XBA: Space Marine Heroes FINISHED

[Xenith]

Contrast FTs turned out really well   I do like the added highlight on the traditionally painted guy, contrasts are very consistent. 

Sarges head needs a touch-up around those studs on the top of his head to remove the genestealer vibe. Other than that, I can't really find a flaw Good job!

 

Indeed, I'll be going back and adding a highlight to all when I can be bothered - likely when I get a HQ choice for the FT's made. Thing is meph red is kind of flat, while the contrast has an almost gloss sheen, which looks odd on a model. I might hightlight more extreme, like straight to Wild Rider then ungor flesh, then hit everything with a red glaze to being it down again, and all with the same 'finish'.

 

Unsure how I'm going to tidy the shade on the head without having to redo the whole thing. Might repaint grey seer then very lightly wash all over with guilliman. 

Edited April 6, 2020 by Xenith

[Thoridon]

I like that selection of sergeants :)

 

I see what you mean about the slight contrast sheen but at least in these pictures it doesn't look too glossy to me. A lot of places refer to power armour as "polished ceramite" so I don't see it as being out of place, though if you personally prefer a full matte finish I can understand wanting to change that. Have you tried testing a little matte varnish over the bits you find too glossy?

[Xenith]

Trying to come up with some fun Flesh Tearer Characters to lead the army, I stumbled upon this combo:

 

 

Flesh Tearer Captain: Merciless Butcher (+1A per 5 models in 3")/Of Wrath and Rage (bonus attack on 6's to hit); Death Visions; jump pack; 2nd Chainsword; Severer of Threads (+1S, -1AP, +D3A, MW's on a 6+ to wound).

 

Average 10A on the T3 charge plus bonus from WL trait, assume 10 hits with captan rerolls, wounds marines on 2+ and MW's proc on a 5+ with red thirst. Should get 3MW through as well as 7-8 normal wounds on MEQ. 93pts+1CP.

 

I might have to make a guy up like this anyway. I think that's insane for under 100pts. If you can think of any other combos, add them to the thread in the main forum!

Edited April 6, 2020 by Xenith

[appiah4]

I can't even tell what half of the stuff in that statline blurp is, that's how disconnected I am from modern WH40K :(

[Xenith]

I can't even tell what half of the stuff in that statline blurp is, that's how disconnected I am from modern WH40K

 

Yea man, it's really diffucult coming into it cold, but 8th ed is a lot of fun, but very bloody. More alpha strikey than even 3r ed. Usually 50% of the models on the table are gone by end of T1 from my games. 

 

The Flesh tearers got a relic that give +d3 attacks and deals an additional mortal (unsaveable) wound on a 6 to wound. I was looking for ways to abuse that with some other rules. There's also a warlord trait that lets you have an extra attack for each 6 to hit. 

[SnorriSnorrison]

Great progress on the squads! Also, it’s nice to see that contrast is working out the way you wanted.

[Xenith]

As I was looking for photos of Speeder Crews for Appiah's thread, I came across myold army shot and thought I'd re-share. This is now...2 ETL's ago? I thought I'd painted a lot more, since then, but thinking about it, it seems its closer to 15 tacticals, a few charactersand a Storm Talon and a Land raider. I blame my growing Tyranid Army of which I've painted about 1000pts.

2019 was pretty rough for me and I didnt get much done, but 2020 seems to be a winner, and I'll aim to get a lot more done! 10 tactical marines, 5 assault and 5 devastator left to finish the company. Better get moving!

As promised, the army shots. Please excuse the poor lighting, the light bulb above the table was making everything yellow so I had to use the camera flash...

Army Shost:

1st Company

4th Company

7th and 8th Company

10th Company

Death Company

Golden Company

[Majkhel]

Nice one! It will be nice to see how your collection has expanded :)

I've just realised that I myself am only 30 marines away from a full codex-compliant Battle Company with my 'Daemonbanes'. Supporting units' and equipment numbers are still meagre compared to yours though. If I manage to finish this, It will definitely call for a family photo too.

[Xenith]

Nice one! It will be nice to see how your collection has expanded

I've just realised that I myself am only 30 marines away from a full codex-compliant Battle Company with my 'Daemonbanes'. Supporting units' and equipment numbers are still meagre compared to yours though. If I manage to finish this, It will definitely call for a family photo too.

 

Definitely, it was really satisfying to get all the troops out for parade, and great to see how far I'd come with painting. Once done with the 4th Co, I'll be doing other units from Successor chapters, but gradually working towards completing the 1st and 10th companies. 

 

In the meantime, I think Reivers would look really good in Flesh Eaters colours, so I'll be painting up a test model or two in those, trying to use the BA Red contrast over wraithbone and grey seer bases to hopefully achieve that bright red, almost pink look they have. 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Xenith

[Xenith]

I've started on the Reiver Squad from 'Wake the Dead', and that is a decent kit to make. The helmets and heads are way more detailed than they look in photos. I've got one helmed and one without, then one undercoated in Wraithbone the other in Grey Seer to test out the shades. Wraithbone and grey seer are really similar, I'll see if I can get a shot later. I'm wondering what the tiny variation in colour wll actually translate to beneath the contrast paints. 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Xenith

[Xenith]

So due to Corona-isolation I finally pulled my finger out and updated a lot of old broken photobucket links, or stripped the bad images. It reduced the blog somewhat, but hopefully makes it more easy on the eye. 

 

I also came across this, my first broken vow:

 

 

Stumbling across by buddy Skink's DA thread, I realised how bad he makes my look with his prolific painting output. He finished a company in half a year, and here I am averaging 20 guys a year.

No more!

 

2016 pledge, I will finish the 4th company before the end of the year.

 

The exact number of models I need to do this have been added to the first post, but its a daunting task. 4 tactical squads, and one each of dev and assault squads, then the second half of a dev squad and captain, for a total of 66 marines. 

 

That is, however only 6 bodies per month for 12 months.

 

I can do this.

 

NARRATOR: He didn't, in fact, do this.

 

I've pledged every year for the past 5 years to finish my company, and it hasn't happened yet. I've Painted a lot of stuff in the meantime, characters, tanks, tyranids ad Iron Warriors, but now power armoured Blood Angels. I currently have 15 tactical marines, 10 devastator and 5 assault marines to nail the company. This year I'll see it done.  

[Thoridon]

Sounds like a good first ETL vow :)

[Xenith]

Sounds like a good first ETL vow

 

Normally I hate painting line infantry with time pressure, but tell you what, If I've assembled them by the start of ETL, I'll vow the remainder. I should have another 5 tac marines mainted by then, so just a dev squad, 5 assault and 10 tacs to do.

 

Remaining units:

 

2nd - Tactical Squad Terranostro (5/10) - melta, combi melta. Next 5 to have combi melta (magged), multimelta

5th - Tactical Squad Jovor (5/10) - Storm bolter, grav cannon, next 5 to have...what? Storm bolter (magged), plasma gun/grav gun?

8th - Assault Squad Marsellus (5/10) - 5 painted, serge with twin inferno pistols 2 meltas. Next 5 need 2x eviscerators (magged)

9th - Devastator Squad Plutaxo (4/10) - 3xMl, Serge. These are in my old scheme, I'm sorely tempted to make 10 new Devs with 4x Heavy bolters, or possibly repaint these guys. 

 

What special weapon would you pair with a storm bolter on the serge and a grav cannon? a plasms for 24" harmony? Grav gun for target harmony?

 

In addition to the above I want to rebase the 7th assault squad to 32mm and base them properly. 

Edited April 8, 2020 by Xenith

[Xenith]

Incursor Time!

Group shot of 5 incursors and the other 5 infiltrators. That puts me at 2x5 Infiltrators and 5 incursors, 3 troops choices for a batallion, just needing the 2HQ choices, which will probably be a Librarian and the Phobos Lieutenant from Shadowspear. Let's see how long this taste for Flesh (Tearers) lasts, I did a test swatch for Flesh Eaters on the reivers and really liked:

wraithbone > evil sunz > wash of 50:50 mix blood angels red+lahmian medium. A nice, vibrant scarlet. I'll paint up a reiver in that scheme fully, maybe the whole unit before deciding. My Primaris will likely end up being from multiple successors as discussed before.

With the Flesh Eater Reivers in the background

Incursor Mine Layer

Incursor Sergeant

Gnarly Infiltrator

On the way back from a supply run, I also accidentally found the name of my next tank:

These Primaris squads were actually pretty fun to put together. A little less choice paralysis than with the older kits, but thats purely due to lack of options. Models are cool and dynamic straight from the box. Oldmarines still have their place, though.

Edited April 9, 2020 by Xenith

[Thoridon]

Hazy Pale Ale does seem like a good name for a tank indeed.

[Xenith]

Hazy Pale Ale does seem like a good name for a tank indeed.

 

  Under the command of Third Captain Session IPA.

Edited April 9, 2020 by Xenith

[Jolemai]

I approve of this message (and Northern Monk tbh).

[Leonaides]

Might have to name one of my repulsors rigg welter now.

[Xenith]

On another note, I decided to paint up a Deathwing Terminator for a friend. The Termie is painted entirely with contrasts, and took maybe 70minutes total including drying time. Quite insane.

[Thoridon]

What special weapon would you pair with a storm bolter on the serge and a grav cannon? a plasms for 24" harmony? Grav gun for target harmony?

Sorry, I'd missed that. If it's going to be a full 10-man squad then fitting in the same 24" range would probably make sense. Thematically a grav gun would fit, though they're not necessarily in the best spot on the tabletop and that 6" shorter range is a downside. A plasma gun works nicely with the 24" range for a little extra oomph, and not the end of the world if it blows up at the cost. There's also nothing wrong with just having an extra bolter body as the grav cannon is already an expensive upgrade for the squad.

Edited April 13, 2020 by Thoridon

[Xenith]

So the Deathwing Terminator is 90% done, well, 100% done with contrast paints, I just have to decide what I want to do with the lightning claws.

Skinks original works are in some of his archived threads, and a pic of his Deathwing, my most regular opponent for a while, are below. He's done some pretty impressive stuff like a company during ETL and a Deathwing Army for the LPC. His claws were just silver, but I might jazz them up a bit.

The scheme used was:

Heavy basecoat all over with Wraithbone.

Neatly paint Basilicanum grey into all metallic areas, armour ribbing, Crux Terminatus, etc.

Warp Lightning green neatly painted onto all green areas, one thin coat to neatly pick out the edges then a thick coat on the detail for the shading.

Red is straight Blood Angels Red, painted neatly onto the details, like the laurel, wax seals, eye lenses, other lenses

Metal and concrete/rubble on the base is one heavy wash of Black Templar.

Other base texture is a heavy wash of basilicanum grey.

After all that, the armour is the last stage. This is a 50:50 mix of Skeleton Horde and Contrast Medium, painted neatly around other details and then thickly onto the armour and moved around so it didnt pool - though you can see it did a tiny bit on the models right shoulder pad.

It doesn't quite match Skink's colour scheme which was Devlan mud over Dheneb Stone, but this model got to this stage of completion in about 70-75 mins max, it's amazing to think I could possibly knock out a unit of terminators in 5 hours, and really motivational. I have to use this motivation to keep pushing forward with the BA! Maybe a Blood Angels Red test model is overdue.

Edited April 13, 2020 by Xenith

[Quixus]

Love the CML idea. Don't forget to drill the barrels on the stormbolters though.

[Xenith]

Love the CML idea. Don't forget to drill the barrels on the stormbolters though.

 

I'll let him tknow - the DW unit is actually my friends, I used that photo as a reference when painting the one below in contrast. I was tempted to steal the CML idea myself. 

[Majkhel]

I have to say this Terminator looks nice! You are definitely managing your brush-work and pooling of the contrasts paints very well 

The BA red looks kinda flat on the helmet areas, but the armour and green areas came out really good.

[Xenith]

++Eaters of Flesh++

Next up are the Flesh Eater Reivers test models. I did a lot of digging to find as much as I could about these guys, who have been variously represented over time. Initially a first founding chapter/Legion, they appearered in Rogue Trader era publications, before they disappeared for a while. My first memory of them is in a 3rd ed space marine chapter listing where they are present, but not listed as a BA successor. I think 5th ed brought them into the fold as a Scion of Sanguinius, which is pretty fitting.

One thing is common, the scarlet red, almost pink or orange armour. Despite being a bloodthirsty chapter on the edge of damnation, they seemed bright, and would compliment the dark bruised colours of the Flesh Tearers. Some of my reference images are below:

Rogue Trader Depiction, with helmet stripe and actual mouth/demon mouth insignia, and the famous 'Jaws of Doom' assault squad with fanged beakie helms.

Image from 3rd Ed, with simplified icon and no helmet stripe

Modern versions (from Imperial Armour?) with simplified icon and returned stripe.

These are wraithbone primer, thin coat of Evil Sunz Scarlet, then an all over glaze of 50/50 Blood Angels Red (BAR) and Contrast Medium (CM). The guy with the helm has some small highlights on the shoulderpad, however they seem to have been mostly washed out in the photos, along with the shading. BAR is quite a pigmented wash, and I might have to be more aggressive with he highlights, using maybe an ungot flesh colour or orange over the Evil Sunz to be able to see it under the BAR.









That said, I'm really happy with the shade of red that these guys came out. It has depth and is pretty vibrant, way moreso than my standard Meph red base. I might have to go back and try a thinned BAR glaze over some of my BA characters and see how that works.

Next up will be finishing off the metals and then freehanding the Chapter Badge. In future I'll probably go with Shapeways for it, but this test will be ok for now, unless it's super easy and I find a way to do it quickly.

Edited April 14, 2020 by Xenith