4th Squad, 4th Company

Tactical Squad Azreath

Squad Azreath advances through the purple blossomed forests of Prismata IV

Just to confuse things further, this week's feature post isn't for any of the three painting challenges I'm involved in for the month of August.  I had the chance to play my first in person 40K in months as a Father's Day present so I put my work on the Epic miniatures back in June on pause in order to finish a unit for my army that has been close to completion for awhile.  Follow along after the jump for many, many more pictures and the story behind this squad...

I purchased this enduring symbol of peak Middlehammer back in 1999 when I was playing a lot of 3rd edition WH40K, but only recently finished it to the standard I always envisioned.

This model of Razorback has always been my favorite Space Marine vehicle from a "looks" standpoint, I wish I would have bought a few more of them back in the day when they were readily available.

The rolled up blankets/tarps were added back when I first built it before I gave much thought to the idea that space marines don't sleep.  So when finishing the painting I tried to paint them as rolled up camo covers for the Razorback.

 

Continuing with my exaggerated 2nd edition WH40K painting style, the 4th Squad under the leadership of Veteran Sergeant Azreath consists of 6 marines and a Razorback to transport them around in brightly colored cartoony style.  When I first constructed the Razorback and squad back in 3rd edition I envisioned them as a mobile anti-tank squad that could use the transport to get to the best position for their firepower to be put to use. However in the intervening twenty years I haven't played against a lot of tanks so the theory of their existence still remains unproven. 

I really leaned into the fast reaction force theme by giving everyone a bayonet on their bolters, let's just ignore how hard it would be to pile out of those Rhino doors with half meter long knives sticking out of your bolter.

This unit carries the same army group campaign badge as the 3rd squad as they have fought side by side in many battles over the years.

Painting Sergeant Azreath's shoulder pauldron scroll work was my first atempt at freehand letters, if you squint correctly "Azreath" can almost be read.

The tabard was added to Sergeant Azreath to make him look a little more 1st Legion with the Piscina campaign honors showing how long this veteran has been serving the Dark Angels.

Is tripping over skulls a common source of injury of the 41st millennium?

Continuing to experiment with freehand painting, I managed to do four rows of checks on the banner above the bone field to mix the modern 4th company designation with my Oldhammer company colors of yellow for the 4th company.

It was very enjoyable to finish off this unit after years of using them as only "battle ready" miniatures.  Starting in August I'll be participating in a 2nd edition army painting challenge hosted by Dr The Viking.  I am excited to paint along with some other great lovers of the old days of WH40K.  Even though that's adding at least a fourth or fifth painting project to the rotating docket it will sync with my long term goal of painting up the Fourth battle company of Dark Angels before regular marines are completely codexed out of existence which my paranoia fears is not far down the road.  Thanks for following along on another long post and have a good weekend!