Warhammer 40,000 – Space Marine Scouts

Following our look at the Space Marine Terminators for a 2nd edition project, we continue the series with another unit that defined the era: the Space Marine Scouts. Less celebrated than their Terminator-armoured brothers, they were nevertheless a staple of any 2nd edition Space Marine army and a unit with a more convoluted release history than most people remember.

To bring you up to speed on what that means in design terms, this artwork by Dave Gallagher for the Tyranid Attack rulebook, a supplement for Advanced Space Crusade, shows the very distinct and rather different design with which Space Marine Scouts entered the world of Warhammer 40,000.

As with the Terminator article, this one focuses on identifying and sourcing the right miniatures for an era-appropriate project. How to implement them in the Imperial Fists will follow in a separate article.

The Rogue Trader Scouts

The first Space Marine Scouts appeared during the Rogue Trader era, around 1987–1989. They are immediately recognisable, and not especially grimdark by modern standards. The sculpts feature the infamous puffed sleeves, which fit the Landsknecht design of the Warhammer Fantasy Empire but somehow do not really suit the stealthy infiltrators described in the lore.

In Warhammer 40,000, those warriors who make it into the ranks of a Space Marine Chapter's initiates must undergo a long process before becoming Astartes. As part of their training and transformation, these young warriors, not yet fully transformed into Space Marines, hold the rank of Scouts and fight in the 10th Company until they fully earn the rank of Space Marine. Of course, several Chapters differ from the Codex Astartes and organise their Scout companies differently. The Space Wolves are a good example, as their Wolf Scouts are elite reconnaissance troops rather than young aspirants.

The Rogue Trader era produced various Space Marine Scout sculpts, not only with puffed sleeves but also with a colourful assortment of weaponry. In the period before Warhammer 40,000 2nd edition, factions had much wider weapon options. A Space Marine armed with a Shuriken Catapult was therefore possible: odd from a later perspective, perhaps, but not unusual at the time. These miniatures were sculpted by Mark Copplestone, who is still sculpting miniatures today.

There were 12 distinct Scout poses, as well as a simple mono-pose plastic miniature introduced with Advanced Space Crusade. It featured a Scout body with the choice of either a bolt pistol or a shoulder-mounted heavy bolter. The second picture shows the set from the Bryan Ansell Collection, which I assume to be the original studio-painted miniatures for the board game.

The Space Wolves Scouts - A new beginning and the real starting point

Here is where the Scout release history gets interesting. When Games Workshop relaunched the Space Marine range for 2nd edition, the Space Wolves were the first army out of the gate and with them came three Sergeant poses for Space Wolf Scouts, released around 1993, sculpted by Jes Goodwin. These are proper 2nd edition sculpts in terms of design language and quality, predating the generic Scout range by several years. Matching this redesign there was new artwork, for example this stunning Wolf Scout drawn by the talented Mark Gibbons.

The Space Wolves Scouts are characterised by the same chapter-specific details seen across the Wolves range of the period: wolf skulls, pelts, and runes worked into the armour and equipment. The Sergeant poses are distinct from anything in the later generic range and not easily mistaken for other sculpts. The sculpts come with a small backpack, which is often missing. I have seen the third pose being used for Necromunda bounty hunters, more than a few times, as he is very close to the DC Character Lobo.

The Space Wolves Scouts would receive an update in 3rd edition, but more on that further below.

The Generic Space Marine Scouts

But for our project we want to look into the Space Marine Scouts of the 2nd edition of Warhammer 40,000. Based on this new design, closer to power armour and without the puffy sleeves, "generic" Scouts were released and arrived relatively late to the party: 1997 and 1998, towards the end of the edition's lifespan. Some poses and options (Bolters and Shotguns) were released in 1999 and are as such 3rd edition, but that is less of a problem, as it only affects the purists and they mix well with each other.

The release covered several different configurations:

• Scout Squad box (five miniatures box set) – the full squad, incl. a Sergeant. Priced at 45 DM for five miniatures in 1997 [~38,50 EUR incl. inflation].
• Scout Sergeant (single blister) – 4 GBP / 15 DM [12,85 EUR incl. inflation].
• Scout with Heavy Bolter (single blister) – 4 GBP / 16 DM [13,70 EUR incl. inflation].
• Scouts (three miniatures blister) – 5 GBP / 23 DM [19,70 EUR incl. inflation].
• Scouts with Needle Sniper Rifle (three miniatures blister) – 5 GBP / 23 DM [19,70 EUR incl. inflation].

The initial release in September 1997 covered the squad box and a month later you got the option for individual sculpts in blisters, as mentioned above. You can look into the UK/US White Dwarf issues 213 to 215 for more pictures of the release (incl. paint jobs for the other chapters). Later, with the addition of further sculpts, the blisters were mixed / repacked, for example you got Scouts with Special Weapons (mixed with the shotgun for example) instead of just purely needle sniper rifles.

The weapon variety is notable: by the end of 2nd edition, you could build a Scout unit with bolters, sniper rifles, shotguns, a heavy bolter, and a combat-equipped sergeant. The full scout weapon range was available in metal (with some exceptions towards the Sergeant, as he had access to the Assault Weapon section as well), which is not always the case with units from this period. A single Scout in each squad could select a Special or Heavy Weapon from Codex: Ultramarines. Not all of those choices received dedicated Scout sculpts, however. Suitable donor parts can be found among Necromunda specialists or Imperial Guard soldiers, whose weapons are a good match in both size and style. For example the Heavy Stubber from House Orlock or Goliath, special weapons like flamers or melta guns could be sourced from Imperial Guard soldiers.

In 3rd edition a character model of a Scout Sergeant was released; Sgt. Naaman of the Dark Angels (he was introduced with the Dark Angels Codex, not with the regular Space Marine Codex).

This is another sculpt in the style of the regular metal poses of the 2nd edition and because the miniature does not feature any Dark Angel iconography, could be used for other armies as well without the need of conversion. For example if you want to play a second Scout Squad and want to use a different pose for the sergeant.

Updates and Replacements 

In the early 2000s the chapter-specific Space Wolf Scouts got an update in two design batches. The first were three sculpts (in the bottom line) of more feral-looking models, and then another set of 8 different poses closer to the ones from the late 2nd / early 3rd edition. Wolf Scouts count as Elite choices in Space Wolves armies and therefore have different options than the regular Space Marine Scouts. In terms of identification of scout miniatures, these are the only other metal (regular) scout models, as later releases were plastic.

In 4th and 5th edition plastic kits replaced the metal sculpts. The first set in 2005 was Space Marine Scouts that could be armed either with Bolters, Shotguns or Bolt Pistol and Knives, and a Heavy Bolter, led by a Sergeant with bolt pistol and chainsword. A second box set was added in 2006, Space Marine Scouts with Sniper Rifles, giving the scouts access to cloaks and sniper rifles, as well as a rocket launcher as a heavy weapon. While the Space Wolf Scouts metal miniatures were available through mail order for quite a long time, the Wolf Scouts were usually built from the generic plastic kit with parts of the (Firstborn) Space Wolves Grey Hunters boxed set (two plastic sprues with a lot of parts to convert your regular plastic Space Marines into Space Wolves, could be used for multiple units), which had head and weapon options for Wolf Scouts as well.

The plastic kits made conversions and additional weapon options much easier. Around 5th edition, I converted plastic Scouts using shaved-down Space Marine helmets and gave the Sergeant a skull helmet from the Chaos Space Marine sprues. That was long before the Reivers adopted a similar look.

With the 5th edition another Scout character was introduced, Scout Sergeant Torias Telion of the Ultramarines. Unlike Sgt. Naaman he features Ultramarine iconography on the armour and weaponry, thus limiting the use to the sons of Macragge. This miniature was released in 2008 as a metal cast and later moved to finecast.

The plastic scout kits had a long production run and were only recently replaced with the new, upscaled sculpts initially part of the Kill Team Salvation boxed set, in 2024.

While the Primaris have their own "scout" unit, armoured in Phobos Armour and covering various roles on the battlefield, I do not count the Vanguard Space Marines towards scouts, as they are full Astartes, crossed the Rubicon Primaris, serving in various reconnaissance roles, and not young adepts still in the progress of becoming Space Marines. Vanguard Space Marine are covered by Games Workshop in various kits and units, as Infiltrator, Incursor and Reiver squads, as well as Eliminator squads of three, and even multiple characters in Phobos Armour. They do even have a kind of "Dreadnought", the Invictor Tactical Warsuit, for the Vanguard troops.

Further Scout Units

The Scouts fought not only on foot, especially in the later editions and therefore had access to bikes. The Scout Bikers were initially a hybrid kit, using the regular Space Marine Bikes with additional metal bits, still rocking the design of the 2nd / 3rd edition scouts. Later these were replaced by fully plastic kits, matching the models of the 4th and 5th edition, as well as modified designs for the bikes, fitting their less-armoured design .

In addition to the bikes the Scouts even got their own Land Speeder variant, the Land Speeder Storm. A great kit, with lots of room for creativity. As you could mix the bits with some from the regular infantry (and vice versa) this gave you plenty of options.

I found the early Scout bikers along with Sgt. Naaman an interesting addition to the range, as it gave you the option to play an almost entire scout army in 3rd edition. With the addition of the Land Speeder Storm this would become of an option in later editions.

What to look for and identifying the Sculpts

Unlike the Terminators where Rogue Trader and 2nd edition sculpts can be confused in mixed lots, the Scout generations are immediately distinguishable. The Rogue Trader sculpts look like a different range entirely. The Advanced Space Crusade plastics are mono-pose and clearly identifiable as such. The Space Wolves Sergeants carry chapter-specific details that make them unmistakable as well. The 1997/98 generic Scouts are a coherent, consistent range with matching proportions and detail quality.

If you want an era-appropriate Scout unit for a 2nd edition project today, the 1997/98 metal Scouts are the obvious starting point. Their relatively long production run means they are not particularly scarce or expensive on the second-hand market, although special-weapon variants can be harder to find. Most available Scouts are the poses from the boxed set. With the exception of the heavy-bolter Scout, all were single-piece casts; the bipod is the only separate component worth checking for, as it is often missing from used lots.

For reference on what to look for:

• Rogue Trader Sculpts: Puffed sleeves, rounded proportions, smaller scale
• Advanced Space Crusade Plastics: Mono-pose, plastic
• Space Wolves Scouts: Wolf skulls, pelts, runes, the three Sergeant poses are the only Oldhammer-accurate sculpts, the others are Middlehammer and younger
• 1997/98 Generic Scouts: Consistent proportions, detailed equipment, extensive weapon range available.
• Middlehammer and later: Everything in plastic that is not Advanced Space Crusade is 4th edition and younger

In the next article, we will look at how the Scouts fit into the Imperial Fists 3rd Company project specifically – what is needed, what is already in the collection, and how the camouflage scheme developed in Call to Arms Pt. 6 will be applied.

We have talked about Scouts on this blog before in various contexts:

• Warhammer 40,000 – Imperial Fists Call to Arms Pt. 6