abandoned by the Imperium and left to decay, to fantastical spacial environs that boggle the mind, yet still revealing the real struggle of the abandoned or lost occupants of the Eye, living out their days as misguided servants of the Emperor or damned to face the predations of Chaos. If left me wanting to send my Dark Hersey player characters there to chart the varying degrees of madness they could cope with.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read, and it left me with a sense of 'no one is safe-no, really' that Black Library wants their books to have but rarely pulls off without it feeling 'gimicky'.

Did I like it? Yes!

Was it hard to put down? Not always, but when it hits it's strides, which this story does a few times, this books has some serious hooks! There is a chapter where the whole team ends up in what I can best sum up as the 'Inquisition's basement' that was absolutely riveting! I was definitely working on a lean mix the following morning from having a tough time putting this book down with that chapter.

Could I care about the characters? Actually, yes. This book really left me wanting a resolution to a particular prisoner of Ahriman's fate (not going to spoil this at all).

Did the writer truly grasp how the 'world' of the 41st millennium works in the sense that it doesn't betray or ret-con previously established (as I know it) lore? Or is this the work of a hack chasing a paycheck vs. establishing his mark on the ever-expanding 40k universe? Yeah, Sanders did a pretty good job here. I didn't get the feeling like I often do from some of the Space Marine short stories in the various anthologies that he was just reading the product info page off the the Games Workshop website, no, Rob did his homework!

Was I being talked down too? Nope. I had no problem staying engaged.

How predictable is this story? Not very! Most of the Inquisitor novels are very much like this. I really think these are the best of the 40k novels so far, granted I haven't read a lot the Space Marine ones

I think, if sales support it, this could easily spin off into a reoccurring series. There is enough plot threads and a few hooks dangling to easily launch a second book. I know I would buy it!

-Neverness

"So Ronery, and sadry a rone"

It's been awhile since I had anything newly finished to post, but I finally got the Lone Wolf that I started to build back in...well, that last time I had a game with Warfrog actually. So if you recall the New Years Resolution I made to try to get as many of the single minis on my painting table painted this year, you might spot this Space Wolf model standing next to a gunner with a red shoulder pad. That fellow is this Lone Wolf. Here he is below prior to being assembled and just few coats of paint away from being done.

Seguewaying slightly before I talk more about the Lone Wolf, the gunner was originally the gunner to my Leman Russ Exterminator, who found himself unemployed when his vehicle got dropped from the latest Space Wolf Codex. He had been reassigned to my Land Raider Crusader that I've been slowly working on in the 'Pods to Drop Lands to Raid' series.

Here is the gunner again mostly done and with those Old School Decals added. I applied decals to 3 shoulder pads today, one on the gunner obviously, one for the Lone Wolf, and one for a Death Watch Marine that I have yet to show you all. The hatches you see to the right are intended to the Land Raider's multi-melta...

...which in this pic is about 75% done. It is currently about 85% done. I was torn with adding another gunner to it, but in the end I think a Land Raider might look a bit silly with too many marines poking out of the hatches. So the hatches will remain shut and I will have to add handles to this gun.

OK, back to the Lone Wolf...

It wasn't until I was painting it that I realized that the "chain" of the chain sword is exposed on this models, so I went in past it and tried to create a shimmering 'icy' look to it. I let you lot tell me I pulled off the illusion. Also, I decided to make his pack markings 'wolf guard' just in case I wanted to used the model as a Wolf Guard leader for a squad instead of a Lone Wolf, 'cause why not?

Used a simple dry brush technique for the wolf tail. I'm pleased with the plate on the backpack.

I really am pleased with how the bone bits came out on this model. However looking at these pics on the computer at a size vastly larger than the model does help me scrutinize it with a more critical eye. I see that the black line on the knee join, which look passable on the actual model looks crooked as hell on the blown image.

So is Mr. Lone Wolf done? 99% yes. A few more minor touch ups, static grass on the base, and a light blast of sealer and he will be!

I'll be back on the road and once again taking the Portable Neverness kit with me (I flew on my last excursion and couldn't take anything with me) as well as the drop pod and other assorted items to work on. My dear friend Mrs. Bink has started her only Blog  redbirdmuse after much pressure from me to do so. She's been hand crafting her own colorful journals for awhile now and they look very cool. One of her characters in my Dark Heresy campaign is a Sister of Battle and we have been talking about doing a journal for this character in the style that she uses for her journals. I will be taking my sketch pad with me on the road and I hope to come back with some images she can use.  'Til next time,

A heresy most dark...

I've not talked about it much in this blog, although Da Masta Cheef has, I am currently running a Dark Heresy campaign and have been now for about a year. We tend to have quite a bit of explosive fun when we get together, with some of the fun for me being in putting together the mission briefs and game briefs which all heavily rely on GW imagery and content (which is why I haven't published them publicly: they are intended for player used only) however I thought the latest module I ran, although it ended well, wasn't as satisfying as the more loosely based materials I used in past games.

So, while on Scintilla playing through the 1st adventure in Purge the Unclean, I decided to inject an element from one of the more recent source books that Fantasy Flight has published, and see where it would go. I had a player whose character (Artellus) witnessed, and was subsequently blamed for, murders committed by the Spire Stalker. It was a subplot at best, however as the main mission ended we had a player leave, so I sacrificed that character to make her into the literal plot device for their new mission: To recover their comrade's missing head! Here is the Mission Brief I wrote tonight (which they haven't seen yet, but since 4/5s of my players read this blog, they ought to see it here before it ends up in their inbox). I've stripped the imagery out of it for public review.  I would reveal the angles that I'm thinking I will twist this mission with (they never go as straight forward as they're laid out, huh?) but you'll have to wait until we play through this for those thoughts... Meanwhile, enjoy:

+++++++++++++++DATE: ++++++++++++++++REF: ++++++++TRANSMITTED: +++++++++++++++++TO: +++++++++++++++FROM: ++++++++++++SUBJECT: +++++++++++LOCATION: +++++++++++++SECTOR: ++++++AUTHORIZATION: ++++++++++++THOUGHT:

865814.M41 Inq/0456885012/BI Lettuce 561 Squad Gamma, Ordo Calixis Interrogator Errasmus Davis C/O Inq.Svech Mission briefing Segmentum Obscurus Calixis Scintillian Sub, Scintilla LETUS05.61.CLA Warriors of the Emperor seek no other reward but death

Mission Statement: Recover severed head of Throne Agent Sister Isis Mentlegen and uncover the truth of the villain known as ‘the Spire Stalker’, TA Mentlegen’s proven killer, and liquidate her. Full Inquisitorial Authority is granted.

Enemy Forces: The ‘Spire Stalker’ has only been reported alone, however alliances and resources of this villain are unknown at this time. The Spire Stalker appears to use a Combat Suit that utilizes an unknown brand of Xenos Technology, and the weapons of choice have always been a pair of power blades. The Spire Stalker appears to be a human female.

Team Composition: Squad Gamma: Ruby Odessa (Psy), Artellus (Adeptus Munitorium Conscript), Ishta (Liquidations), Sverrus (Legalities & Clearance), Engineering Denizen 2009 (Service & Repair).

Mission: Conduct Investigation in Hive Sibellus on Scinitlla to determine the following:

·         A: The identity (-ies) of the ‘Spire Stalker’.

·         B: The source of suspected Xeno-tech equipment employed by ‘Spire Stalker’.

·         C: The haven or stronghold of ‘Spire Stalker’, if one exists.

·         D: Recover the Head of Throne Agent Sister Isis Mentlegen so that her name can go through the honored descripting process.

Upon successfully tracking down the Spire Stalker, eliminate it. Otherwise end the career of the Spire Stalker which has been on-going for well over one Scintillian month. The Spire Stalker has targeted high-born nobles (men and women), family dignitaries of leading merchant houses, wealthy hive-officiates, and anybody who possesses the wealth and power to qualify them to dwell in the luxury and splendor of the spire.

Note 1: Full Inquisitorial powers granted, restricted to fulfilling successful outcome of the Mission Statement. Tangent missions forbidden unless cleared first with Superiors.  Rosette distributed to each member of Gamma.

Note 2: Inquistional by-pass codes: Alpha Ultra Meridian 8.3.9., and Omega Omega Alpha 6.6.6.which should only be used for Sub-sector wide access.

Note 3: 1000 Thrones have been set aside for use in the fulfillment of this mission.

Note 4: An appointment has been arranged to meet at the offices of Lord Marshal Goreman in the Fortress of the Justice where Investigators can share their case-file with Gamma. This is recommended as the first place to start the investigation.

And that's it. This will be presented at the start of our next game, along with the latest game brief, and then the next mission will begin! As you can see, my 40K hobby isn't just about painting and playing with little toy soldiers... :)

Saturday Night Waaagh!

So took the ol' Battle Barge to Planet Hobbytown, in the JC System, where Sven and the Wolves stood valiantly against the combined Waaagh! of Da Long Wayz Dezert Group controlled by the archfiend himself, the Masta Cheef and Waaagh! ...actually I have no idea what he calls his Orks, so for now I'll just call it Waaagh! Murl.

Due to a lack of players (5 of us showed up) I challenged 2k of Space Wolves vs. 1K Each of Orks (the other 2 player had their own game-Space Wolves vs. Necrons). Sounded like a fun challenge. Only I didn't have a 2k list prepped, so I had to modify an older list. Without going all full-blown Battle Report, I will simply discuss the highlights of this challenging and enjoyable game!

The big yellow/orange die is the Turn Counter, this was an Annihilation mission, an after I placed my sniper scouts, da Boyz got the first turn. Here you can see the bulk of Cheef's force which was mostly mechanized completing 1st turn moves with Murl starting on his moves. Yes that is a Forgeworld Grot Megatank! The big tank in the back is a Battlewagon.

My left flank, eyeing Murl's Mob. He took a list I never have tried (I'm always enticed by the Elites, Fast Attack and Heavies to do this): All Boyz Mobz, one Joined by a Warboss, a Nobz Mob with Painboy (Feel No Pain would equal pain for me!). The plan was to pie plate the crap out of the big mobz with my Whirlwind and Vindicator and get my Landspeeder Tornado up there with the Heavy Flamer and do likewise.

Here's my middle ground and some of the right flank. The Epicast Vindicator is eyeing the masses of Murl's Mob, The (truly) Venerable Dreadnought is poised to start popping tanks with his twin-link las cannon. (The rhino has a model on it to help me keep up with what unit is inside of it.)

This next pic shows the rest of the right flank. I believe we're seeing Murl taking his first run moves. Pay particular attention to that far off rhino (stuffed with a full 10-man squad of Grey Hunters) and those two trukks of Da Masta Cheef...

...here my lonely rhino exchanges fire with the trukks, though it escapes me what actually happened...

 Here my Venerable Dreadnought blows the converted Matilda Battlewagon to smithereens, prompting an encouraging response from Cheef (at the moment, he thought I was targeting his precious Grot Megatank! LOL! "No dude, I targeted the Battlewagon!"

And during that 1st turn of mine, Sven Axegrinder shows up in his Drop Pod! (he's the mostly painted guy with no arms! I really should finish that model...hmmm...) The green die on my rhino is to indicate that I had popped smoke.

This is a view looking down the field after the 2nd Ork movement phase... Oh yes, the Rune Priest in the rocks was whittling down the mob that the Murl's Warboss was tied too with both Jaws of the World Wolf and Living Lightning. Those Orks know how to dodge! LOL!

The first two rounds of firing I was able to greatly reduce the Ork numbers... but they were closing fast! Then, disaster struck! The Ork Truckers were able to charge and totally surround the rhino with the marines in it! THey did if in such away that my Grey Hunters were unable to escape the rhino once it was wrecked into a raging firestorm, and, well, they died a blaze of glory!

 The boyz get stuck in! With charges against the Rhino by Murl's Mob, and a charge from a Grot mob and survivors of the mob that was in the Battlewaggon piling into the Wolfguard at the Drop pod. The Sven and the Wolfguard would trimumph and the Ork and Grot units would flee off the board. Meanwhile Murl's mob would immobilize the Rhino, which the Grey Hunters would disembark from (after hearing what happened to the other pack over the com, they weren't about to stay put!)

On my Left flank, the beefy Nob Mob of Murl, smashed through the Blood Claw's rhino! On my turn I shot them, and charged, but the combined toughness of the Nobz and the gifts of the Painboy proved too much for the Blood Claws who were struck down!

In the final throes of the game, you see the Nobz moving to intercept the Runepriest once they had wrecked the Whirlwind. He would take out another nob before they ripped him apart...

In the middle, after taking fire from the boyz in the trukks, the Grey Hunters routed. For the next two rounds the trukk boyz would Sheppard the Grey Hunters right off of the table, who where two close to the foe to not know any fear!

At the top of the blog, you can see the Warboss who engaged the Vindicator in close combat and power clawed it to death! The Venerable Dreadnought dove into close combat with the Warboss, who was down to his last wound, but it was to be as the dread was slowly being dismantled by the Warboss as the game reached it's conclusion...

Here we have Da Masta Cheef's final bombardment of the abandoned bastion in another vain attempt to wipe out the sniper scouts on top of it. Those scouts survived many attacks up there, and although they killed a fair share of orks, they were unable to prevent the green tide from taking the field.

The game went to the Orks!

Orks 10 kps Space Wolves 5 Kps.

Despite blasting a heap of Orks, my inability to eliminate entire units cost me the game, plus getting the Grey Hunters cooked in that Rhino was just a major game changer for me... The Landspeeder managed to survive, it cooked a lot of orks, but once it got their attention and had it's Heavy Flamer ripped off, I moved it very far to make it's KP difficult to grab. Also I grossly overestimated my Terminator's ability to survive and massive ork assault, and should've whittled the unit down more before diving into it like I did. -Whoops! LOL!

Fun game!

Legion of the Damned

A friend of mine told me today that he plays "Pure old skool Legion of the Damned Space Marines." Which caused me to remember that I painted a squad of these back in '99! It was my summer project that year, and I got them done in time for Games Day '99. I had acquired a bunch of REALLY old RT era marines, and with nothing else to do with them (They just didn't fit in with my Space Wolves) I decided to paint them up as Legion of Damned.

Most of these models all have newer (2nd edition) style back packs. These were a bit bigger and look better on these older models. They're all variants of the 'beakie' style of armor, MKVI 'Corvus', that will always be my favorite.

 Don't ask what style of armor this is supposed to be, I'd say 'corvus' however that helmet is just weird. Worked out well for a Legion of the Damned guy though.

 These guys are just fuggly, and brutish . Plasma guy here is no exception.

 I like how the skull came out on the helmet of this one, and the heavy bolter in the back is probably my favorite of the bunch (he was featured in my 'other armies' post awhile back).









 Very old school indeed, still they haven't changed much, although heads are a tad bit more proportioned these days. The guy on the right was the first one I had painted and the only one with a bit a greenish caste to the flesh. I wasn't able to successfully repeat it though, so I left the rest of them all 'flesh' colored. Note that I added a plastic bolter to him to make it appear as if he was leaning on it.



 The Squad leader was the last model completed. The night before Games Day I completed the banner (on Holiday Inn stationary no less! Only the best for my models! LOL!).
















And here is the assembled group. And I have yet to use them in a battle! I just don't ever play regular 'Codex Marines',

 I hope you enjoyed that little bizarre trip down the path of GW minis of old. Yes the newer models are superior, but they just don't have character like these do!