IN THIS SERIES, I showcase armies used by your humble Jungle Guide. By detailing how the army was collected, how the background and color schemes were developed, and how the army is used on the battlefield, I hope to inspire those interested in collecting similar armies.
In the chilly dark just before dawn, Shamhiir Taletri—accompanied, as always, by Panja, the Vedic Great Tyger—surveyed his army. Once again, the Scepter of Shiva, a holy relic in the form of a curved sword, had done its work well, summoning scores of the fearsome rakshasas, greater and lesser, to the material world.
Tiger-headed humanoids from Lankapura, a realm outside of time and space, the rakshasas had terrorized and preyed upon the humans of Veda ever since it was settled, before the Age of Strife. But no longer. Now, they served Shamhiir.
They were, in fact, the vast majority of his forces. After being purged from the Sabretooth Tigers, he had assembled an army of Space Marines—Loyal and Renegade—whom he had recruited to fight in defense of the Imperium, even if they had been forgotten, exiled, or outlawed by the same. Recently but not unexpectedly, his more morally-ambiguous followers had coalesced around the strongest of their number, Zykl, and attempted—violently, of course—to unseat him.
So long as Shamhiir held the Scepter—and its power to call and command the rakshasas—it was a plan doomed to fail. But in the tumult, his ardent supporters had been killed, either by the betrayers or by the frenzied Warp entities, the latter of which had made little distinction in the slaughter.
All of his Space Marines were gone. All of them. To keep waging war on behalf of mankind, Shamhiir had been forced to summon more and more rakshasas. And while they served obediently, Shamhiir was under no illusions of their loyalty. Given the chance, they, too, would turn against him.
At least Shamhiir had the Bronze Tygers, robotic constructs from the first days of the Fighting Tigers’ tenure on Veda, which he had liberated from ancient, forgotten vaults. And he also held the loyalty of the Ghost Tygers, beneficent spirits drawn from the essence of Veda itself. Noble, swift, and fierce, the Ghost Tygers were Panja’s kind who continued, even in death, to protect Veda and its people.
Shamhiir had summoned them with the Pelt of the Great Man-Eater, another holy relic. Just a fortnight ago, Shamhiir had meditated upon it and learned how to call to him a Great Ghost Tyger, larger than a Land Raider, the mightiest of its kind.
He could only hope that this host of ghosts, monsters, and mechanicals would be enough for the battle to come.
Introduction
This army grew out of a short story, “Traveller of Both Time and Space,” which I had posted on the original Jungle site that ran from 2000-2017 (maybe someday, I’ll re-post it). “Traveller” chronicled how Shamhiir Taletri*, commander of the Sabretooth Tigers of Veda Space Marines, lost his position (and nearly his life) after leading a detachment into disaster. Aided by the Inquisitor Varman Kumar, Shamhiir began to develop true leadership skills, and assembled a rag-tag collection of renegades into a fighting force, using evil to fight evil.
*Originally, the character was named “Shamshir Talatra,” but I recently changed the name for reasons that aren’t interesting enough to necessitate the lengthy explanation required.
As I moved closer to finishing the story, I became inspired to build a new army based around Shamhiir, using the rules from Codex: Chaos Space Marines. And thus, with its name inspired by one my favorite poems (William Blake’s “The Tyger”), was born the Fearful Symmetry.*
*When Blake wrote his poem in 1794, “fearful” was a synonym for “fearsome.”
Several years went by, and I adjusted the army to the various CSM codices that came and went, but the Fearful Symmetry never had much success. Meanwhile, my friend Patrick Eibel started his own Chaos Space Marine armies, one a Nurgle force, the other, Red Corsairs.
Not wanting to add yet another CSM army to our informal gaming group (which includes my brother-in-law Drew, and my neighbor’s sons), I rebooted the Fearful Symmetry using Codex: Chaos Daemons. When I switched to the Grimdark Future rules in 2022, I likewise switched my army to use the rules for Wormhole Daemons of War.
Modeling and Painting
When I was first building this army, I wanted to 1) save money and 2) avoid having the stereotypical Chaos army with scary-looking dudes in spiked armor. Instead of buying Chaos Marine figures, I used minis from my overly-large collection of Fighting Tiger Space Marines.
To unify the appearance of the army, I chose only Tigers painted in Shamhiir’s mustard-yellow and brown paint scheme. Having switched the army to a Chaos Daemon force, I don’t use Marine figures anymore.
Back when Shamhiir was a Fighting Tiger, he rode a bike and accompanied my bike squads, giving them a lot of hand-to-hand punch. The Fearful Symmetry doesn’t have any bikes, however, so Shamhiir and his motorcycle were frequently ineffective. Attempting to rectify this appalling situation, I made a new Shamhiir figure, using the Space Marine Terminator Captain.
To make him distinctive, I re-positioned his right arm and sword hand, added a red shroud to his right shoulder, and painted his eyes red (Shamhiir was always described as having this minor mutation).
I used a pair of clippers to bend the Captain’s sword into a scimitar and make notches in the blade: the Scepter of Shiva is a very old weapon, after all. Finally, I attached the tiger model for Panja (a saber-toothed tiger figure made by Reaper Miniatures) onto Shamhiir’s base.
Shamhiir is aided by Inquisitor Varman Kumar. To represent him, I special-ordered a Rogue Trader-era figure and painted him in yellow and brown to make him fit in with the army (he doesn’t, however, wear stripes, as he’s not actually a Space Marine).
He’s assisted by a Lesser Rakshasa (the little tiger-headed guy) and holds the Pelt of the Man-Eater, a magical tiger skin that summons the Ghost Tygers—more about them in a minute.
I wanted to continue the Hindu theme of the Fighting Tigers, so when I purchased figures for daemons, I used tiger-headed models from Reaper Miniatures and Black Orc Games (the latter of which has gone out of business).
I painted all the models in white, then washed them in green ink, then drybrushed white over them again, to give them a “ghostly” look. Under the GW Chaos Daemon rules, these figures counted as Bloodletters and Bloodcrushers. Under the GF Wormhole Daemon rules, they’re “Blood Warriors,” and “Beast Riders,” respectively.
The “Ghost Tygers” (below) are Games Workshop Sabretusk figures originally from the Ogre Kingdoms division of the Warhammer Fantasy game. At the time of posting, these minis (now called “Frost Sabres”) are still available as part of the Ogor Mawtribes collection for the Age of Sigmar game.
These were the first “ghost” models I ever painted, and I went a bit overboard, with several coats of white, Codex Grey, and green ink. To me, they look like they’re carved out of marble, but so be it.
Similarly, I have this huge fellow (below, with a Dark Eldar Kabalite next to it, for scale).
It’s a plastic toy tiger that I painted up as “Great Ghost Tyger,” and in 40K, I counted it as a Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage. Under the GF rules, I treat it as an “Ascended Harbinger of War.” The GGT is 9″ long from its nose to the tip of its tail, and stands 3 1/2″ high at the shoulder. That’s a big cat! I like it so much that I soon added another one to the Fearful Symmetry.*
*My nicknames for them are Ivan and Viktor Drago, because when they get toe-to-toe with any other units, they break them.
In previous lists, the “Bronze Tygers” were my army’s take on Chaos Defilers; then I switched them to count as Forgefiends, then Soul Grinders. I could count them as “Soul Daemons of War” under the GF rules, but those units are too expensive (points-wise) for my tastes. Fortunately, Grimdark Future gives you an option to create your own units, so that’s what I’ve done currently.
The figures were radio-controlled “tiger robots” (a mere $10 each from a toy store) and already came assembled. They were originally white; spray-painting them black required several coats to get the paint among the numerous ridges on each model.
I drybrushed each in Dwarf Bronze, and added some highlights in Brazen Brass. Like the Great Ghost Tyger, I then mounted each on a base made from a compact disc flocked with static grass.
Background
As recounted in the story “Traveller of Both Time and Space,” Shamhiir Taletri, at the suggestion of Inquisitor Varman Kumar, led a detachment of Sabretooth Tigers against Red Corsairs Chaos Space Marines. Shamhiir’s mission did not go well: he was almost mortally wounded, and all but one of his Marines were killed. For his recklessness and negligence, Shamhiir was stripped of command and marooned.
Shamhiir wandered the planet where he had been left, the site of the Red Corsair base he had attacked. Eventually, he met the Great Tyger Panja and discovered a series of tunnels—built and formerly used by Drukhari—that allowed one to cross from world to world and even through time.
Using them to travel to Veda’s past, Shamhiir reached an ancient shrine where he found the Scepter of Shiva—a powerful sword that could summon daemonic rakshasas and compel them to serve him—and the Pelt of the Great Man-eater—a magical tiger skin with the ability to summon tiger-spirit allies.
With these items and the ability to move at will through time and space, Shamhiir returned to the planet where he had been marooned and set out to redeem himself. He assembled a new army, pressing into service the surviving Corsairs, and pulling Sabretooth Tiger casualties out of past battles before they could be killed.
He re-met Kumar, and learned that Veda was threatened by Hive Fleet Ravana. Travelling through time and space to the battle where Ravana first invaded Veda’s system, Shamhiir and his Marines—aided by thousands of rakshasas—assisted the Fighting Tigers, inflicting enough casualties on the Tyranids to prevent them from continuing on towards Veda. Shamhiir and most of his army survived the battle, but, ironically, were declared renegades and outlaws by the Tigers, who have sworn to destroy them.
Despite his “daemonic” allies, Shamhiir does not serve Chaos. The Fearful Symmetry fights against the enemies of mankind, striking against aliens and the followers of Chaos, while defending themselves against vengeful Imperial forces sent to destroy them.
For years, the Fearful Symmetry used turncoat Marines, but attrition has left only Shamhiir. Rather than attempting to travel again across time to find new recruits, he now relies on the rakshasas, the Ghost Tygers, and the ancient tech of the Bronze Tygers to continue his service to mankind.
Waging War
Learning to use the Fearful Symmetry was challenging. Over the years, as various codices for Chaos Space Marines and Chaos Daemons were released, I experimented with several configurations, some with more (or all) of the former, some with more (or all) of the latter.
Under the Grimdark Future rules, I’ve developed lists from 1000-5000 points (in 500-point increments) that more-or-less build on each other, adding units to previous lists as point totals increase (btw, point values between 40K and GF are not equal: GF units tend to be more expensive).
Shamhiir, the Greater Rakshasas, and the Great Ghost Tygers are the heavy hitters. The Bronze Tygers provide firepower or more hand-to-hand punch, and are great for guarding the Fearful Symmetry’s back line. Ghost Tygers harry the enemy’s flanks, and Lesser Rakshasas take objectives and/or mop up.
With no psykers, and only two units that shoot, the army is blisteringly simple to use, with few subtleties: merely rush forward and charge ASAP. The GF rules for Wormhole Daemons allow half the army’s units to either make “Scout” moves (deploying last and moving up to 12″ before the game begins), or “Ambush” (like 40K’s Deep Strike rules, but said units can charge into close combat on the turn they arrive). Once the Fearful Symmetry gets into close combat with the enemy, it’s almost always lights out for the other guys.
That is not to say that the army is invincible. Because of the high costs of many of the units—the Great Ghost Tygers are 580 points each, and the Greater Rakshasas are 200 points for three of them—it’s a relatively small, elite force that can’t take too many casualties: a horde could wear it down.
And while the army is swift and smashes just about anything it gets its mitts on, heavy weapons, particularly those that dish out high Damage in multiple shots, are their bane. In American football terms, this army goes all-in on offense, but has no defense.
Keep visiting the Jungle to find out how the Fearful Symmetry fares. Once left for dead on a barren planet, Shamhiir Taletri continues to fight.
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Kenton Kilgore writes books for kids, young adults, and adults who are still young. Follow Kenton on Facebook for frequent posts on sci-fi, fantasy, and other speculative fiction. You can also catch him on Instagram.