Evolution of a Commander - Part I

Posted by gbprime on 2. May 2009 01:33

Summer, 990.M02.  (That's way back in 1990 for most of us.)  Having been introduced to Epic scale 40K, my college friends convince me that to REALLY enjoy the hobby, I should get into the 28mm scale Warhammer 40K as well.  Turns out, they were right.  (Rob Elrick, wherever you are, I blame you for draining my bank account over the years in all the steady tithing to Games Workshop I have done since then.)

With a borrowed copy of the 2nd Edition "Black Codex" rules, I set out to create a Space Marine chapter.  Rhinos are $15 for a box of three, but the plastic beaky marine sets have just gone out of print.  So instead, I buy a box of Space Rangers minis for my first units of tactical and devastator marines.  My painting skills are terrible, but I managed one decent model, an olive and yellow sergeant with a distinctive letter Q on his chest.  He's the prettiest, he's in charge.  So while he leads Q squad, this Veteran Sergeant is also in charge of R and S squads.  I name him Qalsone.  (call-SOWN)

For the next two years, Sergeant Qalsone leads his tactical squads against the worst my local gaming group can dish out.  In the vast, futuristic wasteland that was the Craddock house's kitchen and garage, he and his men faced down Howling Banshees, genestealer cults, Goff and Deathskull ork clans, chaos marines of tzeentch, and even Squat warrior brotherhoods.  Though the men he led often paid with their lives, Qalsone himself never died, his Refractor Field and Stasis Grenade were always just enough to keep him alive.

Thirty-seven consecutive games he survived, clearly blessed by the Emperor himself.  The time had come for Qalsone to be promoted, and a two-wound lieutenant he became.  He pioneered the new paint scheme that my Distant Sons marines would carry into the future as the game headed into it's 3rd edition, and he often assumed command of numerous squads of the newly minted 3rd Company.  As armies got bigger and the stomping of Titans' feet could now be felt, grander things were soon to come...