My Space Marine Conundrum.

What to do, what to do, what to do...

Well, like most people it feels like I've played space marines forever (though unlike most people, my first 40k army was IG). Over the years I've fielded (in no particular order): Silver Skulls, Desert Wolves (home brew chapter), Red Talons, Black Talons, Ultramarines, Skittles (Crusade SM army), Red Corsairs (back when they were mostly multi-colored with defaced loyalist heraldry), Iron Hands, Space Wolves (twice), Flesh Tearers, Iron Warriors, Blood Eagles (home brew CSM), Angels of Redemption (a bitch to paint!), and currently the Dark Hands. Umm, yeah I think that that's everybody. If I'm not a repeat offender, then no one is!

So I'm sure that by now you'll not be surprised to hear that I'm kinda bored with marines, and not sure where to go with them. 2 weeks ago I fielded an 1850 list of Dark Hands that was pure infantry (and not using all of it), and later that week I wondered, 'well just how many points of DH do i have?'

Answer: 3100+ points!

Hello ebay, how are ya? No more Catachan Green & black for me, tired of that. I announced that I was going to sell them while at the game shop last weekend which was met with loud & immediate protests and outrage. Indeed I was told, point blank (and more than once) that I was 'just stupid' for selling that army. So, bowing to public pressure (for once), I pulled a few Termies off of ebay, and let the rest with bids go. So my now pared down DH army rolls in somewhere between 1800-2000pts. Still quite respectable, and fieldible.

I had intended to get rid of all of them barring what couldn't be easily repainted as Imperial Paladins (more on them in a bit) and my Predator, which was going to be retired to a permanent place in a display case.





I got an Honorable mention at the Atlanta Gamesday with the above tank a few years back (it made it onto GW's website, though not the White Dwarf) and as such, it'll never be sold. Probably the closest I'll ever come to a trophy.

I've never fielded more than a handful of Imperial Paladins, usually as allies to the Inquisition (till that army went onto ebay leaving me with just random inquisitors & retinues). The Imperial Paladins, like the Dark Hands have an official color scheme, name & icon, and nothing else, allowing me to do with them as I please. Borrowing heavily from the remnants of the DH, they were going to more or less fit my usual SM template of slow, methodical, foot slogging marines that win through brute force & attrition. In fact, pretty much all of my marine armies have used this methodology aside from the 'rhino rush' Desert Wolves and (somewhat oddly) Iron Warriors.




No, we're not Blue Templars! We're the Imperial Paladins!

Of course the whole reason I was aiming for the IP (lol, with those initials & the blue paint, I can already hear the IP police jokes coming) for really no other reason than I like this Predator. Painted more or less as a one off 'for the hell of it' model, the only other things I have painted is a captain (who tore a bloody swathe through the Blood Angels last weekend) and a single sergeant. A few marines are base coated, but that's it. A buddy of mine last week suggested that I do something different with the IP, than just my usual set up.

Hmmm...

Well, I've always wanted to do a scout company, lets try that. I know there are arguements all over the internet that are both for and against scout armies but so what, I want to do itI It'll be fluffy, screw effective (which is true if my DH scout sniper squad is any indication). Keeping my captain, cherry picking a few base coated marines & the painted sarge for a command squad (found a narcethium pack in the bitz box and a Librarian too). So that'll cover HQ, I have a primed AoBR quad-autocannon dread (yes my cheap dread is now just as expensive as a normal one) and techmarine for Elites. I'll fill the troops & Fast attack slots with scouts of various descriptions and for heavy, I'll just use the above Predator. Just with a BS of 3, as its a 'training tank' crewed by scouts.

Sounds like a plan...but...with so few painted minis for the Paladins, I could just sell them too, and start from scratch.

...sigh...

Having no fluff kinda leaves me in the dark on where to go with them, so I was thinking of what chapter's fluff really appealed to me that I've never fielded before (I don't go the math hammer/shiny new codex route when picking, either pretty color scheme/minis or fluff is the deciding factor). After a bit, the only name that popped into mind, was the Marines Malevolent.

-evil grin-

In the 3rd war for Armageddon, they got their first bit of fluff and showed a serious sense of pride & ego. Collateral damage? What collateral damage? There was also rumor that blows were struck between their Captain & the Salamander's Chapter Master. Then came the 1st Salamanders novel (SPOILER ALERT), in which they were in my opinion, the BEST part of the novel! (are they in the 2nd by chance?) Their role was limited but pivotal in the end, and well...they weren't only borderline Pirates, but REAL bastards in that book, no other way to describe it. {:-D That's quite appealing when I think of it! And with all of the newly acquired power armor from the Arx Tyrannis, they certainly need some scouts to fill them. I also have several marines in old armor types (which is appropriate) to use as the Captain & command squad (and to tie in the Armageddon fluff, the Whirlwinds would have scout crews with BS3).

So, build an army around a pretty blue tank? Or go for the black and yellow Bastards that are all but hated by the Salamanders?

Dunno what to do.....