The Immortal 3rd

As I get things in order with pictures and the like, here's a few of the marines I recently finished. They were supposed to be a third tactical squad for the Rosen Ritter 3rd company but frankly I'm bored with standard tactical marines. I had all sorts of close combat bits left over from my 2nd company assault squad (which will be next to be posted up), as well as a few spare crusade sprue bits like sheathed swords that I wanted to use. So I figured I'd just make this last tac squad into a unit of close combat specialists. I'd probably never be able to field them using WYSIWYG, but then I'm not in this for the gaming, I'm in it for the painting.

Keep in mind that not only does the camera pick out every single flaw in my technique, these are also primarily repaints of old squads that really needed the sprucing up.
First up we have the squad sergeant. This has long been a favorite mini of mine. For one, he's one of the few space marines with hair. This angle doesn't do much to show him off, but it's the only decent picture I could manage. He's straightforward enough, I think.









The first picture is a poor shot but it's the best where you can see the crusader sword I added to this marine. I did it on a whim at first so he's really the deciding factor for doing this squad as a close combat unit. The auspex is a holdover from his original pose, which is largely unchanged save for the addition of the plasma pistol.

Typically, I use red gore on Rosen Ritter weapons, but I've been playing around with some more individual variations lately. The sergeant's chainsword and this plasma pistol--ganked from the commander sprue--left almost entirely in boltgun metal.

For some reason, I really like slapping power fists on marines. This is the most recently completed and looking over the picture, I think I need to go back and do some serious touch-up work. Still, I'm pleased with the way his left kneecap turned out. In case you hadn't noticed, the left knee is where the company marking goes on all Rosen Ritter. If they don't have a kneepad I paint on a small shield in company colors. In this case, the single stripe down the middle represents 3rd company. Second, as you'll see, is half red on the left side. First would be half red on the right side, and that's as far as I've gotten in planning out company markings for the moment. I have a general idea of a scheme in mind but I need to get it down some day. Maybe if I ever make a serious effort at writing down the chapter fluff.

The last marine in this entry is a simple chainsword marine. He's another example of the use of crusader bits--since all Rosen Ritter have to serve in the Crusade companies at one time or another, some of them choose to keep the iconography when rotated back to their normal company. In these cases, though, the crusader cross is altered to bear that company's mark.


Anyway, that's all for now. I still have three or four marines in progress that will be added to this squad, so I'll get them uploaded as soon as they're done. I'll hopefully get some of the 2nd "Crusader" company up as well as some of the more codex troops from 3rd.