Rogue Trader Space Marines

Well as this is a blog about all things retro I thought I would kick off with with some retro miniatures!

I love Rogue Trader Space Marines; as far as I am concerned they are some of the most characterful miniatures that GW have ever released for 40k. Admittedly they aren't as crisp or clean as the current range; but they are beautiful in their own way. Without further ado....

Having read through my pristine copy of the 1989 Space Marine painting guide I decided to paint these classic models as Salamanders (before GW retconned them into weird burns victims); and so I broke out the Dark Green paint and set about doing up these terminators and assault marines.  I wanted to go traditional and so all sigils are hand painted....not a transfer in sight! I also decided to knock up a Rhino....as I love these old APC's.

I wanted the Termies to be as 1980's authentic as possible; so I went for cheques and stripes on the Power/Chain fists; as well as a liberal application of Honour Markings.  These Veteran 1st Company brothers not only pound the battle fields of 40k; but also frequently find themselves smashing the Genestealer menace in my first edition copy of Space Hulk.

Well Terminators and Assault Marines are all well and good; but all of us know the cold hard truth...it is the humble Tactical Brother and his Bolter that bear the brunt of the fighting and end up holding the line....

This squad, led by a rather shaggy haired Sergeant will be responsible for the inglourious fighting in my retro battles. The majority of these boys are from the classic RTB01 boxed set, quality plastics that have really stood the test of time... 26 years and they still look good! There's also a few of the contemporary metal guys in there for a bit of variation.  I went with the classic flamer/missile launcher combo because it can deal with most threats....and more importantly that's what came in the box.

Space Marines are elite warriors however they have one flaw...you get so few of them for your points in 1st/2nd Edition.  They lack any real cheap troops and so I decided to build them some allies from the Imperial Army/Guard to support their endeavours...

Firstly I have build up a basic ten men squad armed with Lasguns, a grenade launcher and a lascannon.  The majority of these guys are the first plastic guard released, augmented by some metal character models.  I have gone for the classic paint scheme that was shown both in White Dwarf and on the back of the box. I am really happy with the way these guys have turned out.

Well we have our grunts and our elites so I guess all that remains is some characters to lead them in their battles.  Firstly I want a low level character who can command small operations....so I've gone for a classic lieutenant model with power sword and bolt pistol. I've also given him a classic jump pack for increased mobility....

This guy is pretty badass and can deal with most situations in any edition of 40k; however sometimes you need a bit more punch to your characters; and for these situations we have the classic terminator Captain from the late 80's....

As the Space Marines have their own commanders I decided the mortals should have some form of leadership too and so painted up a command squad led by the first edition Imperial Guard Captain model, with a medic, standard bearer and extra Commissar...

Well that's it for my first proper post; I hope you enjoyed my classic models and I also hope that my paint jobs have done them justice. I'll let you know how they perform in battle in the next few weeks!