I had intended to post this for new year, but time got away from me  I'm currently on a brief break from painting Ashen Sentinels to work on Imperial Fists for Legions Imperialis - but just to give a further insight into my creative process  I wanted to talk about the inspirations for the colour scheme I chose for this army. 

To start with, a factor in my hobby decisions is usually whether I've painted a particular colour scheme before - if I've done something previously, then I tend to look for something different for a new challenge. 

Having said that, it's time to admit that the biggest influence on the choice of grey as the main colour for this army is down to... 

Cars 

Now, I'm not much of a 'petrol head' - I don't much care about the performance of any car I drive, so long as it gets me to where I need to go. Having said that, I noticed over the last couple of years that an increasing number of new cars on the road are grey - and even I have to admit that these new cars do look good in the colour 

Out on the roads with my wife (who is more in to cars than I am), we'd spit one of these new grey cars, and we'd both remark how good that they look in that colour - only when my wife was probably thinking she'd like that car, I was actually thinking 'my Space Marine miniatures will look good painted that colour..!' 

So I had decided on grey for my Primaris Space Marine Chapter probably a year before I was ready to start painting them. The addition of the red helmet was a bit later, and again the inspiration might unusual for our hobby..! 

Last June my wife and I enjoyed a fantastic holiday, on a Virgin Voyages cruise in the Mediterranean. While waiting to board I noticed that the hull was the same grey I wanted to do my Marines in - but with the added flourish of some flashes of red, including the funnels at the top. 

Here's a happy geek getting ready to board the cruise ship in Barcelona 

I liked the combination of the red above the grey, which gave me the idea to do the helmets red. As well as that, it's a colour scheme that always reminds me of our holiday when I see it! 

So those are the two biggest influences on the colour scheme I chose for the Ashen Sentinels  Maybe not what you were expecting, but I hope you find this insight into what influences my choices... interesting!