Back in the 1980s, while I was stationed at Fort Irwin, in the Mojave Desert, my buddies gave me a new science fiction RPG rulebook for Christmas, the game "Warhammer 40,000, Rogue Trader" featured a miniatures skirmish rules system that later became a miniatures gaming system, now popularly known as Warhammer 40k, or just "40k".
Soon after, on a visit home, I picked up some miniatures for the game at Games of Berkeley, including my first RTB01 box of multi-pose plastic "Imperial Space Marines" - the first of many (but how I wish we could still get 30 GW plastic multipose minis for just $15.99!). This style of space marine miniatures are commonly referred to as "Beakies", due to the pointed helmets included in the set.
Back at the Fort, I put some of the models together, and tried painting them, using the only model paints I could find at the Post Exchange - a set of Testors paints with that plastic brush... And my first attempts at painting the minis were terrible. The memories are still painful!
I never finished painting those minis. I handed most of them over to my friend Mike M. when I got stationed in Greece. He painted them up beautifully, with a rising sun motif, as the "Reptile Death Korps" (the name of my Battletech unit), and took them with him when he moved to Japan, just before I returned to the USA. A few years later, he sent them to me. They were the models I used in my very successful "Everybody Walks" space marine army for 3rd edition 40k. That army had 51 models, all but one with a single wound (HQ Squad, Assault Squad on foot, Vet Squad, 5 Tactical Squads, each squad with 6-8 minis), and was put together so that the entire army fit into a Chessex miniatures case, so could fit in a backpack along with the rulebooks, templates, dice, and a sack lunch, so I could ride my bike to games, or easily bring the army with me when I went TDY - I didn't expect it to be a powerful army, with no vehicles, dreadnoughts, etc., but people weren't used to having to kill off that many space marines, so it was surprisingly competitive (some even claimed it was "broken"), unless up against an opponent with a lot of template weapons. I hope that I handed them back to Mike a few years ago - because otherwise, they were casualties of a move, along with several of my "RT era" rhino conversions (including the only mini/model that I ever won a painting competion with).
Thirty plus years later I am still building models for 40k - and other games - but I am using better paints and brushes, and - thankfully! - my painting has improved.
Over this Thanksgiving break, I have been doing a bit of a "Thanksgiving Throwback" focus on some older miniatures, and dug some out of the Plano boxes in the storage area, and went to work on updating some older "Beakie" marines, as well as assembling some new ones from parts in the aforementioned Plano boxes (and I swear that I am missing a Plano box with a bunch of RTB01 parts... possibly another casualty of the last move - because I seem to recall having dozens of unassembled torsos and legs, and now can only find dozens of arms and heads).
Here is a tactical squad that I originally painted up in the mid-90s, that I have touched up a bit, overpainting the original colors with the newer "Contrast" paints.
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| Unlike the rest of the army, this squad is all in red. It also features a slightly later metal melta gunner. The Heavy Bolter is from the "Squat" box set that was available in those early days. The melta gunner is the only one with rimmed shoulder pads, so is the only one with gold trim on the shoulder pads. |
And here are the rest of the "beakies" I have been working on this week.
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| Another tactical squad. This one with the classic Missile Launcher and Flamer Heavy and Special weapons options. The Sgt has a converted combi-weapon (bolter/plasma). The slightly taller legs are from a Metal Magic "Spacelords" (iirc) two part miniature. |
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| Another of the "Squat" heavy bolters, another flamer, and a Sgt with power fist and a slightly more modern (mid-90s?) bolt pistol. The tall rifleman is a space marine vehicle crewman torso on Metal Magic "Spacelords" legs. One of the marines is armed with a rifle and bayonet from the Alternative Armies "Firefight" miniatures line. |
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| An incomplete tactical squad, waiting for three new "riflemen" from the replacement depot. |
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| Members of this assault squad have chainswords and bolt pistols. One squad member is giving the enemy the "universal one fingered peace salute". Some have the pistol arm from the "old school", "Advanced Space Crusade" style (iirc) space marine scouts. |
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| Special weapons troops at the replacement depot. Two more of the uniquitous RTB01 flamers, a plasma gun (from the plastic Orks boxed set from the early 90s), a melta gun (metal mini), and a few grenade lainchers - one is a conversion based on an Ork shoota, the other two are from the Metal Magic "Spacelords" line. Several of the backpacks in this squad are from the RAFM "Reaction Marines" line. |
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| Heavy weapons troops await assignment to tactical or devastator squads. Along with the standard missile launchers, there is a Chaos missile launcher from the Chaos weapons sprue available in the early 90s, a space marine scout heavy bolter (much larger than the one the Squats used), and a converted 1/35th scale modern missile launcher. |
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| Command team members are also waiting for assignment to squads. A mix of metal and plastic minis, the one in front has had a weapons swap to a plasma pistol fromt he early 90s Orks plastics (and is, himself, a 1990s era metal mini). The one at the center of the rear rank has an Alternative Armies "Firefight!" backpack. The one on the far right has a mid-90s power fist. The four metal minis (on the left as you look at them) were overpainted, the three plastic ones were newly painted this week. |
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| This is the space in the closet where most of my Sci-Fi infantry and infantry bitz boxes live. There are a half dozen or so that have been removed, and are at my work table. I have opened each and every one of these boxes at least three times, checking over and over for "beakie bitz", this Thanksgiving break. |
Finding myself short of "riflemen", I searched high and low for the mythical Plano box with RTB-01 parts in it. I found a few bits and pieces, here and there, but so far, "the motherlode" has eluded me (or was left in CA, or is just a misremembered exaggeration of the half dozen unbuilt sets I did find). Although these are not as detailed as more modern GW minis, they are still a joy to build, and I wish that they were still in production.
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| These new recruits are so fresh, they haven't been painted - or even primed yet. Some are built from "new" parts, while others had to have Testors paint from the 1980s stripped off of them before I could work with them. The cold, damp weather has made spray priming somewhat "iffy" so I am waiting on priming these guys. They are a mix of the blue plastic minis that I got in the 80s, and the tan plastic ones I picked up in the 90s. And yes, one of them does have a mid-90s (grey) bolter. |
When I finish up the minis, and put them into squads for play, I will paint the rims of their bases so that each squad has its own color, to make them easy to identify on the tabletop..
