...and yet another hero falls from grace...

o/

The photo of his original paint.

A good ways back I decided to field an all scout army, even going as far as to have BS 3 predators with Scout crews (and all too often THAT was kinda painful). Leading my Aurora Chapter's venerable 10th Co., was the Aurora's rising star, Captain R. Lee Ermey. It was his job to mold the 10th into a supreme fighting force, and unlike most chapters, he insisted on doing so by fielding the company enmass. No divvying out a squad or two to assist their brethren, under Ermey's command the Aurora 10th took to the field as a whole and...generally failed miserably.

Oh I didn't lose all the games...but the statistics were pretty ugly. Worst off were the fucking scout snipers, where even the stupid Sgt. with a sniper rifle ALWAYS rolled a '2' to hit...worthless bastards. Only after many attempts and a price reduction did that particular squad find a buyer on ebay. One in Stockholm, Sweden as I recall. All too appropriate I think, as there are plenty of icy waters available to dump those bastards into when they no doubt failed their new owner.

Bitter much? Oh yes...

Stripped of his command and his dignity, the Auroras exiled Ermey to a personal penitent crusade to atone for his failures. A concept that appears occasionally in the fluff/BL novels and I wonder: How do these guys travel around the galaxy on their own? He was not expected to return, rather just to die on some forlorn and unknown battlefield.

Briefly he tried to pull a stint as a mere Sternguard veteran amongst the Storm Wardens, but was found wanting. He finally did find a new calling though. It seems that, in the quest to enlarge his chapter to legion strength, the Tyrant of Badab was all to willing to take the failed captain in. If not qualified to train and lead marines into battle, he should at least be able to lead the Legion's Auxilia units. As you can see, Ermey is now bearing the colors of his new chapter: The Astral Claws and has been given the rank of 'Centurion'. Whilst not as highly ranked as his former captaincy, his position does allow him to kill his minions when he needs someone to blame for his failures.

A new and quite pleasing 'fringe benefit' of his new posting...