+ inload: converting Saturnine Terminators +

+ Of a saturnine disposition +

I picked up a few models from the release, and have been working on this Saturnine terminator. The conversion's pretty minimal; I just wanted to remove the eagle from the chest and swap out the ray gun for a good old-fashioned boltgun. I also reshaped the eagle's head that forms part of the 'collar' to make an oval setting for a spirit stone pinched from a Striking Scorpion exarch, too. Finally, the helm spikes were trimmed off, and a loincloth was added.

As an aside, what a pain in the [SCRAPSHUNTERRORABORT] these models are to build! Forty-odd pieces to build a single infantryman? Six pieces just to build the power fist arm? While so many bits makes converting more approachable, I can't help feeling that some further refinement could have made things a bit more... fun if you just want to build them out of the box?

While I like the result very much, it took me two evenings to get the model from sprue to this point. I'm all for posability and modularity, but... oof. Perhaps I've just got to the point where time is becoming more of a factor in my enjoyment of the hobby – or maybe I've got too used to single piece metal models again.



Anyway, back to the conversion: the forearm is from a Squat prospector model (the power fist equivalent), which was fairly simple to integrate by trimming the ball of the elbow flat. The storm bolter itself was from my bits box – I think it's from a Justaerin Terminator, though I wouldn't swear to that.

Size-wise, these are absolute chunks. Mine is pictured here alongside a 'truescale' marine and Captain Aethon in Terminator armour (a conversion based on the FW Custodes Terminators). I've put the Saturnine Terminator on two bases to account for the height of Captain Aethon's base.

+++

+ inload: Defenders of Nocturne +

+ A batch of basing +

+ The Salamanders continue to emerge from grey plastic, taking on their adult coloration. The zenithal priming approach is a really quick way to get some basic colour down; and I keep having to stop myself from fiddling too much with it. +

+ These were sprayed with Halford's brown camouflage paint all over. Once dry, they were then hit with Halford's camouflage green with the can held at 45 degrees and from a foot or so away. Having allowed that to dry, I repeated the process with Colour Forge's Salamander green spray [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. This is explicitly matched to GW's Warpstone Glow, so it's a very handy colour to have for Salamanders. +

+ From there, I've simply done the basing with Winsor and Newton's Galeria Sand Texture Gel [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+], which was successively drybrushed with Skrag Brown (or Calth Brown) and Balor Brown, before the base rims were painted with a dark brown (Rhinox Hide, I think). +

+ Once that was completed, I used Abaddon Black diluted with a little flow improver and water to paint the weapons, pauldrons and metallic areas. I find adding both helps for basecoating, as the altered surface tension helps it flow. +

+ As to the rest of the force, there's been little substantial progress on the marines beyond painting their gauntlets. This little detail, however, substantially improves the look, as does the basing. Little steps build up to big adavances – but you've got to keep making them! +

+++

+ Legions Imperialis +

+ ...and so to the return of Epic. Warhammer Community must be doing something right in their communications, as the more I'm reading about it, the more enthused I'm finding myself. +

+ The most striking thing here for me is how much better everything looks when it's designed as a coherent range – rather than bit by bit over the years, as with the old Epic range. There's a clear internal consistency of size, scale and aesthetic for the new models, even if – as with the Traitors – GW seem to have chosen a scheme that makes it all but impossible to make out. +

+ Death Guard versus Iron Hands in urban combat – or light grey versus dark grey on grey – strikes me as an... uh... interesting way to catch people's eyes with a new scale. Just compare how the detail – soft as it is – of the older sculpts on the left with the new ones on the right. +

+ This new size is quite hard to compare from the image published on WarCom, so I've done a crude Photoshop job to put one of the old Mark VII plastics next to the new Mark VI. Assuming that the composite image is made up of models taken at the same angle and distance, the size difference between the old models and the new looks quite marked – I'd guess the new Tactical Marines are going to stand around 9mm tall, though this is a bit of a guess. +

+ While the old Epic scale was nominally 6mm, this was notoriously variable, and the Space Marines were notably small when compared with some of the later releases. I'd guess that the Mark VII model here, for example, was barely 6mm when including the round base insert. When removed, the model's probably only 5mm tall. Older Epic models are thus going to look quite puny when pictured in comparisons like that above, but given the sweeping scale of the game, I don't think this is going to be very noticeable at all during a game. +

+ I think rescaling or establishing a 'new normal' for an ongoing Epic line was fairly inevitable, and given the difference in quality, I'm not going to gripe too much. Since I doubt a 'true line of sight' approach will be used, there's nothing stopping people using their old models beyond personal preference, so it's down to the new models to grab people and pull them in. Personally, I'm looking forward to both using old model to try the game out, and to painting  and playing the new ones. I've enjoyed painting 15mm models a lot [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], and think these 8–10mm models are going to hit a lot of the same buttons. +

+++

+ One final picture for a bit of fun... +

 

+ inload: Captain Aethon +

+ Captain Aethon, painted +

+ I built this model nearly a year ago; the process being detailed in this inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. Earlier this month Bob_Hunk told me about GW's #marchformacragge 'event' on Instagram – basically an excuse to paint and show off your Ultramarines (go check out his awesome Rogue Trader-inspired Imperial Space Marine [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. I dug out my marines and – as is the way – immediately decided that I needed to update them. +

+ Let me assure you that this wasn't a full strip-down; the army's taken me more than a decade to paint, and I have no intention of restarting them – I've flirted with that idea before and, goodness, am I glad I didn't. Rather, I contented myself with rebasing them. After all, as I confidently announced back in 2014, this is a quick way of updating things! +

+ Reader, it was not a quick thing to do. I got fed up halfway through, and the army has languished, half on snow and half on rubble, ever since. This time, I was determined to get things done, and really stuck to it over the course of three evenings. Any time I got bored, I'd turn to work on Aethon, or – depending on my mood – tick in some details that, again, I'd been confidently telling myself that I 'd do when the army was finished. +

+ Of course, as no army is ever finished, my poor Ultramarines had been wandering around missing their squad markings – long since revealed in a HH 'black book'. This provided a great opportunity to fill them in. There are a few of the rebased models shown above, but I'll do a proper inload on the army as a whole at a later date. +

+ Y'know, when it's finished. +

+++

+ Captain Steloc Aethon +

+ And talking of unfinished – or to be kinder, not yet finished – projects, my 'truescale' Betrayal at Calth set [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] ticked along just a little with the completion of the Ultramarines' leader, Aethon.

+ A fun little exercise in trying to remember how I painted my Ultramarines, it's proven the usefuleness of having a blog to record techniques, mixes and approaches. +

+ As with most of my recent Terminators, Aethon's converted from a Custodes Aquillon Terminator, giving him what I think is the correct proportions against Primaris or truescale marines. +

+ inload: Squad Redemptor – truescale Terminators +

+ First Company, Squad Redemptor +

+ Sustainers; First-amongst-equals of the War Eternal under Master Formosus, Lord of the Host, Master of the divided Legion and heir of Sanguinius +

+ Terminators are a troop type that I've always liked, and yet rarely used. Since I moved to building larger 'art/truescale' marines, I've tried lots of different ways to make Terminators to match, and – until these ones – never really found a way that hit the mark for me. I'm very proud of these, though. I think they capture the brutal walking tank aesthetic nicely, and – unless they're pictured next to another model – are convincingly familiar to the standard models. – thinking about it, I should probably have got some pictures of them against some aliens! +

+ The tutorial, if you want to have a go yourself, is probably lurking at the top of the + High-access Datacores + to the left, as it's long been the most popular post on the blog. If it's not there, here's an inlink [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. +

+ Anyway, a mere two years and three months after building this squad, I've finally spent the three evenings necessary to paint them – funny how timings work. I'm delighted with how they've come out, so brace brace brace for a wall o' pics! +

 + SQUAD REDEMPTOR +

Sinistro e Dexter:  

Brother Lucello the comely (Tiphareth 3:04)

Brother Comeccino (Abacyel 2:02)

Sergeant Redemptor (Pahaliah 2:01)

Brother Lesandro (Caranial 6:18)

Brother Martial (Agshekolah 2:09)

Additional

Brother Etruscus (El Neqemah 7:01)

+++

+ Sergeant Redemptor (Pahaliah 2:01) +

+ Terminators are heroes of the Chapter, so they're all decked out with widgets, doobries, charms and honour markings – though I've not gone completely over the top. Large as these models are, I want to avoid them drowning in details in order to keep them recognisable as related to the squad in White Dwarf 139. +

+ Blue and turquoise gems abound on these models, adding some eye-catching points to lead the viewer around. +

+ The original's power sword was all gold; I've made it a little less gaudy and restricted the gold to the decoration near the hilt. The gold is washed with purple to enrich it and harmonise with the red. +

+ Similarly, the originals have yellow-cased bolters. I couldn't decide whether to follow that or tie them in with the rest of the army, and compromised on black casings with yellow markings. Note that Redemptor's chapter marking is yellow on black, as per the rest of the sergeants. +

+ A fun bit of freehand, this is a direct copy of the original's banner. Looking at it here, I might add a decoration to the top. The original had a skull – but perhaps one modelled after an ork or genestealer skull might be a fun update/homage? +

+++

+ Brother Lesandro (Caranial 6:18) +

+ As standard a Terminator as you get; storm bolter and power fist. The base models – Forge World's Adeptus Custodes Aquilon Terminators – arelovely, but limited in pose. After making the tweaks mentioned in the tutorial [REF: above], I made sure to add some bits taken from the Space Hulk Terminators, as I had loads of their bits left after making my truescale Ultramarines, the Praetors of Calth, many years ago. +

+ The spiked pad – from Master-Crafted Miniatures, though I've modified it by trimming away all but a few spikes – injects a bit of modernity to the army , preventing it being a slavish recreation. This modelling decision meant that I had to adapt the freehand Crux Terminatus, making it smaller and pairing it with a Company symbol: the '1' on the rear of the pad. +

+ As with the rest of the army, Squad Redemptor's been marked with the Army badge – the small blue circle. I was particularly pleased with the gradient and freehand on the shoulder pads. The large area really gave me space to play. +

+++

+ Brother Martial (Agshekolah 2:09) +

+ The bionic eye, jewels, eye lens and purity seal wax here show the use almost all of the accent colours from my palette – orange, blue, green and purple. It just goes to show that as long as you keep them subtle, you can use a lot of accents without overwhelming the scheme. Note the use of lots of neutrals – the purity seal papers, loincloth/pteruges and neutral gold. These help provide the eye some resting space. +

+ The chainfist is another bit culled from the Space Hulk set. It came with moulded blood drops that fitted nicely in the theme, so I left them. These are a good example of less being more – there's no need to pick them out in a different colour, as they stand out nicely simply through highlighting and shading. +

+ The bionic arm here is from Anvil Industry. Nicely posable, it fits perfectly with these marines and gave me some variety and flexibility beyond the fixed three poses of the base figures. +

+++

+ Brother Lucello the comely (Tiphareth 3:04) +

+ *BRRRRRRRRRRT!* +

+ Assault cannons are awesome. The big rotary machine guns are a classic Space Hulk image and – for me at least – the iconic Terminator weapon. Lucello here – a good-looking boy, judging by his epithet – is decked out with scanners and details culled from the Space Hulk set, which is also where his assault cannon was sourced. The tilt shield was painted using a little granulation medium on ink, something I've been experimenting with recently. The medium causes the particles in the ink to clump together, leaving a lovely random grainy effect. + 

+ The assault cannon has lots of nice details. I had to be careful to match the angle to the original, or the dangly bits would have fought against the composition. It was a less fiddly conversion than I had expected – I had to carve away the forearm of the Terminator to match it to the larger Custodes arm. +

+ At least one of the marines needed the classic Rogue Trader/2nd edition hazard markings, right? In retrospect, perhaps I should have saved this for one of the others marines – Lucello here is in danger of being swamped by details. However, having said 'less is more' above, sometimes you can have too much good taste. A bit of flamboyance is nice, and together with his rather smug name, perhaps suggests something about Lucello's character, don't you think? +

+++

+ Brother Comeccino (Abacyel 2:02) +

+ Tactical Dreadnought Armour is tough, and a bit of weathering and battle damage go a long way to getting that across. The huge holes blown in his pauldron (again, from Master-Crafted Miniatures) catch the eye here, and hint as the squad's resilience. His pose certainly implies he's not been bothered by it. +

+ The skull here is marked with a red roman numeral on the forehead. What it signifies, I have no idea, but it definitely shouts out the madness and ritual of Warhammer 40,000. Leaving details like this unresolved and unexplained adds to the atmosphere. +

+ This rear shot shows the beautiful sculpting on both the Master-Crafted Miniatures piece and the main Forge World body. As the conversion tutorial above explains, there's been extensive modification to the front of the model, but much is left as standard at the back. The sculptural form fits nicely with the Blood Angels, but I think for other Chapters (as with my Ultramarines Captain Aethon [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]) I'd resculpt at least the lower legs, and possible the rear vents to look more like the official Terminator sculpts. +

+++

+ Brother Etruscus (El Neqemah 7:01) +

+ Etruscus was the first one I painted, a while back, and I'm pleased with how closely he matches the rest of the squad. The tufts on the base are something that I've not added to the rest of the army (save Captain Tycho [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]), but I think I will. They add a nice contrasting texture without losing the desert scheme. +

+ The powerfist here has a more subtle band of hazard markings, showing that you can interpret your inspiration in a number of ways. +

+ The Chapter heraldry received a repaint. I had initially painted it with white to help it stand out, but decided to make it black to match the rest of the army, and the squad. +

+++

+ ...and that's the lot for now. I'll leave you with some group pics, and would love to hear your thoughts and feedback. +

+ inload: A Third Host of Angels +

+ That which was, that which is and that which is yet to come +

The 3rd Strateia of the Host of Angels

+ The army as it currently stands. Not all that impressive, considering I've been plodding away at this for – what, three years? [REF: Yes, Datalog entry: June 2017 M2; though that has been interspersed with lots of long breaks. +

+ These long periods between short bursts of enthusiasm mean that some inconsistency is inevitable. If this troubles you, then there are a few options:

• The simplest option is discipline: avoid the breaks and keep going!
• Make notes on the painting recipes and methods you're using – these can be scribbled on paper or stored on (say) a blog.
• Learn to lean into slight inconsistency, and don't let the perfect get in the way of the good. 

+ Despite the slow progress, I'm pleased that I've managed to keep the standard up. It's easy to invest your test figure and early miniatures with all your passion and effort, then let your foot off the accelerator for the later ones. With the end in sight, it's easy to coast or rush instead of enjoying the journey. +

+ In my experience, little landmarks – as simple as setting out what you have completed, as as the start of this inload – can help to give you that little reminder of why you started the project, and help to keep the quality up. +

+++

+ Squad Redemptor +

+ I've been building up the paintwork on this squad over the weekend. I was going to break it down into groups of three, but have ended up pushing all of the unpainted ones to roughly the same stage. Slower results, but will mean that they're quick to pick off at the end. +

+ One finished, one nearly complete, and four coming along +

+ The Terminators, converted largely from Forge World's Adeptus Custodes Terminators in order to make them appropriately bulky next to Primaris marines are big, hulking, imposing models – my tutorial is here if you want to give it a go [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. I'm pleased to hear the rumours that they'll be getting a stat increase and a few rules to make them hang around in-game a bit longer than previously. It's always rather galling to spend ages preparing something like this only to sweep them off the table in turn one! +

+ Batch painting's not very rewarding, so as soon as I felt my focus waning, I stopped batch painting and instead took one further. He's pictured above, on the left; next to the test model. As you can see, besides the basing and a little freehand for the Crux Terminatus (you can see the silhouette of the shape already), he's basically finished. +

+ The obvious question here is 'why six?' – and there's not really a reason. I basically got carried away building them! I could pull one out and paint him up as an Ultramarine, or Gatebreaker, or Word Bearer... but have decided to keep him as a Blood Angels. He offers additional options to the squad – chainfist or not, assault cannon or not – and will let the models do double-duty in things like Space Hulk. +

+ He's also a good excuse for further expansion – alongside Master Formosus (also in Terminator armour), I'll only need another three to field a second squad. +

+++

+ Squad Paulo +

SQUAD PAULO Sinistro e Dexter: 

Brother Megasil (Porosa 1:54)

Brother Gorgidas (Parmiel 1:25)

Sergeant Paulo (Tatanon; Keeper of Tears 3:02)

Brother Daumier (Kyniel 1:54)

Brother Pontormo (Wormwood 1:03)

+ The other half of The Sorrow of Kings (that is, the Devastator Squad) detailed in this inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], Paulo and the others above represent the last basic infantry from the inspiration army. Once they're completed, it's onto personalities and the remaining war machines. +

+ To bracket the inload, then, here's the army alongside what's left to be done: