People who've seen my retro Ultramarines around may have figured out that I kind of have a thing for the boys in blue. After playing at Warhammer World in April and getting my first taste of Heresy, I was ready to dive into it and start work on my own Heresy Ultramarines! I thought about painting them retro style since the cognitive dissonance from that would throw a lot of people off, but the thought of devoting that much time and money to what is essentially a big joke didn't really seem worth it for me. Instead, I'm doing them up in the winter basing I started with my Valhallans, so they'd match my Skullingrad table.

So far I've got:
20 Mk III Tactical Marines
Mk III Command
Contemptor with options for Kheres assault cannons and plasma blasters in its claws, with the intent to magnetize
Sicaran battle tank
Mk III and Mk IV Apothecaries
5 Invictus Suzerians

Then Betrayal at Calth and then some, which gives me
30 Mk IV Tactical Marines
Chaplain
Terminator commander
10 Cataphractii Terminators
Contemptor with Kheres and power claw

So without further ado, here's my first 10 Tactical marines, who served as the test scheme for the army:








And next up, since assembly was such a breeze:

Very nice. Looking forward to seeing this come together.

How are you doing your blue?

Thanks! The blue is super easy; I use the Macragge Blue spray, wash the recesses with Nuln Oil, then highlight with Calgar Blue and Fenrisian Grey.

Looking forward to this, your 40K ultras are excellent.

Thank you! I'm looking forward to it too

Tac Marines are looking great. Considered me subbed.

Looking forward to more.

EDC

Good looking Ultras you got here. I think the MK III armor is my favorite.

Cool to see some Mk III !
Very nice Ultramarines, in deed. The snow match your paint scheme, good choice.

Mk III is my favorite mark of armor, so I thought it fitting to start the army with it. I've got the next 10 members of the tactical squad all lined up for assembly now, so I should build them up today.

Subbed. These guys look great.

Looks like you're off to a good start there, Brother SRM - is the list in the OP everything you plan to get for this force, or will you be adding other elements as time goes by (such as assault troops or whatever-the-Heresy-equivalent-of-Devastators-are)?

I'm definitely going to be getting more Suzerians and Guilliman, and some form of transport for them. Once they release models for those special assault Marines with artificer armor and power swords, I'll definitely be grabbing them too. Basically, I just want a lot of boots on the ground!

Well your boots on the ground look very good so I for one am perfectly happy with you painting more and showing them off

Looking good! Glad to see the heresy expanding in Boston.

These look great, the blue is lovely and deep and the gold really really shows without being to overpowering. I haven't seen much HH Ultra's beyond all the BoC stuff shown in GW Stuff. Keen to see how everything turns out.

 max_power wrote:
Looking good! Glad to see the heresy expanding in Boston.

Thank you! I don't know many people who play Heresy, but a friend of mine is coming out east eventually and he's got Word Bearers, so I should be able to get some Heresy action with him.

 Spetsnaz0129 wrote:
These look great, the blue is lovely and deep and the gold really really shows without being to overpowering. I haven't seen much HH Ultra's beyond all the BoC stuff shown in GW Stuff. Keen to see how everything turns out.

Thanks! The new GW golds are really lovely and made this a breeze. I'm using pretty much the exact colors GW uses on their BaC Ultras, but I'm picking more things out and for whatever reason mine seem to be coming out darker. I'm not complaining though!

I built the next 10 Marines the other day; unfortunately I don't have Mk III close combat weapons for the sergeant, so I had to get a set of those, along with some transfers and icons to decorate the models further. I might as well have my paycheck direct deposit to Forgeworld at this point.

Finished up my Contemptor from Betrayal at Calth! It's a breeze to assemble; kind of curious why they didn't make a proper mutlipart kit out of it with more options. Oh well!





And a Word Bearers helmet, on the ground where they belong:

Contemptor looks great. Very smooth.

EDC

Thanks! Citadel's Macragge Blue spray helped get a smooth undercoat really well. Unfortunately it was a little cold when it dried which is why there's some pockmarks on the coat you can see gathered up around some of the trim, but that was probably the last cold day we'll get here in Boston for a few months now.

 Brother SRM wrote:
That was probably the last cold day we'll get here in Boston for a few months now.

Hush you! Mother nature might be listening, and she’s off her meds this year. I’ve seen snow in May before, and am not that far away from you. End of the week, we are supposed to get low 50s for highs. I don’t need you jinxing a frost warning, The Wife has been out planting.

Nice looking dread, by the way.

Finally finished the second half of my first tactical squad:








And here's the whole mob of 20:





It was my first time in a long time doing a blend on the power sword and I'm not exactly thrilled with how it came out. Looks good from tabletop distance though. I went with the red helmet on the sergeant as they're post-Calth, and it's no longer a sign of censure. I also just really, really like red helmets with the racing stripe! I also cut a skull off a scroll case bit and used that to give the sergeant's shoulderpad the trademark red skull in the ultima to make the sergeant iconography.

Deeply jealous of your actual FW HH ultras. I’ve been having a lot of fun painting the BaC ones, but they just don’t hold a candle to your guys.

Well done and keep up the good work!

We march for Macragge!

 Nevelon wrote:
Deeply jealous of your actual FW HH ultras. I’ve been having a lot of fun painting the BaC ones, but they just don’t hold a candle to your guys.

Well done and keep up the good work!

We march for Macragge!

Thanks man! The Calth Marines are really lovely too though - I'm assembling my first mob of them right now! It'll be another 20 man block and a veteran squad when I'm done with them.

Awesome work! this thread definitely needs more attention

Thank you! I'm hoping it'll be as popular as my retro Ultras thread. Fans of the boys in blue tend to start coming out of the woodwork

Nice Smurfs, SRM, though I'm having trouble adjusting to Marines in Ork mob formations.

In the one game of Heresy I've played it felt right, and it just looks so good on the table! It feels more like I'm commanding an ordered Roman legion than a bunch of dudes scrambling over cover.

Finished my second Contemptor today:




I even magnetized the big lug!

Awesome looking Ultras. The boys in blue are looking great, that Tac squad is really cool. Nice work on the Contemptor too.

EDC

Finished up a Praetor, standard bearer, and Apothecary to go with these guys:

Nice work, SRM - though turning your power sword on while it is still in the scabbard seems like a bad idea...

Awesome stuff..the freehand on the banner is on another level.

EDC

Oh man, I wish that was freehand but it's actually a transfer from the Forgeworld Legion Ultramarines transfer sheet!

Damn nice work on the banner. Squad overall is excellent.

Loving these guys in blue a lot, your force is going to pretty impressive if there all this standard.

Awesome stuff, don't know how I've missed this before!

Kick arse command squad Sir.

 Brother SRM wrote:
Oh man, I wish that was freehand but it's actually a transfer from the Forgeworld Legion Ultramarines transfer sheet!

Ah, well it still looks awesome!

EDC

Alaricuk wrote:
Loving these guys in blue a lot, your force is going to pretty impressive if there all this standard.

Trust me, they will! I don't intend to step down my quality of painting, it just might take a while to get everything ready for the tabletop. Right now I'm a little over halfway done with the first 10 Betrayal at Calth Marines.

Started my second tactical squad! These guys are made from Betrayal at Calth Marines with the Ultramarines accessory sprue. The sergeant's armor is technically Mk VII, but I figure for artificer armor he'd probably have something newer and fancier anyway. I also tried shooting on a black backdrop; some of the whites and skintones came out hotter than I'd like but I think I'll be using the black backdrop from here on out.

They're looking awesome dude. Can't really tell the chest plate is MKVII, as tiu say it works as fancy arty armour.

EDC

Awesome squad there man! Great touches with the Ultras upgrade bits.

Thanks guys! The Ultramarines upgrade bits serve a double purpose of both being cheaper and more interesting than the FW bits, so I'm pretty happy with the results myself.

I so rarely see this guy painted in non-Word Bearers colors, but here's the Chaplain from Betrayal at Calth:




I tried adding a transfer to his cape to give it some cool trim but I couldn't get it to sit right among all the flowing fabric, so I just tossed that out. Unfortunately it kinda bleached the area I'd tried applying the transfer to, but I was able to touch it up and fix the problem.

Superb Chaplain there, great colour placement!

Thank you! I noticed the color plates in the Horus Heresy books show usage of white and black and so on with all the specialist Marines, but it's not as all encompassing as it is with the 40k paintjobs. Chaplains aren't all black, for instance. I kinda wish I did black greaves too but I feared it would be too much.

Lovely work on that Chappy.

EDC

I really don't like the blue guys but you paint them so well

 Brother SRM wrote:
Thank you! I noticed the color plates in the Horus Heresy books show usage of white and black and so on with all the specialist Marines, but it's not as all encompassing as it is with the 40k paintjobs. Chaplains aren't all black, for instance. I kinda wish I did black greaves too but I feared it would be too much.

I think he works as-is. Although I do think a more black-centric paintjob would have also worked. And probably would have been my first choice.

Ill join the chorus of "nice Chaplain". I think the greaves would have been too much. Perfect balance.

Thanks all! It's also a dry run for if I ever do a Destroyer squad, since they have a mix of black and blue as well.

 Brother SRM wrote:
Thanks all! It's also a dry run for if I ever do a Destroyer squad, since they have a mix of black and blue as well.

I thought Destroyers were grey? Keep thinking about putting a squad of 5 on foot together out of the remnants of my BaC box. No idea how they would play, but they have the potential to look cool.

Time for some fire support!

How the hell did I miss this? Awesome stuff, BrotherSRM. Chaplain and Deredeo in particular! I see your tac marine sergeant has been censured! The red only really starts to come into play after Calth kicks off.

Nice work on the Deredeo, I like the transfers on top.

EDC

I still think it looks like some sort of transformer that turns into a boat. But you put a nice paintjob on it.

I especially like the second to last pic.

 angelofvengeance wrote:
How the hell did I miss this? Awesome stuff, BrotherSRM. Chaplain and Deredeo in particular! I see your tac marine sergeant has been censured! The red only really starts to come into play after Calth kicks off.

Thanks! I know it comes after Calth, but that's when I want to set my army. The red helmet with the racing stripe is too iconic for me to ignore.

 Nevelon wrote:
I still think it looks like some sort of transformer that turns into a boat. But you put a nice paintjob on it.

I especially like the second to last pic.

You say that like it's a bad thing

My Praetor finally has a couple dudes to hang out with, in the form of a squad of Invictus Suzerains. These guys were fun to paint but looking at the photos I feel like I was a little sloppy with em. They look good on the tabletop though!

Nice work on the Suzies. Were the challenging to paint? They're more blinged out than a BA Captain on his way to the Annual Sanguinius Ball.

EDC

Great job on the Suzerains.

 evildrcheese wrote:
Nice work on the Suzies. Were the challenging to paint? They're more blinged out than a BA Captain on his way to the Annual Sanguinius Ball.

EDC

Hah! Well put. I didn't have that much trouble with them; the only part that really gave me much pause was painting the shields separately, and I missed a detail or two the first time I blocked the colors out. I think it was refreshing to batch paint a smaller group of models (5 instead of 10 or 20) and the metallics don't usually require as fine highlights as the blue. The writing on the shields could have been a problem, but I just drybrushed them and cleaned it up a bunch. I'm not in a rush to paint another 5 of them, but I don't think it was too bad!

They did turn out quite nice.

Just built myself a Sicaran; this model was a joy to put together and hot damn does it look good!

It is a particularly cool model, looking forward to see it painted up.

EDC

These are all fantastic! Love your take on the Ultramarines and can't wait to see more

The Sicaran is a pretty damn awesome tank. Can't wait to see it painted up in Legion colours

those Suzerians have a really clean blue . Lovely colour mate!

And as EDC said... too blingy hahaha. My Templars and Phalanx Warders are blingy but yours take the cake! (just imagine what the sanguinary guard for the BA will be like)


I will start following this thread from now on because i have a bunch of Ultramarines to paint up

So I actually painted these guys a couple weeks ago, but only got around to taking pictures the other day. Here's the second half of my Mk IV Tactical Squad, with their Nuncio Vox I made from a Bastion bit:

Can you share your steps for your blue ?

Also, whats your fluff for the icy bases?

Cheers!

 teban wrote:
Can you share your steps for your blue ?

Also, whats your fluff for the icy bases?

Cheers!

The blue is actually super easy! I basecoat the models in Macragge Blue spray, then wash them with Badab Black. I layer back up to Macragge Blue, then highlight with Calgar Blue and finally do the extreme edges in Fenrisian Grey.

As for the bases, I did them up to match my Valhallans and my Orks. The fluff for the army is that it's post-Calth so I can do the red helmets for sergeants. I'm also going to be using a modern Land Raider model so I want them to be later in the Heresy.

those sound like easy steps, I will replicate when I get my hands on those 5 sternguard dudes !

I'll be looking back here to see how that tank comes out !

It might be a little while - gotta wait for the humidity to die down so I can get some spraying in. Until then, I'm working on Thrakka for my Orks, and I may get to assembling my Scorpius tonight. We'll see how it goes!

Nice work dude, love the markings on the bolters. Haven't seen them done like that before

 LancsHotpot wrote:
Nice work dude, love the markings on the bolters. Haven't seen them done like that before

I got the idea from the color plates in Tempest; I wanted to break up the solid black of the bolters and I thought it'd do nicely:

Clean ultras, as ever, Brother SRM. Always love your work - and obviously, always love more ultramarines Cool to see you into heresy now and trying a different approach to painting ultras.

Brilliant work on those Ultra's, that blue is really eye-catching.

EDC

When I went to Warhammer World back in April, I got to play in a big Heresy game. I ran my old school Ultras using Legion rules and I proxied my Armorcast Whirlwind with the rules for the Scorpius. In one round of shooting I wiped out an entire 20 man Iron Warriors tactical squad. Needless to say, I immediately went over to the Forgeworld store and picked up the real deal for my Heresy Ultras! I'm really happy with how this tank came out, aside from the slightly off kilter dozer blade that I forgot to straighten in hot water.










I also think all the checks and greco-roman trim make it look like a Greek diner on treads, which is also good.

Some tidy wee Ultramarines there, mate

Thank you! I'm looking to remedy the tidiness a little bit with the vehicles though; not everybody can look like they just came off the showroom floor!

 Brother SRM wrote:
Thank you! I'm looking to remedy the tidiness a little bit with the vehicles though; not everybody can look like they just came off the showroom floor!

I may steal that stripe idea for the bolters on my marines. Makes it look less like a Christmas present, and more like a weapon of war without that red casing.

Nice tank you have there. Love your work on these guys. The checks does give it a very distinct look.

Don’t think of the dozer blade as something you forgot to straighten, but as one that’s been used. It’s not like the siege shield on a vindi; ram that little dozer blade through some wreck that's between you and your preferred firing position, it might get a little bent.

Thanks! Yeah, I do think it wouldn't stay straight, at least after ramming through a few wrecks and barricades. It does bother me just a little bit now, but eh, just means I'll have to pay closer attention when I build my Land Raider Proteus!

Nice looking Whirlwind, Brother SRM - but what's with the marking that looks like a chaos star?

On the images where we're looking at the front of the tank, I'm looking at the one above the hollow Ultramarines symbol on a raised armour panel on the right of the image.

 Dysartes wrote:
Nice looking Whirlwind, Brother SRM - but what's with the marking that looks like a chaos star?

On the images where we're looking at the front of the tank, I'm looking at the one above the hollow Ultramarines symbol on a raised armour panel on the right of the image.

I think it's an Ultramarine logo in an Iron Halo. Can't quite make it out on the ForgeWorld site.

The one that looks like a chaos star? I did a double take on that one myself. I think it’s a “U” surrounded by lightning.

Could have some implications, should probably check with the chaplain and have him do a tour of the motor pool.

 Dysartes wrote:
Nice looking Whirlwind, Brother SRM - but what's with the marking that looks like a chaos star?

On the images where we're looking at the front of the tank, I'm looking at the one above the hollow Ultramarines symbol on a raised armour panel on the right of the image.

According to the Legion Transfers guide (https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/resources/PDF/Datasheets/ULTRAMARINES_Transfer_Sheet_DetailFW.pdf) it's the symbol for armored support, which I thought the Whirlwind fit into nicely!

This is another one of those models I'd been eyeing for a long, long time, but after seeing a bunch in the flesh (well, resin) I had to pick one up! Here's my Sicaran Battle tank:








I really loved painting this thing, and there's something gratifying about spending hours doing countless thin coats of white only to splatter mud all over them!

That looks sweet as, hats off to you sir.

It's been too long since I've checked out your thread. That whirlwind really had my attention till I saw the Sicaran. Army is looking great and I'm impressed you were able to use the long trim transfers. The look really good along the whirlwinds missile launcher.

Thanks! Micro-set and Micro-sol make the whole transfer process really easy, and they've been a fun way to add some great detail without going absolutely insane painting each checker.

Nice work on the Scorpius and Sicaran.

I'll agree that the Scorpius does some serious work, I played in a local HH event at the weekend and a Scorpius single handedly demolished one flank and smashed my heavy weapons team. After being on the receiving end I too am considering picking up a Scorpius.

EDC

I got to bust out my bits box and go to town making a cool squad of blinged out Tactical Veterans for my Ultras:

Mmmm... Blingy. Nice looking vets.

Thanks! I kinda fretted over their iconography, whether they should have white helmets or what have you, but I'm glad I went with them the way I did.

I finished up a quad mortar and the Praetor from Betrayal at Calth. I didn't like his head (I think Aethon is a tool) so I swapped it out for one of the super Greco-Roman heads from the Ultramarines sprue. I'm super happy with how his cape came out, especially the transfer:





And time to lose some friends:

Nice work on the captain, gun, and crew.
(That reminds me, I should build some 30k gunners to man my TFC when playing in that era)

How much more do you have to paint for this army? You’ve been burning through them at a pretty good clip. Time for an army shot?

I'd love to do an army shot! Once I try setting up my boards in my new apartment, maybe I'll do an army shot. I'm currently at about 2600 points painted for this army. Still to paint I have a Land Raider armored Proteus soaking in dish soap, a Mk IV Apothecary, 10 Cataphracti Terminators waiting on Ultramarines shoulderpads to come out, and Roboute Guilliman to cap the army off. I also have a Knight that I just assembled and will be using with these guys and my Valhallans, and Marneus Calgar plus his honor guard who I want to find a place for in this army too.

Boston finally got an official Games Workshop presence with the new Warhammer store in Brookline! In addition to all the launch festivities, today was also Armies on Parade. I brought my Heresy Ultramarines and the storied and beaten display board that I used with my Valhallans. It did give me an opportunity to shoot a family photo with the army though:





There were also some other really neat armies on display, like these Necrons with their awesome display board:




These Imperial Fists with frankly amazing skin tones:




Some Dorfs (I think the display board let them down, the models themselves were real nice)


This guy's Tau/Necron display board which still smelled like aerosol. The guy who made it had apparently been up for like 30 hours and was hopped up on ritalin and still had yellow and brown paint all over his hands. Neat idea though:


Some good looking Daemons:



A good looking army of Stormcast:


At the end of the day, everyone in the store got to vote on their favorite army. The Imperial Fists took Bronze, my Ultramarines took silver, and the Necrons took gold! I've gotta hand it to the Necron guy, his army looked good, had an unusual color scheme, and his display board was excellent. I think that's what let me down here, but that just means I've got to do better on my next display board!


There's some models in the cabinets:


And both the Necron guy and I got to display a model in there too!


Finally, I got some cool stuff and brought it home in a Warhammer bag, which my cat got to enjoy:

You should re-base them with goblin green, and make a retro board. Maybe add a few styrofoam balls with spikes. Nobody can resist the power of retro.

Oh wait, that’s your other blog....


Army is looking very nice there on display together. Solid looking force! Your place was well earned.

Nice looking army. It's resting on a picture frame, yes?

 Nevelon wrote:
You should re-base them with goblin green, and make a retro board. Maybe add a few styrofoam balls with spikes. Nobody can resist the power of retro.

Oh wait, that’s your other blog....


Army is looking very nice there on display together. Solid looking force! Your place was well earned.

Hah! Now there's a thought

 Tactical_Spam wrote:
Nice looking army. It's resting on a picture frame, yes?

It's a bulletin board from Michael's with sand and snow glued down. I masked off the central area and sprayed the edges with satin black spray. I need to step up my display board game though!

While the Necrons were nicely painted, there was nothing about the display board that really said "Necron" to me - in a way, the same is true with the recycled Valhallan board you were using for your Ultramarines.

I'm thinking a tiered effort, with plenty of marble effect, possibly some columns and/or statues...

If you are looking for ideas for a board, I might go polar fortress. You have the rough, winter bases. So a bunker complex in rugged winter terrain would fit. Now, this is a 30k force, you you shouldn’t scatter dead nid bits all over the place, for a Battle of Macragge feel, but you can tap into that feel.

Just a thought. It’s one I keep contemplating for my own Ultras.

Awesome stuff, BrotherSRM. A mighty XIII Legion force you have there!

Note: I love that Necron/Tau desert board. You can imagine the horrified looks on the Tau when the Monolith awakens to fry them all!

Will you be adding to your Legiones Astartes force with the Burning of Prospero minis?

I think I'll skip on the tiered/marble sort of board, as that doesn't really match my Ultras either. While that's very "Ultramarines", it doesn't fit with my basing scheme. I'm thinking a field with a big XIII marked out in it, lots of snow and some hills would do the trick for next time.

As for Prospero, you bet I'll be picking up a set! I still haven't painted up the Cataphractii Terminators (waiting on Forgeworld to release shoulderpads for em) but the Mk III dudes will find their way into heavy weapons squads and breachers if they ever release a conversion kit like they are for the Mk IV guys.

Some of the coolest smurfs I've ever seen, great job. And for the record, I like your display board.

I was fortunate enough that the manager at my local Warhammer store was able to hold one of these guys for me - I painted the limited edition dude and I'm pretty happy with the results.

Ultramarine Standard bearer looks excellent. Top work dude.

EDC

Thanks!

My Ultramarines took the field in their first ever game, this time at my local GW store. The table didn't have enough cover and I think it might have just been a tough matchup, but my Ultramarines annihilated the Emperor's Children across from them. The traitors made a beeline for my troops, trying to get into assault, but fell short every time. Eidolon and his boys got boltered to death, and a Fury of the Legion attack wiped out the Emperor's Children on my left flank. The only unit to almost get into assault was a biker, who got killed by overwatch fire. Things seemed like they might turn around when his Storm Eagle showed up, blasting half of a tactical squad and wrecking the Sicaran, but my Deredeo Deredreadnought shot it down over the course of two turns, causing it to Crash and Burn and kill all but one of the Terminators inside, who was then shot down by the remainder of my tactical squad. Still, my opponent was a gracious and friendly guy despite the massacre, and I hope to play him again!

Also for those curious, the right flank past the bastion basically became the dedicated dead model zone, save for my veterans who outflanked there and had nothing to do.

Man, I missed painting Ultramarines.

Gorgeous minis! very well executed. Also, scrolling back It's pretty awesome to see this army all grouped together. An Impressive sight

I don't know if you mentioned it (and I'm too lazy to go look), but what recipe do you use for your blue? Inquiring Ultramarine minds want to know

Holy mackerel, beautiful Space Marines. Very well done. Subbed.

Awesome pics from your game. Sounds like you smashed the EC.

Termies look awesome too.

EDC

 evildrcheese wrote:
Awesome pics from your game. Sounds like you smashed the EC.

Termies look awesome too.

EDC

Oh, it was actually brutal. My opponent was a great sport about it though!

 War Kitten wrote:
I don't know if you mentioned it (and I'm too lazy to go look), but what recipe do you use for your blue? Inquiring Ultramarine minds want to know

I answered earlier in the thread but I'll copy/paste it here for ya:
The blue is super easy; I use the Macragge Blue spray, wash the recesses with Nuln Oil, then highlight with Calgar Blue and Fenrisian Grey.

Another squad of Cataphractii Terminators - these guys were fun to paint!

Great job on your Ultramarines.

Very clean and elegant, just like I picture them in my head.

I also like your blue. It's bright enough to pop, but deep enough that it doesn't become overwhelming.

Nice work on the termies.

EDC

Really nice work! I love the sergeant's sword.

Very nice, Brother SRM - I've been considering doing my BaC and BoP stuff as Ultramarines, and it is nice to see how good they can look.

 Dysartes wrote:
Very nice, Brother SRM - I've been considering doing my BaC and BoP stuff as Ultramarines, and it is nice to see how good they can look.

You say that like there's any doubt that Ultramarines would look good! I'm yet to find a Marine model that doesn't take well to the ol' blue and gold.

Lovely work on the Termies!

I guess these are good if you are a fan of really solid painting, attention to detail, and overall excellence.

But if you are a big admirer of garbage, then you will hate these.

 Brother SRM wrote:

 Dysartes wrote:
Very nice, Brother SRM - I've been considering doing my BaC and BoP stuff as Ultramarines, and it is nice to see how good they can look.

You say that like there's any doubt that Ultramarines would look good! I'm yet to find a Marine model that doesn't take well to the ol' blue and gold.

Truth.

Nice work on the termis. I especially like the guy leaning into the punch.

Thanks, I'm really glad his pose reads well. I was worried it'd look like he was just falling over on his face!

An apothecary with a crooked chainsword to keep some of these goons alive:

That Apothecary is gorgeous!

Just found this thread. I'm blown away at this stuff, despite myself not being too big on retro models(I joined up 6th edition, relatively young). How long does it take you to paint a tac squad?

 War Kitten wrote:
That Apothecary is gorgeous!

Thank you! I really love both Apothecary models and I was happy to paint them up for this army.

 JustaerinAtTheWall wrote:
Just found this thread. I'm blown away at this stuff, despite myself not being too big on retro models(I joined up 6th edition, relatively young). How long does it take you to paint a tac squad?

Thank you! My retro models are in my, well, retro Ultramarines army, but I've always loved the old aesthetics. According to my paint progress tracking sheets, each squad of 10 Marines took me about 2 and a half weeks to finish, painting most days for at least an hour.

Excellent work on the apothecary.

EDC

I had a load of fun weathering up this Land Raider Armored Proteus, AKA the most World War I tank ever made after World War I:

Looks gorgeous. Love the checks around the sponsons.

I like to think the checks give it a "Greek diner on treads" feel

lol. Now I can't un-see that.

 Brother SRM wrote:
I like to think the checks give it a "Greek diner on treads" feel

A suitable transport for the gyros of the imperium.

Looks great!

 Nevelon wrote:

A suitable transport for the gyros of the imperium.

Okay, that's a good one

Nicely painted, but I'll be damned if the Proteus isn't the stupidest looking tank in the Marine army...

 TheArmorOfContempt wrote:
Nicely painted, but I'll be damned if the Proteus isn't the stupidest looking tank in the Marine army...

As a fan of WW1 tanks and Rogue Trader vehicle designs, I strongly disagree!

The Proteus is pretty darn old, so a WWI-era design makes some sense in 40K. It looks really well done too, SRM congrats! Kinda reminds me of an inverted Duke's Chowder House...

That's beautiful. Really nice work on the Proteus.

EDC

 JustaerinAtTheWall wrote:
The Proteus is pretty darn old, so a WWI-era design makes some sense in 40K. It looks really well done too, SRM congrats! Kinda reminds me of an inverted Duke's Chowder House...

The Land Raider Proteus has a reduced carrying capacity of only 5 models to make room for the massive vats of delicious chowder taking up the bulk of its transport space.

 TheArmorOfContempt wrote:
Nicely painted, but I'll be damned if the Proteus isn't the stupidest looking tank in the Marine army...

Yeah, It looks too cuboid to evoke anything but 'silly' in my mind. Still, great paintjob.

Had a game last night against a local Iron Warriors player. Had never met the guy, but turns out he was a really cool dude and we got a close game in. It was only my third Heresy game, so my tactics were only slightly worse than my dice! Mission was Blood Feud with that wedge deployment.
His force:

My force:

He had first turn and began his advance:

My dudes shortly before 9 of them got Phosphex'd off the table:

His advancing forces:


My Ultras holding the line:

My warlord trait let me deep strike a unit, so I dropped my Terminators behind his quad mortar on turn 2:

... but they missed:

My infantry blobs had taken a bit of a beating at this point:

I wiped the Assault Marines out using the Whirlwind and Aiolus missiles from the Deredeo, but his Contemptor was still advancing and getting dangerously close to my Tactical Marines:

Things are getting uncomfortable:

His Land Raider opened up and a squad of Breachers came pouring out, who then shot up my tac squad:

The Tactical Marines get charged by the Contemptor. Over the next turn, my sergeant stuns the Dreadnought with a power fist strike and my squad falls back. Since walkers can't Sweeping Advance if they're stunned, my squad was able to safely run away and regroup on my turn. Shooting then killed the Dreadnought:

My Tactical Marines prep to charge the Breachers:

Charge! The melee goes on for four rounds, with the Breacher sergeant killing my Tactical sergeant, Apothecary, and Chaplain:

However, the Ultramarines finally win one combat and force the squad to retreat!

In the very last turn, the breachers are falling back, the barest shreds of my two Tactical squads remain, and the only other living targets on the table are the two Land Raiders and the Siege Tyrants.

When we tallied up all the points, even counting the retreating Iron Warriors as destroyed, it came out to a narrow 6-7 game, with the Iron Warriors eking out a narrow victory. It was great fun, and I was happy to get my Heresy dudes on the table. I wish the lighting was better back there because both armies looked great, and his Iron Warriors had a ton of little conversions and characterful bits to them.

Things I learned:
- Phosphex is terrifying
- Don't charge Breachers, not now not ever. Should have used Fury of the Legion on them instead
- Get some power axes in my squads, losing three challenges in a row against a Breacher sergeant was pretty lame
- Meltabombs in more squads would be a good idea

Nice report! Always fun to see well painted armies clash.

Sounds like a fun game all around! IW are one of the legions i'm considering for HH, but UM are a little more ornate and are probably more fun to paint. But well done Cam, infantry blobs FTW!

I painted up Roboute Guilliman! The marble on the base was a nightmare, but the model itself was really fun to paint! I also got to mess around with the 'Eavy Metal painting guide for painting faces from October's White Dwarf, which I followed to get the face. I'm really proud of that part, even if I don't love the cape.






I also magnetized the base so I could stick him on a 40mm base:

I understand what you mean about the cape, but overall it's a stunning model. Except for the face. Looks like he's been awake for too log.

Nice work on Roboute Guilliman, the model looks and the marble on the basing is well done too?

EDC

Lovely work, I think you've done a fantastic job keeping him nice and utilitarian (for a Primarch) rather than going too over the top, which suits Guilliman perfectly.

Fine work here SRM, very clean! I don't quite know what you're getting at with the cape, it seems fine to me(albeit a younger, less experienced painter).

 JustaerinAtTheWall wrote:
Fine work here SRM, very clean! I don't quite know what you're getting at with the cape, it seems fine to me(albeit a younger, less experienced painter).

Thanks! I was hoping for a smoother transition between colors on the cape, they could have been better but they're okay.

 Paradigm wrote:
Lovely work, I think you've done a fantastic job keeping him nice and utilitarian (for a Primarch) rather than going too over the top, which suits Guilliman perfectly.

I mean, the guy still has more gold than a Jersey wedding, but thank you

The boys in blue were in action this week! Check out this battle report against their hated foes, the Word Bearers!
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/719228.page

Painted up some more Ultras this month, including a converted Master of Signals since I don't love the Forgeworld one:





And the Big Gun Bros:

Great stuff!

Where's the 8th episode of the Badcast? Because you know, some of us rely on this thing you provide to us free of charge and have demands that you keep providing it.

Hey, we just put out the 7th episode last week! We'll be recording the 8th on Monday or Tuesday, with release later in the week. We follow a rough schedule of putting an episode out every 2 weeks.

 Brother SRM wrote:
Hey, we just put out the 7th episode last week! We'll be recording the 8th on Monday or Tuesday, with release later in the week. We follow a rough schedule of putting an episode out every 2 weeks.

Whoops, got my weeks crossed up. Carry on. Also, big thank you for putting that out. It brightens the commute home.