From AaronP: Ok so here is the story of these space marines... (30 points)

Ok before I get into it, me and my family are back from the hospital. My daughter is doing really well following her surgery. It was a shitty, stressful month, but now I am on parental leave for another 13 or so weeks with my family and it all seems like a bad dream. :-) 

Thanks to everyone for the support and well-wishes, it genuinely helped.

OK so the story about these space marines. When the Leviathan box came out I was like, "You know what, I haven't painted a space marine in a while. I am going to buy it."

I clicked the purchase button and while I waited I considered what chapter I would do. I wasn't going to use these models for Warhammer, no no no, so the decision would come down to what I thought was cool, not what was going to not going to suck to play. 

I thought it would be cool to have a group of space marines that had landed on a planet controlled by a corrupt governor. They had to operate in the shadows and arm the local human militias to do most of the fighting as there was still some political tensions as the governor was very influential in the Terran Court. 

I thought it would be cool to have the tactical marines (or whatever the primaris tactical marines call themselves) to be loaded up with gear they were transporting to the militia. There was going to be a whole kitbashing of medieval minis for the militia and I ended up deciding that Ravenguard best suited what I was going for.

I grabbed one of the minis, the fella in the middle pointing to the word "space" (at least on my screen he is) and painted him up like a Ravenguard... and hated it. Every step, EVERY part. I hated painting black armour, I hated the highlights. It was a whole lot of ick. So they ended up in a box...

...until last week.

I was digging around looking for things to paint and I found these guys. Ugh, I thought. UUUUGH. I don't want to paint Ravenguard. I should have just painted them red, I like painting red, but they have all these feathers on them... wait a minute. Blood Ravens are red, and are Ravens. They could have feathers. But what about all this crap they are lugging around...

Oh Blood Ravens like to steal stuff (so says the memes). OK, Ok I can work with these. 

BEHOLD my blood raven tactical guys who stole a bunch of stuff including a charcoal chicken.

I really wanted to move away from the standard poses you see with Space Marines, so I chopped and glued these guys into some more interesting positions. I think my fav is the guy stepping over the metal bar thing.

Anyway, That's 5 "28mm" space marines for 25 points. Not heaps this week, but its not nothing.

Thanks all.
Aaron

From Millsy:

The best part of this post is the first couple of sentences letting us know your family is doing well mate. Our little warriors matter to us but not nearly so much as the little real life people in our orbits. Such good news on a Friday.

Given everything else that's been going on you'd be forgiven for letting standard slip but you've done quite the opposite here. The red armour has amazing depth and is backed up by some wonderful secondary colour choices and brushwork. That white arm on the medic is superb!

I love the way you've added all the extra clobber to their backs to riff on the theme of supporting the militia. I can't remember ever seeing anything like it on a Space Marine before and it's awesome.

Cracking effort all round. Now you have some more time to yourself hopefully we'll see more of this kind of stuff. I've added 5 points for the backpacks for a tidy 30 total for this effort. Nice work!

Cheers,
Millsy

wrath DavidB(80 points)

 

Wrath is this stop for Circle of Hell, it is also a chance to clear more minis from the haphazard piles I have on my desk. To keep the post shorter, I will focus on a few miniatures for this entry. I tried to focus on just the phobios kill team, but somehow 30k white scars got added since I am incapable of focus.* this is why I won't do the squirrel duel as it is far too easy. It would be better to attempt a duel where i have to focus on one period, game, army! ;) 

White Scars can definitely be wrathful, however there is different measures of wrath. There is the shock and awe of artillery and bombing runs bringing wrath from the heavens.The wrath brought by whole legions of troops scouring all before them. There exists another wrath. When you also need to send a message that no matter what your opponent does, they cannot hide, they cannot prepare, all their defensives and armies are for naught as you can just send forth a small team to wreck them. A small team that is sent to kill a general or political leader, wreck a command site or radar station, maybe raid and destroy an important site. I have painted a Phobios strike team before for the Iron Snakes, but these are White Scars and will also give my 40k force Infiltrators and Incursors. Phobios kill teams can include reivers as well. This 10 man team lets me add two units of infiltrators and plus up the Incursors which will give my White Scars additional options in deployment before battle and close support for the outriders...when not lending options for a White scar kill team. 

A few basic troops. 

just bog standard infiltrators. I did use bare heads for most and added dags and splashes of red. Some of the White Scar bare heads for 30k were used. One of the marines above has the bare head from the storm-seer. I wanted them all to have a more special heroic look in kill team and even raided my bit box for additional marine decorations and medallions

an infiltrator commo troop as well as icursor sniper and another veteran specialist that can sub as a sgt in 40k games

a mechanicus trained demolitions troop and a medic

a signal specialist that can double as an infiltrator commo upgrade

The 30k praetor bare head was used for the Sgt. I went entirely the rule of cool for this killteam.

the praetor has an ornate mk3 suit while the stormseer has a newer mk6 suit of armor...and a snazzy staff.

I only was able to finish this praetor and storm-seer from 30k. In the Horus Heresy, the White Scars took Imperial guard tanks and led an all out blitz on the Lions Gate spaceport held by the Deathguard. Only a few Scars on other duties were left behind. It was a very wrathful charge. The lead Stormseer died unleashing his powers against traitor forces. speeders, bikes, and chapter thunderhawks and fighter craft did CAS runs letting the tanks, rhinos, and landraiders punch through defenses. The White Scars brought wrath to the Deathguard. They were fighting brining battle to their foe instead of hiding behind the walls of Terra. Jaghatai khan wanted to lead his marines in a charge to the foe and most including him thought they would die inflicting damage on the forces of Horus. Mortarion was banished to the warp as Jaghatai brought him down, but the great khan himself was brought near death in the duel. 

Traitor and loyalist alike felt the fall of their Primarch. The deathguard lost all hope and many despaired at the corrupted forms they had become. The White Scars went the other way. In their grief they fought in berserk, wrathful, fury. Only a terran born praetor was able to make them stop their pursuit of the despairing Deathguard. Jaghatai wasn't dead but very grievously wounded. In one wrathful charge, the White Scars achieved a sliver of hope for the besieged imperial forces but at a great cost.

two 30k heroes- 10 points and 4 skulls

ten 40k marines for 50 points and 34 skulls

20 points for wrath and new skull tally of 133

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In a prolific week, this is the first of 4 seperate submissions from David this week. White Scars have always been cool despite them being a blatant copy of genocidal maniacs. Then again, they fit right in with the other happy-go-lucky denizens of grimdark universe

- Paul

From Barks: How I paint yellow Lamenters (Inconstant) (79 points)

For the last 18 months I've found myself painting Lamenters. I often get asked about my yellow technique, so I made a little tutorial.

Preparation

i. Remove moldlines and assemble. I glue sand etc. to the base now. I prepare and paint the backpack and head separately. 

ii. Undercoat Vallejo Bonewhite rattlecan.

iii. Paint the base.

iv. Drybrush white. I've found this subtle slapchop works well for me.

Okay, here's the real meat.

1. Contrast Ironjawz Yellow

2. SMS Umber Wash. This is an oil-based product by an Australian model paint company. I work it into all the creases...

3. ... then I clean it up with Artists White Spirit and a makeup sponge. I get rid of the worst excesses (e.g. back of the hand, shoulder pad) but it doesn't have to be pristine. That's it! Your yellow is done. No highlighting required.

4. Paint the rest of the Lamenter. The left pauldron (chequered) is hand-painted (another tutorial on my blog); the tactical symbol on the right is a decal.

I appreciate an Australian oil wash paint is a bit niche, but I'm sure a similar product exists elsewhere. The point is that I've found a reproducible way for me to get masses of yellow done without losing my mind with edge-highlighting. I've seen nice things done with pink pre-shading, but I'm committed to this technique now. It doesn't have to be too neat; the rest of the details hide major flaws in the yellow. These figures won't win individual prizes but they're done.

These marines are sneaky special forces infiltrators, stealthy 7' canaries. I'm thinking of playing Black Ops with them.

Do you find your Chapter, or does it find you? About two years ago something clicked and I realised Lamenters were for me. They've a striking colour scheme that looks good on the table. They are prone to severe melancholy and try to do the right thing, which is a rarity in the 41st millennium. They are, however, cursed by extreme bad luck. So if I have a terrible game, I'm playing them right!

No-one likes them due to their curse. They've been nearly wiped out on multiple occasions. They're experts at doomed last stands. They will sacrifice themselves to ignore orders and evacuate the last colonists from advancing hordes, only to find the colonists were secret cultists all along...

And so, I claim the Inconstant circle of Paradise ("think of something which may try its best but often falls a bit short").

7x big marines 49 points

Inconstant +20 points

Side duels

Can opener +49

Squirrel +1

Skullz +12

From Millsy:

I wish you'd posted this about six months ago Barks. I painted some yellow marines and was not at all happy with the outcome whilst yours are the bomb! Crisp, clean and the exact right shade for Lamenters (and other yellow chapters too).

Thanks for taking the time to explain in detail and with step-by-step images. That's worth another 10 points for adding to the collective knowledge base on the Challenge.

Nice work mate! 79 points for your tally.

Cheers,
Millsy

From John B: 28mm Space Marines of the Puls - Granea Pulticula Chapter (Gluttony) (45 points)

Slow progress compared to last year for all sorts of reasons. One thing has not changed - the theme has again distracted me from my regular projects although I did manage two cavalry units to start with. Next up though is a LIMBO from AHPC14 - some Space Marines. Now I don't do Space Marines - I even failed to paint my young son's space marines back in the day - my beautiful wife (resident space marine expert (RSME)) came to the rescue and did an excellent job. So it is fitting that she rescued me from the gluttony step - I am stuck on linear because I am stuck on female subjects because I have chosen to use only whats in the current pile and yep - no female figures I can find so far. Now last year I primed these space marines - ok so technically they are space warriors. Then ran out of time to include them. They made this year's shortlist and wow - they got done. Now the issue was I decided they were fat, so nicely met the gluttony section - oh no says Resident Space Marine Expert - RSME. We need a proper food aspect. So I did a bit of a search and discovered that Space Marines have two stomachs - and so do these Space Warriors. Yep they have a Preomner and like some of their Space Marine cousins eat things like triglyceride gels and of course amino porridge. Here was something to work on. It got better because they eat porridge and guess what was in our breakfast cupboard? Yep a packet of oats - just right for some porridge.

Now all we had to do was make up a bowl and get them to eat it. At this point I should add that RSME had also turned Artistic Director having suggested the porridge eating requirement that we feed the Space Marines, or in fact that one should be persuaded to dive into said porridge in a film spectacular. So here is the premiere of "The Double Gut Filled Space Marine" a major movie that just missed the Oscars. Producer - Norber Lorenzo Artistic Director - RSME.

   

Then of course the denouement

And our mad marine makes his escape

No harm was done to any space marine in the making of this movie....

That's it - short and sweet....... Of course it's the outtakes that make this movie......

 

 

 And the credits.......... We will skip the massive list of shot on location teams, musicians, gophers, grips, catering, wardrobe, camera teams, SFX, RSME's specialist team etc. Instead the paint job on the Space Marines or rather Space Warriors was based on Vallejo "Painting Metal" pack which I found in a cupboard and so decided to use. It meant some layering, shading and mixing. But I am happy with the rugged result - a million miles away from the airbrush quality blended paint jobs in the VJ guide.  The pallette was essentially VJ. All were Game Colours 72.051 Black - undercoat 72.050 Cold Grey - main base coat 72.019 Night Blue - shading 72.024 Turquoise highlight/shading especially leaders sword 72.151 Heavy Gold Brown - opaque range - shoulder armour and other gun highlights 72.091 Sepia - a wash - sword and hair over an old citadel calgarth brown 72.153 Heavy Brown - opaque range - shoulder armour 72.001 White - mix for various shading/dry brush highlights. However, I needed yet more paints for my Space Marines/Warriors. GC 72.006 sun yellow - lights GC 72.010 bloody red - lights GC 72.034 bone white - shade/dry brush notably sword and gun of leader GC 72.008 orange fire - shading on gun VJ Model Colours MC177 - oily steel - cables to sword and gun MC075 - light green - lights and head base colour Citadel Colour Contrast ironjawz yellow - leaders gun and other gun shading warp lightning - leaders skintone shading talassar blue - leaders sword thats a wopping 17 paints. Usually I try to stay around 10. The more paints the more to the process, although of course if you start mixing colours that might not be true. Either way these Space Marines received a lot of attention. And I am happy with the result. Meanwhile the 28mm figures as you have guessed are not Warhammer but Atlantic by Nexus. £5 for 5 figures bought at the Partizan Show from Parabellum of Birmingham.

 

Front back and sides as they say!

The Survivor - showing his illuminations only to be seen if closely examined - seriously!

As regards points I think it's 5 x 5pts plus 20 points for Gluttony, giving a grand total of 45 points. Total = 45pts

Well, that's top marks for effort, John! You have gone to such great lenghts with this that I can hardly begrudge you your Gluttony bonus. Well done! As to the Space Warriors/ Marines, they really shine. 17 paints, that's quite a lot, but the result is excellent! A great colour scheme, and I like the flaming space gun thingy. I must also compliment you with your RSME, that truly is a great boon to have! 45 points it is.

Martijn

From SanderS: Titus has arrived! ( 55 points)

 Hoi,

A very persistent and nasty stomach flu that pestered all of the family and the security settings of my computer keep interfering with me participating here for real. Both Arthur and myself would like to thank everyone that replied to our posts form last week and we will answer them in time and try to reply to as many posts you guys put up here from now on. 

Last week I told you guys I was working on a post for the Limbo circle of hell, but of course I chose some Bretonnians for this who are a lot more work than I had bargained for. So I am still painting them, they are not yet finished, but I have found a little time to paint up some simple Tyranids and a Space Marine character. 

These miniatures, Space Marine hero Titus (the main character from the hugely popular Online game Space Marine II) and 10 Tyranids are part of the Limited Recruit Edition of the WH40K introduction boxed set. No, I do not play the aforementioned game, but I do play the Tacticus game on my cell with Arthur and Titus does feature there too and I really wanted to try to paint him. 

The Nids are painted in the scheme I use for my Space Hulk Genestealers as well and I like the yellow and black contrast. In between nicer paintjobs I am also painting Tyranids for a demonstration army for the club which are blue and black and I will probably paint some during the Challenge as well. But these are my personal ones.  

11 miniatures in 28mm scale is 55 points unless I am mistaken. See you all next week!

Cheers Sander

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Hi Sander

So sorry you, Arthur and the rest of the family have had a stomach bug ... that can be quite nasty! Hope you are all feeling better.

I really know nothing about Space Marines, or the Nids ... but I do like your colour choices, especially on Titus. What a great shade of blue. :)

11 28mm figures = 55 points for you

See you in Limbo next week??

- Sarah