Brother Elysium's Hobby Blog; Primaris LT Base complete

[Brother Eleysium]

Like many others out there, I have been hobbying on and off for almost 20 years. Unfortunately, I was one of individuals that was so disgusted with the direction of the game during the 5th, 6th, and 7th editions, I completely backed out of 40K, and sold almost everything 40K related I had. I still read the books, and tried my best to follow the universe, but I had pretty much swore off the proposition of buying 40K ever again. I played numerous other games, and still hobbied quit frequently, but I always missed the 40K universe. A good friend of mine that had also swore of 40K and GW in general approached me in mid 2017 and asked me had I heard about the "new 40K." I approached the idea with much skepticism, but given his hatred for GW burned brighter than mine, I decided to check it out. From the very first rule leaks on Warhammer Community my interest in 40K was sparked into an absolute Supernova of interest. By the end of 2017 I had completely painted 4000+ points of Dark Hunters(a GW White Scar successor chapter)and began collecting Imperial Knights, Baneblade variants, terrain, etc... I was HOOKED.

 

In late 2018 while digging through what little remained of my old 40K collection, I stumbled across the Classic Metal Terminator Librarian from the mid to late 2000's. I remember buying him with hopes of adding it to my growing force of the MAGNIFICENT sons of Dorn, the Crimson Fists. Sadly, at the time, the detail in the model intimidated me, and I never got beyond priming and assembling him. I finally decided no time was better than now, and set out to bring him to life. It took a few days, and I often found myself second guessing my work. Once he was completed, I shared it with my local group, and through much encouragement from them, I decided it was time to rebuild my Crimson Fists.

 

Here is the completed model that rekindled my passion for the Crimson Fists:

 

 

 

 

 

At the time I was working on a Christmas present from my wife(basically to myself  ) Sa'Cea Tau. I know it's nothing but true Heresy to meddle with Xenos, but, their models had caught my eye for years. I also hadn't played a Xenos army since 2001. So once again the Crimson Fists were put on hold, and I worked on them here and there when I needed a break from Tau. 

 

During Late 2018/early 2019, I finally decided to set my mind and time to working on my Crimson Fists. I have since amassed roughly 1500 pts worth, and will continue to grow them. At first I planned on only doing a  Terminator contingent(which looks to be a large portion of the army)and I dubbed them  "The Crimsonwing". But, I decided to flesh out to various Troop units, and a few other Elites. Since then, the unit variants have continued to expand. 

 

Over the next few days/weeks, I plan on posting pics of my already completed items, and will then slowly work into my current works in progress. 

 

I hope everyone enjoys the journey of bringing my favorite Chapter back to life with me.

 

Edited December 16, 2019 by Brother Eleysium

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Terminator Librarian.

[Brother Eleysium]

 As I stated before, I originally envisioned this army as a Terminator only force with some small tank and Dreadnought support. So the name "Crimsonwing" came to me, and has kind of stuck. So, the next step after the Librarian was adding some squads of Terminators for him to lead triumphantly into battle.

 

I didn't want them to be too flashy, as I generally reserve that for HQs and Dreadnoughts who I envision would have earned the highest honors within the Chapter. But, I did want each Terminator to have his own unique feel and identity. When I am building and painting each squad, I kind of envision my own little narrative in my head for each model, and I feel like it helps me add a little identity to each marine. To me, each model tells it's own story, so I do my best to try and capture a unique feel for each.

 

For those of you that played in 3rd and 4th ed, script work on Space Marine armor was kind of a new thing, and a bit of a fad with GW. It's one that I have always liked, so I use it quite often on my marine models. It breaks up the monotony of color that you generally see on marine armor as well. And why wouldn't the mightiest warriors in the galaxy have their deeds immortalized in their armor? Being that these warriors hail from Rynn, and have lived through countless battles against the greenskin waves, I decided to add some of the Citadel Ork skulls to the bases, and it is now a theme I have carried throughout most of the army.

 

You'll also notice a lot of the models have Magenta power weapons. I liked the idea of a stark contrast to the rest of the blue and red. It's not for everyone, but through this project, I have grown quite fond of it.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 8, 2019 by Brother Eleysium

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Crimsonwing models are well done. The name, however, sounds Dark Angels-y. How about "Hammer Fists" (for what these Terminators will do to enemies of the Emperor and the Imperium He built), or "Bloody Knuckles" (for the color, and the natural result of hitting something with your bare fists)?

[Brother Eleysium]

The Crimsonwing models are well done. The name, however, sounds Dark Angels-y. How about "Hammer Fists" (for what these Terminators will do to enemies of the Emperor and the Imperium He built), or "Bloody Knuckles" (for the color, and the natural result of hitting something with your bare fists)?

 

I really like the names you came up with, but Dark Angels were the first loyalist Space Marine army I ever played, so I still have a pretty big affinity for them. The correlation you see is kind of purposeful. 

 

Honestly, after I get a few thousand points of these guys painted and table ready, I may start another Dark Angels army. I have been thinking of doing a 3rd of 4th company force.

[Brother Eleysium]

After adding some firepower, I wanted to add some up close and personal support. 

 

I decided to pick up the Lysander model as the Shield Eternal TH combo is too solid to pass up IMO. I remember when he was originally released in metal, and he's still a beautiful model today. I still wish GW would ditch their Finecast line as for me the have always been hit or miss, and I do not particularly care for them. I special ordered him from my local game store, and prayed to the modeling Gods that GW would pick me a halfway decent model. Fortunately, upon his arrival, he was in solid shape. There were no warped parts that required heating and bending with hot water, and there was relatively little clean up. My plastic sacrifices to the hobbying Gods paid off.  ;)

 

I had originally intended on converting him, to give him his own unique feel, but decided against it. Just like my Librarian that kick started this whole project, he had such a nostalgic feel, I didn't want to change him. I decided to replicate the Magenta color on the Thunder Hammer and let that color theme continue throughout the army. It's not for everyone, but I was happy with how it came out, as the unique coloring ties the army together quite well. But, I can admit it's not for some.

 

Here is my "Lysander" in all his glory. I honestly have not given him a name, so any suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

After mulling over my next move, I decided to add a "Command Sqaud" for my Captain. Remember the days of old where Terminator Command Squads were a thing, I bought a Melee Termie kit. After getting the sprues cleaned up, and ready for assembly, I wasn't really pleased with the overall look for what I am considering my Command Squad. 

 

I began to search the interweb(thank you Al Gore)and fortunately FW is still selling the Terminator Shoulder pad conversion set. I picked up one of those, and set out to find a better torso for my Sergeant. After searching for a while, and mulling over it, I ended up going with the Blood Angels Termie Sgt. kit. I like a lot of the Deathwing models, and was heavily leaning towards something from that range, but the Blood Angels pose just stood out to me. 

 

I've never really been a fan of the Storm Shields. To me, it's more a buckler than a shield, so I ordered several of the Sgt shields from a bitz distributor to further flesh out the models. 

 

Here is the finished product:

 

 

 

 

 

[Brother Eleysium]

As this project continued to grow on me, I decided to expand it to an actual well rounded force instead of the novelty I had initially thought of. So, I dug through my collection that should be considered more of an obsession, and I realized I still had over 40 Intercessors from the Dark Imeperium sets, as well as a the actual Intercessor Kits, 15 hellblasters, two boxes of scouts, and about 30 Tac marines. I am still not sure how I ended up with all of that, or when I bought most of it, but I decided to dedicate a large portion of it to my Fists.

 

I started to add Power Weapons to all the Intercessor Sergeants, and I regret not outfitting more if not all of them with Power FIsts at the time. I don't think that was a full option when I started and finished assembly. But, I think changing the weapons out is going to be a project for the near future. I began assembling the standard Intercessors, and much to my dismay, I realized I only had 2 Auxiliary Grenade Launchers. Seeing as how they are a free upgrade, a cool idea by GW, and a cool bit, I started to surf the interweb once again for more. Apparently these things are rarer than gold bars, because it took me a week or so and numerous emails to different bit stores from across the globe to find the 5 extra ones I needed. Then, the wait on shipping from the UK to the US was even worse.

 

After a few weeks of waiting, the bits arrived, the squads were finally assembled, and painting began. Here is the first and only squad of Intercessors I currently have finished. I plan on starting another one this weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My next task was some Sniper Scouts. They're not the greatest unit anymore, but I've always like the scout models, and the concept of them. Plus, I wanted some for Kill Team. My only gripe with them has always been the scout head sculpts. They remind me of the Easter Island heads due to how boxy they are and the low amount of detail. I have used standard marine helmets on Scouts in the past, but I went a different route this time, and opted to go with Scion Helmets. A few mods to the Sergeants pose, and here is the finished product below:

 

 

 

 

 

I hope everyone has enjoyed my work thus far. I only have a few completed units remaining to post, and then I am going to move into Works in Progress. I should be able to get into my current projects this coming weekend/early next week. If anyone has any feedback, or comments they are always welcome.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Terminators, Primaris Intercessors, and Scouts. As for the "counts as Lysander," Darnath Lysander's namesake was a Spartan admiral who fought in the Peloponnesian War, so how about another Spartan military leader, e.g., Archidamus or Brasidas?

[Brother Eleysium]

Excellent work on the Terminators, Primaris Intercessors, and Scouts. As for the "counts as Lysander," Darnath Lysander's namesake was a Spartan admiral who fought in the Peloponnesian War, so how about another Spartan military leader, e.g., Archidamus or Brasidas?

 

I never even thought about that, and a big thanks for the info. I pride myself in being a history buff, so I'm shocked I haven't heard of him, or the 40K reference. Makes sense though. I like Archidamus a lot. Now we just need a last name. 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I like Archidamus a lot. Now we just need a last name.

From Wikipedia's List of kings of Sparta...

Agis? Atreus? Leon? Lycurgus?

Edited May 10, 2019 by Bjorn Firewalker

[Brother Eleysium]

 

I like Archidamus a lot. Now we just need a last name.

From Wikipedia's List of kings of Sparta...

Agis? Atreus? Leon? Lycurgus?

I shall dub him Archidamus Lycurgus. Now we have to name all the other characters I'm about to post. 

 

Big thanks Bjorn, I really appreciate the information, and ideas. Please keep them coming. 

[The WarpGhost]

Long had a soft spot for Crimson Fists, really nice looking force you've got. I go for bright highlights too, really adds some interest at tabletop distance. The use of Scion heads on the Scouts is also very effective. Will be interested to see more!

[Brother Eleysium]

After acquiring several of the Series 1 Space Marine Heroes, I decided to paint the Captain up for my fists. I kept the Power Sword, and decided it will be a Relic Blade on the tabletop. I'm in love with Plasma, so I kept the Plasma Pistol as well. Who doesn't love a gun that literally fires mini exploding suns?! 

 

I'm still kinda meh about how the sword came out, but I am quite pleased about the rest of the model. In the end, I still think I am going to replace him and convert up a model with a Power Fist as it's just fits the chapter better. Plus I can use the Chapter Relic with him that way. Haven't decided what exactly I want to do yet, but definitely a project for the near future.

 

Here he is:

 

 

 

The next few models I already placed on here in the "Hall of Honour", but at this point I feel like they are the current center pieces of my army. 

 

The first model is the Company Standard Bearer. The inspiration for this came from the January 2019 White Dwarf cover. The edition that gave my glorious boys in blue their new relics, traits and a couple of fantastic Strategems.

What lead to everything was my love for the cover pic turned into almost an obsession. I ended up contacting a marketing group my office does business with, and they blew it up into a poster for me. I hung it behind my glass display case, and after constantly seeing it in my "man cave", I decided to try and recreate him. Even thoug there aren't Terminator Company Standard Bearers anymore, I figured this was a MUST HAVE for my army.  A gave him an Assault Cannon so he wouldn't be for lack of a better term, "a rank and file Terminator".  I used some Shoulder Pads from FW and a few other bits from various kits. The banner is from one of the extra Primaris Company Ancients I had laying around. The completed result is below.

 

For those of you that haven't seen it, I also included a pic of the White Dwarf that I got inspiration from. 

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly, is my Limited Edition Terminator Chaplain. I had seen this model numerous times on Pinterest in one capacity or another, and not being a fan of the current Terminator Chaplain model, I had to have this one. This model blows absolutely everything out of the water that GW has done from a Chaplain standpoint to me. So, I didn't mine the hefty price tag that came along with him on eBay. It was a must by. I was pretty patient, and was able to grab one for $80 which is about $20-$40 cheaper than most of the ones I have seen for sale on there. 

 

I'm not a very patient person in general when it comes to waiting on something I ordered, so waiting on this model gave me fits. I constantly checked the tracking as if clicking the refresh button was going to change anything. A VERY LONG 3 days later, I got a notification that he was out for delivery. Once I got another notification that he was delivered, I skipped the gym(another obsessino of mine)and rushed home to get started on him.

 

I didn't do a lot of conversions as this model is as close to perfect as GW has gotten besides the new Abaddon mode IMO. I threw a Combi-Plasma on him, a few bits from the Imperial/Crimson Fists upgrade sprue, and he was ready to be painted. Did I mention that I love Plasma? Here he is in all his glory. Bjorn, he still needs a name, so perhaps you can help me out again. 

 

 

 

 

 

I have one more squad to get a couple of pictures of, and another HQ, and I will be moving on to current WIP. Thanks to everyone for the views, I hope you all continue to enjoy this project with me.

 

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent works.

[Brother Eleysium]

Excellent works.

Thank you sir, A lot more to come.  :)

[Brother Eleysium]

I have been planning on adding a Pedro Cantor and a squad of Company Veterans to be what I am calling his "Command Squad". Since that is no longer a thing, I wanted to use Company Veterans due to all the weapon options instead of the actual Honor Guard. For this, I picked up the classic MK1 and MK2 Space Marine Vets. I was fortunate to get a really solid price on both boxes of them, and even more fortunate to find them in metal and not that God awful Finecast GW passes off as Resin. 

 

I have 5 assembled and base coated, and I began working on two last night. I generally paint squads 5-10 men at a time, but I wanted to spend a little more time on each one of these models given what their roles would be within the Chapter itself. 

 

I took pretty consistent pictures for the stages I worked my way through, but, I zoned out after my 5 year old daughter interrupted me, and I didn't take pictures for an hour or so. I did manage to get a few more Snap shots before I put the brushes down last night to show where I am at with each.

 

Here are Vet 1 and Vet 2  after base coating, and Nuln Oil Wash. The base coat is Kantor Blue but the Air line. For those of you that are not aware, the Air line and standard line have slightly different hues to them.

 

 

 

The next thing I always do is do the armor edge highlighting. I have followed GW's standard Crimson Fists highlighting method for these. I experimented with a few color variants before I began the army, but none of them really seemed to look right. I guess GW has their stuff figured out better than I do. ;)

 

 

After the Edge Highlighting I moved into the red. I am replicating the red Tabards throughout the army as I feel like it offsets all the blue, and accents the red fists. I use Mephiston Red, and it's 3-4 thinned down coats. I could probably do it in 2-3, and it would be much less time consuming, but the more thin coats the better with red IMO. After the red is done, I wash with Nuln Oil. A lot of people use Agrax Earthshade, but I prefer the black to form a deeper red. I feel like it flows with the deep blue a bit better and has a more shadowed effect. 

 

 

After the wash dries, I applied a thin coat of Mephiston Red to the raised areas of the model. While the Mephiston was drying, I blended thinner coats of Evil Suns Scarlet on closer into it being careful to leave the recesses alone. 

 

 

 

Lastly, I blend Wild Rider Red into the raised edges on the robes, and I edge highlight the armor plating on the fists. 

 

 

 

This is kind of the point where I was interrupted by my daughter, so the next few pictures are after several steps were completed. The silver on the pistols, the gold on the armor, the magenta on the axe, and lastly the pistol were all completed before I got another picture. :O

 

 

 

The last photo I got last night was after I completed the lenses and lights on the haft of the axe. 

 

 

I plan on finishing these two models tonight, and should be posting them tonight or early tomorrow morning. 

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

You're a skilled painter.

[Brother Eleysium]

I was able to put the finishing touches on the first two vets last night. They are a bit rough in places, but all in all I am pretty happy with how they came out. I have been wanting to paint these models for a long time, so it feels good to have finally gotten them done.

 

Tonight, I may get started on some items for the Kill Team Elites release, and possibly move into building some items from the Shadowspear box set. I really want to get some of the Supressors together for Kill Team, but I have so many projects and models to paint, I am having trouble prioritizing what I want to do. 
 

If I post some pictures of what I have ready to paint and assemble, perhaps you guys can help me narrow down what I want to do next? It would probably help me stay focused on the task at hand and want to hop off onto the next shiny thing I see, or that GW is releasing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on both models, but why does the power axe wielder have a Crux Terminatus in place of a Chapter symbol? With both pauldrons covered, there's a chance some ignorant n00b may mistake him for an Ultramarine.

[Brother Eleysium]

Excellent work on both models, but why does the power axe wielder have a Crux Terminatus in place of a Chapter symbol? With both pauldrons covered, there's a chance some ignorant n00b may mistake him for an Ultramarine.

Haha, I just really liked the bit. That's not the original shoulder pad or arm from the kit. I wanted some plasma pistols in the squad, so I kit bashed him a bit. 

If they do make that mistake, we will just make them take the walk of shame at the store. :P

[Brother Eleysium]

Wednesday night is generally gaming night, or as I like to call it "nerd night"  so I didn't get a lot done. 

 

I was able to convert my Adepticon Exclusive Primaris Lieutenant into a Captain though. It is already such a great model so I was concerned about screwing it up. I added several bits from the Imperial/Crimson Fists upgrade sprues, and converted the Power Fist from this set so the arm fit the pose. The head was from my bits box, so I am not 100% sure what set it came from, but I think it was the Sternguard box. The cloak was also in my bits box, but I think it was from one of my Primaris Captain sets.

 

I still want to flesh out the base a bit, so any pointers would be very helpful. Generally I use Trench Work bases from secretweaponminatures.com so this one is going to have a different look and feel to it. I thought about the usual Ork skulls, maybe some more debris, and possibly some chaos bits. 

 

Ignore the Black Legion Marines in the background as if that heresy wasn't even there.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2019 by Brother Eleysium

[Brother Eleysium]

So my goal for tonight is to assemble these Space Marine Heroes as a part of my Kill Team project I have been planning for a while. I have a few others that are otw via mail, but I am going to get started tonight. I am really on the fence about giving them all bare heads since they are representing a Kill Team, and I want them all to have some fort of identity. However,  I am also going to double all of these guys as a Tactical squad/Devastator Squad eventually, and in that case I usually reserve the bare heads for Sgts and HQs. I'm going to Blue Tac the heads on for now. Should I go totally bare headed on the unit to flesh out the Kill Team, or should I stick to the traditional GW image? 

 

Sorry about the mess in the background, my hobbying table is not normally this dirty. I just haven't put the paints back on their shelf from the last models I finished. 

 

 

Everything else below is stuff I have built, primed and basecoated. I just can't decide what I want to paint next. The lighting is pretty bad on the table I took the pictures on, but these are all airbrushed with Kantor Blue, and ready for some more paint. What do you guys think I should paint next? I don't really have a preference, just need some sort of direction as I want to paint them all now. The HQs, tank and Dreadnought I will paint as individuals and the squads I would paint all 5 models together. What does everyone vote?

 

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by Brother Eleysium

[Starlord242]

such a great read!!!!! gives me so great ideas for armies i'm working on currently. Love the effect you achieved on the power weapons. Your faces are amazing on the models. Do you have any recommendations on how to paint armies like maybe the novamarines? I was planning on starting them later this year as a winter project. There aren't a lot of ultramarine successors at my local store. what made you decide to do crimson fists? keep up the great work and keep the posts coming please

[Brother Eleysium]

I wasn't able to get as much work done this past weekend as I wanted to. It's that time of year in the US for cookouts and to be outdoors, so my family and I always take advantage of it. We had a going away Barbecue from some really good friends of ours that are moving some 800 miles away to north Florida, and so I spent most of my Sunday recuperating and cleaning up.  :(

 

We also have our first vacation of the season coming up this Memorial Day weekend, so my hobbying is going to take stark dive over the next week or so. For those of you that don't know Memorial Day is the American holiday to remember our fallen soldiers.

With the launch of Elites, I have been pretty amped to start working on fleshing out my Kill Teams, and I've had the Space Marine Heroes series in my hobby cabinet for quite some time. They are really good models IMO, so I bought up quite a few of them. I am still waiting on the Series 2 Termies to come in the mail as well as the Japanese exclusive Heavy Bolter marine Brother Toriad. For those of you that don't know him, here's a picture of him below:

 

I generally reserve bare heads for HQ's and other characters, but seeing as how these are primarily going to be Kill Team models, I used the bare heads from each kit to give them their own identity and feel. Most of the heads are unique to these hero boxes as well, so that was another nice touch. I also like the impassioned expressions on most of them. It really captures the intensity and desperation of the battles Space Marines must face regularly in the 41st Millennium. I added a few bits from the Imperial/Crimson Fists upgrade sprues and citadel skull box, other than that, I used these guys as is except for the Sergeant. 

 

 

 

The sergeant was mainly a few arm swaps and general kit bashing. The only real converting was trimming an existing power fist I had, pinning it to the arm hole on the model, and then doing some minor green stuff to make the joints and areas where I had clipped and trimmed more aesthetic. The bare head with that came with this model was another unique one I was quite pleased with, so I stuck with it. I am a huge fan of Plasma, so I ditched the grav pistol and went with that. I have posted about my love for Plasma several times on the B&C, so it was the obvious choice for me. And of course any good Crimson Fist Sergeant never leaves home with out his Power Fist to more easily smash Ork skulls with. The Pistol is from the Space Marine Vanguard Vet set, the arm and right shoulder pad are from the Sternguard set, Ork Skull from the Citadel Skulls set, a few random purity seals from various sets, a shield that I forgot the origin of, and finally a power fist that I also forgot the origin of.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last thing I built were two of my six Supressors from the Shadospear box. These are literally the only Phobos Marines I have built from the set. All the Chaos models were assembled first, and i have started painting them as well. I did magnetize their flight poles, other than that, they are just straightforward Supressors. Which are glorious models if I might add. 

 

 

 

Tonight I am going to continue to work on a few other items from Shadowspear, then I am going to prime them and break out the Airbrush to basecoat. I'm hoping to start on a few of these guys before I leave for vacation Thursday afternoon. 

 

 

 

[Leviathus]

The guy with the power fist looks awesome! Great conversion.