Chapter 888 (Ultramarines...kinda)

[Kierdale]

I intend to make a Mentor Legion kill team (likely it'll snowball from there. These things always do) and so am opening this thread to record my progress.

So far I have:

The purist old git in my wants to go with the Owl emblem but for ease of painting (and the fact that red, white and green look good) I'm using the newer iconography. I do intend to feature the Owl head somewhere though. An HQ banner, perhaps.

There I go thinking beyond Kill Team already.

I also have a box of sniper scouts I was going to use for my Scythes of the Emperor, but that project is being folded, so the snipers are a possible addition to this project.

A box of push fit marines is on order for painting practice before I shell out for a Tactical squad box or whatever.

One thing I do envision for these marines is having them loaded down with lots of equipment. Pouches and stuff all over the place. likewise any vehicles.

[Olis]

Mentors. Cool. I haven't seen a thread or a plog about them for quite a while. :tu:

[deathspectersgt7]

Mentors Cool I have half a squad painted up. looking forward to yours.

[Brother Tyler]

[Kierdale]

Thanks for the support!

From the chapter master himself, too!

 

I'm ordering the Raptors Rhino doors/front plate too as someone on the 40k wiki did a Mentor Legion rhino with them and I like the look.

[Kierdale]

After getting some good advice on Chapter Tactics and Kill Teams (HERE) I'm thinking about a '1st & 10th' kill team of scouts and stern guard with Imperial Fists chapter tactics (one of tw reasons I chose the Mentor Legion, aside from them being cool, RT-era and cool, was that they have no set Chapter Tactics. I'm keen to experiment with different CTs and I think the Mentors' MO kinda supports that).

 

As well as the box of snipers I have, I may throw some of my old Thousand Sons bolter scouts into my Simple Green vat.

 

Basing-wise I'm thinking of doing something resembling a hive/space hulk. I've never done that beyond a few models and am keen to get away from 'natural' or typical-urban basing.

[WarriorFish]

Sterns are good in KT, their flexibility is very potent plus they'd fit the Mentors theme well. Scouts are cheaper than Marines but as effective on the attack so their additional numbers will complement the more expensive veterans. Best of all is they'd offer a lot of modelling variety in the force :D

[Teetengee]

ooh, I am excited to see your basing

[Kierdale]

I'm still a bit torn on the basing...

part of me is tempted to get the GW Mars earth crackly paint as red bases would go nicely, and I can get some red pigment powders into the crevices of their nice white leg armour...

but the hulk basing is also attractive and I'm tempted to do a vertical diorama with my Mentors. By `vertical diorama` I'm thinking something that would fit in a high but shallow case, glass front, LEDs, multi-layered diorama. If you have Rogue Trader, check page 173, 180 and IIRC there's an excellent Novamarines versus Genestealers one in the Compilation or Compendium.

A-ha! Found it:

Hidden Content

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2xI4tZfdlO4/ULe60GN9PBI/AAAAAAAAB2U/uyHFIwBeP70/s320/Inegrity.jpg

...or I do both: have it a diorama of an assault on a subterranean complex: a `floor` showing the Mars-esque surface at the top and the hulk-like floors below. Bingo: dust on boots explained. Just pin the marines in place and have their Mars-esque bases for actual gaming.

And I get to reuse the genestealers and termagants from an IG diorama from a couple of years back which currently sit shoved in a box.

Anyway, the project is far from dead!

The pushfits are ready to undercoat.

A tactical squad is enroute for Xmas.

The razorback and FW doors are here.

And I got started on the sniper scouts...

Nowt particularly groundbreaking there, but I did convert the first sniper a bit, as if he's spotted someone outflanking the squad...

I'll be adding a pistol grip to his rifle tomorrow and removing the end of the pistol grip from his holster.

[Xenith]

An idea I've long had on the back burner was Mentor Legion using Pedro Kantor to make SG objective Secured, along with 2x 5 sniper scout squads.

 

Looking forward to seeing what you do with them :)

[Teetengee]

I feel like that scout could benefit from rotating his left hand so that the butt of his rifle is resting on his leg or the ground, as right now the way he is holding it seems unnatural. The gun has no more weight than a sandwich. I really like the idea behind the pose though.

[WarriorFish]

Agreed, it needs angling to be more natural but thanks to the camo cloaks you can get away with a fair bit with the cables I've found.

[Kierdale]

That's an excellent point, Teetengee. Thanks, I hadn't noticed that at all. :tu:

I'll get on that today.

 

One other thing is that I do have a box of Sternguard but, as I want everyone to be lugging lots of gear and looking tooled up for serious combat...all the decoration on the SG kit makes me wary. Perhaps I'll have to try putting some together and putting gear over the top of any 'bling' (Throne, I detest that word!) to see how it looks.

 

Painting some marines who are simply green and white will be a change from my Psychopomps...

[WarriorFish]

Yeah the Sternguard kit like the Vanguard are full of cool bits but fancy ones which doesn't suit certain chapters - I'm using them only for my Vets and even then I'm limiting the amount of bells. Great for weapons though, plenty of nice options :)

[Xenith]

The Mentors do have a long and proud history, though, so perfectly acceptable to have them ornamented.. No reason you can't mix normal plain pieces in with the SG. I did that with my BA SG - No point wasting cool torso pieces on models with bolters across their chests. They also got extra grenades, pouches, accessories, etc.

[Sete]

Yeah the Sternguard kit like the Vanguard are full of cool bits but fancy ones which doesn't suit certain chapters - I'm using them only for my Vets and even then I'm limiting the amount of bells. Great for weapons though, plenty of nice options :)

true story.

Im still waiting for plastic Sword bros lol. Might take a while.

[Aqui]

Another Chapter finally getting some attention Will be looking forward to seeing more

[Kierdale]

Thanks.

I'm busy with my IG and CSM at the moment but will give the Mentors some more attention soon.

A Tactical Squad is currently deployed under the Christmas tree for me. :D

 

I'm thinking about using the white scheme GW Duncan did in the recent White Scars video tutorial (basically Uthuan Grey over everything, Agrax Earthshade in crevices and White Scar to highlight). Interesting that they used Agrax rather than Nuln. Perhaps I'll try both on the pushfits.

[Brother Casman]

Agrax Earthshade probably makes it a warmer white than Nuln Oil would, though I am curious to see how both turn out!

[Kierdale]

As a break from my Psychopomps (I don't want to be painting pink at home and in my lunch hour at work) I've done a little work on my Mentor Legion, opening the tactical squad box which has been on my shelf too long.

First up: missile launcher and spotter.

I'm sure marines don't need binocs, but I like the look.

And the spotter has more missiles on his back for his mate.

Reloading marine.

...with entrenching tool. Like the binocs, it's there because I want them tooled up with lots of stuff rather than me expecting he does a lot of digging. I'll be adding grenades and pouches to all post-painting and decalling.

And comms.

I may add cabling from the auspex to the left side of the backpack. Will be adding a thin whip-aerial to the top of the backpack.

Coming up next is a marine aiming his bolter.

I have a fair few scopes saved up for the rest of the squad.

I have no plans for the sergeant's armament. As I don't really play now I think I'll give him a power sword to add a contrasting colour.

Any suggestions for the special weapon trooper? :)

[WarriorFish]

Nice to see you back after so long :tu:

[jpwyrm]

Good progress Kierdale!

 

Flamer or plasma would complement the squad nicely. Flamer is a logical choice for a team expecting to get into an enclosed compound like you're planning for your diorama. Plasma is just a flexible weapon (it can deal infantry, light or heavy, and vehicles) and gives you another source of glowing effect too.

 

Keep it up, hope to see more soon!

[Kierdale]

Indeed! Flamer is it is then. I'll see if I can do a (detachable) blast of fire for the diorama in the same style as my Raptors...

And today a question of armament placing.

Put the Catachan sword (a souvenir. But who taught who?) behind the shoulder or across the bum?

[WarriorFish]

Both look good, but as the Catachan sword is quite long might be best on top, so it doesn't poke out as much? Though since you don't play much perhaps transport isn't something to consider!

[jpwyrm]

Would go with top too, but maybe a little less high as it is right now, otherwise that poor guy's gonna need some serious bionics/mutations to be able to draw that blade!

 

Cool Raptor BTW, a flame blast like that would be sweet in a diorama for sure!