Tactical Squad Terminus

Squad Terminus of the Dark Angels 4th Company

Size: Ten Man Squad
Leader: Veteran Sgt. Rex
Wargear: bolt pistols, frag grenades, boltguns
Special Equipment: Multi-melta, meltagun, veteran sgt. gear
Naming Convention: The name is ominous enough sounding for some marines I guess, I'm not big on all the Latin phrases in 40k, but whatever. Largely it comes from the really cool head I've got on the veteran sergeant. I don't know what kit it is from, and I think it's rare to boot, I tried to find it online from a couple of different bits places to reference here, but had no luck. Anyway, it looks just like the Terminator after a few rounds of combat, so I thought the name would fit for the squad. Plus, the only letters I could squeeze onto the tiny shoulder pad banner with a brush was the name "Rex", plus Terminus Rex is the name of the Space Marine patterned Storm Bolter. He's armed with a master crafted Plasma Pistol, a Chainsword, and probably some other wargear staples I haven't figured out yet.

Ugh, this squad has been assembled forever! I undercoated the unit with generic flat black spray paint and did a heavy drybrush of GW Dark Angel green. I highlighted armor areas with a GW Snot Greem, and then blended back over those areas with GW's Thraka Green Wash. Weapons were cased in craft paint Engine Red with 'non-metallic' metals built up from craft paint Grey, Dove Grey, and White. I went overboard on the leather pouches, needless to say it was about eight steps or so. Just paint them in GW Vermin Brown, wash with Devlan Mud, then outline with Bestial Brown...it should give the same effect, haha.


Rex and his officers

This is my third tactical squad for my Dark Angels army, and I don't know if I'll do a fourth or not, so I wanted to make this one count. I tried to use lots of my extras bits and make sure every marine had a pouch or accessory as well. I used all of my bare heads, as well as all of the MkVIII torsos that I could muster. I think the Errant armor should be the new standard for marines anyway, that guarded neck collar, and the armored torso cables really make for a much more intimidating looking marine. The shiny photo surface was just my outdoor grill on a sunny day.


Meltas

After playing a few times with plasma guns in my other squads, I opted to go with something else...something that wouldn't kill the user one out of every six times! On the tabletop, these two would probably be put into separate combat squads. Meltaguns are cool, and the Multi-Melta is a really neat model, although in the end I copped out and didn't get crazy with the detail on all the hoses and lines as I had planned originally. I took these photos outdoors, obviously, and this one got a tad washed out unfortunately.


the core troops

For my standard grunts I opted for the classic beaky helmet. It's funny, in that writeup about the errant armor it says that it "required a new helmet design, which caused problems for backward compatibility with earlier helmet types" which is one reason only the bare headed troopers of the squad have the privilege of wearing the MkVIII armor. Apparently beaky helmets simply won't fit on a MkVIII torso in the real world either.

Like I said, this might be the last tactical squad I do, so I also went for the molded shoulder pads with the Dark Angels icons embossed on them. They were a little less than a buck a pop from GW, kinda steep but since I was already ordering my Multi-melta trooper from them, I went ahead. One thing about them though, they seem too small, like they were made for an older generation model. On close inspection you can tell they're noticeably smaller than their counterpart. Painted up, they look well enough.


Gear stowed away

It seems a waste not to use all the little extras and doo-dads that come on those great sprues. I had a nice technique going on painting leather for these guys, it was probably a few steps too long for 'tabletop' quality, but I like how they came out anyway. Since I was layering decals for the squad I also went out and picked up a bottle of Micro Sol, and this stuff really works wonders. The marine shoulder pads are rounded, your decals flat, but instead of having those annoying creases after you apply your decals, this stuff "melts" it flat for lack of a better term. The front of the bottle says it all. For basing I just did the GW modeling sand and white glue brushed directly onto the base and sealed with a watered down glue mix. After spraying the unit down with a generic brand clear sealer I hit 'em again with Testor's Dull Cote.

For March reinforcements hopefully I'll be painting up a command squad for Othniel, and I still have that blasted unpainted Dreadnought skulking around my painting table...