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

CONVERTING YOUR SPACE MARINE COMMAND SQUAD

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CHAPTER INFORMATION

Hobbyist: Stuart Spengler, US Promotions Graphic Designer
Name of Chapter: Dark Angels
Homeworld: Caliban

COMMAND SQUAD ARMY LIST ENTRY

Name	Points	Equipment	Points	Notes	Total

Chaplain (Reclusiarch)	85	plasma pistol Terminator Honours Adamantine Mantle frag grenades	15 15 35 1	Stubborn (5)	156

Veteran Sergeant	15	Terminator Honours plasma pistol power fist combat shield frag grenades	15 10 15 5 1		61

Standard Bearer	15	Terminator Honours Company Standard plasma pistol power weapon frag grenades	10 25 10 10 1		71

Company Champion	15	Terminator Honours power weapon/ bolt pistol/ combat shield plasma pistol frag grenades	10 20 10 1		56

Apothecary	15	Terminator Honours narthecium and reductor plasma pistol power weapon frag grenades	10 25 10 10 1		71

Space Marine	15	Terminator Honours plasma gun	10 10		35

Razorback	70	extra armour smoke launchers	5 3		78

				Total Points:	528

SQUAD SELECTION AND TACTICA

Stu Spengler: The general idea behind my Command squad was to provide some hard-hitting close combat support to the rest of my Dark Angels army. As the majority of my army is rather focused on the Shooting phase, I designed these guys to rule the Assault phase. Their primary targets are the leftovers from the rest of my army's shooting. They provide a counterpunch against opposing close-combat specialists who threaten my battle line or the objective.

That being said, I went all out when it came to equipping these guys. Very few things in the 40K universe will get saves against the various forms of destruction this Command squad can dish out. Power weapons, plasma pistols, sharp sticks, bad grammar — these guys have it all. I chose a Chaplain to lead the crew, as his Litanies of Hatred mean that his squad can be even more effective in the turn the unit charges. Since the Reclusiarch comes with a rosarius, I gave him the Adamantine Mantle wargear for the super annoyance factor. A 3+ Armour Save or a 4+ Invulnerable Save combined with the ability to avoid Instant Death should ensure that he stays around for many, many rounds of combat. I considered giving him artificer armour to make it a 2+ armour save (making him 176 points alone), but that would have been just too vicious.

I decided to give the full complement of Command squad specialists Terminator Honours just for access to power weapons and the like. Almost everyone that can get one got a power weapon, and everybody has plasma pistols. I figure being the first Space Marine Legion entitles Dark Angels to have copious quantities of hot plasma death for all the alien scum I care to toast.

The Veteran Sergeant has the fun combo of power fist and combat shield to take care of any pesky armour or Wraithlords the unit may come across. Aside from helping to make sure the ol' boy survives to swing his power fist, a 5+ Invulnerable Save for 5 points (10 points for multi-Wound models) is a great deal! I am sure the combat shield will be an almost-standard piece of equipment in most Space Marine armies soon.

In addition to rounding out the Command squad, the meatshield... erm... Space Marine with a plasma gun helps out a bit in the Shooting phase if the unit can shoot but won't be able to enter combat that turn. I have considered replacing him with a Space Marine toting either a flamer or meltagun so the entire unit can shoot and still charge, but for now I like the idea of all plasma, all the time.

To make sure the Command squad gets where it needs to go, I thought a Razorback equipped with the neigh-standard extra armour and smoke launchers would fit the bill nicely. After dropping the kids off at the mall, the Razorback can then tool around the board tank shocking, blocking avenues of fire, and making rude gestures at the people playing Warhammer two tables over.

THE CONVERTED COMMAND SQUAD

	CHAPLAIN

	Knowing that I needed to represent the Adamantine Mantle in some way, I used the new plastic Space Marine Commander torso back for the general shape of the Mantle. Then, I applied a thin layer of Green Stuff and textured it to look like chain mail. I figure that an Adamantine Mantle would probably be some sort of chain-mail cloak or cape for Space Marines that don't follow the animal-hide look. Aside from the Mantle, I also made a twin plasma pistol that could be explained as a master-crafted plasma pistol (making the Chaplain even more expensive), but I mainly did this conversion just to keep from duplicating the look of existing plasma pistols in the squad.

COMPANY CHAMPION

The Company Champion presented a bit of a struggle. I first considered forgoing him altogether or deploying the limited-edition Dark Angel Sergeant, as he is armed with a power weapon and a bolt pistol. However, Dave Taylor encouraged me to follow up my previous conversions with another. A quick root through the bitz box came up with the lower half of Asmodai and Bethor's head, unfortunate casualties of my Ravenwing army's Command squad. With a few bitz here and there along with a couple of ideas stolen from both Taylor and Jason Buyaki, I converted a model that I had initially not wanted to work on into one that will probably be the first one I want to paint.

	COMPANY STANDARD BEARER

	I had always wanted to do a Standard Bearer similar to the one that was depicted in an old piece of Black Templar art. Starting with an old Devastator body for the legs, I worked on getting the pose I wanted. After I got things in the general look I wanted, I went about covering up things with all sorts of pouches and grenades. Most notable is the holster I sculpted. I wanted to equip him with a plasma pistol and a power weapon, but the fact that the banner pole has to go somewhere meant that one or the other had to be holstered. I liked the idea of having a dynamic pose enhanced by the sword defiantly held out towards the enemy, so the plasma pistol got the chop. I also wanted to avoid any decrees from opponents that he did not have a plasma pistol since the plastic holster bit is rather small — I made the holster by taking a plasma pistol with a grip and then putting Green Stuff over it to make it the proper shape and size.

SPACE MARINE VETERAN SERGEANT

I definitely wanted the combination of plasma pistol, power fist, and combat shield. Thus, the first step was to take the new combat shield/bolt pistol arm and cut it down to just the shield. After I finished that, I added it to the arm holding the pistol. I added a scope and the purity seals to fill out the area on the back of the shield a bit. As I have always thought a scope on a pistol is a bit silly (let alone an entire Black Templar squad equipped in such a manner — you know who you are!) and a bit dangerous in the case of a plasma pistol, I went about making the scope a part of the power armour's auto-senses by adding the ol' guitar string data conduit.

	APOTHECARY

	Having used Fabius Bile in a Black Gobbo 13 Witch Hunter Retinue article a while back, I thought about employing the classic Jes Goodwin sculpt again. I filed away all of the flayed-skin details down and puttied over the seams. Next, I went about combining the look of Dark Angel robes and a lab coat. After doing some careful cutting, drilling, and filing, I had both the look and the equipment I wanted.

SPACE MARINE

Next up were the basic Space Marines. Nothing much special for them — just metal shoulder pads and Kroot weapon straps as they are a favourite, easy, and effective conversion of mine.

	SPACE MARINE

	The drum mag on the bolter was also pretty easy to make: just two of the Space Marine Bike hub caps (which I have scads of thanks to that full Ravenwing army) and a piece of aluminium tubing to hide the join.