+++REDACTED+++ Space Marines army is now READY

This army is now ready and painted. Didn't finish the Land Speeder though, otherwise this would be exactly 2000 points worth of Warhammer 40k 9th edition Space Marines batch painted. Since the last post I've done quite a lot of touch ups, weathering, fine highlighting and details here and there. Forgot to take notes and pics of most steps since there were many. I might try to memorize and write down some of the key things. I think I learnt a lot about batch painting routines, fine detailing (and sometimes deciding NOT to do it), retarder mediums, oil washes and pigment powders this time around. And I'll take better pics of everything later on, also focusing on some of the nice details here and there. But now I'll start working on some TERRAIN for a change. Just bought fake plastic plants and polystyrene balls (you remember the old school green cacti with bright red spikes from the White Dwarfs, RIGHT!?). 

Anyways, here's a few WIP shots and then some of the finished ones.  Praise the Emperor.

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+++REDACTED+++ Space Marines oil washed and pigment powdered

Last Friday evening (and night) was spent oil washing the whole army (except for the Land Speeder that I still need to built a base for). I slapped some diluted black (with a hint of brown and blue) on everything, and then touched all the white and bone areas (including shoulder pads and robes) as well as the lower parts of the legs with Yellow Ochre kind of a mix. Then cleaned most off with cotton buds. 

To accompany the traditionally crappy group shot, here's a closeup from a few chosen Marine brothers. And all the cotton buds.

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Today I did some hasty work on the bases. They're not done by any means, but it was a good start! Wasn't exactly sure how to do them, so tried something a bit different for each and every unit. Mainly there's just heaps of Burnt Umber pigment powder, followed by something that says "Kymin Okra" on the little jar. It's that orangey tone that can be seen best on the upmost row of Marines. On some squads I sealed these down with Vallejo's Pigment Binder, and others with cheap fixative spray. After a few squads I felt a bit more brown was needed, so I decided to paint the rest of the bases brown (with a mix roughly close to the Burnt Umber). I mixed in a few drops of the Pigment Binder and random pigments to that brown paint. It was then easy to clean / stain the legs when needed, since the Binder slows down the drying time. Didn't need to worry about getting brown on wrong places. 

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+++REDACTED+++ Space Marines - still painting the army

Haven't had much hobby time recently, but managed to add a bunch of important details to the army. If I counted correctly, there's now 198 transfers/decals on these guys. Most are from the new & old Space Marine transfer sheets (including upside-down Ultramarine ones), with a few Skitarii & Necromunda Enforcer ones thrown in. I also scribbled in hundreds of tiny lines and +++ symbols everywhere. These guys like to take notes! Still have to do similar scrawls on most of the purity seals. 

All this little line work was super fun to do even though the amount of it seemed overwhelming at first. I found an unused brush (Army Painters Regiment size) with a very sharp point and used that. It's big enough to keep quite a bit of fresh paint on it, so no need to go back to the palette that much. I also mixed in a tiny drop of Vallejo's Retarder Medium (and water) to keep the blacks and whites from drying too quick. Pure joy. I recommend trying that medium if you haven't. 

I still have to retouch some of the golden areas (can be seen through in places), maybe block in a few steely parts and see if there's anything else I'd like to emphasize before covering everything with some oil washes and pigment powders. It's likely I'll do some fine edge highlights on a few important spots (helmets, details on characters, around bullet holes etc.) later on. 

Here's the whole group of +++REDACTED+++ Space Marines, and a closer shot of a few more detailed ones. 

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+++REDACTED+++ Continue painting the army

I'm in the middle of adding Old Gold on the gun barrels and a few other choice details. Tried to mix in a little drop of Retarder Medium (and water) to the gold paint so I didn't need to rush so much or worry about the paint drying on the brushes. Works out nice. Before the golds I put down some Black Wash on the gun casings and other major weapon parts. I feel that these two steps have already made a huge improvement to the overall look of this army. They just seem to add so much definition to the models. Still need to do the golds on the Chaplain, Company Veterans & Vanguard Veterans (with jump packs). Then pay some attention to the Rhino & the Land Speeder. Maybe I'll do some big black/white/red lines as markings, while the Land Speeder still needs a base. And oh, what about putting some differentiating colors on the helmets of the characters and unit leaders? After that I guess it'll be time to do some serious transfer work. 

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+++REDACTED+++ Sculpting a few details, start painting the army

Here's some progress since last friday evening, including that nights marathon session and a few lunch breaks. Sculpted in a few minor details, mostly just Purity Seals and filling of some gaps. Then primed everything Matt Black with Army Painters spray, followed by zenithal coats of Wolf Grey and Platemail Metal from the same brand. I finally chose to steer away from the blue armour scheme I had planned earlier. Too blue and they'd be Ultramarines, while a light blue-grey would easily make them feel like Space Wolves. I wanted neither. And I can always come back later and glaze their armour's blue if I change my mid again.

So I went for grey. I mixed quite a few grey, black, blue & brown paints in a pot, along with some mediums. I've absolutely no idea about any rations, but the end result is a bit darker than the Citadel's Astrogranite Debris for example. Consistency is much like some of the Citadel's contrast paints that don't cover absolutely everything. The whole army was given a thick coat of this new "Redacted Grey" wash, followed by Ash Grey drybrush (I used a cheap one inch super soft make up brush for this and felt great about it!). I think I made slight adjustments to the wash between squads (by adding just a little more blue & black as  I went).

I'm still in the middle of this process, but the formula so far is roughly this: 

* Shoulder pads are painted Off White, then Dead White.

* Shoulder pad rims Matt Black, except for the jump pack guys & Apothecary I used Blood Angels Red. That red also went for all the cloaks on characters.

* Bonewhite for Veteran's cloaks, hoods, loincloths, parchments, actual skulls and skin.

* Volupus Pink on the (Purity) Seals.

* Basilicanum Grey on the Chaplain's armour. 

* Old Gold for important details. I've only painted the golds on the Captain on Bike so far. Won't probably do much of it on regular Tactical dudes. 

+++REDACTED+++ Apothecary, Land Speeder & a group shot of the army assembled so far

A quick afterwork session from today. Since I didn't have any instantly suitable miniature to act as an Apothecary, I was thinking about buying one. But a new one costs 30€, so NO WAY I'm ever gonna pay that much for a single miniature. Ever. I should get a whole squad or more likely two for that price. So I waded through the bits boxes, and found a single Space Marine shoulder pad with the Helix icon on it, and an arm from a Techmarine that had a nice little drill piece in it. I combined these two with other nice Space Marine parts and voilá, the Apothecary was born! I also based a single Servo Skull to act as an Armorium Cherub for my Devastator squad. I reinforced it's tiny wiggly cable with a piece of guitar string, which was probably good idea since the plastic one already broke when I was carefully removing the mold lines from the skull. 

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Here is the Land Speeder Tornado (since it's got an Assault Cannon and a Multi-Melta). I've got no idea how to base it. Got no intact flying stands.

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Finally, here's a group shot of the whole army I've assembled so far. Last night I tried to count up the points in my head, and it was 1999 points on the nose. Hope I didn't forget anything! I'll write a list and do proper calculations soon. Now it's time to do minor sculpting of details and filling some gaps with Green Stuff, and then go priming the whole group with some spray. It just started snowing outside. 

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+++REDACTED+++ Marines, Lieutenant, Company Ancient & Rhino

Had only a few hours of actual work today, so got much more assembling done. Did 5 more regular Space Marines with Bolters, that can fill up the Devastator and/or Tactical Marine squads I've already got. I really miss those upright standing legs (the pink ones on the pic below). Everybody's just heroically squatting nowadays... There's another Lieutenant equipped with Lightning Claws, who'll jump in the Rhino along with the Company Veterans and a bunch of other characters. The Company Ancient (carrying the big banner and a Combi-Melta here) will join them as well. Please notice the ancient Crozius Arcanum piece that now functions as the banner top! And finally here's the company's command Rhino, almost ready to roll. Got a driver Servitor peeking on the roof. I'll be adding a few cables coming out of his head and run to all the radars, guns and other gear near him. 

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Disclaimer: 

I will not be removing any more hard metal Black Templar insignia 

that fill up two whole shoulder pads of a Space Marine any time soon. 

Holy crap what a task!

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+++REDACTED+++ Company & Vanguard Veterans, Devastators

Assembly line work from last weekend and a few lunch breaks. Got a nice bunch of tooled-up Company Veterans. I had been planning on having five of them in a Razorback, accompanied with some elite support character such as an Apothecary. They would have been closely followed by a Rhino, transporting other characters (maybe an Ancient, Company Champion & Lieutenant) and some Tactical or Assault Marines. But as I've been adding up points cost for this army, I couldn't fit all of this in 2000 points list along with all the other stuff I've already built. So I decided that the Razorback had to wait, and I would just cram in the Veterans & Characters in a Rhino. Had only four characters in mind, so could fit in 6 Veterans. Only after building all of them I realized that a squad of the Veterans is limited to a maximum of 5 models. Oh booger. But hey! I could always take two squads of three (or even squads of 2 and 4). Sweet... Got Thunder Hammers (optionally proxying as Power Mauls or Axes), Storm Shields (trimmed from Chaos shields!) and a Combi-Plasma in there. Two are carrying only Chainswords & Bolters. I'm counting on that their transport Rhino will get blown to pieces and approximately two of these guys will die when disembarking. So no need to buy expensive stuff for everyone I guess.

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Here's some Devastators. I was planning on having two squads with more variety of heavy weapons, but again couldn't fit them all in the first 2000 points of this army I have in mind. They still need an Armorium Cherub for some help. Might just use a random Servo Skull for that, 'cause I don't have any cherub type miniatures laying around. Not gonna do much sculpting this time around.

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And finally we've got this threatening bunch of Vanguard Veterans with Jump Packs. There's a few Plasma Pistols, Lightning Claws, Storm Shields (more trimming of the old Chaos shields!) and Power Fists in there. With the Melta Bombs & Hammer of Wrath stratagems, and their loads of attacks with Chainswords & Shock Assault rule I'm thinking they can get pretty nasty indeed. Really wanted to use the beakie style helmets for these guys, and had to cut up some old pink Noise Marines I had converted from RTB01 Space Marines in the late 90's. I really like the "teeth & tongue" paintwork on those two heads, especially on the second guy from the right. Might do something similar for the whole squad when painting. Or would it be too chaosy?

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+++REDACTED+++ Chaplain on Bike, Characters and Tactical Marines. Also trying out a quick paint scheme...

A bit more stuff done this week. Got a nice Chaplain on Bike with loads of skulls and decorations. I'll be doing some sculpting on the details to bring it all together. After a lot of contemplating I decided to use a skull head from Khorne Berzerker for the Chaplain. Those particular heads have been one of the main reasons I don't like too much about the plastic Berzerkers, but after cutting off the evil bunny ears from it, I feel it fits very well for this religious leader of my Space Marines. I also assembled a Chapter Champion and a Lieutenant to support the troops. There's also another combat squads worth of Tactical Marines. Other half of their (yet to be) squad will be riding on a transport with some command figures, bringing their special weapons to bear. 

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Tying out a quick paint scheme for the army. 

I might go for painting several squads and characters at once, if this method works out. I dug out a couple of old misused  Chaos Warriors to try things on. There's matt black spray primer, followed by somewhat zenithal dustings of Army Painters Wolf Grey and some cheap silver spray. I'm going for a dusty blue scheme here, with some chips showing on the armor edges, so thought these would provide a nice base to work on. Then I covered everything in heavy wash of diluted Ultramarines Blue Contrast paint. Felt good about this step, but am considering using a bit less diluted paint to get more blue feel overall. Not going exactly for Ultramarines nor Space Wolves here, so it might get a bit tricky. Things will be dirtied down, so no need to be too subtle here, I think.

Then quick drybrushes (with cheap & very soft make up brush) of Pale Grey Blue and Khaki (on the feet). Worked out just great. I'd like to have very strong colors on the shoulder and knee pads, so went for white with black rims, followed with some red details. For the actual Space Marines, I'll be using transfers (mostly black & red, with maybe a few white ones thrown in). To get an idea about how the bases might look, I smeared them with Agrellan Earth Technical paint. Didn't want to put any more time or effort and do proper bases for these test models, so just a little bit of texture will work out just fine. Next I'll cover these dooders with Gloss Varnish spray and try out some oil washes. Then go messy with pigment powders especially on their feet and bases, and see how I feel about them at that point. 

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A quick edit here as I made some progress... 

Here they are after a Khaki drybrush on the bases as well, a coat of Gloss Varnish spray, and oil washes (diluted with Hanart odorless spirits) of Ultramarine Blue (more on bigger armor plates), Raw Umber (especially on feet) and Lamp Black (mostly around rivets and such). Looks surprisingly great for such an effortless job. I'm feeling very hopeful about this method already. Just imagine some proper clean-cut transfer symbols on the black & white Marine shoulder pads here and get in the mood for praising the Emperor! Now I'll just have to wait for the oil washes to dry for a while and go crazy with the pigment powders.

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