It’s been a little while since my last update, but I’m back on track! Sadly, my enthusiasm for the 30k project fizzled out with the release of 3rd Edition Horus Heresy. I might circle back to it eventually, but for now, I’ve been taking a break from the hobby to focus on “real life.” As it turns out, I’m also in the process of moving house, which means I’ve been packing up my hobby stuff and let me tell you, I had no idea how many half-built Space Marine kits I had lying around. If you’ve seen my past blog posts, this might not be much of a surprise. My projects tend to start strong, only to fizzle out halfway through, but that’s something I really want to change.

Although I’ve not been enjoying 10th Edition as much, I’ve had some fun with Grimdark Future and even put together a 1000-point Space Marine list that I plan to work on. On top of that, I’ve been thinking a lot about my old Ultramarine army. I had the entire 4th Company modelled up at one point, but I sold them around 2018 to help fund our first house purchase. While I don’t regret that decision, I’m itching to rebuild that collection. Hopefully, this new Ultramarines project will go better than the one I tried in 2023!

The Inspiration

The spark for this project came from a YouTube video I stumbled upon from The Keiran Show. It showcased his “Fists of the First Templars” a unique take on the Imperial Fists/Black Templars. The concept was built around a “what if” scenario: what if Sigismund had survived to the present day? I loved the idea and immediately felt inspired to create my own “what if” version for the Ultramarines. So, here’s my scenario:

Imagine that, up until the end of 7th Edition lore, everything stays the same. However, Guilliman’s resurrection is different no outside help. On top of that, the Primaris Marines aren’t these shiny new super-soldiers; instead, the Mk X armour is simply the next evolution of power armour. There’s still some fine-tuning to figure out in terms of the “hows” and “whys,” but hopefully, you get the general idea.

The Hobby Side of Things
Now, onto the hobbying, I’m planning to make use of all the old models I’ve collected over the years. I’ve got a pretty extensive bits box and a few 3D prints in the pipeline, so I’m aiming to convert the models to make them unique blending different marks of armour, adding some variety to the standard Mk X look. I’m really excited to dig into the conversion side of things and try to make each model stand out a bit more.

This project will be a long journey, but I’m looking forward to getting stuck in. I’ll be updating you all as I go, so stay tuned for more progress on my custom Ultramarines! Hopefully, I can stick with this one and bring my vision to life without getting distracted by the next shiny hobby project.