I have found an image I remember seeing some time ago and was wondering if anyone can identify the chapter of the marine labelled "field police" in this image below or is it like a remember a specific badge for field police and they have no chapter as such in the old RT fluff:
I am looking for an excuse to paint some to accompany my inquisitor. Thinking about how to incorperate them in to a force and the other way I might get round it is do them all like that and then just pick out a chapter symbol on their knee pads. its an old odd bit of fluff but I like the idea that on campaigns a small number of marines get seconded to the police to assist with control etc.
Any info on the badge or thoughts on the idea would be great.
cheers
I have the original book so I went and looked (As it is much clearer). The Field Police seem to be a red helmet with the black and yellow stripe (as shown on the bottom right corner). Other than that the Shoulder and back banner appear to be the Field Police Symbol. Much like the Chaplain and Medic. I always took it to be a black armoured chapter such as the Dark Angels, Flesh Tearers or Iron Hands.
ReplyDeleteI cant find any other reference to them in the original book or any subsequent editions.
Anurien
Forgot to mention, the helms at the bottom are Crimson Fists (hence I think the helm is red/striped and its fom a black armoured Chapter). Also its an interesting idea for Horus Heresy era armies. I think I might refer to this and the Space marine Painting guide from the paint set.
ReplyDeleteAnurien
Good question, I never paid much attention to that part of the image. I'd love to hear the answer if anyone has one.
ReplyDeleteField Police would be analogous to today's military police.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to have specific duties involving maintaining disipline within military installations, they are also tasked with rear area security, and assist with movement control within the rear area.
I did not play during RT, but as I have read, the idea of independant chapters was still a bit hazy at that time.
To bring the idea of field police into a heresy era legion as currently envisioned would likely see the folllowing:
-Each Legion would have thier own field police that were part of the legion's command structure.
-Their primary duties would se them interact with support and Imperial Army units in a supervisiory role, such that they would probably have a more condesending attitude than most of the units they supervised.
-While they might be authorized to direct other Space Marines on which route and time they are to use, most other SPace Marines would probably hold them in contempt and terms like sheepherder and nursemaid might be common terms for them.
-As they might be also tasked with investigating and reporting on violations of Imperial and Legion regulations, they also might fulfill some of the role of an Imperial Guard Commissar.
-What we read from the Heresy series does not lead us to believe that such matters as listed above are truley handled by any Space Marine, and that technology and the Imperial Army have replaced many of thier traditional roles.
There is nothing to support a force that was outside the legions that had any authority, in fact there is much to show that commanders and fellow Space Marines are the only ones to have any authority or ability to "police" the legions.
I think that maybe after the Heresy, one could find Marines from other chapters seconded to a Field Police (much like the deathwatch) to keep an eye on Chapter's who have transgressed, like some from the Badab War who may not have been declared traitors, but whom the high lords wish to keep an eye on.
Hope that helps!
Second what Anurien said. Those bits of heraldry are the only reference I remember to the Field Police. Presumably a specialist role like Chaplain, etc. I imagine that any marine-policing ideas were rolled into the Chaplains and it was decided that civilian-policing wasn't a job for Space Marines.
ReplyDeleteAnother old-timer here :-) like Anurien and sonsoftaurus said, but there's one other panel that has the same helmet markings as the colour panel on p155. I'd always assumed the full medic and field police were Dark Angels (but only because that the first chapter shown), the heads were Crimon Fists. FPs had disappeared by the time the Compendium came out, if they ever appeared after RT.
ReplyDeleteIf the RT is to be believed, they would have come under the Librarium if security was their prime function. Back then the Space Marines were a lot closer to a regular army, and a lot more human. I think sonsoftaurus has part of it saying some ideas were rolled into chaplains, though I suspect there were two other factors - they didn't do anything special and MPs are not front line troops, so as 40k matured away from roleplaying they faded into the background.
My take on it was always that they were MPs. I'm not sure taking them out of a chapter makes sense, since in the newer fluff that only happens with the Death Watch, and they move from being commanded by a chapter to the inquisition.
On the other hand, the idea that some marines function as MPs (under, say, the Chapliancy, but not training to be Chaplains), in charge of logisitics and security, then they could easily be part of an Inquisitorial retinue since they are marines first. Whole squads from high-number companies could be taken if you want a bunch of them, or single marines within squads for only a few. For the later, you could have a back story where a mixed chapter assembly point had an Inquisitor sweep through and grab a bunch of FPs. Doesn't quite give them the awesomeness of the DW though (I have a soft spot for the humble marine).
thanks for all the comments guys, i like a combination of the ideas as a draft bashing the following:
ReplyDelete# they are part of an inquisitors retinue just after the HH.
# they are a force formed from the stalwart legions (fists and smurfs or any others you can think to use) to monitor the breaking up of the legions
# they are used as high level support and policing in campaigns and chasing down fallen legions - hence working with a DH inq
i think that kind of pulls on the ideas and mixes it in to a semi-modern twist. now all i need to do is find someone willing to swap the legs from their mkIVs for a set of legs from the mkVI corvus armours :)