GW Online : Warhammer 40,000 : Space Marines : Converted Command Squads

CONVERTING YOUR SPACE MARINE COMMAND SQUAD

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CHAPTER INFORMATION

Hobbyist: Jason Buyaki, US Hobby Team Manager
Name of Chapter: Mantis Warriors
Homeworld: Unknown

TRAITS AND DIVERGENCES

Courageous: Take the Fight to Them & See, but Don't Be Seen
Drawback: Flesh over Steel

COMMAND SQUAD ARMY LIST ENTRY

Name	Points	Equipment	Points	Notes	Total

Veteran Sergeant	15	Terminator Honours power weapon plasma pistol	15 15 10	The Squad will swap out bolters for bolt pistols and chainswords.	55

Company Champion	15	power weapon/ combat shield/ bolt pistol	20		35

Apothecary	15	narthecium & reductor	25		40

Space Marine	15	plasma gun	10		25

Space Marine	15		-		15

				Total Points:	170

SQUAD SELECTION AND TACTICA

Jason Buyaki: The Mantis Warriors are a Space Marine Chapter from an unknown founding, but it is believed they are of Ultramarine stock. They are for my ever-growing Badab Crusade Space Marine army. This army consists of a variety of squads from a number of Chapters that participated in the Badab Wars. They continue the fight against Huron and try to track him down to bring him to Imperial justice.

The Mantis Warriors have the Traits Take the Fight to Them and See, but Don't Be Seen along with the major drawback Flesh over Steel. I foresaw them acting much like the preying mantis – quietly stalking their prey and ambushing them in hand-to-hand combat.

Originally, when I started work on the army, I didn't really have a direction. That has changed greatly. The first element I actually finished was the crusade army, which was shown in White Dwarf. However, with these new Mantis Warriors, I will need to go back and add the forearm spikes to make the old army fit. Thus, I decided that the Mantis Warriors serve as the Command squad for the army. However, over time, my Command squad might change to include a variety of models from a variety of Chapters – perhaps a better representation of the Chapters involved in the hunt for Huron.

THE CONVERTED COMMAND SQUAD

	COMPANY CHAMPION

	I've used a specific spiky bit from the Dark Eldar sprue that I carefully trimmed down to fit on the underarm of all the Space Marines in my Command squad. This bit serves to enhance the look of the squad and tie it a little closer to their namesake – the preying mantis. I just trimmed these bitz a little each time, checked the fit, and kept trimming until they worked right.

VETERAN SERGEANT

In addition to the mantis spikes, I gave the Veteran Sergeant a power fist and a bolt pistol to slay many a xeno. I painted most of my models and backpacks separately. I didn't do conversions on most of the backpacks, and I left them out of these pictures.

	APOTHECARY

	I made this model into a pretty standard Apothecary complete with narthecium and reductor. Of course, I added in the mantis spikes to fit in with the rest of the squad.

SPACE MARINE

The Space Marine with the plasma gun sports the mantis spikes and a converted shoulder pad. I used plasticard and tiny plasticard rivets to give additional shielding for when the plasma gun eventually singes his armour... or explodes.

	SPACE MARINE

To round out the Command squad, I gave this close-combat Space Marine a chainsword and bolt pistol. No Mantis Warrior Space Marine would be complete without his mandatory forearm addition.