From GregB: Veteran Space Marines from the VI Legion

Squad of VI Legion Space Marines in Mark III power armour - multi-part plastic models from GW.

I appear to have tumbled further and further down a 30k rabbit hole in my hobby efforts...suddenly it seems so hard to get any more Prussians from 1870 painted, when instead I can paint yet more Space Marines for GW's Horus Heresy setting! Oh well. It's important to "go with the flow" on the painting mojo. Here is a 10-man squad of Marines from the VI Legion, the "Space Wolves", clad in Mark III powered armour. These are multi-part plastic miniatures from GW.

The famous "shark-fin" style missile launcher - a shout-out to the early days of the plastic Space Marines from the Rogue Trader era.

The so-called "Space Wolves" have a long history as a GW sci-fi sub-product. They stood out right from the early "Rogue Trader" edition of the game and gathered a passionate fan following. I thought they were kinda neat when I was a young fellow, but the GW designers have a way of ruining certain concepts. Since those early days the "Space Wolves" have been thoroughly ruined, becoming insufferable. These days they are, I suspect, a form of self-parody or something...

The sergeant has a comb on his helmet - and is carrying a scary plasma pistol and what I like to call a "tickle glove"...

Of course the Space Wolves had to play some kind of part in the Horus Heresy. I love the Horus Heresy setting, but when I started collecting the figures and models for the game, at the time I couldn't care less about how the stupid Space Wolves would fit into it. They fought on the loyalist side, but were not present at the Siege of Terra so...so who cares? I assumed Leman Russ spent the war off chewing on Primarch Milk Bones or something.

With the exception of the sergeant and heavy weapon gunner, these veteran marine all carry their own chainsword because, as one does...

Enter Dan Abnett and his awesome, awesome Black Library novel "Prospero Burns". One of the most talented scribes on the Black Library roster, Abnett turns his gift to the Space Wolves and makes them not only readable, but supremely interesting! Putting aside the wolfy-wolf-wolf drivel, Abnett's portrayal of the VI Legion brings them back instead to, essentially, spooky space Vikings - happy to be thought of - and underestimated as - brooding barbarians, when in fact they are clever tacticians as well as fierce and dour fighters. This is a great book, and if you like the setting at all you should go read it!

The fellow in the middle of the front rank in the photo is carrying a flamethrower...good for cooking dinner, AND the enemies of The Emperor.

After reading Abnett's book, I was hooked, and I surprised my friends by painting up some members of the Vylka Fenryka for 30k gaming. I started with the contents of GWs "The Burning of Prospero" board game, and have been adding a few models to my small contingent of The Rout here and there in the years since. This 10-man squad is another modest set of reinforcements. This is a veteran tactical squad, with a couple of special weapons for support.

Decals on the shoulder pauldron come from the box game "The Burning of Prospero".

These plastic Space Marines in Mark III armour are just the bee's knees. GW hit the ball out of the park with this kit. I love building them and painting these figures.  With the plating, the segmented and riveted armour, they look scary and menacing, just like a good Space Marine should!

The plastic parts can fit any other plastic GW Space Marine kit out there, allowing for a number of easy possibilities to customize the figures. In the case of this submission the model with the "shark fin" style rocket launcher is using arms and a back pack from the Mark IV power armour set. Of course there is a large range of Legion-specific bits that work well with the models as well, available from Forge World. 

Pattern of markings on the shoulder pauldron denote a "Great Company"...the higher level formation this squad is attached to.

Overall my collection of VI Legion marines for 30k is still pretty small (somehow the overwhelming majority of stuff I painted fights with the Warmaster...hmmm). This submission sees my Vylka Fenryka collection grow to just 30 marines led by a single character and backed by a solitary Contemptor Dreadnought armour - enough for a very small game. As I said at the outset, however, I seem to have tumbled down the rabbit hole a bit...so we'll see what else might join my 30k collection before I get back to those Prussians...