1st Company Veterans

Progress continues on my Astral Claws/Tyrant's Legion force for the Tale of Four Gamers: Badab War series being run by Arbitor Ian's YouTube channel.

Being ahead of the curve, having already completed my Combat Patrol force, I've turned my attention to what is likely the next step, Boarding Actions.

And if your going to launch an assault on the close confined of an enemy vessel, you're going to want some Terminators.

Fortunately, I have most of the contents of the 2nd Edition Space Hulk box (I'm one Terminator short) that have sat untouched for 25 years, and the Astral Claws are the ideal home for unloved and underappreciated Space Marines.

These extremely old plastic models are actually surprisingly good for their age. The detail is crisp and the separate arms and legs provide a decent amount of variation in their poses.

This goes some way to counter the fact that these are fundamentally the same model. A little bit of difference in arm position or body rotation breaks up the uniformity of the shape just enough.

Perhaps the only issue with the sculpts is the fact that they are a bit small.

In comparison with the next generation of plastic Terminators that feature in my Blood Angels you can see that I've needed to raise the base to make the older models of a similar height - something I did for both aesthetic reasons and for fairness in terms of line of sight.

However, if they are ever on the same table as the newest plastic Terminators, my boys will look a bit ridiculous as those are some chonky boys.

Another slight problem I've discovered since finished them is the fact that as I'm planning to use the Chaos Space Marine rules for the army, there's apparently a limit of only three power fists per unit. I have four, including the guy with the heavy flamer.

I'm going to look at how I might convert one of them to have either a chainfist or a lightning claw to count as an accursed weapon.

Being from the early days of Warhammer 40k means that the Sergeant comes modelled with a HUGE banner pole for some serious flag action.

I was left thanking my dad, who was always much more practical than me, as amongst the modelling supplies I inherited from him was a small sheet of flattened metal (taken from a tomato puree tube) Ideal for using as a flag.

I went for a combination of transfers and a freehanded star field. I like what I've done, but there's something about it that just doesn't sit right, and I'm not sure what it is (suggestions welcome).

My overall force is now at 850 points. I was intending to paint some bikes next and I've worked out the six of them would take me to about 1000, which is an excellent milestone to reach.

Alternatively, I might see if I can source a suitable model for Lugft Huron himself, the Tyrant of Badab, as technically the Tyrant's Legion can only field Terminators if Huron is present.

Acquired: -57

Painted: 386

Lead Mountain: 630