Crimson Fists Tactical Squad with vintage minis

After another hiatus from blogging I thought I'd show you my most recent paint job... these Crimson Fists are assembled from a motley crew of vintage metal Space Marines and painted to my normal spec Crimson Fists paint scheme that is visible elsewhere on this blog.  I haven't painted much in the last 18 months as my hobby stuff has been packed away in a loft after a succession of house moves,  life keeps getting in the way of the Emperors work, Gah!!

The minis in this squad cover a range of eras, with the smaller looking 'Aquila' Armour guys actually being the first next gen marines that were released in something like 1992.  They were initially available as a boxed set of 15 bolter armed marines called the 'Strike Force', the other figures include some old Blood Angels and cetre stage in the bottom row is a Mk8 Mentor Armoured marine, now that too is a pretty old figure but it's a nice example of Jes Goodwin's exemplary sculpting technique when Games Workshop started going from the standard 28mm scale to the more familiar 28mm' Heroic' scale.  I love the pose on the Mentor armoured marine, he's giving out some tough vibes for sure.

I remember when this boxed set came out (yes I am a wizened veteran) and for my birthday I had the choice between this box and the Terminator boxed set, in the end I went for the Terminators because I already had something like four squads of beakies painted up as Blood Angels by then, but it reminds me of how back then everyone who collected marines had a hotch potch of different minis sculpted in many different styles.  While at the time it was frustrating, it also looked pretty cool, as up to 2nd Edition Warhammer 40k everything tended to have a more anarchic look and feel.