Monday, September 12, 2011

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Tactical Marines nearly complete

Part of the Tempus Fugitives Age Of The Emperor codex is the idea that during the Crusade/Heresy Eras, the Space Marine legions could field much larger armies than they can in the 'current' era. On the table, this is represented by squads being allowed to take up to 20 marines rather than the standard 10. That being the case, I cranked out the basic paint job on a number of Tactical Marines. I started off with a pair of 10 man squads, just to get a feel for the paint scheme.


At the 10-man level, the unit is allowed a 'Designated Squad Leader' who is allowed a limited selection of wargear, including a back banner. At the 20-man level, the unit may include a Veteran Sergeant (most legions also include a number of upgrade characters as well).


The marines are a mix of kits - the heads from MaxMini are very reminiscent of the artwork in the Visions of Heresy art books and really help set the tone. The Bolters, Melta Guns and Missile Launchers are from Forge World, and the bodies are a mix of Chaos and Loyalist Marine bits. All of the legs for the infantry are of the same style, with the solid shin-and-knee guards, and all of the torsos are lacking the Aquila (though the squad leaders do have a winged shield). With the loyalist backpacks and shoulder pads, the smattering of Chaos bits is downplayed, and simply give the models a bit of decoration rather than being awash with iconography.


All that remains are to do the shoulder pad decorations. I'm a bit torn on what I want to do however - While the nova starburst symbol is a given on the left shoulder, the artwork is not particularly consistent regarding what the right shoulder pad has. Certain pictures seem to indicate they follow the standard Marine iconograpy (Arrow for Tac, "X" for Assault, etc.), while other pictures show alternate iconography such as scarabs, flames, etc. I'm open to suggestions!

Over the weekend I built a few more marines to round out the squads, more pics to follow!

6 comments:

  1. I'd go custom on the right shoulder and avoid 'codex' markings. I don't see the Thousand Sons as a conformists...

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  2. Aye - The more I think about it, I'm leaning towards using the various cult symbols on the right shoulder pads as well. I think it will definitely help to denote what psychic powers the squad has. The back banners on the various designated squad leaders are going to be similar - the starburst/nova symbol with the cult symbol in the middle of the circle...

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  3. Okay now I really need to get crakin on those banners for you.

    They look great!

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  4. Very nice work and yes id go cult icons also, deff non conformist and the standard Tac, Dev and Assult symbols are from the Codex Astartes i belive and not writen till after the Heresy.

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  5. Thanks folks!

    @LuckyNo.5 - No rush my friend, technically speaking the drop-dead date to have the army all done isn't until late January. :)

    @Blitzspear - Indeed, the cult icons seems to be the right way to go from an artistic and 'historical' point of view. Of course, that just makes my life more difficult - a feather, a phoenix, a ravens head, etc. are far more challenging than an arrow or an X. Ah well, it'll be worth it in the end!

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  6. Very nice job, I agree with other comments go cult icons!

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