Rogue Trader Space Marines 1

What with it being the 25th anniversary (ouch) of Rogue Trader/40K, I thought I'd show some of my old Rogue Trader era Space Marines.

This is part one, as there were too many pictures for one post. Part two will be next week, and will include the first ever Space Marine...

This is a followup to Rogue Trader Figures which covered the Imperial Guard and other, long forgotten, races. It features mostly unpainted figures, for which I apologise. I think their historical value, however, outweighs the lack of paint.(*)

I've had these figures since they first came out (I even have the Rogue Trader rulebook and compendium in the loft(**)), but I've never been completely sure how to paint them. I'm not fond of the GW look, as the huge blocks of plain colour have always reminded me of old (e.g. Napoleonic and earlier) uniforms, paying no real attention to any camouflage requirements.

Anyway, to the figures

I have never been crazy on the "Womble" heads, preferring the newer helmet. However, the poses on the old figures are so much better than the more recent ones that I've been left liking parts of each group of figures. As a result, I have never actually sat down to paint any (yes, I know I could do headswaps, but looking at the figures, the possibility of damaging them seems rather high, so I'd rather not).

I did at one point consider using them to create a force that had been lost in the Warp - which would account for all their old armour and weapons - but it never happened. I have been thinking more recently about using some of them for power armoured troops in a non 40K setting, so they may yet get painted.

There are also some heavy weapons troopers. I actually have about nine of these, but most are of the same pose (there is one extra, which I'll try and dig out next week)

In amongst the figures are three of the old Dreadnoughts, two on tall legs and one on short legs.

These have been badly glued, so I'm going to have to break them apart and rebuild them. I was reminded of these figures recently by some Studio McVey models. Much as I like those models, I think the Dreadnoughts will do as super heavy power armoured troops/environment suit type figures.

They hold up pretty well size-wise against more modern figures. Below are some pictures of the short and tall legged dreadnought next to a Pig Iron Trooper and Wardroid.

More comparisons next week, including one with the original Space Marine.

Finally, to make up for the lack of painted figures in this post, here are a couple of old Ambulls. These are from the Rogue Trader era, so are fitting for this post.

To be continued next week...

* The pictures were nearly of undercoated figures, as I had a lot of trouble stripping them. Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner did eventually work, but took several applications over four days. Twenty five years of enamel paint did not want to go without a fight :-)

** Also found Traveller 2300 rules in the loft this morning. This was somewhat unexpected, as I thought I'd taken them to a bring and buy sale about four years ago