30K-40K: Space Marines Had Cops!
Let’s go back over 30 years when the mighty Space Marines had police to keep them in line – and maybe still do.
Once upon a time in 1987 Space Marines were young. GW was roughing out their basic concepts, chapters and background. Rogue Trader had this seminal image that kicked off the whole thing:
Most of the original chapters who would go down through the ages like the (black) Dark Angels and Space Wolves were there. Some became evolutionary dead ends like the Rainbow Warriors, rarely heard of again. Still there was a lot of 1980s weirdness on this page like this:
See that guy over on the left? Field Police? WTF? Space Marines are utterly loyal super soldiers with iron discipline. Why on Terra would they need MPs? In any case remember that logo up there.
Fast forward three decades years to the Forge World book – INFERNO. Feast your eyes on this:
Recognise that shoulderpad symbol? “Field Overseer Militant Authority” sounds a whole lot like Field Police to me. Even more interesting is the tale of the Molorian Revolt which tells a story very much at odds with the cold professional killers mystique we associate with marines. It appears that at least at the very early origin of the Legions, marines were still very much individuals and could get carried away in the field – hence the Field Police. It is noted that the two legions with the most of these personnel were the VIth (Space Wolves) and the XIIth (World Eaters).
It’s another very cool little asterisk to the tale of marines and maybe a cool way to mark out a single model in your 30K army. Heck if you have one of the 40K armies that you think represents the type of soldiers who might get carried away from time to time – why not throw in a model just for a great talking point. I’m looking at you Blood Drinkers and Space Sharks!
~If anyone paints some up – we NEED pics. What current day Chapters do you think might still use Field Police?
