Crimson Fist Tactical Marines

As of this post, I have 3 full tactical squads painted (though they are missing the Fist icons on the shoulder pads). I don't really go for the names on each squad as some other folks do...mainly cause I easily forget them and cause I don't like to get attached to my marines.

They're supposed to die for the Emperor, after all. Why bother learning their names? Maybe after a few games with these guys, the stand-out marines who do well for me will earn their stripes...err...names!

For the first squad, I used a Sternguard veteran model as the Sgt. I figured if I field sternguard in the future, I can just grab him. He's my favorite model of the entire set...in a set of great models. His neck-armor and shoulder pads are just perfect and I'm now trying out ways to mimic his look on my plastic models. I think I can do the neck brace (you'll see an example later when I post my Devastator Sgt)...the thigh-armors have got me wondering if its finally time to try my hand at green stuff.

Here's squad two. All Black Reach marines except the Sgt. I wanted to mix up the look of the Sgts instead of using both Black Reach ones (I'll probably use the 2nd Black Reach sgt in my Dark Angels army!). I used the head from the Dark Angels set I think. Though it could be a devastator head.

Tactical Squad 3. All Black Reach marines (I shared two sets with friends. They got the orks. I took all the marines) in a standard Missile Launcher, Flamer formation.

This Sgt came out pretty nice for my first Crimson Fist model (I'm showing them in reverse order of painting). I used several washes for the face and even resurrected the old "Bronzed Flesh" color from GW. I can't say enough good things about the washes and foundation paints. They've really saved me time and heartache.

Since I wanted to keep them mobile, I added two rhinos to the armory and I plan to add a third.

I used to have a lot more citadel transfers on them, but they all seem to fall off minutes after I put them on. I'm exploring ways of keeping the damn transfers on until I seal the models. An astute Marine modeler might notice that the headlights are a little low on the model. Well, I glued them on wrong on my first rhino. Whoops! To keep the army consistent, all my rhino-chassis vehicles are going to have to have low-headlights.

As a former Tau player, I really like Tactical Marines. The versatility of their formations (different weapon load outs, transport options, Sgt. Customization and the ability to combat squad) really makes them a great Troop choice. They can do anything pretty required pretty well! Just don't ask them to stand up to specialized units like Assaulty-Orks or Shooty Guard. I like to field them as combat squads against horde armies (to divide up those assaults) and as full squads against other marines or necrons to improve their survival.

In play, my tacticals have a mission in my head supported by either some elites or support fire. Usually the mission is "take that objective and hold it." Sometimes it might be "Draw some fire" or "Destroy that gun" if I see something I don't like on the board but isn't relevant to winning the game (like an artillery unit not near an objective). I never send them out alone if I can help it...they're good enough to take a turn or two of punishment, but they need Elite or Fast Attack support to push enemies out of cover or to survive an opposing elite attack. I nearly always have two tacticals in all my lists, if not 3. They're just great bang for the buck! I've taken to always supporting them with Dreadnaught or two...for fluffy reasons (I'd expect the rebuilding of the Crimson Fists to involve a lot of Dreadnaughts leading the newly minted marines into battle) and cause I just love the model. I'll be posting the Dreads up next-ish.