SHOWCASE: Space Marine Sargents

The battlefield leaders of The Sons of Titan.

I decided to put together a showcase that was not just a single, recent model, but a photo editorial of the Sargents I have painted over the years for my chapter, The Sons of Titan. I present to you, the squad leaders in the chronologial order in which they were painted.

Tactical Sgt. Octavius (March 2012)
The first Sgt. I painted (and one of the first Warhammer models I ever painted), this model was included in the Assault on Black Reach started set. I learned a lot about washes and highlighting while painting him. Because he's a slug figure, the pose is pretty terrible, but the details are nice, and he's proudly suffered through many brutal battles with the Orks that came in the set.

Terminator Sgt. Cassius (April 2012)
He was the second terminator I painted from the AoBR set. I've since gone back and touched up the highlights on his armor and repainted the blue on his plates to match the rest of my army more closely once I switched to Vallejo paints. His deep striking ability is a bit uncanny, and in all the games he's been fielded, has only mishapped once.

Assault Sgt. Vyse (July 2012)
One of the first marines I painted using an airbrush to base coat. Like the rest of his squad, he's mounted on a clear acrylic rod to portray him mid-jump. I'm quite proud of the way his face turned out, and his arm is magnetized to allow for either the power axe or sword. His luck is quite terrible though, and his unit often suffers heavy casualties. Once, while jumping OUT of a ruined building, 8 out of 10 marines rolled a failure on the terrain test. Six of them died.

Scout Sgt. Hawks (August 2012)
Unfortunately (or fortunately, given his superior's abilities and wisdom) Hawks is often replaced in the squad by Sgt. Telion. However, he is not without his own valor. Hawks was once the sole survivor of a building collapse that crushed his squad. Unfazed, he erupted from the rubble and charged the attacking squad, managing a close combat kill before being overcome by superior numbers.

Devastator Sgt. Argus (September 2012)
I enjoyed building and painting the entire devastator squad, but Argus was a highlight. On a technical level, my faces were already improving markedly by this point. Argus is a true Sgt. to his squad, and leads by example, often standing in front of his squad to absorb enemy fire, knowing that the lives of his weapons experts are more important than his own. And despite having his trusty bolter, he often foregoes its use to support his marines with his signum link.

Devastator Sgt. Krieger (December 2013)
I quickly learned that I needed plenty of heavy firepower to compete in my local metagame. Using the extra weapons from my previous devastator squad, I built an additional Sgt. I didn't have another signum link, so I decided to use an auspex from my bits box, along with a scoped pistol. After more than a year of painting heads and faces, I think the highlights and details on this Sgt. turned out well.

Tactical Sgt. Tiberius (March 2014)
Having purchased a battleforce on craigslist for a criminally low price, I completed Sgt. Tiberius along with his tactical squad and fulfilled something I'd wanted to do for a long time -  build a completely overpriced Sgt. that looked badass. Tiberius has a flowing tabbard, a hip slung meltabomb and wields two plasma pistols, John Woo style. I used the unique chest armor with the gorget and the half cyborg face to portray someone who has both paid the price of using plasma weapons, and has prepared for the worst they can do.

Finally, the fearless Sargents of The Sons of Titan face off against innumerable odds.

-trip