Far Corfe: Marines Penitent

A squad of Marines Penitent shows no qualms when it comes to using extreme force to suppress civil unrest and gang violence in Far Corfe...

Everyone in the hobby that's flirted with GW has gone through their Space Marine phase, and some people never come out of it. But I thought I'd well and truly gotten over mine a couple of years back when I started to be more interested in smaller and more grimy areas of the Grimdark. But the exception seems to be old-school Marines, as there's just something so wonky and charming about them when compared t something like a modern Primaris. So when the chance to get my hands on an entirely new sculpt came along, I was champing at the bit to put my name down. 

"Oi, he just shot Dave in the face!"

The model in question was inspired by the chap happily slaughtering filthy scum in this classic illustration that came along with the original Confrontation game, the predecessor to what we now know as Necromunda. And though it's never specifically stated that the guy in power armour is actually a Marine, it's my mini, and so I thought fuck it.

I raised him up so that I wouldn't get questions about the tactical validity of shooting foes below the knees and went to town on his base a little more than I would with an average mini. I see him as a grizzled, no-nonsense sergeant that shoots first and worries about shit like guilt and accountability later, or more likely never.

In the past I'd gone for elaborate colour schemes for my marines, but now the pendulum seems to have swung the other way, and I have the Marines Penitent to show for it. Just black-grey armour and no actual chapter iconography, signifying that the entire lot of them are on a mission to atone, but no one can actually remember what for or when they'll have made up for it.

I wanted to show this guy off on here, but then I got to thinking that the original bloke in the image always looked a bit lonely (and most likely got mobbed and killed by all those scummy wretches surrounding him too). And so I broke out some other suitably old-school minis that had been sitting on the shelf waiting to be painted, and used them to make him a posse.

The guy on the right is a genuine, 100% bona fide RTB01 marine, but the one on the left was one of the Festive Marines that GW put out back in the day as a tongue-in-cheek release. Unfortunately, his legs had been hacked off below the knees when I got him, and so I cut him in half at the waist and gave him some RTB01 legs as replacements, which I think give the mini a more serious and less comical aspect.

Much as I love the Marines from this era, there are some that even I can't defend, and the guy on the left was one of them, with a crap hand weapon and a shitty power sword in his other hand, until I removed them both, giving him a bolter and an RTB01 arm instead. The guy on the right has one of those hand-held devices from the era that are utterly impossible to identify, and will probably just end up being defined as whatever the game he's involved in needs him to be carrying.

The chap on the left here is pretty sensible, in that he's got a bolter and a chainsword as well as some augmetics too. But the Marine on the right is a good example of the crazy weapon combos that you could actually find on one-piece minis back in the day, specifically a plasma gun and a hand-flamer!

Last of all we have four Marines from the Armour Through the Ages box that GW put out a good few years back now. I lost track of where these guys were for a while, and only rediscovered them a week or two ago. Their older style of Power Armour fits in well with the overall theme of the Marines Penitent being constantly on the move and repairing what they already have, rather than being resupplied and possessing the latest in arms and armour.

So there you have it, a brief glimpse into the world of my very own Space Marine chapter.

As always, let me know what you think, either here or on social media.