Fighting Tiger Fast Attack
Unlike Codex Astartes Chapters (such as the Ultramarines), the Fighting Tigers do not organize themselves into companies. Instead, the Tigers divide themselves into two castes, or jatis, one based on each of Veda’s continents, Mahaduyana and Ghuyarashtra. Each jatis is identical in size (about 500 Marines, plus attendants) and organization. Each jatis takes its name from its home continent and its markings from the tigers found there.

Fighting Tigers who make up Land Speeder crews are Tigers of Rudra; Rudra is the Vedic god of battles. Fighting Tigers who make up Assault Squads or Bike/Attack Bike Squadrons are Tigers of Kali; Kali is the Vedic goddess of death. 

Because Jatis Ghuyarashtra has traditionally emphasized speed over strength, 6 of my 9 Fast Attack units are assigned to them. Basic colors are Skull White (or Bubonic Brown) and Bestial Brown for Jatis Ghuyarashtra, Skull White (or Fiery Orange) and Chaos Black for Jatis Mahaduyana.

Tigers of Rudra (Land Speeder Tornadoes)
For many years, I used regular Land Speeders with either heavy bolters or multi-meltas. After the 4th Edition rules gave "Rending" to the assault cannon and the latest Codex: Space Marines allowed players to take squadrons of Tornadoes (previously, one could not), I had little hesitation about converting my Speeders. I also had the opportunity to purchase some old pewter models from friends. Now my army has 10 Land Speeder Tornadoes, each armed with a heavy bolter and an assault cannon.

As I converted the old models and built the new ones, I addressed a long-time problem I've had: namely, that the plastic spindles Games Workshop supplied with the metal models were woefully inadequate. I've lost track of how many times those spindles broke either in transport or during a game. Almost always, the spindle snapped where I had glued it to the model, leaving a hunk of plastic in the hole at the bottom of the vehicle. This was very difficult to repair, and repairs rarely lasted very long.

The solution I decided on was to replace the plastic spindles with metal dowel pins I found at my local hardware store. Each one was very inexpensive, perhaps as much as 35¢ each. To mount the models even more securely, I enlarged the holes in the plastic bases, sank the dowel pins into the hole, and epoxied them (because epoxy rocks and superglue sucks). Similarly, I enlarged the mounting hole at the bottom of each Speeder, and epoxied the other end of the pin there. If a model comes off its base now, it will only be because the epoxy seal was broken, not because the spindle broke: that's much less likely to happen, and much easier to fix than the situation before.

Before I began this project, I had six already-completed Speeders. I removed the multi-meltas, kept the heavy bolters, and mounted the assault cannon bitz that I purchased through the Games Workshop online store. The other four Tornadoes were the original pewter Ravenwing Speeders from the mid-1990's. I assembled those with epoxy and organized my models into four squadrons.

The first squadron is the "Flying Tigers," named after the famous WWII unit. The squadron consists of three Tornadoes, one of which was the very first Land Speeder I ever built, back in the 1990's. The heavy bolter is a converted big shoota from an Ork Wartrukk. For a long time, the pilot held a "Flying Tiger" banner (see below), whose emblem I made by combining two transfers (a Tiger Claw insignia and half of a Dark Angel insignia) from a sheet that came with the original Land Raider box set, back in 1989. As I converted the model, I removed the banner, as it was falling apart. 

The other two Speeders are Ravenwing Tornado models I built and painted in the summer of 2007. The fellow who had owned these models before me had snipped off one of the Dark Angel "gargoyles" on the canopy of the Speeder: I clipped off the sword of the other one, painted it Boltgun Metal, and it makes a decent "angel" figure. Building and painting four new Speeders was so much of a hassle that I vetoed adding more work by trying to get rid of the Dark Angel symbols. 

This squadron almost always make me think of the "One of These Things Is Not Like the Others" song from Sesame Street. The new models have a lighter shade of Fiery Orange, the difference between paints purchased during the Reagan administration and those purchased in the 21st Century. The two new ones use the "less is more" attitude that I've developed lately regarding tiger stripes on vehicles (you can see some vivid examples of that here).

The next squadron is "Fighting Tigers 2," which, appropriately, has two members. These are current, plastic Land Speeders who still have their plastic spindles because they've never given me any problems. You'll note that these models are mounted very low to the tabletop, which not only looks cool (I think), but also helps keep them from falling over. 

Next up are the Tornadoes of the "Tiger Shark" squadron, of Jatis Ghuyarashtra, each bearing a "shark mouth" design like the original, WWII Flying Tigers. One of them (the first one I ever did for this squadron) has a big fin on its back (taken from the tailpiece of a plastic F-14 Tomcat model). The shark emblem is from the original Land Raider transfer sheet (see below). Again, these are models I built a loooong time ago. I did the one with the fin back in the early 1990's and added the other two in 1998 when the 3rd Edition rules came out.

Finally, I have two Ravenwing Speeders that form the "Tigers Maruti" (or, roughly, "Tigers of the Wind") squadron. Like the two new members of the "Flying Tiger" squadron, I painted these with the "less is more" principle regarding the number of stripes, and because they're in their own squadron, it's not quite as noticeable. While they're no works of art, I think they're much better than the "Tiger Sharks," mostly because by now, I've learned to stop slapping paint on quite so thickly.... 

Tigers of Kali (Assault Squads)
All of my Assault Marines are female (and yes, I do think female Marines belong in the game). The brown Marines below were made many years ago (probably the early '90's) using plastic RTB01 figures. The original brown I used was a mixture of Bestial Brown with Chaos Black. When I went back many years later to touch up the figures, I drybrushed them with straight Bestial Brown. Weapons are Chaos Black and Dwarf Bronze.

For the one below, I used a head from a metal fantasy miniature. All the jump packs are metal, by the way, and are so heavy that they have the tendency to pull the figures over. I've glued nickels onto the bottom of the bases to help stand them up, but it doesn't always help. 

The Veteran Sergeants you see in the photos immediately above and below were converted using Necromunda Escher ganger heads. The top one uses an RTB01 torso, arms, and legs from the first series of plastic Marines ever issued (back in 1987). The bionic leg is from an old Voltron toy.

The bottom Vet Sergeant uses a plastic torso and legs from a basic 3rd Edition figure, and arms and weapons from the 2nd Edition Assault Marine sprue. In both cases, the noses and mouths have been replaced by metallic osmotic gills and nasty-looking scars: these girls have been around the block a few times. I painted the hair Bubonic Brown and washed it with Flesh Wash. Just for a slightly different look, I drybrushed Skull White over the hair of the Vet in the brown armor, but I dare you to make any "blonde" jokes to her face....

The next batch of figures are Tigers of Kali from Jatis Mahaduyana. Armor is Chaos Black, drybrushed with Codex Grey. Weapons are Boltgun Metal. Like the brown ones, these are old miniatures using RTB01 parts, and more than once I've seriously considered retiring them and collecting new Assault Marines. I have 20 in my collection, however, and replacing them would be expensive (about $100 at the time of this writing), time-consuming, and would violate Tip #6 of my own advice on painting. 

You will notice in the photo below that I again used a non-GW figure for the head; why did I do that? At the time (early 1990's, remember), GW did not have many female figures (most of them were Sisters of Battle), and the ones they had were too expensive for me to buy and hack up for conversions. 

Tigers of Kali (Bikes and Attack Bikes)
All of my Bike and Attack Bikes belong to Jatis Ghuyarashtra. The brown in these photos is straight Bestial Brown, much lighter than the mixture I made for the Assault Marines.

Next page (pg 10): Heavy Support, Part I Previous page (pg 8): Transports, Part II

Related Pages
Fighting Tiger Fast Attack
Tactics: Fighting Tiger Fast Attack

Originally posted April 2000. Updated December 2007 

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