Space Marine Kill Team: Shadow Stalkers (Upscaled Firstborn)

[firestorm40k]

Greetings Frater, allow me to present my latest completed project - a Space Marine Kill Team of converted, 'upscaled' Firstborn Astartes.

 

 

This Kill Team is based on the army that my friend used to run a few years ago, he was a regular opponent to my Legion of Taurus Chaos Space Marines, with whom his Marines had a bit of a Tabletop rivalry! :D This Kill Team is based on the narrative as of the end of our last game: the Shadow Stalkers are defending the planet Odothese Primus, capital of the Odothese Sector, from an invasion led by the Legion of Taurus. This Kill Team is made up of survivors of squads otherwise wiped out by the attacking Chaos forces. Their mission is to strike out from the besieged planetary capital Hive City, bringing retribution to the attackers - and hopefully buy time for a relief force to arrive and liberate the planet.

 

I converted each Marine, extending the legs with 1mm thick plasticard, so they match the height of the new versions of the Chaos Space Marines. This Kill Team was built during the previous edition, I will magnetise the weapons on a couple of these so I can use them as either a Tactical Squad or Deathwatch Kill Team in the new edition of the game.

 

Here are the individual members of the Kill Team - firstly, Sternguard Veteran Sergeant Iakov (if I run this team as a Tactical Fire Team I probably won't field him, otherwise he'll be a Deathwatch Veteran when I use those rules).

 

Sternguard Veteran Brother Andras; I'll run him as a Tactical Marine with Auspex, seeing as the Comms specialism wasn't carried over to this edition of the game. If I run the team as Deathwatch, I've already magnetised his gun so I can swap it for a Frag Cannon.

(if he looks darker/shinier than the other models, that's because I took the photo after applying varnish, the rest were photographed before)

 

Sternguard Veteran Brother Akouniel

 

Brother Sevasmus, last survivor of 5th Company 10th Squad, Heavy Gunner.

 

Brother Xandros, Plasma Gunner, last survivor of 2nd Company 5th Squad

 

Company Veteran Brother Pylorian, last survivor of 5th Company Command; I intend to (carefully!) remove both his hands, magnetise them, and give him a Power Sword and choice of Plasma or Grav Pistols. He'll be the leader when the squad is fielded as either Tactical or Deathwatch.

 

Brother Maurus, Tactical Marine, last survivor of 2nd Company, 2nd Squad

 

The Chapter Symbol is known as 'The Eclipse of Strontium', depicting a planet passing in front of its star, and is a representation of the famous address by Lord-Marshall Voltinium to the war conclave of the Strontium Crusade, M36; he spoke that, 'though the Imperium faces so many enemies they may block out the stars - from out of the shadows of that eclipse shall stalk our retribution.'

 

Finally, leading Kill Team Timorias on their mission is 10th Company Captain Donatos, Master of Recruits. Skilled at infiltration and sabotage, he has had much of the metallic part of his armour painted black to make it harder to spot, and he wields the Chapter Relic Stalker Pattern Boltgun named 'Prodikos'.

I made him to be used as a Lieutenant in Phobos Armour, as per the previous edition - but unless Commanders are added to the new version of the game, he'll have to be a display piece.

 

For those interested in the conversion process, as stated I used 1mm thick plasticard, cut in to small squares. The legs were cut twice - the lower and upper part of each leg, then the plasticard stuck in between (2 pieces for the lower leg, 1 for the upper). Once set, I used greenstuff to fill gaps and repair any details cut away, then filed it smooth.

 

It did take some time, but I'm quite happy with the finished result - they match the height of the new versions of the Chaos Marines really well.

 

I spent about 8 months in total on this project - I really wanted to do my friend's army honour and respect (even though, ironically, they came out a lighter shade of purple than I originally intended!), and I also wanted to give them the best paint job I possibly could. To illustrate, here's a side by side comparison of one of the first Marines I painted back in 2001(!) - I've still got things to learn and techniques to master, but it shows 20 years of progress in the hobby.

 

If you'd like to see more pictures, I've made a gallery: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/gallery/album/17179-shadow-stalkers-kill-team-timorias/

 

Thank you for looking! :)

Edited July 2, 2022 by firestorm40k
Change image links to work again following forum upgrade

[Shovellovin]

Awesome work that has a lot going on - honoring a friend’s work, giving a lot of character to your models, excellent paint jobs. Very cool. 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent works.

[FormelyKnownAsSmashyPants]

Kudos to you, great stuff. The leg extensions look flawless once painted, there’s no blemishes whatsoever.

Edited October 8, 2021 by Captain Smashy Pants

[Brother Dallo]

Lovely stuff.

 

Dallo

[Dosjetka]

I really like this. You've done a fantastic job, firestorm40k! :tu:

 

Will we get to see some more Legion of Taurus soon?

[Lysimachus]

Gorgeous! The extensions are really neatly done and that pink tone to the purple is great!

 

Second the call for more LoT as well!

[firestorm40k]

Thank you all for your kind comments, very appreciated! :)

 

The leg extensions look flawless once painted, there’s no blemishes whatsoever.

Thank you - if you look closely there is the odd blemish, part of the reason I did the chipped effect on the armour was to help hide those ;) :lol:

 

Will we get to see some more Legion of Taurus soon?

Second the call for more LoT as well!

Thank you both, Dosjetka and Lysimachus - funnily enough, I have also painted two Legion of Taurus themed Kill Teams (one's pretty obsolete in this new edition as I used the Servants of the Abyss rules :rolleyes: ), but I've not posted pictures here - I'll have to remedy that :D

 

But there'll likely be more LoT before long - I bought some of the new Chaos Marines when they were released a couple of years ago, I'm just waiting for the new CSM Codex before I take the plunge and do it..!

[Tyrannicide]

Tremendous job on the inserts! I love these guys, you can really see the effort you put into getting them "right".

[Smoke Frog]

I like the updates you have made to the marines to make them taller, looks really seemless! 

[BadgersinHills]

Excellent work!!