Lamenter Space Marines

My Lamenter Space Marines are starting to finally come together.    With two different game clubs that I am a part of starting up their own version of the "Tale of 4 Gamers", much like GW did in White Dwarf Magazine last year, I felt this would be a great forum to spark me to action on finally working on my Space Marines.

I've been collecting Space Marines, bitz, vehicles and anything else I could get my hands on for about 18 months now.    About a year ago, I figured what direction I wanted to go with this project.    I painted 2 space marines and a 5 man unit of scouts back then, as well as 2 rhinos to start me off.  

The 2 marines were to give me a prototype of each chapter to work off of as I would build up full squads.   That project got moved to the back burner as I was busy working on my Goff Ork army for tournaments (Krogg's Karnage).

So, now I am back into action on what I am calling: Strike Force: Steel Thunder.
I wanted to build a Space Marine chapter that was not common.   In my research I came across the stories of the Badab War.   I really liked some of the stuff I was reading.  I initially was going to go with Minotaurs as my main chapter.    I also liked the colors and patterns of the Lamenters.   Yellow & Black catch my eye, and also happen to be the colors of my favorite NFL football team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.   The checkerboard pattern they had also was very eye catching to me.    I become rather proficient painting checker patterns by working on my Goff Orks.

One thing I liked too about the Lamenters was that theri back story (or fluff as we call it), was wide open for development.   The Lamenters were once traitors, succored in with the Astral Claws and others who turned to tyranny that sparked the Badab War.   The Lamenters were pardoned by the Emperor and than had to go on a 100 year crusade to prove their purity.   They fought Tyranids for 100 years and came out of that crusade redeemed, but down to only 3 companies left out of 10.

I started seeing all kinds of options on this, and was looking to have fun with scout companies to rebuild.   I even see a good reason to add Legion of the Damned in here as well.    But as fate (and fatherhood) would have it, my son took a liking to what I was working on.    We built an Imperial Guard army together (Cadian 17th), and he liked the Space Marines.    Now my son's favorite color is Green, and he liked the Salamanders.   I'm looking at this project thinking, I really didn't want to invest into two armies.   What to do?

Than it came to me.   Even though (most fluff says) that the Lamenters are a secondary founding of the Blood Angels, they are free of the Red Thirst and Blage Rage.    But, I thought, they are more of a Codex chapter, and should be rebuilt that way.    So I thought, why can't they be rebuiding with help from another Space Marine Chapter?    Thus was born Strike Force: Steel Thunder.

So, my ultimate goal will be eventually to complete 2 chapters of Space Marines as my son gets older and will have his own army to play.   But for now, my 5th company of Lamenters is receiving aid from the Salamanders 6th company.

So, as I work on this project, I will be building up two space Marines Chapters and they will grow together and such.   

With the Tale of 4 Gamers project, we start at 500 points.   Each month we are to build, paint, and hopefully play some games with our armies.   We write our articles and for the feature at the Adventurer's Guild, we also get incentives towards our next 250 point block purchase for our armies.

My current 500 point list is as follows:
* Space Marine Captain: (Xavier, Raymond  nicknamed: X-Ray), with power weapon & melta bombs
* 10 man tactical squad (Lamenters), flamer & missle launcher, Sgt.
* 5 man tactical squad (Salamanders), w/sgt.
* 5 man scout squad w/sniper rifles.
* Rhino (Dedicated Transport for 5 man squad and captain):

Oddly enough, my first game with them was against a Berks Warhammer 40K Game Club member, Andy Usher, who's army is the Salamanders 2nd company.     We agreed that the story line was that this match was the Salamanders taking the Lamenters out for a training mission using a laser-tag system.

The Mission was Capture and Control, each of us with 1 objective and a spearhead deployment.    His force was similar to mine, but instead of snipers he had scouts with shotguns outflanking and instead of the rhino and full squad he had a Dreadnought.

I almost destroyed the dread on turn 1 with a well placed Krak Missle, but he had it behind a large rock and it made the cover save.   My first game with Space Marines went well thanks to multiple games against marines in the past, I knew a little of what to do.   

I raced the rhino up 12 inches and popped smoke.   The smoke launchers saved the vehicle.   As the dread closed on the marines, I learned that I really like 3+ armor saves.   I am not used to that from playing orks so much.    As the dread closed and won a combat, I utilized the Chapter Tactics and backed my squad up clear enough and draw it away.     Than I used my captain to move in and my squad got the advantage shooting up the Salamanders command squad.   

In a close quarters shootout and assault, my Lamenter's captain came through and cleared their objective.   My scouts were firmly in control of my objective, thus allowing me to win 1-0.

As the month winds down, I'm racing to try and finish painting my models for this competition.    My challenge on falling behind is for a few reasons.   I moved recently and am between houses as my new one is being built.   I also chose a complex paint scheme, and the check patterns require a lot more effort and time if you want them to look good.   Lamenters are not a chapter that you can purchase transfer decals for.   I also couldn't find the off-yellow paint I used for my first squad of assault scouts I painted a year ago.    I tracked down the color recently at Hobby Town and am back on the job with it.

So, while my painting portion of the challenge for the "Tale of 4 Gamers" fell behind, I am confident that in April I will be able to finish them as well as the next 250 point block for my army.

I look forward to seeing this army finally coming together and giving me another option to enjoy my hobby with.   This will be my 3rd Warhammer 40K army.   And I must say, I am having a lot of fun with it!