40K Lamenters: Reivers

I painted five Reivers. These are behind-the-lines terror troops with their signature skull helms, massive combat knives, and grav-chute wings on their power packs. I used 3D printed pauldrons- and I prefer my hand-painted ones. I may even try to pry them off and redo them.

Reivers

Reiver Sergeant

I also finished off a few more of the specialist Infiltrators:

Infiltrator Helix Adept (medic)

Infiltrator Commsman

Infiltrator Sergeant

Skull-o-meter™: 20

My Lamenters two-step-yellow recipe

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.

Phobos Infiltrators

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 (previous tutorial); 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.

40K Lamenters: Lieutenant and Apothecary Biologis

I've been enjoying painting my Lamenters recently, and have a pair of characters.

First is the 'Lone Operative Lieutenant' with a combi-flamer. This chap was one of the unique figures released for the 2023 10th 'Leviathan' edition of 40K. I did a light kitbash, changing the base, head, and adding a pointing hand to replace the second knife he was waving around (I wanted to add a pistol but didn't have a left handed one available). He's wearing the lighter Phobos armour. He is supposed to be a behind-the-lines lone operative, surviving with a scavenged Tyranid carapace strapped to his arm and a souvenir claw on his belt.

Lone operative lieutenant

Combi-flamer

Improvised armour. I think I could improve on the gore.

Second is a Apothecary Biologis. He's not a healer- he uses his anatomical and scientific know-how to inflict more efficient injuries on the enemy. Some call him a 'harmacist', or a PhD rather than an MD. He wears the heavy Gravis armour to wade into combat and collect samples. I was going to do a silver chest emblem, but the pale grey looked great so I left it. I tried to get a sloshy liquid effect in his sample canister.

Apothecary Biologis

Of course, the Lamenters don't have apothecaries. Being descended from Blood Angels with their Sanguinary Priests, the Lamenters have Calix Priests. I'm not entirely sure how the Biologis fits into this organisation, but I will find a way.

Skull-o-meter™: 11

Lamenters Kill Team Justian

++Our forces have been scattered. I will gather survivors and complete the mission.++

Captain Justian, 3rd Company

Strike Force Justian

Strike Force Justian was a 2023 limited release* of Space Marine sculpts which could add variety to your force, and also came with rules for a Kill Team. All the figures have detailed sculpted bases (which I quite like) and a choice of bare or helmeted heads. I agonised during assembly about the helmets vs. bare-headed debate. Ultimately, I landed on the bare-headed side due to the rule of cool. I painted them as Lamenters. The chapter markings are handpainted; the tactical markings are decals.

The figures come with names, but I've created my own characterisations. This Strike Force is an ad hoc creation following a (typically) unlucky planetary insertion.

Captain Justian is unimaginative, but leads from the front and cares for his men. I used some spare decals for his cape, which I'm pretty happy with.

Captain Justian

Sergeant Marius is an experienced leader. Justian listens to his advice and lets him steer the squad tactically.

Sergeant Marius

Brother Flavian is taciturn and efficient.  He is an Eliminator with a bolt sniper rifle. He wears the lighter Phobos armour, and cunningly covers the bright yellow with a cameleoline cloak. Something went awry in the painting and the wash came out very muddy and took off a bit of the underlying paint, but it looks OK in the end.

Brother Flavian

Cameleoline cloak

Brother Acules is a Heavy Intercessor and relishes weathering a storm of fire to protect his battle-brothers. He wears Gravis model armour, which is a bit beefier all over. He has a Heavy Bolter.

Brother Acules

When off duty, Brother Decian prays and hones his chainsword skills for melee.

Brother Decian

Brother Thysor was impetuous as a younger marine, but losing his arm made him more cautious. This is a superb sculpt with a real sense of motion. The smoke grenade hangs mid-air off the end of his bionic arm while his whole body goes into the throw. The pin lies by his feet as the lever flicks off. The pouch on his belt lies empty.

Brother Thysor

Brother Vignius is an experienced and level-headed marine who could be expected to lead his own squad some day- if he survives.

Brother Vignius

Skull-o-meter™: 31

Whilst painting Lamenters, I took the opportunity to complete my Infernus Marines. I finished another five, to make ten. I repainted the originals' shoulder borders to all yellow, and tidied up some squad marking decals for consistency.

Infernus Marines

*Whatever that means

40K Lamenters Phobos Command

"Brother-Captain Dagnir, your mission was a complete success. Zero casualties. Your exfil transports are inbound."

"We found a lost toy! There may be a child in the city who needs us. We are not leaving until we save them."

Last transmission of Strike Force Dagnir 

I found a Phobos Captain and Lieutenant at a bring & buy in Brisbane last year. Demonstrating the slippery slope of gaming, I thought they would be fun to complement my Phobos Strike Team.

Captain in Phobos armour

I love this teddy bear on a skull from Imitation of Life. Captain Dagnir is clearly going to ignore all other considerations until one child is saved. I like to think of his long-suffering servo-skull rolling its eyes (if it had any).

Lieutenant Gorthol is also clad in Phobos light power armour.

Lieutenant in Phobos armour

I freehanded the chapter icon.

Skull-o-meter™: 20

Kill Team: Phobos Strike Team

Lamenters Phobos Strike Team

These are my Lamenters Phobos Strike Team. There are a mix of Infiltrators and Incursors and bespoke specialists for KT2021. Let's have a look at the jargon:

• Lamenters are the overall Chapter; the yellow with chequers and bleeding heart icon
• Phobos is a 'new' type of Space Marine armour. It is lighter, for sneaky behind-the-lines missions. It is a bit more tacticool with lots of antennae and scopes and pouches and grenades, only one full-sized pauldron, and absence of the flared greaves.
• Kill Team (KT2021) is a GW game of elite squad vs elite squad. I could choose a Kill Team of six Phobos Strike Team marines for a mission.
• Infiltrators are behind-the-lines specialists with omni-scramblers that disrupt enemy deployment. They have the tactical arrow on their right shoulder and antenna on their backpacks.
• Incursors are raiders with specialised sensory arrays and sights. They have assault arrows on their right shoulder, visor facemasks, and boxy sights on their bolters and backpacks. 
• 'Bespoke specialists' are individual models with unique parts to represent roles within a Kill Team- marksman, comms, demolition, medic, etc.

With that out of the way, here are my canary yellow 7' sneaky boys. The miniatures are precisely sculpted, with nice posing just veering into the too-busy side of things. I slowed down dramatically at the end of the painting process with all the details, lights, buttons, lenses etc. I haven't done any armour highlights or clean-up- it is yellow with the recesses in brown. I could do them neater, but the reality of my backlog is crushing. I still have to add some markings to their left knees, but can't find my decals after a well-intentioned frenzied tidying-up session. The chequered pauldrons are 3D prints from Mallistone Foundries- very nice to paint. I also used some 3D prints from Imitation of Life on the 32mm bases. I used low-vis markings on the right shoulders, because they're sneaky.

The Infiltrator Veteran has a grizzled beard and a big purity seal. He's waving a knife;  I'd have preferred a pistol but didn't have any to hand. His bolt carbine has taped mags.

Infiltrator Veteran

Infiltrator Veteran with taped mags.

The Minelayer is an Incursor with Haywire Mines. This is a single-use weapon, but I had spares to make tokens on 25mm Renedra bases, and to add one to his butt armour.

Incursor Minelayer with Haywire Mines.

Incursor Minelayer with Haywire Mines.
Does this make my butt look big?

The Saboteur is an Infiltrator with a similar ability to the Minelayer. He's got a Big Red Button in his left hand.

Infiltrator Saboteur

The Helix Adept is the Infiltrator medic. I added an ECG trace to his Helix Gauntlet, and freehanded a few helices on his kneepad and backpack; I will replace those with decals when I can.

Infiltrator Helix Adept.

Infiltrator Helix Adept reaching for his first aid kit.

The Voxbreaker is an Infiltrator with a scanner that reduces an enemy's ability to hide and reroll dice.

Infiltrator Voxbreaker.

Infiltrator Voxbreaker- auspex scanner detail.

The Commsman is an Infiltrator who can use his comms array to hand out extra actions to other Strike Team members.

Infiltrator Commsman.

Infiltrator Commsman detail.

The Marksman is an Incursor with stronger shooting abilities.

Incursor Marksman.

I don't like the Marksman's pose, so I made another Incursor with a shooting stance.

Incursor.

I don't always like modelled-on smoke/ flash/ spell effects, but I do like the smoke coming from this Infiltrator's grenade.

Infiltrator.

Infiltrator.

There are more Phobos marines in my pile of potential- some for Kill Team, some not. Some day I may even play a game of KT2021.

Skull-o-meter™: 24