The Neurode Crusade - Heresy Warning

[Brother Carpenter]

Looking good bc!

I picked up the 12 months challenge.

 

Regarding stripes, check youtube for allied d- day striping videos.

It was very daunting back in the old enamel days painting b&w stripes on a model airplane.

[Sword Brother Adelard]

In my experience, the easiest way to do stripes without an airbrush is masking tape and sponging.

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks for the feedback! I'm getting worried that something's fundamentally wrong with the stripes ;) I've been using the masking tape approach.

 

As a side note, on the topic of using an airbrush, I'm quite determined to avoid using an airbrush for my Warhammer army for the same of keeping the paint scheme uniform. It's sometimes annoying since I feel that I'm purposefully holding myself back but that's my decision and I'm quite stubborn adamant about it. I'd go for an airbrush if I didn't buy so much stuff; in my case, I'm hoping for "wow factor" once all the Crusaders are done, a kind of quantity-over-quality approach. However, once I'll be done with my Templars, I intend to buy an airbrush and give it a go!

 

Now, for the Storm Raven, I managed to finish the bulk of the fuselage. Further work is postponed for an unspecified time, probably around a week, since I need to magnetise the thing (I don't know why, maybe I'm still sort of hoping that I'll use this in a game) and I just don't feel like getting my box with the drills and magnets. Magnetising large models always feels like a chore and I'm worried that I'll get something wrong and either ruin the model or add more time to the process.

 

 

 

 

 

And some details:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The grey/silver dust from drybrushing, especially evident in the last photo, isn't that visible in real life. Let me know what you think!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Stormraven is well-painted and detailed. I hope to see the completed model soon.

[Brother Christopher]

10^th Anniversary Post

The Current Status of the Crusade

or my thoughts about and experiences of my twelve years in the hobby

 

The Neurode Crusade - a Successful Failure.

Firstly, let me start off with an oxymoron. I consider my Crusade to be a successful failure. I have consistently failed to meet any of the self-imposed deadlines, most importantly, my resolution from a year ago to paint the army by 30^th June 2022, the date marking the 10^th anniversary of this venerable thread. The fact that a good 1/3 of the army remains unpainted is a testament to the extent of my mistakes, bad time management and periods of passive interest in the hobby.

Secondly, in 2022, having the benefit of hindsight, as well as some proper life experience,  I consider my collection to be an utter mess and, thus, a failure. If I were to restart my involvement with Warhammer, I’d have collected a way smaller army comprised of more modern miniatures that I would have painted to a higher standard. I would have also not fallen into the bad habit of buying things “for a good price” and “in advance,” with the intention of building, painting and using them someday “in the future.” Well… I can only say this: would’ve, could’ve. Now I’m stuck with a bunch of ~300 outdated OG Marines in their silly OG poses with their ridiculous OG proportions that I’m probably not going to sell because of all the time, effort and heart I poured into them… which isn’t a bad thing!

Thirdly, and most importantly, despite my many gripes with GW, complaints about the hobby that I posted on this board, as well as personal mistakes, I’m quite happy with my love-hate relationship with 40K and my collection of Black Templars. I’ve grown to appreciate the fact that I might not have a good-looking army by today’s standards (I’m thinking about Primaris Marines and/or the upscaled power-armoured Marines in the Chaos lines, Space Marine Heroes collections and the new plastic HH miniatures), but I’m sure that one day it is going to be a cool “Classic Army,” uniform in scale and aesthetic, with a nice sprinkle of some OOP pewter models with quite unique sculpts like Games Day captains, converted OG chapter-specific units and the complete set of original BT infantry units…  It’s just a shame that I’ll have finished it about 6 years too late!

The remainder of this extensive post is divided into sections. This was made in an attempt to organise the avalanche of thoughts, emotions and experiences and make the whole thing more productive (for me) and manageable (for you). I hope I succeeded, at least to some extent.

Regrets

Basically, I only have six major regrets that can be summarised as follows:

1. Allowing the army to grow without control, aka developing a “pile of shame.” In my defence, it all made some sense at some stage – I have always adopted a target of what I wanted to have: it was either an army that’d allow me to fill all the slots in the Force Organisation Chart (back when it was a thing) or an army following the “at least two of each unit in the codex” principle or something like that. I should’ve focused more on what the wise people of the internet recommend – get the models that you like, they said… especially if, like me, you’re not so involved in the game and its current meta. Rules come and go. There will always be fads, but once a fad goes away, you’re left with a bunch of models – make sure you like them!

2. Being too emotional about the changes brought about around 8^th edition, both model-, lore- and business-wise. In retrospect, it was silly. It took me way too much time to process and come to terms with the addition and growth of the Primaris line. Also, the whole “Primaris thing” has always been a sense of self-imposed misery. However, all of those goings-on pushed me to actually think about what I like about and want from the hobby, leading me to the sense of being at peace that I have today.

3. Having said that, I also developed a sense of detachment from “mainstream Warhammer 40k,” which leaves me a bit numb and/or disaffected with the entire hobby (models, tabletop games, video games, other media) – something that I annoyingly perceive to be a bit negative since 40K has been such an important part of my leisure activities. Nonetheless, this has a lot to do with my refusal to be a part of GW’s business model.

3.1 Firstly, there’s the tangible aspect. For the sake of restraint, I continue to make the difficult decision to miss out on the possibility of getting new models due to some highly subjective reasons: while I’d love to buy new models, particularly the upcoming line of plastic HH vehicles seems appealing, I 1. do not want to mix the scale and aesthetic of infantry models, 2. have limited display space for the models and 3. don’t want to financially endorse GW’s business practices focused on an undefined roadmap of monthly releases. With the current emphasis on seemingly endless release cycles, designed to keep consumers involved, knowing that I won’t buy new models makes me feel more detached from “the hobby” and “the community.”

3.2 Secondly, and more importantly, there’s the intangible aspect, partly on account of how GW handles the game, its setting and drives customer engagement (including the style and tone in which Warhammer Community articles are written – I clearly am not the target audience!). In recent memory, all these things have grown out of proportion. In light of the deluge of written and audio-visual content available, in order to remain in the loop, I feel, there is the constant pressure to consume said content. I understand that this works for many people. Unfortunately, I would personally much rather keep 40k as something I can enjoy in a relaxed manner (the way I used to do back in 5^th Edition when I, incidentally, also used to be super-engaged in what’s going on). Frankly, I feel that keeping up with just the Space-Marine-related 40k stuff is an equivalent of a part-time job!

3.3 This aforementioned sense of “pressure” has broken me. In 2022, I feel less involved in the hobby than ever. On the bright side, I discovered that I am able to compartmentalise and I don’t find it necessary to be a part of “the mainstream 40k” to enjoy select aspects of the hobby. I developed a very personalised concept of 40k, headcanon if you will, which is largely based on the outdated lore of 4^th and 5^th editions and I enjoy that since this makes it easier for me to plan things out and have this coveted relaxed involvement in the hobby. On top of that, staying on the sidelines, for the time being, might be a good thing since I have little to no faith in the company that manages all of it. It would be great if, at the very least, they could “fix the game” and find a way to assure me that my collection of their products will continue to be playable in their ecosystem, but I don’t see it happening anytime soon.

4. My disengagement from “the mainstream 40k” has also brought about unexpected consequences. I find myself no longer being as active on the B&C as I used to or would like to. I used to follow the Amicus and News & Rumours sections regularly and with keen interest; now I find myself not doing that since there’s nothing “for me” there. Regardless, this brings me back to the oversaturation of 40k-related stuff in general. Fortunately, and pardon the cliché, the B&C is more than 40k news – it really is a community made up of passionate people whom I find to be great company, even though we’re just randoms on the internet.

5. Not playing the game enough in 6^th/7^th editions, back when I used to have more time to play. Enough said.

6. Sometimes diverting from the BT colour scheme and painting miniatures on a per-model basis rather than per-squad. Sure, this allowed me to add more customisability and sometimes emphasise the idea that each Space Marine in the BT Chapter is an individual, with his personal history, heraldry and quirks, but right now I suppose that it’s better to have 10-men squads armed with, say, red bolters rather than a mix of colours.

Positives

Don’t be fooled by my apparent focus on the negatives: talk of failures and regrets. All in all, I sincerely consider my Crusade to be a positive in my life. In important matters, however, involving time and money, I usually emphasise the negative since deep down, I’m a huge optimist who enjoys things too easily and takes the positive for granted. Me being critical of something is the ultimate love letter: it shows that I care enough to think about a thing, try to locate its shortcomings and – ultimately – improve the thing or at least my experience of it.

For example, being critical of my photography skills and gear resulted in me developing practical photography knowledge and allowed me to have better control of a camera and the creative opportunities hidden within. Earlier, I was a point-and-shoot photographer. I used the in-camera automatic settings and took snapshots, without really understanding the physics behind the produced images. Now, through insight and criticism, I have a deeper understanding of photography – lighting, composition, optics, the functions offered by cameras and perks and limitations of hardware, mostly resulting from the different sizes of sensors. Moreover, I was able to make informed decisions about new purchases.

Without looking through a critical lens, I often fall into the trap of not noticing drawbacks; instead, I superficially enjoy a thing, which stimulates my “lizard brain” but, as my history with 40k demonstrates, results in mistakes with quite unwelcome repercussions.

Below is a summary of the things I have enjoyed about my time with 40k the most:

1. Playing the game, especially in a non-competitive environment where principles of fun and good sportsmanship take precedence. Experiencing “epic,” cinematic moments such as:

• tales of surviving against the odds, like a lone Vanguard Veteran surviving an entire round of Raven Guard fire and taking down many a foe in melee afterwards;
• or tales of unexpected victory, like a Neophyte finishing off a rampaging Carnifex with a single bolt pistol shot;
• or tales of tactical prowess where a squad of Sword Brethren Terminators completely disrupted and dominated the midfield and incapacitated the bulk of a Primaris force, most importantly a full-sized squad of Inceptors, a Librarian and an enemy Lieutenant;
• or tales of disappointment when my freshly-painted squad of metal Sword Brethren died off quickly and didn’t make it past the first round;
• or tales of hilarious ineptitude when my Vindicator shot scattered “behind” the tank, utterly missing the target in a lob defying all laws of physics and logic.

2. Painting the models and witnessing my painting skills organically develop (please note my intended lack of agency here!), without my conscious effort, such as reading/watching tutorials. Improvement was steady: it unfolded before me, often surprising me with the results of my own work between breaks in painting. Also, I really appreciate the fact of having a serviceable collection of brushes and paints that I can use to work on other projects, e.g., miniatures for board games.

3. Plasticard scratch building, i.e., one of the most “hobby” of hobby activities – utterly time-consuming, absolutely pointless, especially today, with the proliferation of accessible 3D printing, but immensely fun and satisfying. Initially, it was supposed to be a way of getting “cheap versions” of original GW kits; however, it developed to be something way more than that – a way of adding my vision and ideas to the Space Marine line-up. Sure, now, through 3D modelling and printing, there are better ways to alter existing models and share your vision with others, but it wasn’t the case all those years ago and it’s something beyond my set of skills today. And yes, I will finish that Thunderhawk!

4. Buying new models, collecting rare miniatures and taking advantage of online bargains. I used to have a habit of scrolling through online auctions and looking for recruits for the Neurode Crusade, many of whom are still, regrettably, waiting for proper processing and induction into the army.

5. Playing video games that I’d most likely not devote as much attention to as I did, most prominently The Last Stand in DoW2 and Exterminatus in Space Marine (anyone up for a game?).

6. Collecting and ‘discovering’ OOP metal models (though, painting them is usually a chore!) – old sculpts are often quite unexpectedly unique and fun, with little, characterful details here and there.

7. Working on the models, maybe with the exception of more fiddly kits (I really didn’t like the Redemptor Dreadnought kit!), converting models, with the exception of magnetising them. For the most part, I also enjoy the sometimes-frustrating process of salvaging second-hand models and giving them a new lease of life – despite the odds and challenges (excessive use of superglue by previous owners, horrid paintjobs), there is something oddly satisfying about restoring models.

8. This is more a thing of the past now, but I enjoyed thinking about 40k – scheduling new purchases (including budget management), creating army lists, organising the existing forces and fantasising about many enormous scratch building projects.

9. Coming to terms with “wasting considerable chunks of time” on non-serious, immature and non-professional activities.

10. As mentioned above, partaking in the community here at B&C, getting feedback from people, browsing through their works, reading their insights and finding inspiration, as well as motivation.

Prospects and Plans for the Future

With my enjoyment of the hobby in mind, I plan to:

• Get around to writing lore for my renegade crusade.
• Paint, paint, base, paint, assemble, convert and paint some more.
• Play a game using my painted miniatures, if not proper 40k, then onepagerules should be a valid and fun alternative.
• Take proper photos, with adequate lighting that does not work to the models’ detriment, as is often the case today.
• I also estimate that there constantly is a 10% chance of me getting rid of the whole thing since I’m struggling to find the motivation to work on the models and they take up a lot of space. The justification would be to simply close this chapter of my life and move on. In order to combat the impulse to sell the army, I’m regularly devoting some time to painting my miniatures – that’s a successful way of distracting myself and justifying holding on to my models – After all, I’m still investing time into them. It’d be a shame to let them go now… The sunk time fallacy at its best!

 

Afterthoughts

A general “thank you” for all the support over the years and a special “thank you” to those determined enough to go through this wall of text.

I also hope that some of you will find this at least a little bit insightful or relatable.

Writing these thoughts down has been a great, almost therapeutic, journey that even further bolstered my understanding of my place and purpose in the hobby. The attempt to write about something in a relatively organised and comprehensive manner is a great way to explore and challenge one’s preconceptions: these pesky ideas or mental shortcuts that we take for granted. Admittedly, even at this advanced stage of my newfound hobby-maturity, typing these words led me to re-evaluate some ideas and come to terms with some of my prejudices, forcing me to delete or rewrite entire paragraphs and resulting in a complete rebalance of the Regrets and Positives sections. This extensive and personal post is a testament to my often difficult but ultimately warm relationship with 40k and my heartfelt devotion to a grimdark future. I also hope to have enough zeal to revisit this in 10 years and maybe share another post worth a decade’s experience. I am sincerely curious what good the future holds. Oh, wait… I know… In the grimdark future, THERE IS ONLY WAR!

 

Regards from hot Wrocław, Poland!

Brother Christopher, Proud Marshal of the Neurode Crusade

Edited June 30, 2022 by Brother Cristopher

[Urkh]

Good post! I definitely found it very relatable myself. I never really did ebay, but I have way too much plastic regardless, haha! We just have to remember that there are a lot of people who are only in the hobby for the minis, not the game. Becoming someone like that should not be something to fret about. Your minis not necessarily having a uniform look is just going to give your army more flavor and character moving forward. Your odd OOP minis will become talking points for people you show your army to irl. Remember that you're building a Black Templars crusade, not a warhammer 40k army for gaming. One day, you'll get everything done and you will look at it all and say, "wow, look at that." Look forward to that day.

[SWORD BROTHER RYAN]

I can relate to practically everything you wrote there. I know I fell into the "Primaris" black hole, and I also have a growing "pile of shame" taking WAY too much space all over the house, and I haven't really played a game since the beginning of 8th Ed when all the mechanics changed, but I still love the models and the army as a whole. Like you, I tend to go on a painting surge, then end up stepping back for a while lamenting this pile of minis that still need to get worked on. It gets frustrating. And you're absolutely right that staying on top of the lore is like a part-time job, as well as staying up-to-date with the game as a whole. This, being compounded by the slow and constantly changing releases from GW, rules updates, and scattered variations of play seem to make it improbable to play a friendly game unless you're good with your opponent already. 

But, it is highly satisfying to just look on it from the modeling perspective and paint what I like how I like it. I stumbled into playing BT way back in 2003 when I bought a fairly playable army from a coworker who didn't want BT any longer, and I've loved it ever since. I don't (and won't) regret getting it and expanding the collection as I see fit. Since my career change in fall of 2014, modeling keeps me grounded, and allows me to focus on detail in a constructive way (IRL problems I won't get into on your thread).

All in all, I share a lot of your opinions. Watching your thread gives me a lot of inspiration to charge on with my own force, and even gives me ideas for what I want it to look like. I genuinely look forward to what you do next. Keep up the never-ending battle with the grey, for while in the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war, in the stressful present, there seems to be only paint!

[Brother Christopher]

Thank you, Brothers for reading that massive post and leaving replies. I am truly humbled. I am also grateful for the words of encouragement and sympathy - it is very reassuring to have a sense of fraternity with people who share similar experiences, even if these experiences aren't that great!

The last two weeks were brutal, professionally speaking. That's great, but very draining, especially on a tight schedule where I still need to squeeze in some chores and exercises. I found that this recent routine, minus weekend trips, left me with either no time or not enough energy to paint. After all, unlike watching TV series or playing video games, painting models requires some effort and a degree of planning. This is especially bothersome since I don't have a dedicated hobby desk/table and to get some room for my miniatures, paints and palette, I first have to remove and rearrange my business stuff.

At this stage, I don't want to make any short-term plans or commitments but I am happy to report that I started working on a half-a-dozen metal scouts neophytes. I figured that it's the right time to take a break from more demanding models and squeeze in something refreshing and manageable over a couple of painting sessions; after all, there's not that much highlighting as on PA models... and I don't believe that these models are worth the effort - that's why I'm trying to force myself to "speed paint" them by using more washes than I use to. I hope to get decent results without compromising the overall quality too much.

Today, over two hours, I managed to paint the cloth bits (trousers, sleeves) - using a mix of grey and black paint; I intend to apply a black wash over them, followed by minor drybrushing/highlighting; paint some leather bits (brown), paint some carapace armour bits (black), try out my new skin-toned paint on one face and paint by first camo cloak.

For the camo clak, I think that the prototype turned out quite well - it's based on a mix of pictures I saw in Google when searching for "SM camo cloaks." For the base, I use a dark grey colour (mix of black and grey), add some specks of grey paint and black paint with a small bit of torn sponge (I wanted the edges to be and jagged/irregular), followed by a layer of black wash, an edge highlight and single white dots in rows of three. Probably not the most elaborate thing but it's very fast and reasonably effective. Let me know what you think, though.

In other news, I managed to persuade myself out of buying a Spartan Assault tank and made a lot of doodles of my future Plasticard builds. I'm excited about the prospect of creating these vehicles but won't get around to doing that with the limited time I have. It'll have to wait.

Edited July 13, 2022 by Brother Cristopher

[SWORD BROTHER RYAN]

I did something similar with the cammo cloaks on my Primaris snipers (minus the white dots). It's effective for a more urbanized environment IMO. I like it. Subtle, but noticeable for what it's supposed to be.

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks for the feedback! I'm going for an urban camo, even though the bases will (probably) be the regular dirty sand I use. I've been considering dropping the pattern altogether on account of not being very Templary, but at the same time I wanted to try something else out and I'm quite glad I did! As for the dots, they probably don't make too much sense but I think they look really cool and make the whole thing pop.

There also is progress. I'd say that the batch of models is 70% done; all that remains is to 1. paint the faces; 2. paint some Maltese crosses, 3. add some highlights/lighter tones here and there and 4. add a protective coat of brush-on varnish to prevent chipping. So, clearly I failed with speed painting part of this small project, but by my standard progress is lightning-fast. I managed to achieve all this in three painting sessions, with another one or two to go.

Also, using a grey undercoat helped a lot. I must say - I kind of regret that I never bothered to get a grey or white undercoat for bits the likes of tabards or shoulder pads.

[Brother Christopher]

So, that’s for my good pace and an attempt at speedier painting. Three of the guys are done, three to go. For the remaining models, they only need the Maltese crosses and some finishing touches. I must say, painting those crosses on carapace armour should pads is somehow nasty. The pads themselves appear to be quite shapeless, or that’s just me attempting to do freehand after a long, long break from painting!

 

[Brother Christopher]

I managed to finish this batch of models today, including a layer of brush-on varnish to protect the metal models' paint from chipping.

Apologies for the photos - I wanted to take them today, but should've paid more attention to lighting, which turned out to be too strong and resulted in rough highlights, muddling parts of the models. I will retake proper photos one day, after I'll finish the bases, too.

Group shot:

Some close-ups:

All Matlese crosses are hand-painted; it's been a real bother, I'm not a big fan of painting those on scout armour shoulder pads and it shows:

I really like the ammo belt on this guy; I've went for blue and red shells, like in Turok 2 (and probably many other games) ;)

First attempt at a camo cloak:

Please note the little half of a Maltese cross on the shotgun and the rolled camo cloak on the back of the sniper:

[Marshal Mattias]

Honestly those crosses look great, better than most free-handed attempts I've ever seen!

[Urkh]

Those neophytes look amazing! As do your crosses!

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks, guys! I feel I spent too much time on the crosses, but you're right - I can be content with the way they turned out. Some of my gripes with them probably stemmed from me struggling with the consistency of the paint - due to the hellish weather, I couldn't get the feel of the paint "flow" from the brush onto the surface, which was particularly problematic when I needed just the right amount of coverage to get the pointy ends of the crosses sharp.

For future models, I also need to do something with my skin tones. Albeit they are not as yellowish in real life as in the photos (they kinda look as if they have jaundice), their complexion looks a bit too much on the sunny side. I don't think I'll be redoing these models' faces but I think I prefer the paler tones I used to achieve with the previous mix of paints, before I got a skin-toned wash. On the other hand, my current method is way faster, so that's that.

After the last couple of months which were quite intensive workwise, I'm starting to add some proper "me-time" to my daily routine. With that in mind, I am set on finding some time to paint more. For the next small project, some more ugly weird OOP metal stuff - a certain nameless metal Marshal/Captain (standing next to Helbrecht in the rear cover of the 4th Edition BT Codex) and a certain named Castelan from the dark times of the 3rd edition.

[Brother Christopher]

With the absolutely hectic pace of life in the last couple of weeks, I feel that the pace of my progress is miserable. It does not mean, however, that I am completely idle. I'm trying to squeeze in a couple of minutes every other day and paint something. Here's photographic evidence of the progress.

Spoiler

One has to remember one's roots - and both these models appear to be of some significance to the Black Templars, but boy oh boy... the sculpts didn't age well sure they have some nostalgia-infused charm, but it only only goes so far.

And think that I could've painted some Primaris! ;)

[Brother Christopher]

I finally finished Captain/Marshal:

[Urkh]

I would never think to paint aquillas red. Looks great!

[Brother Christopher]

On 8/6/2022 at 11:01 PM, Urkh said:

I would never think to paint aquillas red. Looks great!

Yeah, so that's one of my moments of 'creativity' ;) Glad you like it - it's feedback positive feedback on a silly divergence from the regular metallics or greys on these kinds of ornaments.

In other news, here's the painted Castellan Draco. I really, really need a detox from painting 3rd Edition miniatures. I can't get rid of the the feeling that I should be could've been putting the time and effort into some modern, nice-looking models, preferably Primaris. Alas, I have to suffer the consequences of my decisions and here we are - with a piece of BT history.

... having said that, on the other hand, I could press on and paint the remaining models from that age, the original EC model (unfortunately incomplete), a Techmarine and an Apothecary and be done with PA models from these venerable times once and for all.

As ugly as the miniature is, I'm glad I got him - this has actually been my last purchase for now. I think I got him around February this year, for a very reasonable price.

[Brother Christopher]

Unsurprisingly, I haven't done any work recently.

I've been very seriously contemplating getting some <GASP> Primaris Marines. I've found a very good deal for the BT: Combat Patrol box and am pretty torn here - I'd like to get it primarily (pun intended) as an experiment, to see how I'd do with painting modern sculpts. I really like some details on the new models, the flamer thingy or the running Sword Brother with the sword. On top of that, a third of the bits in the upgrade box looks neat and have been debating getting the kit ever sice it's launch but couldn't justify the price per bit.

Conversely, a detailed analysis of the models also further reinforced my conviction that vanilla Primaris in general are not really for me. The larger size and the modern detailing is great in principle, but I can't say that I particularly like the design of the armour. Most of the standing/advancing poses are great, an unquestionable upgrade to the tactical squat of the older lines, but I'm totally not sold on the running poses who, with the added bulk of the greaves, look as if they are about to tumble. To my despair, particularly the Sword Brethren's poses look awkward.

However, the intent to buy the kit led me to scrutinise the contents of the BT kits and I can't fight the feeling that the BT Primaris Crusader Squad is a bit of a disgrace or at least sort of bad. The limited number of unique bodies is one thing - something that doesn't matter at all for my purposes since I've been intending to convert these models either way. What is particularly baffling is how the individual parts making a model are split: e.g we get a bit of tabard, a greave and a knee pad and a single knee pad a one part. This is the crux of my problem with this kit.

I have a question to those who have experience with the new kits: From the photos I've seen, it also appears that some of the weapon options are connected to the wrist in a strange way. How do you attach weapons to your Primaris marines? Is it done as with the old kits, with a "flat" connection point along the wrist joint

Spoiler

or are they generally connected in a different way, presumably making it easier to glue the two parts in place,

Spoiler

, making it more problematic to use the bits for, say, Firstborn models? The bits on Intercessors appear to be less fiddly - either connecting at the shoulder (whole arm) or wrist. Is it the case?

[Marshal Reinhard]

I started with the 25th anniversary marine I believe. An experiment. A one off. Then they released Calgar, and I decided this meant GW had shown where they wanted to go and I just went all in.

Anyway, most all primaris weapons are attached to the arms already. Most heavy bolt pistols, chainswords are whole sale on their arm already only missing the shoulder pad. Bolt rifles have both hands on them already, with the right arm typically attached wholesale, and the left arm being a seperate piece. Sometimes the right arm attaches too, then its typically across the hand.

Some of the kits have, most notably our sword brethren and primaris crusaders have options for different pistols and such. Here the different variants again typically attach over the hand, a couple of the swords attach at the wrist. (like the poses two handing the power sword)

As for lack of poses in the crusader kit, Yes it is a bit concern, but only with the neophytes if you ask me. Any intercessors, assault intercessors or even hellblaster bodies can all make a perfectly serviceable basis for a crusader (will lack the flappy bit though). Neophytes are the real problem if GW does not release some kind of primaris scout kit.

Lastly, you should not have any trouble using any weapons or poses with classic marines 

Edited August 17, 2022 by Reinhard

[Brother Christopher]

Thank you for the extensive answers. I think I have a fairly good understanding of what I'd be getting into. The lack of different poses is just a general observation - I'm quite certain that I wouldn't concern me since I am quite adamant on not adding much to my backlog. However, considering my extended break from purchases, I suppose that buying something new won't hurt that much...

It's all the fault of Castelan Draco and the other Captain - painting them, I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd rather paint a better model. While I generally don't have a problem with Firstborn models (I have always accepted the weird proportions), the older stuff made me really feel yearning for something fresh, but still within the familiar Black Templar framework.

On the upside, the old models come in 2-5 parts :) One thing that worries me is how many parts there appear to be in the new kits. My only experiences with really modern GW kits are the Stardrake from AoS (which was a blast to assemble) and the Redemptor Dreadnought (which was a chore and that experience is the sole reason I didn't get another one for my collection) - both on the opposite ends on the fun-hate spectrum.

[Urkh]

When it comes to poses for the full marines, I think there is a lot more possible variation than you might think at first glance. I've definitely made poses out of mine that I've not seen other members have theirs, and I didn't do any conversions. You just sort of have to play with it a little.

I also plan on using the extra BT weapons bits and whatnot on normal intercessor (if I ever own any) variations to make them more BT, and get more poses out of them. Not all our brethren wear aprons.

[Brother Christopher]

I'm quite happy to report that after a holiday break (I've been doing a lot of hiking in the mountains recently), I got back to the hobby with quite a high level of zeal and started working on a Redemptor Dreadnought conversion; basically, I want to keep the older (i.e. which bring to mind old dreadnought designs) features of the model while de-primarising it a bit. The vague idea is to end up with a model that resembles a super-sized Castraferrum Dreadnought, while incorporating some of the Heresy Dreadnought features, as well as the vanilla Redemptor.

After the initial anxiety over ruining the model, I must confess that so far I'm managing to implement my ideas to a satisfactory level. While I'm also being quite impatient to share the result of my work thus far with you, I think that I should still wait a bit to have something more tangible to properly showcase. Don't get me wrong, I've already spent a lot of time changing the legs (probably too much!), but it's still very much a work in progress. 

The process is so time-consuming because of my lack of design skills (I improvise a lot and do a ton of dry-fitting before cutting out layers upon layers of bits; I'm using .25 mm plasticard sheets to build up the proper thickness of the altered bits, as well as to be able to produce some nice, Space-Marinish details). I started with the "greaves" and "knee pads" which are tricky since they are rounded bits; plasticard is best for creating flat surfaces and the typical boxiness of Space Marine designs.

Regardless, I'm quite determined and will be spending every minute I can spare and my back can take ;) After all the movement during the holidays, my body now than before needs maintenance exercise and, you know, and the modelling/tabletop hobby isn't an optimal addition to a desk job!

[Master222]

Plasticard - especially so thin takes bending quite nicely. I like to roll it around a cocktail stick, brush handle or pencil and then just glue it where I want it. For example when I'm missing a tip of rod that is a slightly bigger diameter than the rod I just roll a piece of thin plasticard to make a "bracer" glue one side, wrap it around the rod and glue on the other side. The joint can be then either smoothed out with putty or just ignored if it's hidden somewhere close to the body.