Hello! I feel somewhat embarrassed attempting this yet again, but it has been my dream to own a battle-company of firstborn Ultramarines for years, and well... this is my latest attempt.
My previous attempt was foiled by Army Painter suddenly changing their formula for Ultramarine blue which caused me to rage-quit when I couldn't find a suitable replacement. Everybody else's ultramarine blue was too purple, too thin, etc. And I'm basically Goldilocks when it comes to this blue: It has to be just right. Anyway, I puttered around trying homebrew chapters and whatnot, but in my heart of hearts I knew I would not be happy until I had that battle-company of Ultramarines. And then I found it -- Vallejo flat blue. I tried it on a test marine and it was fine. Then I tried a vehicle and I was sold. So without further ado...
The beginnings of my Ultramarines 2nd company

My WIP of 1st tactical squad:


And My Finished Rhino for them to ride in:






Well, wish me luck dakka! Third attempt at an ultramarines army should be the charm!
C & C are always welcome
Cheers,
Brushcommando

Looking great, I love the classic Ultramarines color scheme mixed with the tactical marine kits, its really an underappreciated pairing.

The most recent Space marine kits from 2014/2015 had tons of great kit bashing opportunity, I'm interested to see where you go with it

Heh, I think I have 3-4 base blues, and at least 3 glazes across my Ultras. I feel your frustration on changing paints.

Good luck with the company.

Courage and honor!

I do enjoy seeing a good battle company. Although the rigidly defined structure of a firstborn battle company does somewhat restrict, I think it's pretty cool to have an exact goal to aim for. You can quite happily say you've collected the entire company (or chapter...), which is something that you can't quite do with other armies.

Looks like a good choice of blue!

That Flat Blue does seem to work nicely for Ultramarines - good luckw ith your project!

Good luck! Looking great so far.

ValhallanWinter wrote:Looking great, I love the classic Ultramarines color scheme mixed with the tactical marine kits, its really an underappreciated pairing.

The most recent Space marine kits from 2014/2015 had tons of great kit bashing opportunity, I'm interested to see where you go with it

Yeah, that's definitely something I will miss when the Primaris eventually replace the firstborn marines. I intend for almost all my characters to be kitbashed from basic marine kits, ( I may have to cop out with the librarian -- not sure I want to get a whole squad of grey knights just for a psychic hood.)

Nevelon wrote:Heh, I think I have 3-4 base blues, and at least 3 glazes across my Ultras. I feel your frustration on changing paints.

Good luck with the company.

Courage and honor!

Thanks Nev, your dedication to Guilleman's boys in blue is an inspiration to us all.

Bellerophon wrote:I do enjoy seeing a good battle company. Although the rigidly defined structure of a firstborn battle company does somewhat restrict, I think it's pretty cool to have an exact goal to aim for. You can quite happily say you've collected the entire company (or chapter...), which is something that you can't quite do with other armies.

Looks like a good choice of blue!

Heh. I'm actually one of those weirdos who enjoys the arbitrary restrictiveness. I think it's because I started the wargaming hobby as with historicals. I find having the specific goals to collect and paint help me set goals and achieve them.

Dysartes wrote:That Flat Blue does seem to work nicely for Ultramarines - good luckw ith your project!

Thanks! It was quite a journey finding the right shade. I probably tried seventeen or eighteen different methods before finding the one I can live with.

youwashock wrote:Good luck! Looking great so far.

Thanks!

UPDATE: 10/21/2021

On the assembly side, I have a second Tactical Squad and their ride assembled.


On the painting side, I have the squad almost done. I find it best to work in threes and twos and I have all but the last three complete.




The WIP guys. I had a lot of fun with the freehand symbols on the Corvus armor guy.


And Bob, who almost missed photo day.

UPDATE 10/22/2021

Just a quick update. I find that even if there is not much to report, getting it on the blog helps keep the motivation coming...
1st Tac Squad is complete with transfers and basing -- the whole shebang.


Also got the blue on a whole combat squad from squad II and the metallics and washes down on three of these.


That's it for now. I think when I get the second tac squad finished I'm going to try and mix things up another vehicle. Maybe a whirlwind or a dreadnought if my orders come in on time.

C & C are welcome as always.
Cheers!

Good progress.

I find blogging helps keep me on track. Keeps me more aware, so things don’t just drift pass. And while I’m OK with letting myself down, the thought of disappointing all my loyal fans keeps me going.

Have you worked up a TOE for your company? As the second, you do have a canonical reference in one of the older codexes for a pre-primaris list. How you going to gear up the tac squads? Devs? Going full jump pack, or going to mix up the FA pics? I guess there are more things you could do to mix up the Devs these days as well, even for firstborn. Centurion suits, etc. What flavor dreads and how many?

One perk of having a full company is to be less reliant on the swap shelf when pulling squads for a list. Want a classic ML/F squad for the nostalgia? 1st squad. Full melta tac squad? That would be the 5th. (At least in my 3rd company. You still might need some spares, or magents on the sarge, but it’s a nice thing.

Ah. Good questions all. I'm not working off a specific historical precedent at the moment. I kind of like the idea of leaving that purposely vague as much of the 40k lore used to be. I may find a way to start naming my squads and such for people who participate in the blog the way Eeps used to do.

I will probably incorporate a tac-squad based around all of the heavy/special weapon configurations, so melta, plasma, maybe plasma/las -- 1st squad does indeed have the flamer/ML configuration and 2nd squad is anti-infantry with flamer/HB. I'm torn on grav. I started playing in 4th and still consider such a weapon "new-fangled." Same with centurions.

As for fast attack, I probably will do 20 jump marines, although I have some bikes as well. I'm torn between painting these in the same company colors to use as alternates, or giving them to a reserve company. Those poor fellas never get any appreciation...

As for devs I currently have a missile launcher squad of the 30k mk IV variety, and a lascannon squad of 40k devs. I may end up not using the 30k models as I want the company to have a distinctly 40k feel... but that might be a silly thought. I don't know. I can be very picky when it comes to the aesthetics of one of my forces. I guess that makes me the kind of customer beloved by both GW and the FLGS. "Oh no! This isn't the right shade of blue! Better start the whole project again from scratch..."

I do intend for my second company to have at least 4 dreads. Not canonical for the 2nd company, but... I love dreadnoughts.

Also, although it does not fall within the "battle company" designation, I do want some 1st and 10th company assets attached to the force.

Anyway, thanks for the questions -- they do help me have to clarify for myself what direction I want to take some of this stuff in.

Including grav is a choice on how old-school you want to be. It’s not like it’s the overpowered mess that it was in 7th, where you had to be a little crazy not to take it.

I think anywhere between 2-4 is good for dreads in a battle company. The full chapter list in the 3rd ed codex listed the 2nd company with 2, but the 4th was marked as full strength with 4. You can never have too many dreads though.

One thing to consider for things like bikes is to model the same marine on both. So use the same head/shoulder pads/armor mark on both the bike sarge and the JP sarge. If you put squad numbers, use the same ones. Just to lock in the concept of the same battle brothers, just mounting up for the battle. Although painting them with the orange trim of the 6th would let them win valor in their own name. There is no wrong answer here.

If you plan on building multiple versions of your captain (bike/JP/foot/TDA) it might be worth sourcing the same head/shoulder pads/bits to ensure that you have the same guy leading things.

I’ve actually updated my shelf deployment to include a pair of BaC Mk IV tac squads in my company. Mostly for space reasons. They actually got table time, while the old 2nd ed bolter huggers only did on rare occasion. Of course, my collection spans enough time that it’s hardly uniform. If you are worried about 30k guys standing out, you could just mix them into the company, so there are a few in every squad.

Battle companies are almost always accompanied but elements of the 1st and 10th, so it’s good to get a few squads. You can build them up to full companies next.

All solid advice as well. The only thing that gets really difficult with continuity for the bikers from the assault squads is the fact that every biker set of legs has mk VII knee pads. It would be easy enough to try to match torsoes helmets and shoulder gaurds though. As for the idea of JP captains and chaplains, librarians having the same kit as their foot counterparts -- I agree and have already begun work getting the necessary bits to make both.
As for TDA characters, are regular company commanders allowed to wear it, or is it reserved for members of the 1st company? I was never quite sure of that.

UPDATE 10/23/2021
Well, instead of working on my programming homework I decided to make this guy...




He's roughly based on Captain Titus from the space marine video game, although he's not meant to be a representation of captain Titus. I wanted my captain to be unique from the standard ones you can buy in blisters.
His kit of power sword and plasma pistol may not be very tactically sound by the current rules, but I'm a sucker for tradition and I feel it's a pretty tried and true Captain loadout.

C & C are welcome.
Cheers!

Captain, my Captain...

Well, your Captain, actually. I totally support cool and traditional gear over tabletop meta performance. But, I also don't play the game. Seeing you and Nev crunch the options is a treat. Excited to see a Dread may be in the near future.

 youwashock wrote:
Captain, my Captain...

Well, your Captain, actually. I totally support cool and traditional gear over tabletop meta performance. But, I also don't play the game. Seeing you and Nev crunch the options is a treat. Excited to see a Dread may be in the near future.

Thanks! I don't really play 40k a whole lot, and when I do it's with my brother and his wife, and they are pretty relaxed, so I don't feel the need to chase the metagame. Since you were the first person to take notice of the good captain, and since I am reviving Eeps's custom of bestowing honorary names for particpants on this blog, he can be your namesake. (or are you his namesake? I need to look up how that word works) I shall call him: CAPTAIN VOSTUS COLLISEUS which is badly corrupted latin for the words 'you' and 'shock'. Or since you expressed an interest in dreadnoughts, I can transfer that name to one of them. Just let me know your preference...

Anyway, as a reward to myself for successfully(?) de-bugging my homework assignment, I slapped some paint on the dude. Still very much a WIP, but enough to give a sense of the final outcome:


C and C are always welcome.
Cheers!

Nothing wrong with plasma pistol and power sword. It was the go-to gear option for the well equipped character for many a year. The fact that those years were mostly in the 90’s is the tragedy. I think they started to fall out of favor after 4th, but I’ve not had enough coffee this morning to remember that far back clearly. I know once they split power weapons into flavors (5th?) that swords dropped off the radar. They were good at cashing out MEQ without an invuln, but outside that you wanted other tools. The extra S they recently got and their low point cost makes them a decent choice. There is the opportunity cost of not taking something nastier, but as long as you aren’t hunting giant monsters, it should serve you well. And one nice thing about the sheathed swords is you could call it a relic blade, or even the Burning Blade relic, and nobody should give you trouble for that.

Plasma pistols are in the best place they have been in a while now, with solid stats and the option to not try to kill yourself. With a reasonable price tag. That was their major drawback. How much you want to spend for something you might get to shoot twice?

One perk of the loadout these days for you is that he can counts-as Sicarius. He looks to have some nice perks for his price, but I’ve not put him on the table in 9th. Or heard of anyone who has, but there are not a lot of Ultra players out there, despite the whining you hear about us. You you have the gold trim on the 2nd, so no reason not to use the special rules for your captain if you want.

For a guy hanging out with the troops to buff with his aura, he’s got enough gear to leverage his statblock, but not break the bank.

Looks like a great start with the paint.

(At one point I was convinced I’d meet my end at the hands of a missing semi-colon in a darkened computer lab some night, good luck with the programming)

Oooh, I wondered why you’d changed your avatar, and now I see why! A whole company, and one that’s coming together nice and fast it seems! The paint jobs look nice and crisp so far and the Captain is awesome, definitely has a Titus vibe going off. I’ll be watching this one eagerly

PS - make sure you buy enough blue to finish the company (and maybe the 1st and elements of 10th plus support! )

Excellent Captain! I really love the posing, it looks like he is looking over the field and/or just about to jump in. The ornamentation is the right balance of matching an officers station without being so overt its impractical, perfect for a line officer. I've always felt that commanders should be converted, its the best place to go nuts with bits and really put spiritual center point on an army.

Do you have any ideas for the command squad? I'd like to see what kind of specialists/troops he has surrounding him

Hey, alright! I am honored to serve as your Captain. Thanks!

ValhallanWinter wrote:Excellent Captain! I really love the posing, it looks like he is looking over the field and/or just about to jump in. The ornamentation is the right balance of matching an officers station without being so overt its impractical, perfect for a line officer. I've always felt that commanders should be converted, its the best place to go nuts with bits and really put spiritual center point on an army.

Do you have any ideas for the command squad? I'd like to see what kind of specialists/troops he has surrounding him

Thanks! I'll have to give the command squad some thought. My brother and I still play 8th edition, and I believe the apothecary, ancient, and champion are all seperate characters. I will have these all with relatively normal loadouts, but I also note that you can have a five man company veteran squad to bodyguard the Captain. I might take this opportunity to make a couple of CC bruisers...

youwashock wrote:Hey, alright! I am honored to serve as your Captain. Thanks!

No worries! I intend for anyone who participates or gives feedback on the blog to eventually get an honorary representation, so by the end I should have each squad and character named. I hope to end the project with a filled out Force Org chart that shows where everyone fits in.

gobert wrote:Oooh, I wondered why you’d changed your avatar, and now I see why! A whole company, and one that’s coming together nice and fast it seems! The paint jobs look nice and crisp so far and the Captain is awesome, definitely has a Titus vibe going off. I’ll be watching this one eagerly

PS - make sure you buy enough blue to finish the company (and maybe the 1st and elements of 10th plus support! )

Lol. Yes. After I discovered the blue was the one I wanted, I went to the FLGS and bought all seven bottles in their display rack. I'm not ing around this time...

Nevelon wrote:Nothing wrong with plasma pistol and power sword. It was the go-to gear option for the well equipped character for many a year. The fact that those years were mostly in the 90’s is the tragedy. I think they started to fall out of favor after 4th, but I’ve not had enough coffee this morning to remember that far back clearly. I know once they split power weapons into flavors (5th?) that swords dropped off the radar. They were good at cashing out MEQ without an invuln, but outside that you wanted other tools. The extra S they recently got and their low point cost makes them a decent choice. There is the opportunity cost of not taking something nastier, but as long as you aren’t hunting giant monsters, it should serve you well. And one nice thing about the sheathed swords is you could call it a relic blade, or even the Burning Blade relic, and nobody should give you trouble for that.

Plasma pistols are in the best place they have been in a while now, with solid stats and the option to not try to kill yourself. With a reasonable price tag. That was their major drawback. How much you want to spend for something you might get to shoot twice?

One perk of the loadout these days for you is that he can counts-as Sicarius. He looks to have some nice perks for his price, but I’ve not put him on the table in 9th. Or heard of anyone who has, but there are not a lot of Ultra players out there, despite the whining you hear about us. You you have the gold trim on the 2nd, so no reason not to use the special rules for your captain if you want.

For a guy hanging out with the troops to buff with his aura, he’s got enough gear to leverage his statblock, but not break the bank.

Looks like a great start with the paint.

(At one point I was convinced I’d meet my end at the hands of a missing semi-colon in a darkened computer lab some night, good luck with the programming)

Thanks! Yeah I think 6th ed is where the power weapons split up and everything went downhill. Actually went on a hiatus from playing the game for the entirety of 6th and 7th edition because it just didn't seem fun to play anymore.

UPDATE: 10/25/2021
So progress was slower the last couple days as I had to contend with school. I did manage to finish Captain Vostus though:





As with any character like this, I always feel like I'm missing some detail here or there, but he seems complete enough to call him finished. I initially went for a glow effect on the plasma coils, but opted for bare metal instead because I felt they drew the eye to the pistol instead of the main part of the miniature. It was also a pretty common practice to have bare metal coils in 4th ed, which is the era I'm heavily basing my army on.

On the assembly front, a bunch of my birthday goodies arrived in the mail and my force now consists of 4 full tac squads (to be joined by a fifth later in the week) two full ten-man assault squads, and one full devestator squad. I have enough parts to complete a second chaplain (the jump pack variant), two of the librarian blisters, (also allowing one to have a jump pack, and I also got a mk IV horus heresy squad to sprinkle amongst the other squads for flavor. So I've almost assembled the force entire, with 5 rhinos a whirlwind, a predator, and a vindicator making up the motor pool..

And this is how far I've gotten on assembling all that...


So that's it for today. Cheers!

Vostus is looking very fancy and classical. It’s impressive how many elements of this force that you’ve already amassed. Looks like you’ll have months of building ahead of you let alone painting. Speaking of which, good work buying all of the paint! No excuses now

@gobert Thanks!

Actually I've been moving pretty fast on the assembly and have a full-strength demi-company assembled and primed. I have the two tac squads I've shown, plus a plasmagun/plasma cannon tac squad I assembled the other day. I have a ten-man jump pack assault squad, led by a jump librarian and a jump chaplain and finally a devastator squad with 4 Missile Launchers and a full compliment of ablative wounds... ahem bolter marines.
I didn't take any pics since I didn't think I could make the photos very interesting, but I still feel reaching the halfway point for infantry assembly was worth noting.

On the painting front I've been moving slower (The sudden burst of assembly energy had to come from somewhere... but I have managed to get four marines to the point where I can apply transfers, as well as having the base blue down on the rest of the squad and their rhino.



I went for a slightly different basing scheme, more brown dirt than yellow desert. Not sure which I prefer overall. Need to give it more thought. Feedback here is welcome.

From Left to Right: Gorthor Brown Base with balor brown brush, Vallejo Buff with Agrax Earthshade, Vallejo Buff with Seraphim Sepia

Well that's it for a minute. Cheers!

Solid progress BC! As for the bases, I think the Captains base works best

Solid work ! Nice to see some firstbones, keep going bud, we'll follow till the end of the project !

I like the captain’s base (as does The Boy) but there is something about the brighter base of the bolter marine that I like.

Thanks for the feedback all! For the current squad I decided on a hybrid of the captain's scheme and brown mud base, -- drybrushing Vallejo buff over gorthor brown. I think it's pretty similar to the Captain's base. I may not end up repainting any of the bases, but instead use clump foliage here and there on all of them to kind of tie the units together. At any rate, one of my tac squads is going to be comprised entirely of the Space Marine Heroes guys which are all pre-based on an urban setting, so I'm going to have to accept some variation in the basing regardless.

On the painting front, I finished another four marines to the point where I can apply transfers. (okay they technically need highlights on the hands and bolter casings as well, but I consider this a minor step)


All I have left now are the sarge and one more bolter marine. Not sure which squad I'll paint next. I'm leaning toward the devastator squad just so I can get them over and done with. I find the heavy weapons a little tedious with thier sub-assemblies, but it's really not practical to fully assemble them before painting.

As for namesakes -- the dreadnought I have picked out for Nevelon still has yet to re-emerge into realspace from the shipping nexus in which it was caught.
Gobert, I figure I'll name my Space Marine Heroes squad for you since it will draw a connection to your Void Panthers.

When this current squad is finished, I think I will name it Squad Goderic as the namesake of Godardc -- unless there's a post any of you would like better. Just let me know.

Cheers!

Those marines are looking great! The light touch on the blue highlighting really sells a slightly worn but maintained armor sets. You're really capturing the experienced front liners, are you planning to give them any battle damage/terrain camo gear like rough cloaks or run them as maintained troops?

If I could suggest dusting the marines feet to match the soil on the bases. It could help immerse the marines to the basing a bit, though they look great as is.

The space marine heroes line has some pretty great models, the Grenadier model is one of my favorite standard marines. You could add more sand to fill in the urban basing and make it look like a buried urban ruin in the landscape. That might keep your scheme by adapting the basing.

Interested to see more!

The latest batch look great, especially the beaky marine. I like the idea of leading the Space Marine Heroes squad, thanks! Their urban bases are cool, but ValhallanWinters idea of sanding them so it’s like they’re in a lost city is really cool

@ ValhallanWinter: It may seem odd, but I'm not much for realistic battle damage or weathering when it comes to Space Marines. I will weather guard models without hesitation, but I prefer a sort of clean "studio army" look for my Ultramarines, so I probably won't do very much dusting or anything like that. I do like the idea of the urban bases being in a sort of city being reclaimed by nature setting though. I'll have to give some thought on how to implement that.

@gobert Yeah, as of today I finally have the whole Hero squad acquired. I reclaimed most of them from my Brother's penitent attempt, but some were too far gone so I bought replacements which have just come in. It may be a minute before they get any paint though, as they aren't part of the first demi-company.

On the painting front, I have now finished the 2nd Tactical Squad -- named squad Drusus for their Sgt, Gaius Drusus (Godardc). I changed this from squad Goderic as I thought it needed to sound more Greco-Roman.


I think next up on the docket will be the dev squad, and then I may indulge myself with a dreadnought or something.
Anyway that's it for now. Cheers!

Nice looking squad. You are really powering through these guys.

And I'm caught up Great start with your Ultras, 10-man squads always feel like a drag, but you powered through! And I hope you stocked up good on the new blue, so it doesn't run out, if they change the formula

Thanks for the kind words all!

So I've been making slower progress due to work/school picking up again, but I have managed to make a decent start on the devastator squad, named Glacius for it's Sgt Bellator Glacius (meaning Ice Soldier for ValhallanWinter)



I've got the blues down on everybody, but it's taking a bit to actually finish the ML troopers. Still, I've gotten 3 out of 4 to the point where I can apply/have applied transfers, and I've just one more and the sgt which I consider to be difficult minis. After that it's just the 5 tac marines, which I find enjoyable enough.

Anyway, that's it for now. Just a quick update to maintain some momentum. Until Next time, Cheers!

Great name for a squad. Looking good!

Army is coming along nicely brushcommando.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks for the honor, the Devastator Sgt is always willing to take one for the team!

Fantastic work on those devastators, of the 3 battle company squad types they were always the rarest to take the field. As Icon as the missile launcher was, it always played 2nd fiddle to plasma/lascannons when a devastator squad was taken.

Are you planning to make other weapon troopers to swap out or is that a consideration for a later stage?

2 Tactical squads down, a Devastator squad in progress - time for an Assault squad next, perhaps?

Looking good so far, brushcommando - might want to consider a group shot when you've finished the current unit?

 Dysartes wrote:
2 Tactical squads down, a Devastator squad in progress - time for an Assault squad next, perhaps?

Looking good so far, brushcommando - might want to consider a group shot when you've finished the current unit?

There is never a bad time for a full army shot.

Thanks for the kind comments, everyone!

 ValhallanWinter wrote:
Thanks for the honor, the Devastator Sgt is always willing to take one for the team!

Fantastic work on those devastators, of the 3 battle company squad types they were always the rarest to take the field. As Icon as the missile launcher was, it always played 2nd fiddle to plasma/lascannons when a devastator squad was taken.

Are you planning to make other weapon troopers to swap out or is that a consideration for a later stage?

So at this stage, I'm not sure about modelling alternates or not. I actually have quite an affinity for the ML dev squads. I got quite a lot of use out of them in 5th edition -- they have a versatility that I think is underrated. That being said, I've never been really into optimizing to closely. Me and my friends always just sort of play with stuff we think looks (or just is) cool.

So on the painting front, I have the Sarge and the last ML trooper at least to the point where I can apply transfers. May need to make a quick cleanup pass after I see these guys up close on my big monitor...



I found these guys kind of burdensome because of the added detail that needed highlights as well as finding painting sub -assemblies to be more difficult. It's just the normal tacticals to fill out the squad though, so these shouldn't take me as long.

Also, since there is indeed no bad time to do a current army shot...

I need to work on my photography skills for the wider shots, but oh well...
Anyway until next time, cheers!

Thanks for sharing the group shot. Your Ultramarines look great, let us know how their first outing goes. I’m in total agreement about playing and painting what looks cool.

They’re looking good! Keep working at it. A whole company is an awesome sight!

I do love me some proper marines and yours look good. Very cohesive as a group as well.

Thanks for sharing the group photo.

I'm in a similar boat, only with a different color of blue on it. I am working on a battle company with Crimson Fists. One tac squad in the can and one more that I am working on as well as a Dev. combat squad and Dreadnaught.

Keep up the good work. I really do like how you are kit bashing your models.

You’re cranking through theses at a fair rate BC! Squad Gaius look spanking!

Group shot looks great and should keep you motivated to jump right on to the next squad!

Nice work! Keep up the pace, it gets more impressive with every addition.

I don’t know how often I fielded full ML squads. While I like their flexibility, I regret almost every frag missile I toss downrange. (The one exception was one game vs. nids, where I butchered a gaunt squad in the open). Even in situations where it should have been mathematically the best option, they just continue to fail me. So if just shooting krack, why not LCs? That said for most editions I kept trying, and would normally split a dev squad with two MLs and 2 of another gun for a nice flexible squad. They are just such an iconic weapon you need to have a few kicking around in an army. I think I have 15 painted, which is probably overkill. Maybe.

Thanks again for the feedback, everyone!

Sorry for the lack of updates this week. Work and school were both a slog, and it took some doing to get the motivation to finish up Squad Glacius. But they've got their transfers and stuff now, so except for cleaning up the black on the base rims and giving them a dullcote, these puppies are finished.



I'm debating whether to do a character or a vehicle next before plowing onward with the assault squad. Also, setting myself the goal of having a complete demi -company painted by the new year. We'll see if my momentum holds...

Until next time, cheers!

Devs are looking good!

What character would you do? You need the chaplain, apothecary, the ancient, and the champion. How do you feel about lieutenants? While mostly associated with primaris, they are a classic rank from the RT days. For a Demi co, you already have the captain, so the chaplain should probably go on hold to lead the other half.

I always like to use characters to reward sloggy things, so after a full squad you are probably due.

Good luck getting the Demi co done by the end of year. You just need 2 more squads, and the rate you are painting them that should be doable. If you insist on transports for everyone that might slow things down. And don’t forget that the holidays tend to be a hot mess for getting things done.

 Nevelon wrote:
Devs are looking good!

What character would you do? You need the chaplain, apothecary, the ancient, and the champion. How do you feel about lieutenants? While mostly associated with primaris, they are a classic rank from the RT days. For a Demi co, you already have the captain, so the chaplain should probably go on hold to lead the other half.

I always like to use characters to reward sloggy things, so after a full squad you are probably due.

Good luck getting the Demi co done by the end of year. You just need 2 more squads, and the rate you are painting them that should be doable. If you insist on transports for everyone that might slow things down. And don’t forget that the holidays tend to be a hot mess for getting things done.

Thanks! As for a character -- I sort of found myself caught out by indecision and thus just started the assault squad. I think Dysartes was the one who suggested that they be next, thus they will bear that name.
I'm not sure what to do about lieutenants -- I kind of feel like including them as such dates the force to M42 and the return of Guilleman, so I may make one or two alternate "commander" models to fill the role, even if I eschew the name and football helmet stripes.

I don't think I will hold myself to insisting on transports for the new years goal, but I do eventually want all 8-10 rhinos/razorbacks and additional armor support...

...which means I will definitely need this guy:







In true 40k grimdark fashion, it was necessary to ritually dismember a techpriest to achieve this kitbash. The rest of the pieces are just the fringe benefits of having attempted and aborted so many other attempts at a battle company

Overall, I'm pretty proud of it. I tried to incorporate a lot of little details and nods to previous classic techmarine models, while still making him look modern 40k. He probably could use a bit more exposed wiring and spare cables, but I'm not a fan of deliberately making models with small easily breakable parts, so it was a compromise there.

Finally, on the painting front -- I have the blues down across the whole assault squad and several of the others up to edge-highlighting stage.


The process is a bit different on these guys, as I have to apply transfers before attaching the jump packs and finishing those.

Anyway, that's all I've got for the week thus far. Cheers!

Very nice work on that kitbash. The specialists are not easy to get right, but you nailed it. Good to make sure the spirits of the company’s wargear are being tended to.

If you don’t like the helmet stripes on the Lt., you could just go old-school with his RT rank markings (Not to be confused with the captain’s bar, which has 3 points per side) From a game mechanics POV, they are nice to have, as RR1s To-Wound is a pretty nice buff to have around.

While the composition of the command squad has drifted over the years (It once would have had a spot for that techmarine) you are entitled to a few extra guys there. In modern history it’s been restricted to a 5 man squad, with the 3 “named” guys (Apothecary, Ancient, Champion). With 9th those guys have been spun out, and we are back to needing a sergeant in the squad. If you want to go a little crazy with extra character types, you could bling out these guys a little.

Or just have more captains and other characters on the swap shelf then there is space for in a chapter.

Great work on the Techmarine. Very effective.

Loving the Armour mix in the assault squad, the paint job is coming along nicely too. The Mk3 helmets really suit the ultramarines, especially the 2nd company with all of their gold. Good work kitbashing the tech marine too

Excellent job on converting that techmarine, very cool, the pose looks excellent.

I agree with Gobert, the mix of armour looks very cool, makes sense for assault marines because they're always going to be in the thick of it.

Good luck with the rest of it!

Great kitbash, it's always fun to throw stuff together and create a new mini. Excited to see paint on him in the future!

That techmarine is great BC, he’ll come in handy once you start adding vehicles into the mix. Have you thought about adding in a dread ?

Thanks all! Sorry for the long delay in posting. Work and school have been crazy. School's finally out, just in time for things to get even crazier at the restaurant. Ah well...

So I've been struggling to complete assault squad Dysartes and needed to try something else to get my painting inspiration back. Luckily one of the two box dreads I ordered finally arrived. I give you...
Ancient Nevelon!




I've always seen dreadnoughts as the lads who have been around the block and are happy to dispense their amassed wisdom to the younger marines -- which is more or less the role Nev plays for the ultramarines community here on dakka. Thus the namesake fits I hope.

I have not completely abandoned hope of making my new years deadline for the demi-company but It's looking dicey. Here's hoping.
Till next time,
Cheers!

That's rad. A very suitable tribute, I would say. Looks great with classic colors on a classic model.

Even in death, I serve.

Very nice work. Glad to help any way I can. Good luck with the year end. Holidays are always a mess. It’s OK to miss goals once in a while. If you make them all, it means you are not setting them high enough to stretch yourself.

Forces are filling out nicely BC. Kitbash on the techmarine looks good and the dread looks great.

Returning with a heavyweight mini! Nevelon looks good entombed I’m plasteel! Hopefully you get some painting time through the holiday season

Boy, this army's really coming together! The ambition of it is impressive, but personally, the most compelling part of this so far was your attention to detail. I love fluffy armies, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who stresses hard over getting the exact color and time-period-sensitive details correct on my projects! Granted, none of said projects have been physical, painted models yet, but here's hoping christmas fixes that one

Keep it up!

 Squidsy22 wrote:
Boy, this army's really coming together! The ambition of it is impressive, but personally, the most compelling part of this so far was your attention to detail. I love fluffy armies, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who stresses hard over getting the exact color and time-period-sensitive details correct on my projects! Granted, none of said projects have been physical, painted models yet, but here's hoping christmas fixes that one

Keep it up!

Thanks! If your Christmas supply drop dreams come true, make sure you post about it here on dakka so we can follow along.

Cheers everybody. Not an exciting update today, but I want to keep posting to keep the momentum up and hopefully cross that finish line with a full demi-company.
I have the first combat squad edge-highlighted and ready for transfers, while the second has moved to the stage where I can begin edge-highlighting. I can only really attach the jump-packs and finish painting them after the transfers are applied otherwise they will interfere with the placement of the shoulder pads.





That's it for today. Hopefully tomorrow will see some significant progress on the edge-highlighting...

Looking good BC, I love a good mixed armour squad! Keep at it, do you think you’ll hit the Demi company before New Years?

 gobert wrote:
Looking good BC, I love a good mixed armour squad! Keep at it, do you think you’ll hit the Demi company before New Years?

Cheers. Really not sure about the deadline. If I count New Years day itself as part of the deadline I just might squeeze one more tactical squad through. Not sure though. Really difficult situation at work creating a lot of anxiety and uncertainty. Ah well. Life marches on.

Assault Squad Dysartes is now "finished." Quotation marks because -- as is usually the case, taking their glamour shots revealed a number of mistakes I need to correct. But their close enough so here goes:



I may take some more photos to show off individual models in the squad I was proud of. Tried some heat-stress on the flamer barrel and some freehand checks on one of the knee pads that I thought came out well.
At any rate, I plan to take another army shot on January 2nd to show the state of the company as it enters the new year.

Till next time, Cheers!

PS. I wouldn't mind some C & C regarding whether or not to adorn the top of thier jump packs with some kind of decal. They feel a bit bare now, but I've also done some in the past with markings on top an they can feel a bit busy, so not really sure which way to go.

A pic from an earlier attempt at an Ultramarine army for reference...

The assault squad Dysartes came out great! The progress from the earlier army is clear to see as well. Plus the new blue looks more Suited to my idea of what Ultramarines should look like. As for the transfers on top of the jump packs, I think it would look too busy. Perhaps use the cylinders on the side if you want to apply markings, or maybe give the sergeant gold intakes?

I'd suggest trying a highlight/different color band at the crack where the intake meets the booster, if not also highlighting the sarge's in gold like gobert suggested.
Actually... maybe some yellow and black hazard lines could spice it up?

I think they look fine as is. Decals on top always struck me as a bit busy. It can work if that’s more of what you are going for. For the most part, your guys are pretty clean, so I’d leave them that way.

Good luck with the goals. Don’t rush yourself. If it takes an extra day we can just write that off as warp shenanigans delaying their deployment.

Hang in there. One foot in front of the other. We march for Macragge.

Great work! I'm painting assault marines right now. Those jumpacks are fiddly

Decals are on point

I think they look good as-is. Looking forward to the army shot.

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I like the idea of hazard stripes on the intakes, but I'm not sure I can fully implement it now that they're attached. Might have to try on the second assault squad later.
Got a decent amount of progress for one day -- blues, metallics and texture paints down across the whole squad. Squad is called for it's sgt Calamarus Ventedos -- a mishmash of faux greek and Latin that stands in for Squid 22. Thus far the good Sgt. Ventedos is the only sergeant in the demi-company who's been able to properly look after and wear his bucket...



Next step is to pick out the lenses and purity seals, followed by the recess washes, followed in turn by everyone's favorite step of the game --- edge-highlighting. The pace will not helped by the fact that I've begun using a two-stage highlight. Can't argue with the end results though. Tends to give a much smoother transition. I'm really not looking forward to the ornateness of the MK III armor or the plasma cannon so I'll probably have to suck it up and paint those first.

Cheers!

Can we get a full army shot! see where you are 2021 going into 2022

Great progress ont he next bunch, as Nev said, we can always wait if you don’t make it. But I really like the idea of Steve’s to do an end of 2021 Army Shot! Happy New Year!

 gobert wrote:
Great progress ont he next bunch, as Nev said, we can always wait if you don’t make it. But I really like the idea of Steve’s to do an end of 2021 Army Shot! Happy New Year!

Desert basing + Ultras is always an awesome army spread

So... I don't think I'm going to be able to crank out the last tac-squad tomorrow. Gonna concede the goal as being just shy. I must admit to feeling a tad disappointed at missing the deadline. Still 41 marines and two vehicles since mid-October ain't bad. I think I may take a break from painting for the next couple days and do some assembly. Weather report has some decent priming days coming up and I want to capitalize on them.
As promised, I did take an end of year army shot:



I'm pretty proud of the force but I think it needs more armor. Probably make this a priority after finishing tac squad 3.

Well that's it for today. Happy New Years Everybody!!!

That's the good stuff.

Great looking force. Love the Devestators lined up in front of the Dread like that.

You’ve gotta love an Army shot! They look resplendent and ready for war. Great effort getting them this far, you’ll have the Company cracked in next to no time!

Great army shot and you should be proud of your achievement, even if you missed the set goal a tad. That many minis in that short time are amazing enough. Keep up the good work in 2022!

A much-belated thanks for the kind words!
So school and work basically conspired last semester to keep me away from the hobby but since I've decided to sit out the summer-semester, I'm going to get another chance to take a crack at it.
I've dug out squad Ventedos (Squid22's namesake squad) which has been languishing unfinished for far too long. They're not quite finished, but the armor has been fully edge-highlighted and thier weapons attached, so a little cleanup and decals will see this squad complete.



I really want to finish the battle company project this year, but I might get de-railed by the Horus Heresy stuff coming out. A full-plastic release has been a dream of mine for some time, and I don't know if I'll be able to pull off resisting the new Kratos or beakie goodness...

Well, thanks for looking. It's good to be back.

Cheers!

I guess one of the benefits of summertime insomnia is it allows for more hobby progress...
I'm ready to call squad Ventedos finished. Added some small touches, boltgun lenses, a white stripe for the sarge... etc.



With that, I am officially halfway to my goal*! Woot!

I think I need to visit the armor pool next. Either another rhino to keep mechanizing my force or predator for some firepower.

Till next time, Cheers!


*as long as I'm only counting the infantry

I’ve always found the vehicles take the most effort to get through. So many large surfaces to paint.

Those guys deserve a ride. Bang out the rhino and get back to painting those bodies! Or the pred. Whatever motivates you more. Just don’t stop the progress. We march for macragge!

Thanks, Nevelon.
So I started banging out a rhino. Got it mostly where I want it to be, but I'm out of Ulthuan grey and had to use Grey Seer from a pot to do the arrow and eagle. It's a bit drab, so I may have to go out and get a new pot of paint to liven up the tactical markings.


On the assembly front, I finally got around to finishing assembly and priming my Space Marine Heroes set. As I promised, these shall be named for Gobert in a nod to the Void Panthers. I intend to start painting them after the rhino is complete...



Thanks for looking!

Cheers!

Nice little painted force there brushcommando.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks, Captain Brown!
So I've completed Rhino # 2. Its... eerily similar to Rhino 1.



I made them pose together to prove I actually painted a second tank and didn't just recycle shots of the first one.



I did make some minor changes to the scheme, using a lighter mud effect near the treads, and larger squad numbers within the tactical markings. Overall, I'm fairly proud of it.

Not worthy of a picture, but I started putting down the blues on Squad Bertus...

Thanks for looking.
Cheers!

That was quick. Well done.

Nothing wrong with an Ultramarine army looking uniform!

Squad Ventedos and their Rhino came out great! The bigger numbers were a good idea on the tac markings.

Squad Bertus they’re really cool minis, but they seem a few short of a full squad. Are you filling out the squad with other minis or have they suffered some attrition in the High Elven Painting Wars? Maybe when I get done with the Elves I should paint up some of my excess SMH conversions and join in the fun!

@Nevelon: Thanks! I guess with our Primarch having literally written the book on uniformity within the chapters there's no shame in following it to the letter.

@Gobert: Fear not! I would not slight you by offering an understrength squad to bear your name. I actually have all twelve of the basic tactical models from the SMH collection(Being an Ultramarine, fielding an OVERstrength squad is also strictly forbidden, thus I have omitted the ML and flamer troopers in favor of plasma and heavy bolter. I had collected the entire set some time ago, but several of these were already painted the red and black of my now-defunct Brothers Penitent. In order to rebuild them for my Ultramarines I had to buy another "Labyrinth of the Necrons" box and track down a few individuals on ebay, so the ones in the photo are the re-acquired and assembled squad members.

Switched to a little bit of assembly last night. Knocked out a pair of twin company veterans with storm shields to keep Captain Vostus safe...



As for painting, I slapped some more blue down on squad Bertus. Didn't really consider it worthy of a WIP shot yet, but hope to make more progress tomorrow.

Thanks for looking, Cheers!

Really nice work on the Rhinos, such a clean colour scheme on your army. They look straight out of a codex or old WD!

The vets look cool too.

@Olthannon: Thanks! I'm glad to hear you say that, because I was sort of deliberately trying to emulate the scheme from the 4th Edition Codex (The first actual space marine codex I owned). The vehicle markings are copied off of one of the black and white painted illustrations from the fifth ed codex.

So I finished assembling the rest of the command squad. I only really took photos of the Champion because the apothecary and standard bearer are pretty well... standard. (Pun acknowledged, but deemed unavoidable)
This is the pose I settled on...


He's meant to be beckoning an enemy in a sort of "Come on" gesture like Morpheus taunting neo in the matrix. While I feel I achieved this on some level, I feel the pose could equally represent him singing an opera solo or asking Captain Vostus to share the ice cream sandwiches...

Squad Bertus is plugging along. I grouped the whole squad together for proof of existence.


They're taking a bit longer because I have decided that it was necessary to paint the bases first to avoid mistakes when the models were fully shaded/highlighted.
I ended up settling on a technique that involves three washes and a two stage drybrush... You know, keep things simple... Can't say I'm unhappy with the results though.



Well, That's all for now. Cheers!

Loving your take on the paint scheme.
Looking very heroic.

My initial thoughts on the champ was the “come get some” beckoning pose. But now that you’ve brought it up, all I can see is “You will share those snacks, or by the Emperor I will stab you!"

Yup. Can't see it as anything else.

Great mini, though. And Squad Bertus has some lovely ground to stand on.

Thanks everybody -- hopefully once he's got some paint on him the champ will look more "hungry for battle" and less hungry for snacks...

Progress on squad Bertus has been somewhat slow. I find that no matter how many times I test-fit the push fit models they never seem to go together right when it counts, so I've had to repair some of the models and repaint some areas, which slows progress considerably. HOWEVER I finally have at least some finished models to show off... Behold Sgt. Gaius Bertus and his two buddies of somewhat lesser renown...


Also took some individual glamour shots...


Over all pretty happy with them. I did realize that I forgot to paint the gun barrels and a few other unflattering details the camera is all too happy to show off, but these should be easily fixed. Quite proud that I actually managed to fit Bertus' name on his kneepad. You know, just in case it gets mixed up in the locker room -- he'll be able to get it back easily.

Anyway, Thanks for looking. Cheers!

There's always something you only notice in the camera. They look great though!

Really nice work BC, the red and white looks excellent on the helmet.

I used to never like the Ultramarines back in the day, I think because nobody liked them

In my bid to read new lore I've been reading The Dark Imperium books and I gotta say I like the Ultras a lot more. Your painting skills definitely help make them look awesome!

 brushcommando wrote:
HOWEVER I finally have at least some finished models to show off... Behold Sgt. Gaius Bertus and his two buddies of somewhat lesser renown...

Nice work brushcommando.

Cheers,

CB

Loving Sgt. Bertus. The helmet rules.

Oh yeah! That’s what I’m talking about! The heroes look great in their natural blue colours. Good job getting his name on the leg scroll, I’m always losing that leg armour! . The bolt pistol dude is such a cool mini too, a really great pose and you did a great job on him. Can’t wait to see the rest of my mates!