Elites

Terminators

Terminators make up the bulk of my elite force. I originally collected them because, well, they’re tough as hell. Also, much of my tactical thinking has to do with defeating vehicles, since I didn’t have any. As such, terminators with chainfists seemed like good can-openers and having studied the effect of battle hammers in the second edition, I knew I needed a couple of those boys.

I couldn’t bring myself to paint these guys the same color purple as I had with my 90+ other marines. I found a burgundy acrylic and a complimentary darker shade at a craft store and then went to town on a boxed set of them.

They were really lots of fun to paint. I found an outstanding acrylic enamel gold for the details which shines better than any gold I’ve ever used. I played around with adding uniqueness to each of the models. I attached a tube to the back of one of them to accept a flag.

Some of the Latin quotes you'll see on these terminators include "Honor" - honor, "pietas" - piety, and "Necabo Te" - I will kill you.

The regular Terminators are designated with the scythe in under the gold Centurion C. The Librarians with their psycher hoods are designated with a torch under the C.

I have a bunch of plastic Terminators left over from Tyranid Attack, which I bought for the Tyranid figures. I also have several pewter one still in blisters. I’ll probably give the plastics to my kids and maybe, eventually, add a couple of Lightning Claw Termies to the ranks of the Centurions.

I can't remember ever actually playing with these guys in a real game. They came late in my marine collection. When I play marines again, however, I guarantee they'll find a happy place in my army roles.

Dreadnoughts

Booger

My original dreadnought is very old and very different from the later design. The second I bought him, way back in the day, I immediately gave him the name "Booger." I named him that because he's the ugliest figure that Games Workshop put out for a while. It's a first edition Dreadnought. It was the only show in town when I bought him, but shortly after I found him, and painted him, Games Workshop introduced the large ungainly boxy dreadnought which lumbers around the battlefield today. I own one of those first boxy Dreads too. I’ve assembled it and doubtlessly when I paint Marines again, it’ll be an early target.

Booger, in the meantime will suffice. I’m actually very proud of him. I feel that my work on him saved a nearly hopeless figure. From his snarly teeth to unidentifiable heavy weapon to his battle damage and painted gems, he’s one of my best early figures. In terms of tactics, I think Booger has an edge on other dreadnoughts because he’s smaller and can more easily hide behind things while still being a dreadnought. In a Games Workshop tournament (if I ever play such a thing), they’d have to let him in, because, well, he IS a Games Workshop piece.

Pug

I had Booger . He’s a fine albeit old piece of Centurion armor. Way back in the day - so far back I can’t remember (which means anything from a month to 30 years) I picked up another dread. Then later Caius wanted one. He saved up his money and he bought one of the last all pewter dreadnoughts our local hobby shop had. It was just about the time they were coming in plastic. When we got it home, Caius noticed that his dreadnought didn’t have the multi-melta mine did. It had an assault cannon and we both don’t understand what’s so cool about a dumb assault cannon, I mean twin linked heavy bolters are cheaper, don’t jam and you get to re-roll misses, I mean really, what’s the point? So, dad that I am, I traded him my unbuilt dread for his unbuilt dread and he built his dread and I didn’t.

Years later, I can’t remember how long (see above), I thought I’d build mine. However, as you may know, I didn’t care too much for the assault cannon it came with. I found that for a small fortune, I could buy a tiny bit of resin that passed for a Plasma Cannon from Game’s Workshop’s equally evil twin, Forgeworld. Out came the plastic and some time later I got the resin, which I put in the box with the dreadnought and put on the shelf and forgot about for some time (see above again)

Then came another time and since I was painting all kind of purple armor pieces (see whirlwind and razorback), I thought I’d through this boxy dreadnought into the mix. Although I really didn’t like the assault cannon, I like options. I didn’t have the will to buy the twin linked heavy bolters from evil Forgeworld and wanted to have an anti-personnel option for the beast. Using an idea I got from Eldar Online, I picked up some Rare Earth magnets from radio shack and concocted a diabolic plan.

Rare Earth magnets are tiny very powerful magnets. They were strong enough to hold a pewter arm in place on the dreadnought. All I had to do was cut away the support peg on the side of the model and mount a magnet there. Then cut a deeper hole in the arm and I’d be able to switch out the assault cannon for the plasma cannon at will! Bwa ha ha ha ! Just for good measure I used the same technique on the powerfist/storm bolter arm! Bwa ha ha ha ha! Maybe one day I’ll have a replacement arm for that side, but for now, if (oh, and I mean IF) the dreadnought is ever wounded and loses a weapon, I can just pluck it off, cool as cool. I also arranged the magnets so as to make it impossible to mount the wrong arm on the wrong side - the magnets repel the offending limb as if commanded to do so! Bwa ha ha ha ha ha!

Painting was straightforward - I didn’t have to make many color decisions which usually means a quick job, but it took forever. I made the mistake of just not finishing one piece but kept jumping between the parts, never actually getting anything done. I was trying to do a nice job, but it seemed I spent the whole time cleaning brushes. I dunno, it took me a week of work to paint it.

I made a banner on the old Macintosh, sealed it with lacquer and painted white glue on it to give it some rigidity. The text ?In Morti Pugno? is Latin for In death, I fight. This motto and the ugliness of the piece inspired the figure’s name: Pug.

No longer will the Centurions be laughed at because the dreadnought melting enemy tanks into slag is first edition Booger. Now they’ll be cheered because they have Pug, a cool and versatile 3rd edition behemoth dreadnought annihilating countless enemy souls with balls of hot green plasma energy, or overrated assault bullets splattering spleens onto the local flora and fauna. Bwa ha ha!

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