Fighting Tiger Troops (Part II): Scout Squads
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 Tiger Scouts are young Marines in training. My army has six Scout Squads, known as Tigers of Puchan (named for the Vedic god of guides). Scout Squads fight in “assault,” “tactical,” or “devastator” mode, emulating the styles of the units the Scouts will eventually graduate to. Basic colors are Fiery Orange (or Skull White) and Chaos Black for Jatis Mahaduyana, Bubonic Brown (or Skull White) and Bestial Brown for Jatis Ghuyarashtra. 

“The Fighting Tiger Recruitment Drive”
In 2004, I decided to substantially expand my Scout collection from four squads of five Scouts each to six squads of 10 Scouts each. If desired, I can fill up the Troops allotment in a Standard Force Organization chart with nothing but Scouts. For background or “fluff” purposes, I explain that the Fighting Tigers of Veda suffered heavy casualties during the Blood Deserts of Auros IX Campaign and have launched a massive effort to increase their numbers.

“Assault” Scouts
I confess to liking close combat, so to help fulfill my craving for troops that can get “up close and personal,” I created two squads of Scouts armed with bolt pistols and close combat weapons. The Sergeant of each squad can be upgraded to a Veteran Scout Sergeant armed with a bolter-flamer.

According to the Fighting Tiger Codex, “assault” Scouts must be female, but because Games Workshop does not make female Scout figures, I was forced to look outside the Space Marine range. For a while, I considered using Escher gangers, but they didn't fit the visual concept I had for these troops. Nor was I interested in the laborious process of converting Sisters of Battle miniatures. So eventually I came across the Etoiles Mortant figures from the Warzone game.

For these figures, I applied some “lessons learned” from developing my simplified Tactical Marines and painting my Dark Eldar. I painted the bodysuits of the Ghuyarashtran Scouts in two light coats of Bestial Brown, which, when they dried, naturally produced “highlighted” areas on the edges of the suits. I then washed the bodysuits in thinned-down Chaos Black to give them some definition.

For the Mahaduyanan Scouts, I painted the bodysuits in Chaos Black, then drybrushed them with Codex Gray. I find figures in basic black to be kind of dull, so I had some fun painting their hair. As you can see in the photo below, the Sergeant gets her color from a certain red-haired commander and the Scout has probably seen the X-Men movies at least a few times.... 

One thing I tried to do with these “assault” Scouts is inject some visual diversity into my collection. Despite the fact that my army is based off Hinduism and Indian culture, I had painted all of my figures (until this point) as Caucasians. I had done so out of laziness: I had known I could paint “whites” and hadn't wanted to push my comfort zone by trying to effectively paint non-Europeans. 

Though it's not always easy to tell from the photos on this page, I experimented with various skin tones on the figures. For most of them, I used a base of Elf Flesh and darkened to various degrees with multiple layers of brown ink. For example, the complexion of the Sergeant of the Ghuyarashtran Scouts is, in my opinion, similar to that of people from East Asia. Even the “Caucasian” Scouts have darker skin tones than the rest of the figures in my army.

For the remaining “assault” Scout figures, I started with a brown basecoat and either left it as it was or further darkened it with thin washes of watered-down Chaos Black. I also gave the hair of each figure several washes (of various hues) to add more color and definition. While these figures certainly aren't Golden Demon quality, I'm still very proud of how they turned out. 

“Tactical” Scouts
When I started using Scouts in my army, I only had “devastator”-style Scouts with sniper rifles and heavy bolters. Usually, I took advantage of their long range and let them fire on enemy infantry from the safety of distance and cover. However, I found myself wanting some more mobile Scouts who could use their Infiltration ability to grab objectives or engage the enemy in close-range firefights. I needed some Scouts who could act like Tactical Marines. 

As part of a promotion, I received some free VOID minis from a company that was then i-Kore. The quality of the figures was pretty good, and I thought the VASA Marines (below) would make excellent Scouts. 

Bear in mind that you won’t be allowed to use non-GW figures in a GW-sponsored event such as a Grand Tournament, where GW is well within its rights to exclude competitors’ products. If (like me) you don’t participate in a lot of GW events, you have little to lose.

What I like about these figures are the dynamic poses, the weapons (which I count as bolters) and the helmets—why the heck don’t GW Scouts wear helmets? To make them look more like my other Scouts, I gave each figure shoulder pads (courtesy of some green putty) and did a few other conversions. 

Many Fighting Tiger squads are led by a Veteran Sergeant (usually bearing some cool wargear). To continue this with my new Scout Squads, I took a figure from each unit and added a few bits to his rifle, transforming it into a bolter-flamer (see above right). I’ve found bolter-flamers to be invaluable additions to my Tactical Marines, and I wanted to use them with my “tactical” Scouts as well.

The most involved conversion I did was for each squad’s heavy weapon. The free figures I received included this fellow at right, armed with what could easily be an assault cannon—alas, Scouts aren’t allowed assault cannons. So what to make of this weapon? 

Photo © Copyright i-Kore Ltd. 2001

I’ve always liked missile launchers, from way back in the “Rogue Trader” days when I started playing. I snipped off the end of the weapon, cut down a plastic lascannon barrel (left over from my Land Raider Crusader kit) and glued it on. I used a fin from a spare H-K missile as a sight, widened the mouth of the barrel, et voila! An easy and very effective conversion (below).

As I was adding more “tactical” Scouts as part of the Fighting Tiger Recruitment Drive, I touched up the old figures and put a better effort into painting the new ones. You can see some examples below. The new figures have highlighting and better definition. They’re still not going to win any prizes, but they’re improved.

The Scouts were easy to paint and I think they fit in well with the rest of my Tigers. Take a look at the entries for “tactical” Scouts in the Army List and Tactics. 

“Devastator” Scouts
I used straight-up Games Workshop figures for my “devastator” Scouts. The most notable feature about these Scouts is their capes, the outsides of which are painted in tiger stripes.

Just like my “tactical” Scouts, I added more “devastators” as part of the Fighting Tiger Recruitment Drive. These, too, benefited from highlighting and better definition (see below).

 
 
 

Next page (pg 7): Transports, Part I Previous page (pg 5): Troops, Part I

Related Pages
Fighting Tiger Troops
Tactics: Fighting Tiger Troops
 

Last updated: November 2004

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