Welcome fellow dakkanoughts. After many years reading other people’s threads and blogs I have finally been persuaded to start my own log (I have my partner to thank for finally pushing me to do it - so basically what follows next is all her fault!).

Firstly an apology - i’m not the fastest painter, so progress I imagine will be slow (almost painfully slow) but hopefully it will galvanise me to get rid of some of the extensive backlog which i have accumulated. In the meantime it will also allow me to dig out and chronicle some of the stuff that i have painted over the years. Taking a leaf from others (@Nevelon) I will try and set my self a goal (or goals) in order to keep things progressing.

Secondly - there was a basic plan - or at least a target in my head, that i have been aiming for over these past few years. The cunning plan (baldrick-esque in nature) is to paint a full Ultramarine company of marines (2nd company to be precise) and this has been my goal for at least 10 (cough cough… 15…. cough 20) years. Now i have managed to accumulate the miniatures, and I have completed a few squads already and just need to progress with the building and painting of the remaining marines (I estimate 4 tactical & 1 devastator squads to complete plus a few tanks if I’m uber keen).
Now unfortunately I have often become sidetracked, there was a purchase of the Deathstorm boxset, Strike Force Ultra, a few Horus heresy boxsets and Adeptus Titanicus but I can move on to all of them later. This means that the basic plan which i started with all those years ago has grown significantly with the potential to end up horribly out of control (too late I fear). Overall it will revolve around the original second company but with additional support elements, including, some of the First company, part of the Tenth company, Blood Angels, Imperial Fists, Iron Hands, Dark Angels, Imperial Guard, Grey Knights, Deathwatch and potentially some Squats (Leagues of Votann for the newbies). So whilst this is going to be mainly an Ultramarine blog it will also include all of these other elements.

Thirdly - as way of introduction - I started collecting and painting back in the second edition (90’s) and became hooked. Now lack of funds prevented me from purchasing everything I wanted (and now looking back and seeing how much the prices have risen i only wish i had bought more!). I then lost interest in the hobby for a number of years (uni and life getting in the way) but then once i had settled down with a job and flat (and spare cash) my interest in the hobby came back and i started to paint and collect more. Now changes in personal life and the introduction small people into the world will mean I have both more and less time for hobbying activities. I have also started watching some painting videos (for hints and tips - youtube is a wonderful thing) and have subscribed to the Combat Patrol magazine so no doubt there will be some xenos taint occurring as we progress.

Fourth - taking a lesson from other people (e.g. @Nevelon) I think I am going to set myself goals to try and hit. I think they are going to be a little fluid to start with and I will just see how i get on. So here we go -
1. Painting target - 2 a month - not the biggest target but we can see how we get on, I’m hopeful that i will manage to exceed this (especially with the back log I have!)
2. Buy more than I paint… nope sorry thats the wrong way round - paint more than I buy! Gifts are a bonus extra so don’t count!
3. Base 30 marines - I think the more complex problem is figuring out what habitation they will be fighting in and how I am going to base them.
4. Update the blog regularly (vague i know but...)

ARCHIVES
So without further procrastination (and in the hope that at least someone is continuing to read on) here was where i started with my first marines. I suppose it is fitting to look back before moving forward, hopefully at more pace than i have previously. Here they are, not the best (probably not the worst) but i’m proud that they are some of the only miniatures that i have actually finished and based, almost 30 years ago! I haven’t decided whether they should be included in the company as an ode to young me, or superseded, although given how short of painted tactical marines i am, i think they will remain for now.

I think for 13 year old me it wasn’t too bad, granted i didn’t water down the paints and likely applied it with a large brush but as a first attempt it will do. I will look to touch them up when i get a chance, time and storage (or a plastic bag as others would call it) haven’t done them any favours!

Welcome to Dakka, blogging, and the Ultramarines!

A company goal is insane, but gloriously so. You going all firstborn, or going to mix in primaris? The 2nd company actually some full man for man descriptions. Working off one of those? Or as the mood takes you.

A lot of us have similar paintjobs hiding in the back of the shelf. The stuff I did at the start was not the best. Keep painting, keep improving. Looking forward to seeing your newer models and where you end up!

PAINTING UPDATE
Now given everything I’ve said at the start you would think that the painting table would be dedicated or at least cover something that would contribute to my original goal, but oh no (and this is partially where the problem comes from!). Following the arrival of the latest Combat Patrol magazine and watching painting youtube videos (as an aside does anyone else find watching painting videos quite therapeutic and good way to go to sleep at night?), I currently am trying to paint two termagants and a genestealer in hive fleet Leviathan colours. It was particularly fun tonight as my boy (5 years old) took an interest and decided he wanted to help paint as well so he helped base coat two other termagants and then proceeded to try to copy me with the other base colours.

But don’t fear avid marine fans there are also a few marines sitting on the work station, two librarians, a devastator sergeant and what is proposed to be a 1st company veterans squad.

My collection doesn’t have many librarians so i thought it would be good to add a few to the army to allow me to field a Librarian concave. The librarians are custom built using some grey knight parts (acquired from eBay as a bulk lot when i thought I needed a spare terminator arm - which it turns out i didn’t - oops). Librarians in an Ultramarine army never stand out well (blue on blue) so i’ve tried an alternative scheme on them so that they have a little variation - let me know what you think? I’m not happy how the swords have turned out thou - i was trying something different and I don’t think it quite works, so i plan on redoing them both.

The devastator sergeant is fairly self explanatory - I hope - and will mean that I only have the heavy weapons to complete to finish off the squad. He only has the blue applied so far but i like how he looks. (Especially as using the extra legs and the bits box you get a whole extra marine - legs always seem to be the premium item that I’m missing).

The veteran squad is an amalgamation of mainly old metal models, including the original veterans boxset, the white dwarf limited edition supplement and a games day model (2008 i think). The games days were always these wondrous things i heard about but never attended and they always used to have cool limited edition models and previews for upcoming armies. Thanks to the wonders of eBay i have managed to acquire a couple of the captains which are now currently residing in various squads. I’ve only put down the base colours on some of them and now batching the base colours on the last two. (The eagle eyed among you will notice there is only 8 models, and that because i haven’t figured out the best way to paint the last two members as they are in lots of bits!!)

Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Nevelon wrote:
Welcome to Dakka, blogging, and the Ultramarines!

A company goal is insane, but gloriously so. You going all firstborn, or going to mix in primaris? The 2nd company actually some full man for man descriptions. Working off one of those? Or as the mood takes you.

A lot of us have similar paintjobs hiding in the back of the shelf. The stuff I did at the start was not the best. Keep painting, keep improving. Looking forward to seeing your newer models and where you end up!

Hi Nevelon, thanks for reading. I'm currently 96 pages through your blog and enjoying, learning and taking inspiration from all of it.

A company is insane - i'm not going to lie - but its fun - and ever since seeing the whole Ultramarine chapter in White Dwarf in the 1990's (the image with the thunderhawk gunship) I have fancied trying to achieve it. I"m not crazy enough to aim for a chapter. I"m going for firstborn only - call me nostalgic - although when thats completed (or possibly before) I might try and mix in some new Primaris. I've gone with the 2nd company cause i like the colour (weird excuse I know) and whilst I have seen quite a few iterations of descriptions over the years I'm just going to be sticking to what I fancy (and what I have) rather than trying to emulate any specific build.

Now i just need to keep painting and continue to dig out some more of my old models!

Some of those old WDs were real inspiring. Many an hour was spent pouring over them.

You are crazy to read my whole blog. It’s over a decade of rambling hobby.

 Nevelon wrote:
Some of those old WDs were real inspiring. Many an hour was spent pouring over them.

You are crazy to read my whole blog. It’s over a decade of rambling hobby.

Yeah, those old WDs were great, I think I started around 190 and was an avid subscriber well into the 350’s - I may even have a few of them lying around somewhere. I still remember when they did something crazy, the marine chapter picture, the first apocalypse battle, the large 20,000 point warhammer battles, the launch of battle fleet gothic.

Believe it or not, I think I read half your blog about 4-5 years ago, before I had a break from the hobby, but I’ve started back again and reading a few others LDP, Gitsplitta, Eggroll, RandyMcStab, to mention a few. I find them partial inspiration, curiosity and show me what I could aspire to do. I think it was RandyMcStab’s fault I that I acquired some imperial guard - and I’m sure it was his chimeria tank design I’ve copied although I’m not 100% sure. Some of LDPs conversions along with the speed and quality are awesome and your Ultramarines are great. I’ve never really commented on any blogs before just read and lurked, but I’ve been persuaded to start (who says an old dog can’t learn new tricks)!

I always assume more people lurk then post. So even if it feels you are just posting into the void, they are out there. I know I read a lot of blog posts without commenting. I dislike making what I think are posts without adding something. “Me too” or “nice job” just feels like I’m padding my post count. But when I get even that level of post in my own blog, it helps keep me going. So while I try to be more constructive, sometimes I post little things j8st so people know they are not alone.

There are a lot of great people here. They come and go. Sometimes when I read my old stuff I remember old friends and send thoughts their way wishing them well. And sometimes they return. But there are always other, new friends. Forums are good like rhat.

PAINTING UPDATE
I finished the base colours on termagants and genestealer, then proceeded to give them all a little purple wash. Now my paint collection is currently devoid of a purple wash so I mixed one up using Baal Red and Asurmen Blue - which surprisingly are still going strong given their age (circa 2008). I think the wash has tied them together well, they need a few highlights on the carapace and a few details picking out but i like the results - slowly bit surely moving forward. You’ll notice there are 4 models (the 3 i was working on and the one my boy started, which i have tidied up). The scheme is quite quick to do, i just need to find a lighter purple for drybrushing on the carpace and I’ll be happy!

I’m working on the marines as well - i'm missing painting the marines and want to get back to the veterans squad. Plus i want to get the first 8 done so i can dig out the last two and get them done as well! I’ve finished the base colours them, so now i need to tidy them up, then start washing (nuln oil is the weapon of choice for most of them). I can’t figure out how to do the arms for them - but if i get the bodies completed thats 90% of the work done. I’ve completed 5 of them only 3 more to go.

I have to confess i did get a little distracted thou, the latest combat patrol magazines came through and the Farseer began calling to me so he was rapidly built and joined the ongoing painting pile. Im painting him following the magazine guide for the base colours initially, then will probably end up deviating for the shading and highlighting as i don’t really want to wait a year for the final details!

Oh, NOW the filthy xenos come out.

For the nids getting a paint scheme you can bang out quick and easy is critical. So many little gribbly guys needed for a good swarm.


Seer is looking good. Is it just the angle or did you adjust the spear?

 Nevelon wrote:
Oh, NOW the filthy xenos come out.

For the nids getting a paint scheme you can bang out quick and easy is critical. So many little gribbly guys needed for a good swarm.


Seer is looking good. Is it just the angle or did you adjust the spear?

lol - believe it or not - this is the first time i have really painted any Xenos, but it makes a nice change from marines (of any colour). Not sure how much of a swarm I will amass or whether they will just be a little distraction from time to time. It is nice just to put a few base colours down, chuck a wash over it and consider them just about done!

Sorry to disappoint but the Seer is just the standard build.

PAINTING UPDATE
So this weekend was yet another attempt by myself to age gracefully and to obtain that wisdom which apparently occurs with the passage of time. It was however a momentous occasion (kind of but not really) as it marked the first birthday since being a teenager in which I have received hobby gifts. My partner played an absolute blinder, and amongst other things, I am now the proud owner of a wet palette (which makes painting and blending so much easier) and some new paints. She got the message on the make and colours which i wanted but was a little exuberant when ordering them and got a few extras - not that i am complaining!! My son (all 9 weeks of him - so no idea how he paid for it) got me a blade guard veterans box so over the moon with that as well. All in all a good haul.



I had been holding off doing the swords on the librarians until the wet palette arrived, and fortunately I managed to get a bit of hobby time tonight to see what I could do with the new tools. I think they need a little more highlighting on the armour, but after that they will be complete (aside from the bases). The wet palette does seem to make things so much easier, and the paint seems to go on a lot smoother from the palette - I"m not sure how i have managed before now!

PAINTING UPDATE
It has been slow progress this week, the in-laws (ish) have been staying and Im back doing evening sport again both of which have curtailed my free time for painting. I did manage to get a little done but hit a slight speed bump on the way. I had been painting the tyranids in typical hive fleet Leviathan colours, but my partner liked the turquoise colours she got me for my birthday and wanted to experiment on a spare miniature. So she did the carapace on one of the models. Now to be fair it didn’t look too bad, but still it was a deviation from the Leviathan scheme that my OCD mind wasn’t quite ready to accept. But after she finished i completed the remaining base colours, tidied it up and applied a crimson wash (Carroburg i think). I then highlighted the carapace on all the models to order to get a fair comparison between them (worm purple for the Leviathan and ray gun glow for the test model) followed by a white dry brush to finish them off.

I think I’m going to call the test models finished (bases not included), I could do more too them but they are meant to be quick schemes to let me go through them quickly. I think the Leviathan colour works well on the Genestealer so will be sticking with it for them.
- Wratihbone, Barak-Nar Burgundy, Mech Grey for the base;
- Purple wash, although i think i will likely end up more with Carroburg Crimson;
- Worm Purple and White to highlight;

For the gribblies, termagants, whilst the Leviathan colours are nice (no shock there really), I do like and probably have been swayed by the alternative scheme, and it is probably close enough for me to say it is all one hive fleet. The paint scheme will therefore either follow that above, or more likely i will switch purple colours for the following
- Cursed Blue base
- Ray Gun Glow and white highlight

I’m not sure I have got the handle of taking good photos yet - I like the background but need to work out the lighting - problem for another time.

ARCHIVE
In order to claim at least some ongoing credibility about it being a marine blog with an achievable goal, i’ve snapped some photos of my only other completed tactical squad. Now since those early marines I believe my painting skills have improved marginally, here is my most recent tactical squad (painted circa 10 years ago), I would like to think they are to a reasonable table top standard. Looking back at them they definitely need a slight touch up here and there, and the bases aren’t completed (which is no great shock). I still need to find a balance between quality and speed. I also need to work on techniques to make things look good quickly (small goals i know!)

Within the army, for my most recent models i have decided to take an alternative approach to the norm within the squads. For tactical and devastator squads the sergeant is the most senior member and the only one with a close combat weapon. So why on earth would he have a two meter long banner pole strapped to his back-pack? Its not exactly going to aid his combat prowess. Therefore I have made an executive decision to give the banner to another member of the squad, i.e. a sacrificial lamb (heresy!!). It also means within the squads there is another focal point (which i think can only be a good thing). I think this is/was the last squad I built with the banner poll on the sergeant - all the ones built since then follow the above philosophy - so watch this space moving forward.

Also nice if you combat squad them. The guy with the banner can be in charge of the back half of the squad.

Precisely, although it now draws attention to another miniature that needs to be of a better quality. And looking at the photos there is a lot more work needs done o raise their standard!

For tactical and devastator squads that certainly works, but for assault squads I have found it more of a challenge!

 JordySteve wrote:
Precisely, although it now draws attention to another miniature that needs to be of a better quality. And looking at the photos there is a lot more work needs done o raise their standard!

For tactical and devastator squads that certainly works, but for assault squads I have found it more of a challenge!

For when I didn’t want to go full back banner, but wanted a little something, I’d put a banner topper right on the backpack.

 Nevelon wrote:

 JordySteve wrote:
Precisely, although it now draws attention to another miniature that needs to be of a better quality. And looking at the photos there is a lot more work needs done o raise their standard!

For tactical and devastator squads that certainly works, but for assault squads I have found it more of a challenge!

For when I didn’t want to go full back banner, but wanted a little something, I’d put a banner topper right on the backpack.

That’s what I have ended up doing on the assault squads and terminator squads - will need to get a few photos sorted and then post them!

PAINTING UPDATE
I’ve had limited opportunity over the weekend to paint (due to life and family) but managed to get some stuff done the past two nights. I’ve managed to get two more termagants base painted and washed, the devastator sergeant has had all his base colours applied and I’ve have only the metal touch ups to complete on the last 3 veterans and then all the base paints will be completed on the 8 of them as well.
The termagants are non-leviathan turquoise, but my OCD is fine with that. The sergeant I think is looking good, and it has been nice painting him compared to the veterans as he is simpler with less fancy pouches and details. I think I will feel better about the veterans once the wash is applied and it will tie them altogether nicely. Hopefully get another chance during the week to get that done.

Welcome back to the hobby, and welcome to the forum.

I recently came back to my blog, and in a similar position to you in trying to regularly maintain a blog while managing life and all other commitments. I tend to find it quite good for keeping me honest with painting, and sharing ideas / goals / finished miniatures is great.

You've got a bold goal of a whole company. I commend your audacity! And rejection of Primaris (for now) in favour of first born - more power to you!

 Zambro wrote:
Welcome back to the hobby, and welcome to the forum.

I recently came back to my blog, and in a similar position to you in trying to regularly maintain a blog while managing life and all other commitments. I tend to find it quite good for keeping me honest with painting, and sharing ideas / goals / finished miniatures is great.

You've got a bold goal of a whole company. I commend your audacity! And rejection of Primaris (for now) in favour of first born - more power to you!

Hi Zambro, thanks for the intro. I’ve been a fan of Dakka and its inhabitants for a while, but nice to be interacting now.

Like you I am hoping the blog will keep things moving along and at least make me progress through the pile of shame I have accumulated, and if I’m being honest continue to grow!

Given some of the projects displayed here I don’t think it is too big a target, although I wouldn’t say it is too audacious in contrast with someone who was completed both White Scars and Imperial Fist armies which are both notoriously easy colours to paint with!!! Whilst the company is first born I’m not going to deny that some Primaris have leaked into my collection and whilst a few are earmarked to be Ultramarines, I do have different plans for some of the others!

PAINTING UPDATE
Small progress again this evening, but every little helps. All the veterans and sergeant have now been washed which I think pulls them together a little, it adds a nice edge to all the colours as well. The wash does manage to point out all the pesky mould lines that i have missed Now need to start on the next coat of blue before highlighting begins. I did take the opportunity to go over the red on the sergeant, provide some highlighting and add the veteran stripe to his helmet.

I have also been playing around with the Farseer, I added colour to some of the gems and i thinking i have finished his base (minus the trim - which issued would be black but now I’m not as confident.

I have a few photos today, although the kitchen lighting isn’t the best so apologies in advance.

Yo, Steve! Welcome back to the hobby, welcome back to the forum! We're kindred spirits in that we've returned to the hobby (again) as part of the great cycle of Warhammer life. You give it up, you put it away, only to haul it out a few years later and get the bug again!

Absolutely loving seeing your earlier paint jobs, and your growth with your newer. Your old jobs are all still pretty good! And painted models are always better than unpainted! I've got a firstborn force I'm working on, too. Absolutely love seeing the older models getting some love.

Also, big fan of seeing users from the UK on here. Keep posting, keep updating us!

Hi Tek, welcome to the blog.
Yeah I agree warhammer is the thing you do, give up, get interested again, deny the interest, secretly follow, purchase something new and shiny, get interested again and continue on like you never left! It’s addictive!

There is something about the older models, probably memories of youth, but I definitely prefer them. I definitely need to start working through my older stuff and get it painted! Your Sons of Medusa are looking good, I have to try and catch up with you!

ARCHIVE - ULTRAMARINES 2ND COMPANY
Disappointingly the painting progress has been slow this week, between rugby training and family stuff I haven’t managed to sit down and do anything, so instead i’ve decided to starting cataloguing what i have already done, getting photos and documenting what other things i have painted already. And given that this started with a goal in mind, it is only right that i show how far I have got with things to date. It is likely will have to go back and do some touch ups on the models when I get round to basing them, but until then here is the current status.

May i present assault squads 7 & 8 of the 2nd Company, one with jump packs and the other on foot. Now typically I would try give an amazing narrative reason why they both don’t have jump packs, but in all honesty it is because the blister pack (yes that is written correctly) which had some of the models in didn’t come with jump packs and so one of the squads doesn’t have jump packs. The squads are a mixture of the metal and plastic models and whatever else I could find to put in there (old or new), I particularly like the squad leader and sergeant in the non-jump pack squad. And in keeping with my thoughts on banner poles these guys have truncated standards to represent each squad.

Some classic lead there! The vet with the giant terminator honor necklace is one of the marines that I stripped and repainted from my original BAs to join my Ultras. I had a blister of old assault marines, but didn’t get a squad with JPs until some time in 3rd. I bought a blister of metal JPs to get some of the old guys airborne. I miss blister packs.

 JordySteve wrote:
Hi Tek, welcome to the blog.
Yeah I agree warhammer is the thing you do, give up, get interested again, deny the interest, secretly follow, purchase something new and shiny, get interested again and continue on like you never left! It’s addictive!

There is something about the older models, probably memories of youth, but I definitely prefer them. I definitely need to start working through my older stuff and get it painted! Your Sons of Medusa are looking good, I have to try and catch up with you!

Agreed wholeheartedly. I was first into it as a nipper, around 2ed. Then dropped all interest as a teenager, got back into it around 4th and played consistently until 6th (I was active on here at that time). The dropped out again and _shocking nobody_ got piqued again around the pandemic. It's a constant push and pull lmao

The Sons are slow-going while I concentrate on my Death Guard, but it would be cool to see your army growing alongside them. And ultimately surpassing them as I can't find time to paint them up!

Tek wrote:Agreed wholeheartedly. I was first into it as a nipper, around 2ed. Then dropped all interest as a teenager, got back into it around 4th and played consistently until 6th (I was active on here at that time). The dropped out again and _shocking nobody_ got piqued again around the pandemic. It's a constant push and pull lmao

The Sons are slow-going while I concentrate on my Death Guard, but it would be cool to see your army growing alongside them. And ultimately surpassing them as I can't find time to paint them up!

Slow going is the only speed I can manage, but at least it is quicker than I used to be! And I’m hoping this blog will help speed things up. What size army you aiming for with your Sons?

Nevelon wrote:Some classic lead there! The vet with the giant terminator honor necklace is one of the marines that I stripped and repainted from my original BAs to join my Ultras. I had a blister of old assault marines, but didn’t get a squad with JPs until some time in 3rd. I bought a blister of metal JPs to get some of the old guys airborne. I miss blister packs.

He is a classic model, although even back in the day there was a little size creep between some of the rogue trader models and the 2nd edition metal ones. I got the metal assault squad box back in the day but it was only when the plastic jump packs came out that I managed to finish the squad off. Blister were great, couple of models to paint, plus somewhere to store the bits and mix the paints after you had built it!

 JordySteve wrote:

Nevelon wrote:Some classic lead there! The vet with the giant terminator honor necklace is one of the marines that I stripped and repainted from my original BAs to join my Ultras. I had a blister of old assault marines, but didn’t get a squad with JPs until some time in 3rd. I bought a blister of metal JPs to get some of the old guys airborne. I miss blister packs.

He is a classic model, although even back in the day there was a little size creep between some of the rogue trader models and the 2nd edition metal ones. I got the metal assault squad box back in the day but it was only when the plastic jump packs came out that I managed to finish the squad off. Blister were great, couple of models to paint, plus somewhere to store the bits and mix the paints after you had built it!

Scale creep? In 40k? Nah, it’s a myth. It’s a lot of fun when GW mines the nostalgia and comes out with a modern reimage of a classic model to set it next to the original. No creep at all!

I’m glad I’m a pack rat. I still use old blister packs as a palette when painting and to sort bits while assembling squads. So useful. Feel bad for the kids who never got them. Helpful bit of kit to have on the workbench.

Nevelon wrote:
Scale creep? In 40k? Nah, it’s a myth. It’s a lot of fun when GW mines the nostalgia and comes out with a modern reimage of a classic model to set it next to the original. No creep at all!

I’m glad I’m a pack rat. I still use old blister packs as a palette when painting and to sort bits while assembling squads. So useful. Feel bad for the kids who never got them. Helpful bit of kit to have on the workbench.

It is great when GW come out with a modern image, but it often followed by slight annoyance when I then get plastic envy and have to try and resist the urge to add it to the collection (or pile of shame).

I'll admit i'm quite bad for that as well, and have bits and pieces squirrelled away on the oft chance I might need them (parts of sprues, blister boxes) - my favourite to date is three mini sweet tubs that i figure will be good for some epic terrain, if i ever get round to it! The blisters are just one of those things that you almost can't do without, although with the new primaris the old packs are a little on the small side!

PAINTING UPDATE
I’ve learnt three things today, firstly a little regular progress lets you keep things moving along and gets things done, secondly having a blog helps give me a little extra drive, and thirdly a quite like painting the tyranids. I’ve just finished all 10 of the termagants, at least to a table top standard, and now just need to base them. I’m quite happy at the speed in which i got through them - and so if only i could apply that to my marines I would be ecstatic! The scheme is easy enough today, has a limited palette which speeds things up, and is a little forgiving (always helpful!). In terms of bases i think I will likely go with a snow theme - and I’ve just received some basing material so i have no excuses now. Hopefully I will get time over the weekend, and then I will look to get some finished shots of them (I’ve not been too happy with some of the quality of the photos so far, so the misses has said she will help try and make them look good).

Automatically Appended Next Post:
I also took the opportunity through the week to complete a little inventory of what I had, which was a bigger exercise than I thought it would be. Over the years I’ve acquired a quite a few things, but I have sold some things on whilst always retaining a core of models to paint and build. Hopefully it will mean i can add a bit of variety into what i am painting and I can get a lot of the old things completed (I even discovered a couple of unopened blister packs!). In my head i think i have categorised models into various sections for the army with most going to form part of the Ultramarines but others providing support as part of various other factions. What i had been worried about was finding a 6th tactical squad for my company, but as luck would have it i discovered some spare tactical bodies and a sergeant or two to choose from, so i just need to get building and painting now.

Sing it, brother! Having a community with which to share progress makes it that much easier to sit and make the progress! Like you, I find that if I can just force myself to sit a down and even touch a paint brush, the next thing I know I'm looking around asking "how did two hours go by?".

The hardest thing about my most recent project (now complete) was getting even one small thing done each day, to keep up the inspiration to do one more thing the next.

Very nice pieces here- rock on!

I love your Farseer, and those GK-Ultramarine Librarians are a thing of beauty. Exalted, excited to see what comes next!

The tyranids having differing, yet similar carapace colours is a nice touch too!

PAINTING UPDATE
No photos tonight, but a quick update on where I am. I failed in my attempt to do any basing over the weekend - but managed to get a little painting done instead (and I’m not going to lie working from home and meetings can sometimes be a useful excuse to dabble with a paint brush if your able to mulit-task!)
The two librarians are completed, with bases painted ready to be flocked (if thats the correct word), I’m going to try one on a snowy base and the other on grassland so will see which one is the favourite. I like the idea of both (although my goblin green dried out many years ago!), so plan on having a mixture of both for the army, I’m just not sure what the split will be - help and advice/guidance always welcome.
The devastator (veteran) sergeant is finished so will take the opportunity to complete the bases on the rest of the bolter guys for his squad as well.
And the Farseer is done, base and all - so he is technically the first model finished this year (yey - go me!). I think the cloak turned out well although i am considering whether a red glaze is need on robes - one for me to ponder before he is photographed.

With the tyrannies and elder off the bench, i have been thinking what might be next, I’ve opted for the Prime and the Parasite - slightly larger so i’m interested to see how the painting scheme translates up to the bigger monsters. I had also planned on building a few guardians tonight to add to the painting board - but life, chores and children put paid to that idea! Maybe tomorrow!

@Meer_Cat - it does seem to be a black hole for time sometimes when painting, I find that I sit down with the intent of getting loads done and only get two or three base colours on, or it ends up being 1 in the morning but you just need to add a final highlight!
At the minute I'm enjoying a little variety, although still need to keep one eye on the marines and moving them forward.

@bullisariuscowl - thanks, the Farseer was fun to paint (and I’ll post a completed shot in a day or two). I think the GK kit leads itself well to spare parts for marine librarians, I have another two terminator versions built and just needing to be primed which i will need to find. The swords will help them stand out a little from the average trooper, it was my first attempting to paint using a wet palette to aid transitioning between colours, so will be something to practise in future!
I think i’ll continue mixing the colours on the tyranids, I just don’t know whether to stick to the standard colour scheme for the characters or use the lighter turquoise - any thoughts?

MINIATURE UPDATE
As promised here is a photo of the completed Farseer, and after a session with the glue I have finished basing all the termagants, the genestealer and the librarians - so I can now officially say I have completed 14 models. Which is a new personal best for me ever!
I tried two different techniques for the bases, either applying glue and then the flock or doing a mix of glue, water and flock and the applying it ti the base. I can honestly say I cant tell the difference which is a relief. I think the second method is probably more robust so will likely stick with that.
I have completed a grass base and a snow base each for the librarians, I think i prefer the grass but open to thoughts on it - unfortunately the photos i took didn’t pass the QA /QC screening from the misses so will look to take them again tomorrow.

Making good progress! I love to see it.

HOBBY UPDATE
Afternoon / Evening all, apologies for the lack of updates recently. Life / work and stuff has managed to get in the way of things. And I’m currently sitting with my “angler fish” light trying my best not to disturb the Misses as I type.



Things have been slow on the hobby front, I’ve not progressed much with painting the marines unfortunately – a bit of shading and highlighting has been done but not enough to write home about. I’ve manage to build some guardians, a Tyranid prime, the Parasite of Mortrex, a Tau stealth suit and a few Tau pathfinders and drones, all have been primed and waiting to hit the painting table. I have also built 20 tactical marines so things are moving on that front as well. The Tyranids and Eldar colour scheme will be easy and follow what I have done previously, but I haven’t figured out a colour scheme for the Tau, I’m thinking purple and green (and my advisor agrees so I’m just a few paints short of being able to continue - due for arrival tomorrow!)

In more exciting news, the shed has been sorted, the office has been tidied and display cabinets have now been purchased and built (I’m not sure who is more excited me or my partner), so she has demanded looking through what has been completed to determine what can go on the shelves. I’m taking the approach that they need to be based first, so I have been working towards that. I have tried taking some photos but the colours just don’t seem to work using my iphone camera, so I will be getting my proper camera out tomorrow and seeing if that makes any difference. Then I promise there will be a bigger update.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The glare isn't ideal, but everything painted and based this year is in the cabinet. Plenty of room for expansion thou!

ARCHIVE - ULTRAMARINES 1ST COMPANY
I’ve spent a bit of time recently basing some of my painted models to enable them to be promoted into the new built cabinets, so over the next few posts I’m going to provide updates of what I have finished and been able to put on display.

In my quest to develop my marine army I thought it wise to provide some support from the first company (now let me say the thought was not wise in any way, shape or form but that is long in the past now!). I grew up playing the space hulk computer game and had a friend who had the original board game. So when they re-issued the game in 2014 it was too good an opportunity to miss. The miniatures are awesome, slightly larger than the existing terminator range at the time (scale creep anyone…!), but the poses were dynamic. There was the minor issue of the Blood Angel iconography, but a sharp knife and some patience solved that problem (a lot of the blood drops became diamond pendants). So with the addition of a spare terminator captain, I managed to find myself with two terminators squads ready to face the xenos filth!

Brother Claudio and Sergeant Gideon are currently awaiting completion (or being started to be more accurate) but will lead a close combat squad each, one with Thunder Hammers and the other with Lightening Claws, so that will be two more squads to add to the mix.

Also, as an aside I acquired a spare Brother Omnio, his pose is quite unique with the palm scanner, and I figured with some help he could quite easily become an apothecary. So, with a sharp knife, some spare gubbins, and a bit of trepidation he has undergone a transformation and now needs a lick of paint to finish him off as a terminator apothecary. So he will become the subject of a later post when he gets a lick of paint.

Hopefully the photos do them justice, although given the feedback from the misses I'm not sure - she wasn't too impressed with my photographic skills so took it upon her self to take a squad into the wild and take pictures of them in the jungle (back garden) - see the collage below.

Nice batch of terminators. Both pics look good.

If having a goal of a company worth of Space Marines is crazy, then you are in good company.(Looks at my Crimson Fists company still WIP)

Great to see that you are putting firstborn to good use, and those terminators look awesome.

Thanks @Nevelon - very diplomatic - it brought a smile to both of us!!

@TinyLegions - lol, crazy is believing you can paint them in a normal time frame - the collecting is the easy (relatively) part. How much of your company have you completed?


ARCHIVE - ULTRAMARINES
Here is another update from my basing progress - and an obvious update given there is only one natural leader for the army.

I’m a big fan of the Horus Heresy and the extended lore, I think the book series is great (there are some exceptions I will admit) and they add so much background to the 40k and provide details about all of the legions and the primarchs. I find it fascinating learning about the Ultramarines during the heresy; Calth, Second Imperium, Pharos, etc. I must admit my big hope was also learning about the missing 2 legions and finding some details about what happened (alas it was not to be!). I did however become interested in the Loken and the Sons of Horus (before they fell), Garro and the Death Guard and then the Knight Errants, the Dark Angels and the Lion’s background, anything to do with the webway, the Emperor and the Sigillite.

The series I thought was great in bringing to life the Primarchs, providing details on who they were and their personalities. Now, when they started bringing back the Primarchs to 40k, initially I wasn’t sure. I suppose it was inevitably going to happen for them to move the narrative forward (still not sure on the Primaris marines but they are growing on me a little). I have to admit both Mortarion and Magnus look impressive models. The Guilliman model is good but the detailing is a bit OTT. I think the ornate armour is more typical of a chaos warrior rather than a chosen of the Emperor (hopefully it won’t be future storyline). I saw a version online which removed a lot of the detail on the armour and I thought it infinitely improved the look so I wanted to emulate it (I didn’t like the braziers either). Here is my version of the Primarch, ready and eager to lead my Ultramarine force. I think it is one of my better models, I like how the sword worked out, comments and feedback always welcome.

So much unneeded gilding on that armor, was not fun painting it. I also left the torches off.

Great work on him. Gotta have our centerpiece!

Gulliman is a great model. Also cool because he gets painted a lot, and it is interesting to see the subtle differences in how different people approach him. Yours has turned out well.

 JordySteve wrote:
T

@TinyLegions - lol, crazy is believing you can paint them in a normal time frame - the collecting is the easy (relatively) part. How much of your company have you completed?

Probably like most people on here. Mostly assembled and primed, but not much painted.

Another loon working on a company of space marines! Looks like you’re making solid progress towards that aim, plus a Demi-company of the first . The ex-Blood Angels look good in Guillimans colours as well, especially those white helmets. The big boss turned out well without all of the ornate trim, must’ve been a big job removing it all without taking away bits you wanted to keep

@Nevelon – Thanks, even taking some of the gilding off it took ages to paint all the gold. He does make a great centrepiece thou.
@youwashshock – It is a great model, glad you like how it turned out?
@Tinylegions – Good effort, whats your plan for getting it finished? I think I have two tactical squads unbuilt, and a few more squads unpainted, and I need to catch up on my characters!
@gobert – A company is the easy goal for all the weak minded! I’m getting there slowly, and the 1st company numbers are building up slowly – which is a worry! Not going to lie, but it was a real pain trying to remove the excess detail, but I think it was worth it.

I've enjoyed catching up on your last few updates. Your display cabinets have me thinking about getting some too...

Guilliman is great. It's such an intimidating model to paint, but you've done it justice.

And I completely agree with you that Norwich is horrendous to travel to - such a bad part of the country for travel (especially coming from the North!)

Display Cabinets really do make the whole hobby way more visual than minis stuck in a box somewhere (even if display cabinets are clear boxes...)

@Zambro - I want to take full credit for the display cabinet idea but the misses pushed me to it, and I’m loving it - such a great excuse to get things based and finished and they all look awesome in there together. Kind of makes me a little proud having them on display.
I think that will be my last Norwich trip, which is a relief and a little sad but time to move on to new things. What do you head down there for?

ARCHIVE - ULTRAMARINES 2ND COMPANY
Carrying on the trend of things I have already painted for the 2nd company and have now just finished basing, here are the beginnings of the devastator squads, 9 & 10. The combat squads of bolters are completed (just) and all of the heavy weapons marines are built (well part built for painting). The devastators include a few of the older shoulder mounted weapons, but also a mixture of the newer plastic models as well. I’ve got more weapons than I need for the squad - at least 5 each per squad - but in my head I can mix the squads up as needed when I play games (but I don’t play games – so not sure what I’m thinking but it obviously made some sense to me when I built them!).



What is a good heavy weapon combination at the minute for the latest edition? Missile launchers and lascannons used to be my favourite, but that was a while back (2nd / 3rd edition). Fortunately, due to the plethora of heavy weapons bits you get in the boxes I have a number of spare weapons which can now be used to supplement the tactical squads when they get built (if I remember - which by the way I didn’t / haven’t to date). So, if I mention in future, I’m going to build a tactical squad can someone please remind me!

I have no clue what the go-to dev load is these days. I always kept a swap shelf full of spares to change into my dev squads as needed. The “shelf” deployment almost never actually saw the table. What they took to battle was generally dictated by what else was in the list, and if I thought I’d need more AV or anti-horde firepower.

It’s less relevant these days now that you can freely split fire, but when mixing weapons I tried to keep things at least in the same range bracket, and not so widely disparate that it would be a waste if everyone had to shoot at the same target.

(For reference, my devs stand at 2xHB, 2xPC for one, and 2xML, 2xLC in the other)

 Nevelon wrote:
I have no clue what the go-to dev load is these days. I always kept a swap shelf full of spares to change into my dev squads as needed. The “shelf” deployment almost never actually saw the table. What they took to battle was generally dictated by what else was in the list, and if I thought I’d need more AV or anti-horde firepower.

It’s less relevant these days now that you can freely split fire, but when mixing weapons I tried to keep things at least in the same range bracket, and not so widely disparate that it would be a waste if everyone had to shoot at the same target.

(For reference, my devs stand at 2xHB, 2xPC for one, and 2xML, 2xLC in the other)

@Nevelon – My current plan, is squad one with 2 missile launchers, 2 multimeltas and 1 heavy bolter, the other squad is 2 lascannons, 2 grav cannons, and one plasma cannon. I admit, the selection is based more on what I liked than any gaming preference, but I should probably look at range details for them all and see how / if how they have any synergies together. I think there are a few spare parts in the bits box somewhere – so open to change if you have any ideas to through in the mix.

it’s 4x heavy weapons, the sarge, and 5 bolters in a full squad.

Dev loads have been all over the place historically. Point cost a big factor, which is no longer the case. But also sometimes odd rules interactions. I think it was 8th? when both HBs and MLs had strats for extra damage they would find their ways into squads where they might not otherwise belong.

40k promotes specialization, so tactically, going 4x of one gun to fill a role has always been a solid choice. But is boring. That said, I’ve put 4xLC squads down not infrequently. Game mechanically, it’s also quicker to roll all one gun together, something you can’t do if you have a WD-special, one of everything load.

Any talk about weapon choice needs to take an overall look at army composition. What do you need to kill? What gaps do you have in threat response? How are you tac squads loaded? Dreads? Other assets?

Range:
18” MM (huh, used to be 24)
24” GC
36” HB, PC
48” ML, LC

Job:
AV: MM, LC, GC, ML
Anti-elite PC, GC
Anti horde: ML, HB

Obviously there is a lot of wiggle room and overlap in optimal targets, pros/cons, etc. This is more for theme then a disertation on the mathhammer of optimizing dev squads.

You basically have 3 “steps” in both range and job. I would not want to mix extremes. You don’t want MM/GC hanging with LC/MLs. While you can split fire to wherever it needs to be, you often won’t want to have the squad positioned/deployed in the same place for both loads. Close squads might want to ride in a rhino/razor/pod and get close, while the long shots want a nice ruin in the backfield with good sight lines. Splitting fire only works if you can draw line of fire to multiple preferred targets, and that will not always be the case.

You generally don’t want to mix AV/AH guns in the same squad. The HB is just going to be fishing for 6s to even scratch the paint on the LC’s preferred target. And if you are dropping LCs into gaunts, the game is either going great as you’ve already burned down all the hard targets, or about to get real ugly. That one gaunt who eats a face full of AV fire might be dead, but his 19 buddies are about to take issue with you for that.

MLs are great as the jack of all trades gun. Not the best at anything, but OKish at everything. That said, I regret almost ever frag missile I shoot, so if I’m only shooting Kracks, why not LC? But thematicly, it’s great to toss into a squad for a little flexibility. 2xML, 2xOther was a frequent build of mine.

If I were you, I’d run one squad 2xGC, 2xMM. These are your danger close titan killers. Push up aggressively, bring down the big stuff. Assuming you want to keep these guns in dedicated Dev squads. They work great in Tac squads, as they tend to be up in the middle of the fun anyway.

For the other I’d go with a long range flex. 2xLC, PC, ML. Good for tank hunting, but also for small squad of elite units.

If you wanted long range infantry support, 2xML, PC, HB would be an option.

 Nevelon wrote:
it’s 4x heavy weapons, the sarge, and 5 bolters in a full squad.

Dev loads have been all over the place historically. Point cost a big factor, which is no longer the case. But also sometimes odd rules interactions. I think it was 8th? when both HBs and MLs had strats for extra damage they would find their ways into squads where they might not otherwise belong.

40k promotes specialization, so tactically, going 4x of one gun to fill a role has always been a solid choice. But is boring. That said, I’ve put 4xLC squads down not infrequently. Game mechanically, it’s also quicker to roll all one gun together, something you can’t do if you have a WD-special, one of everything load.

Any talk about weapon choice needs to take an overall look at army composition. What do you need to kill? What gaps do you have in threat response? How are you tac squads loaded? Dreads? Other assets?

Range:
18” MM (huh, used to be 24)
24” GC
36” HB, PC
48” ML, LC

Job:
AV: MM, LC, GC, ML
Anti-elite PC, GC
Anti horde: ML, HB

Obviously there is a lot of wiggle room and overlap in optimal targets, pros/cons, etc. This is more for theme then a disertation on the mathhammer of optimizing dev squads.

You basically have 3 “steps” in both range and job. I would not want to mix extremes. You don’t want MM/GC hanging with LC/MLs. While you can split fire to wherever it needs to be, you often won’t want to have the squad positioned/deployed in the same place for both loads. Close squads might want to ride in a rhino/razor/pod and get close, while the long shots want a nice ruin in the backfield with good sight lines. Splitting fire only works if you can draw line of fire to multiple preferred targets, and that will not always be the case.

You generally don’t want to mix AV/AH guns in the same squad. The HB is just going to be fishing for 6s to even scratch the paint on the LC’s preferred target. And if you are dropping LCs into gaunts, the game is either going great as you’ve already burned down all the hard targets, or about to get real ugly. That one gaunt who eats a face full of AV fire might be dead, but his 19 buddies are about to take issue with you for that.

MLs are great as the jack of all trades gun. Not the best at anything, but OKish at everything. That said, I regret almost ever frag missile I shoot, so if I’m only shooting Kracks, why not LC? But thematicly, it’s great to toss into a squad for a little flexibility. 2xML, 2xOther was a frequent build of mine.

If I were you, I’d run one squad 2xGC, 2xMM. These are your danger close titan killers. Push up aggressively, bring down the big stuff. Assuming you want to keep these guns in dedicated Dev squads. They work great in Tac squads, as they tend to be up in the middle of the fun anyway.

For the other I’d go with a long range flex. 2xLC, PC, ML. Good for tank hunting, but also for small squad of elite units.

If you wanted long range infantry support, 2xML, PC, HB would be an option.

@Nevelon – Thanks very much for the synopsis, I appreciate the breakdown of the weapons stats (I have to admit I did a couple of quick google searches and came up with zero useful stuff! Although thinking about it I might have a rule book lying around somewhere I should possible dig it out). To be honest – given my lack of game time the combos probably don’t matter, but I want the configuration to be semi-reasonable. Given your overview, I agree that the current set-up doesn’t work. And even before I’d finished reading what you had put I think had an idea (which turns out is in alignment with what you had advised). So the new plan – 2 multimelta, 2 grav, 1 plasma cannon; second squad - 2 lascannon, 2 missile launcher, 1 heavy bolter (maybe an additional plasma cannon if I can find one). Note – the 5 heavy weapons are to give flexibility (the squad will be typical 10 man, with 1 on the shelf). And I think I have a rhino or two hiding somewhere – which can be repurposed for devastator transport, at least for one squad.

Tactical squad wise, I think it will be missile/flamer (old school), missile/melta, heavy bolter/flamer, grav/grav, plasma/plasma, and las/melta. TBH I will have to go back and check as my memory ain’t what it used to be, but I think generally that is what it will be (although I’m sure I had planned for a missile/plasma).

ARCHIVE - ULTRAMARINES 2ND COMPANY
The basing effort has continued as I have now managed to complete all the assault marines – and, even more impressively I think that I have now managed to take better photos of them all, so enjoy!

As you may have noticed from the basing, I am doing a mixture of grass and snow across the 2nd company and the first company (might have been quicker to say the whole army but never mind). I like the 2nd edition vibes of the grass bases, but the snow theme is quite cool. I think the majority of the 2nd company will be on a grass base, whilst the 1st company will be mainly a snow base, which will then tie then in with the Tyranids. The other supporting chapters will be a mixture of snow and grass depending on what provides the best contrast to the base colour. Supporting chapters you ask, well…. something for a later date

PAINTING UPDATE
Evening all, recently overt the past few months I’ve only been managing a few hours now and again for basing which has been highly useful – but doesn’t clear the backlog, however this week a perfect storm occurred, the partner was down the road visiting her parents with the baby and I was left with the dog and my eldest. With the dog walked and child in bed by 7:30, it left ample opportunity to catch up on some proper painting. Now any normal human would have looked at the blog and the backlog and prioritised getting more blues done. Not me! I decided that I had other stuff on the painting table that needed to be done instead.

I mentioned previously that some Tyranids, Eldar and Tau had been constructed so an effort was made to progress these. The Tau are a test for the new paint scheme to see how it works, turquoise and purple (with light blue skin). It seems to work I think. The stealth suit I’m going to attempt to show that it is transitioning into camo mode – again a wee test before I move on to the other two. The Eldar are standard so not great shocks there. I did manage to finish the two Tyranids thou, the Tyranid Prime and the Parasite of Mortrex, both based as well which is probably some sort of new record for me! With those two down its time to move a few of the veterans back to the painting table I think to get them finished. I need to find a way to make squads of marines less daunting and more excitable.

Nice job on the 'Nids.

Evening all, I was intending on posting this yesterday but got side tracked by life (baby bottle washing and then feeding). I'm disappointed to say that I have been a bit side tracked recently and my free time has been taken up playing Empyrion Galatica on the computer. I decided it was a good idea to start again, so just going through the motions on the four starter planets completing the missions and building a small base to operate from - the next step will be a small vessel or capital ship to speed things up.

Hence my recent lack of progress on my painting. I have now managed to base and undercoat 30 new marines for the company, 20 tactical and 10 terminators. My ongoing painting projects are almost completed and I am being told to start back on the marines again. The 4 Eldar are now just about finished and now require basing. I am happy with the paint scheme for the Tau, I think the contrasting colours on the pathfinders are working well, they just now need to be highlighted then based - the two drones are completed and were relatively simple (no basing required). For the stealth suit I am trying to make it look like it is starting to camouflage, and hence the majority is paint in the base suit colours (black and red) but its leg has started "adapting" - I just need to come decent way to paint the transition (I'm thinking white with a blue line).

ARCHIVE - ULTRAMARINES 1ST COMPANY
Tyrannic veterans. I feel any true Ultramarine army needs to include these legends. The miniatures look great and when they were first released were very different to any others available at the time (and I think have aged well). I wanted a squad that represented these hardened warriors and so I amalgamated a few individuals that I had to get a coherent squad of 10. I think my favourite is the rogue trader captain but I like the attitude from the (Captain) Aurelius model. When making the squad I was two short so had to use the bitz box to create the two additional veterans to complete the squad. Unfortunately, the Tyranid carapace I painted doesn’t quite align with my latest Leviathan dalliances, but there are enough hive fleets floating around that I’m sure he could have met at least one or two others!

In completing this squad (and eventually the one on the painting table) I figured that I will now have 30 first company marines completed, with the two other (5-man) terminators squads built that is almost half way towards the first company which is not a goal I was aiming for and is both pleasing and worrying at the same time. I think i need to side step this one for the minute and just aim for the second company - but I am sure this thought is just going to keep percolating in my head now and will cause me problems in future!

Just as an aside, I also have one other veteran squad built and ready to be primed. It uses the Mk4 marines as a base with both weapons and torso upgrades for the models. I also have plans and the bits for a boarding squad type unit with shields, these have not been assembled yet, but am hoping i’ll manage at least 10 marines with either Mk3 or Mk4 armour. And I think there might be a few more terminators in a box somewhere (maybe 10 if Im lucky). It just means I will need to start painting things soon!

The TWVs are indeed awesome. My 2 sternguard squads are a mix of them, old metal SG, plastic SG, and random tac marine bodies rolled around the bits box. You went full white shoulder pads with gold trim? Looks nice.

It’s scary how fast collecting another company sneaks up on you. And how easy it is to convince ourselves to go for it. Getting my 1st up to strength is my plan after I finish my primaris 3rd. Yes, I’m crazy.

Nice collection of heavy metal marines.
I didn't realize they had that many Tyrannic vets.
I think I have two or three.

 Tommygun1918 wrote:
Nice collection of heavy metal marines.
I didn't realize they had that many Tyrannic vets.
I think I have two or three.

There are 4 different sculpts.

Knife vet
Grenade vet
Bionic arm vet
Bionic leg vet

I only have 3 of the different sculps, I think I am missing bionic arm vet. If your looking at the pictures, on pic 1-3 the veterans are either end of the line and on pic 1-2 the other variant is at the end of the line (same model on both sides). The rest of the models are just proxies.

I unfortunately don't have any other tyrannic models to support another sternguard squad but they make a unique addition to the army.

@Nevelon - for your 1st company, what split you planning of terminators and power armour?

Managed a bit more painting tonight, the current models on the painting table have taken a step backwards as I dug out a few other miniatures to base, but I realised that they all needed a little work on them, so I have taken the opportunity to tart them up a little. Most have just had a light wash and minor highlight, the apothecary is a pain (mainly cause i was a little heavy on the wash and white is a pain to get consistent). I am almost there thou and after i finish it the terminator librarian and standard bearer will be the last to be completed. I do have future plans for the standard bearer, i.e to obtain a printed 2nd company banner, but I can get that sorted later.

Once they are based I will get proper photos completed for them.

 JordySteve wrote:
I only have 3 of the different sculps, I think I am missing bionic arm vet. If your looking at the pictures, on pic 1-3 the veterans are either end of the line and on pic 1-2 the other variant is at the end of the line (same model on both sides). The rest of the models are just proxies.

I unfortunately don't have any other tyrannic models to support another sternguard squad but they make a unique addition to the army.

@Nevelon - for your 1st company, what split you planning of terminators and power armour?

As far as I know, they only made 4 Tyranic war vets, and I’ve got the set, 4 guys in the middle.

Spoilered to not clutter your thread with my army planning

@Nevelon - appreciate the spoilering!

I agree with you that power armour should be in 10 man blocks - codex complaint after all. And i'm not a huge fan of the 3-man squads which they have been trying to introduce.

I like your plans for your 1st company, i feel at least 50% needs to be at least terminator armour. I recon I have 10 RT metal and 10 30k, which I will need to dig out and get round to painting. At least I know what I will be doing in 5 years, finishing off the 1st company...!!!

PAINTING UPDATE
Evening, tonight's progress has been promising, I've completed the bases for the 4 Eldar guardians so they can form a little honour guard for the Farseer (against the Tyranids) until they are reinforced with the remainder of the squad.

But the majority of work has been on the 2nd company. I've added the 10 OG marines to the cabinet, and resisted the urge to repaint or make any minor amendments to them (and been told by the boss to leave them). I've also sorted out the bases and made some minor touch ups to the other set of 10 tactical marines, so they have now also been added to the cabinet. This brings the total of 2nd company marines to 52 completed and on display, so I am over half way towards my target. Although I do need to figure out support staff, dreadnoughts and transports (I can't see me doing 8 rhinos, but i'll need to add a few). I'm thinking I will need to do a full company command squad, with chaplains and librarians. Speaking of which, I’ve based some of the characters which needed a few minor touch ups. I will get round to individual photos but for now they are include in the group shots.

For the cabinet I've obtained some plastic stands so that I can add tiers to the display which makes it a lot easier to see everything. Doesn't help with the glare on the photos thou or reflections. But whilst I had the camera out I also took the opportunity to photograph the current 2nd company, 1st company and the xenos incursion, all are looking ok at present but are set to grow.

Great painting log! Your guardians in particular looks really nice.

@Olthannon - thanks very much

HOBBY UPDATE
Evening all, hope everyone is well, apologies for the lack of posts recently, I’m currently on parental leave for a few months whilst the partner heads back to work, so re-learning the pitfalls of childcare and how to entertain a 6month old all day. Hasn’t left a lot of time for hobbying particularly as he has decided not to sleep during the day. The other distraction has been training and playing touch rugby at an international tournament, it was great fun, not quite the results I had hoped for we played well. All in all it means I need to get back into a better pattern and routine for hobbying. My only reasonable contribution over the past month has been prepping models from the “Age of Darkness” boxset, 5 lascannon, 5 autocannon and rotor cannon models – next up will be a 10-man tactical squad and a 5-man squad with sword and shield and a standard bearer or two.

ARCHIVE – IMPERIAL FISTS
Now I don’t know about everyone else but I feel that Games Workshop are an absolute pain at times. Just when you think that you are getting a handle on your plastic addiction, they go and release a brand new boxset containing lots of shiny new toys that really appeals to you. And it isn’t like it is a one off occurrence - oh no - they keep doing it regularly. First the Betrayal of Calth, then the Burning of Prospero, and laterly the Age of Darkness. Each provided a new mark of marine armour and a brand new toy (Contemptor, Custodes, Spartan). I won’t even mention the latest boxset which has been added to the Christmas list (Mk2 and Saturnines - woop).

Even worse they bring out a load of upgrades or bits which compliment the boxsets. So my first dive into the Horus Heresy also included asking Forge World to send some nice goodies as well. Hence my annoyance at them! Between the boxsets and the books it is a recipe for disaster. And i fell for all of it, so apologies for what comes next.

I was brought up with mark 7 (and a little Mk6) armour only, and so anything else seemed too good to be true. However i did recognise that I didn’t need lots of additional Ultramarine tactical squads, so I decided that it might be a good idea to add some colour variation into the mix. Blood Angels seemed obvious following on from my brief experiment due to the Sanguinary Guard. Imperial Fists seemed another good choice (although I did consider how challenging / annoying it is painting yellow) and Iron Hands (something about them appealed to me) rounded off the selection. For each chapter I thought about having a little squad or two that I could mix in with my Ultramarines.

This obviously didn’t mean that my primary army wasn’t reinforced with more models and some have been built to feed into the main force, with a veteran assault squad, a breaching squad and possible new tactical and terminator squads (not to mention the dreadnoughts and a spartan!).

My Imperial Fist force, originated for two reasons, one I fancied painting yellow (what right minded person makes that statement??!!), which is so difficult to get right (especially if your prone to paint brush slippage), and two, I liked the Captain Lysander miniature. As an aside I read the original Space Marine book when it was released, which was for a recruited marine called Lysander and I have always wondered if they are one and the same - but now I have just realised that Lysander is his surname not his first name as in the book!!

The Imperial Fists also had some nice Horus Heresy accessories (Phalanx Warder kits) which I fancied which may have influenced my selection. My plan for this force is the following
Captain Lysander with a Terminator bodyguard (thunder hammers obviously)
Lieutenant,
2 tactical squads (Mk4 & ?? possibly 6),
Support squad (volkite),
Phalanx Warder squad
Contemptor dreadnought
Surprisingly I have the majority completed but I need to figure out what mark tactical squad to build and whether they should be a mk6 squad and if i should drop in Pedro Kantor (although he is in Mk7 armour) along with the other limited edition Crimson Fist marine, or if save them for the Ultramarine tide…..?

HOBBY UPDATE
Evening all, hope everyone if good, whilst I may have been silent I have been busy.

I have completed the Tau models which I had on the painting table, two drones, two pathfinders and a stealth suit. All were chosen to be test models for the painting scheme to see if it works. I’ve gone for a turquoise and burgundy colour scheme for the pathfinders, with the stealth suit using the same burgundy but on a black base (and trying to do a chameleon transition on the leg – which you can’t see in the photo). Personally, I like it, it’s a bit different, but looks good and is completely different to anything else I am painting which is a bonus!) – interested to know / get any feedback on them. When I get a chance / remember I will write down what I used to make sure I have a record for the next batch of models.

I’ve also finished, for now, prepping models from the Age of Darkness boxset, (when I mean prepping I mean taking them off the sprues and sorting them into individual bags ready to build), there is a 10 man tactical support for the Imperial Fists, and 3 other 5 man squads to be spread around the other armies – not really decided who / what yet.

I decided that the prospect of painting 40 tactical marines is a bit daunting so I think I am going to break them down into 5-man squads, with the hope that I can progress through them quite quickly without getting burnt out - and it means I can get a few other things done at the same time. It probably means I am going to mix in some more xenos and probably a terminator squad or two to mix things up, there is also the requirement to get a few characters sorted as well, so I don't think there is going to be a shortage of other things to mix in as I go. (I also have my eye on a few things I would like to start / complete - including 3 marines with my partners colour scheme and the limited edition skullz ultramarine standard bearer which might make its way onto the painting table at some point.)

With that I mind I have prepped and undercoated some more xenos, there is a Tyranid warrior, barbgaunts, couple of guardians, some pathfinders, stealth suits and a Crisis suit as well.

Painting I’ve started and finished (although not based) the first 5 marines for the next tactical squad and I’ve put some of the base colours on three genestealers. The marines were painted quite quick for me, I tried a new technique, base coat, couple of dry brush layers and an blue edge highlight before moving on to the remaining details - it means you have to be a bit more careful but I think it is much quicker, just need to see if I can keep replicating it now. (Oh and a pad trim was a pain, and always will be painting yellow - who’s bright idea was that - but the two thin coats yellows have great coverage so make it much easier. The plan is to finish the genestealers, then probably move onto a terminator squad before completing the rest of the tactical squad.

So enjoy the photo dump, and one of these days I will figure out how to interspace them throughout the text!!

PAINTING UPDATE
Evening all, whilst I may not have been writing I have still been painting and keeping myself busy. Trying to do both at once is a challenge, especially if you are trying to include photos (camera to computer etc.) and kids mean that spare time is short, so I think I might stick to more wordy updates and then a few photo dumps just to keep things moving.

Progress has been alright, the genestealers are completed and based, I finished and based a 5 man terminator squad, I’ve started on some guardians, and I’m currently busying myself with a terminator medic based on brother Omnio. I’ll include before and after shots when I get to the computer next. Once he is done it will be back onto the tactical squad and I’ve dug out a few chaplains that need tidying up so I will look to sort them out as well.

Whilst it may not seem like I’ve done a lot, and in all honesty I agree, I have been harbouring an impulse buy which has been garthering dust. As a kid in the 90’s it was fun seeing the huge armies supported by loads of tanks and titans. So when Adeptus titanicus was released it was difficult to resist the urge to jump straight in, I did however manage to resist, justifying that I had too much already to do without starting something else. Fast forward a year (or two) the next box set is released (the backlog has grown a little) and I dive in with both feet. Not only that but I decided that getting some old epic marines and tanks would be a splendid idea (it wasn’t but it is..if you know what I mean). I’ve not purchased any of the new legion imperialis stuff, and with the scale change I’m not likely to. What it means is that I have also been painting a reaver titan and some marine tanks to add to the battlegroup, whirlwinds, vindicators, rhinos and predators. Epic photos will follow, and it might be the only way of completing a marine company this decade!

That’s all for now, sleep beckons, but I will try to provide more (and better) updates sooner.

PAINTING UPDATE
I made some minor progress tonight on Omnio, putting down some more of the base colours, he has had two layers of corax white already, and I will finish him off with another layer (probably using a two coats white to get better coverage) once all other colours have been completed. It does mean it is slow progress thou as any mistakes are more difficult to rectify on the white so I am being uber careful. I've used administratum grey as a shade to add some depth to the white, and I will probably add a black wash to some of the recesses (if I feel brave enough!). The rest of the time was spent getting the bases ready for the epic models and finishing of the whirlwinds - now they are done there are 3 leman russ' and 6 predators to complete.

PAINTING UPDATE
Tonights painting update, more work on Omnio, who is coming along nicely (which I would obviously think!). I’ve just started on the highlighting and then once that is done, it will be time to complete the last layer (or few layers) of white to finish him off. Then once based I will be able to get some decent photos not using my phone!

PAINTING UPDATE
As promised here are the photos from the recent painting efforts - terminators and genestealers. I also forgot to mention that I went back and had a look at some of the completed squads and noticed that a few of the sergeants had a minor error, no red helmets, so I went back and corrected this mistake so they are now codex compliant.

That's a nice group of Firstborn there.

ARCHIVE – EPICNESS
So in way of an explanation for why a Reaver titan was added to the painting pile and completed – or at least a partial justification. I think it is potentially my youth and inability or lack of conviction to purchase items has potentially led in part to my adult issues and slight tendency to purchase things that I maybe shouldn’t. So, the relaunch of Adeptus Titanicus brought me immense amounts of joy at the quality of the new titans and now my ability to potentially acquire some. I felt I was well restrained until the second game set was release and so become the proud owner of some Reaver and Warhound titans, which I decided to paint up as two different armies, which can then be combined into one larger force if need. The Titan legions and knight households I’ve selected all complement each other and have some association with the Ultramarines chapter, so there is a running theme through-out.

So on one side we have the Praetor titan legion and knights from House Vornherr, and on the other side there is Gryphonicus legion and House Cadmus knights. The selection of legions and houses has very little to do with their background, although it was a contributing factor, and more to do with the colour schemes that I wanted to use and how they would contrast or compliment each other. There is also going to be a small marine force and Imperial Guard tank force to support the titans and knights, more just to be cinematic and to satisfy the inner child in me. Unsurprisingly it will be an Ultramarine force, a full 2nd company strength with some tank support. The Imperial Guard tank force will be mainly Leman Russ tanks with a couple of superheavies and some artillery squads. The auxillary forces slightly mirror my 40k armies which is also part of the reason for the selection and composition.

One change I have made from the standard epic norms is how they have been based. Typically it is meant to be one tank per base – however as I have very little plans to game with them I have mounted multiple tank units on each base, which is easier for displaying them and also has allowed me to add some additional decoration / detail on the bases.
They are a bit of a change from normal but it is quite therapeutic being able to finish a squad of marines in less than an hour, even if they are only a couple of millimeters tall. I’m not going to lie trying to attach them to the bases is a real pain, but lining up the fruits of your labour and having a half a company done is nice (if only I could paint the full scale equivalents as quickly!). I have built the remaining titans and knights, and now have them all primed and ready to go. In learning from painting the previous titans I have decided to paint them with the armour plates off, so that I can paint them on sprue and attach them later, hopefully this will be easier and it will let me speed up the process.
The completed titans so far are two warhounds and two reavers, with 4 knights and quite a number of tanks and marines. Enjoy!

HOBBY UPDATE
I took an opportunity recently to have a look through the bits box, and came across a few old projects that I had been planning, so during one lunch break I decided to sort them out and see where I had got to with them. The first was a sternguard squad (5-man) with bolters and storm shields, (I also have parts for a veteran 10-man breacher squad in mk3 which I need to build but that isn't on the radar at the minute), there will be mixture of armour mks (mainly mk 7 but some mk3 & 4 mixed in) in the squad, but I found that trying to get the appropriate arms to hold the weapons and shields is a bit of a challenge however I think I have managed - using arms from turret gunners to hold the shields! The second squad, is a 10-man sternguard squad, mk4 armour, all combi weapons (mixture of flamer, plasma, melta), with some Ultramarine upgrade pads and torsos. Finally there is a 10-man mk4 vanguard squad, no jump packs, with an eclectic mix of combat weapons, again some UM pads and torsos, but not much additional bling. The vanguard squad needs a few extra bits and gubbins added - possibly I'm thinking some tyranid bits either on the ground or as trophies on the armour. The vanguard squad is mainly built, whilst the sternguard squads have been sorted into bits bags, ready to be constructed.
 
I have managed to find time to build the 5-man sternguard squad, and I'm quite happy with the results, ther is quite an eclectic mixture of parts acquired over the years that have been used, but once painted I think they will look quite good.  I found that the RTB01 left arms (possibly from the missile launcher) are very useful for holding the shields.  The standard bearer for the squad has a Honour Guard style helmet - the background story in my head is that he served time in the honour guard and has now been rotated back into the sternguard squad.  Now all I need to do is finish construction of the second squad - find some decent weather to undercoat them and then clear space in the schedule to paint them.....simples!!!

That will bug me, which 6mm game (sci fi?) used multibasing for vehicles...

No idea Chris tbh, I’ve never really done much / any gaming outside of the 40K universe, and really I just collect and paint. Multi-basing makes it easier to display for me - and means I can try to tie the whole army together through the bases (I.e either the rubble or broken titans)

PAINTING UPDATE
Here is the latest update for my apothecary and also a background on his development, I used brother Omnio from the Space Hulk boxset as the base model, and added medic bits to him. I think the hand scanner is quite good and I can imagine him using it to check if battle brothers are dead or for examining xenos species! I believe the narthecium, light and medical gubbins came from the deathwing command squad boxset, and for his left shoulder pad I did a bit of slicing to transfer the Crux Terminatus with medic symbol over to the base model, which was a lot easier to say than do! It all seems to blend in quite well which I’m very happy about and having it painted helps bring it all together.
 
As for the status, he is just about completed, I have just finished a little tidy up, picked out the last few details and completed the last coat of white (using Cherubic White) and then he will need basing. I keep finding little bits to tidy up everytime I look at him which isn’t helpful – but at some point (i.e now) I am just going to stop looking! I wasn’t sure where to add the Ultramarine colour or symbol to the model, but I think it works ok on the leg, not ideal, but I didn’t want it on either of the shoulder pads as I thought it might clash / distract from the existing iconography.  I will eventually get round to adding a transfer for it - but it won't be anytime soon.
 
Following his completion I decided it was time to complete / tidy up a couple of the chaplains that I uncovered hidden away in boxes.  The terminator chaplain is ancient, and I've had him for around 30 years, so he now deserves a few highlights and a tidy up.  The other two I acquired more recently +10years ago, so it will be good to get them both finished and based.  One has been assigned to the 2nd company, whilst the other is designated for the 4th company.  They had originally only had the base colours on them, so they have now been highlighted and a more detail added.  I think all 3 are now completed and ready to be added to the basing pile before they join their brothers on display.

HOBBY UPDATE
The stars aligned last weekend and I managed to arrange to be in town (with the family) on the same weekend that the free miniature was given away in store, and we all made a detour so that I could grab the free deathwatch marine. It is a nice model, (even better as it is free), but it was a little pain having to make it in store, rather than being able to take the sprue home to clean and construct – I’m not going to lie it was a wrinkle in my plan. Fortunately it wasn’t too complex and the 10-month old was happy stomping around the store with his mum for 5 minutes whilst I built it!! She did ask if I wanted to get anything else (which is a dangerous question to ask) but I reluctantly declined. What I did learn is that Games Workshop now sell candles – and believe it or not essence of Nurgle is actually quite nice, but we both agreed that our personal preference was that of Slannesh so I’m not sure what that says about either one of us!

The new deathwatch model is a primaris marine in phobos armour, so he is a little bigger than existing deathwatch models that I have. What it does mean is that I have now dug out the existing models I have and must try and finish them off – they are base coated so shouldn’t take too much I think (highlights on the black and then details). The existing “squad” was built when you could have a mixture of armours and troop types, so there is a Cassius, a sergeant, two terminators, a jump pack trooper, two heavy weapons marines and 4 “normal” marines, all of various chapters (I believe at least two/maybe three models are from Kill Team Cassius). I think originally the different troop types were meant to confer different skills / abilities to the squad, but it was quite a few editions ago so I can’t quite remember.

The terminators are both completed and just need based, a Blood Angel with thunder hammer and storm shield and a Imperial Fist with assault cannon and power fist (with underslung melta gun). Cassius, the new phobos marine, and the jump pack trooper need built and undercoated, whilst the remaining marines are in various stages of completion.

Loving all the old school minis Jordy, especially the AT stuff. Neat conversion of the space hulk terminator in to the apothecary, took me a while to figure out where I recognised him from

Cheers @gobert, most of the marines I have are pre-primaris, although a few newer models are creeping in.

I do think that some of older models have more character than some of the newer stuff. I have a couple of old old librarians (pre 90's) that I'm looking forward to painting soon!

PAINTING UPDATE
In searching through the carrycases for models to put on the shelves I fortunately uncovered a few gems, unbased, but ready to go. Back in the eons of time long forgotten (around 1996) a legion of the damned model was issued - Vet. Sergeant Centurius - and so I converted 3 assault marines and a special weapons marine into a small squad to go with him. I think it must have been my first attempt at trying to do flames on a model, but I am actually quite happy with how I did. So I've done a little tidy up on the models, minor highlighting on the black and then providing them with appropriate basing. Tbh - i think they could do with some transfers, but that comment is probably applicable to all of the marines so I'm not going to hold it against them.

Love the color scheme.
High contrast, reads well, solid work!

That's a fun bunch. Classic minis. Congrats on having Centurius in your collection.

That's a great little classic LotD squad!

Nice work on the LotD. Cool glow effects.

The Legion of the Damned on snow bases look great, I don’t think I’ve seen that done before and it’s a great contrast. The painted flames pattern on the one marine’s shoulder pad is excellent too, very classic, well executed color transition on such a tiny freehand detail.

Centurius is such a cool mini, always great to see him painted. Love the red to yellow gradients too, nice choice

Merry Christmas all, hope everyone has had a good day.

@mothsniper - thanks very much
@youwashock - the advantages of collecting for 30+ years!
@Zambro - cheers, not sure how legal it is - but rule of cool works as it isn’t really for gaming!
@Nevelon - thanks, it was my first real foray into that painting effect a couple of years ago and I’m super happy how it came out.
@ph34r - thanks, it worked out better than expected, they are meant to tie in with my Ultramarines who are either grass or snow so it was an easy decision!
@gobert - yeah he is a great model and hasn’t aged too much!

Not too much painting update from the past week as I was needing to get things ready for Christmas (two kids and toys to build!!). I did manage to get quite a way through these tanks, a few touch ups and details to pick out and then they should be good to go. Then it will be on to marines and guardians. And prepping the Santa haul!!

Merry Christmas! Nice progress on the mini tanks

HOBBY UPDATE
With the end of year approaching I thought it was probably time to start thinking of doing a little round up on where I have got to this year. Overall I'm going to say it has been one of the best, most productive and enjoyable years on record. Life is good, my son was born at the start of the year, I'm in a happy place, I think I have managed to establish a good balance on things, hobbying is going well. I have painted more, based more, finished more miniatures this year than ever before. I have a means of putting the models on display now and I feel quite proud of them all. So it is all coming together quite nicely!

In terms of goals, for the year I think I have done ok (I’m ignoring any Christmas presents as this will just add a layer of complication I don’t want to consider!)
• Painted models - I have done well - 54 painted for the year which just beats my target (of 48), I think I will increase the number for next year and push myself a little. Hopefully there will be less distractions so it might be doable.
• Buy more than I paint - I think I smashed this one out the park... oh no wait that should be paint more than I buy. Well the combat patrol magazine has made sure that didn't happen, but ignoring that for a minute I think I accomplished the goal having only directly purchasing 23 models this year (44 if you include gifts). If the combat patrol is included then there is an additional 105 on top of that which makes it a big failure! For next year I think I should set the goal of only buying 5 sets / models, and see how I go from there, cause I have plenty to do so I just now need to get on with it - and I'll save a few pennies doing it (lets hope 11th isn't a big release!). I’m also planning on cancelling the magazine subscription now – I don’t need any further armies or models from that set which will also help things.
• Base 30 models - done done and done, at the last count I think I had completed over 120 models so a big woop on that one. I think I have a few more historical to get completed but nothing significant - so I might change this one to add transfers to the models for next year, same target number.
• Update the blog regularly - well given this wasn't a SMART goal (and deliberately so) I can say I have updated it semi-regularly, with the odd lapse here and there. I'm amazed by the number of people who have looked at it and commented on it so far, its great connecting with other folk and getting the feedback (compliments or advice).. So kind of completed ish. I'll keep it as a goal for next year as well just to keep me honest.

I probably need to set myself a few defined goals of what I want to get done for next year to give me some direction. I think off the top of my head the following will be targets:
• Complete the veteran vanguard squad (yeah the one I started the blog with many moons ago!).
• Complete one tactical squad and finish the two devastator squads (that will leave me three tactical squads to go!
• Complete the Eldar guardian squad (I'm almost 50% there so shoudl be doable!)
• Finish 5 characters (likely Ultramarines but I will leave it open)
• Finish 1 vehicle or large monster (or both)
• Complete 2 titans and finish the epic marine company

That seems a good selection of things to do - whether they all happen is another thing but that will put me in a good place with the majority of the 2nd company completed. And it isn’t to say I won’t be doing other things as well, as there is at least a terminator squad, termagant / genestealer squad and tau team that really want to be progressed as well.

Sounds like you’ve had a good year, baby and plenty of painted minis! What more can you ask for!?
What was your favourite mini to paint and favourite now it’s painted ?

Yeah it was a good year - and if i was wishing for anything it would be to get paid more for working less and have more free painting time but one can only dream!

I enjoyed painting the flaming swords on the librarians, and the farseer quite a lot, but I think the Parasite of Mortex was my favourite strangely enough, different to everything else I've done to date, quite a simple paint scheme and a nice model.

And now that I have had a few minutes spare, I've done the year (2025) in pictures - as it is so much better than just words! I'm not going to bother trying to collate a picture for all of the models I have properly based, needless to say there are a few and once I've got the army finished I will do a group shot.

Quite the year! Well done.

Good stuff. The Terminators and the Parasite really stand out.

Nice collages! That Farseer steals the show for me

Beautiful group pics. And grats on getting this all done with a newborn in the house - no mean feat!

Any more LotD stuff on the horizon? They came out fantastic.

Thanks guys (and/or gals).
Getting the little guy to bed early helps with free time in the evening, but it is a struggle! Helps the misses likes having relaxing baths sometimes.

@youwashock - thanks, the claws were a pain to do but I think they came out really well
@tzurk - no more LotD planned at the minute unfortunately.

Managed to get quite a bit done today, it helps having over a foot of snow outside and having to work from home with no commute (although it is disheartening clearing the 4inches of snow off the drive way four days in row). I got the Victrix guard as a Xmas present from the misses so they were constructed today (photos to follow tomorrow). I had a spare primaris champion model so I used that as a base to create an additional model from the kit - the squad now mirrors the old 3rd (maybe 4th) edition squad of an ancient, champion and 2 guard.

With the “in-laws” up helping transition the little guy to nursery I also managed some evening painting as well. I finishing the epic predators and leman russ tanks, then managed to make a start on remaining 5man tactical squad and also putting a base coat on a few other models (2 librarians, a standard bearer, Tigurius and 2 vanguard veterans). Both the standard bearer and a veteran had lost the metal tab on their feet, so a bit of gorilla glue was used to fix them down - I was going to use super glue them, but it isn’t strong enough sometimes. Sounds a drastic measure I know but it has worked well and some creative basing will help to hide my sins!

The photo below isn’t the best but once I have more progress I’ll provide a better update!

And the painting table

 JordySteve wrote:

@Tinylegions – Good effort, whats your plan for getting it finished? I think I have two tactical squads unbuilt, and a few more squads unpainted, and I need to catch up on my characters!

I just saw this, apologies for taking so long. I broke them up into three blocks or batches, and to break them down further of either a full squad or two combat squads at a time,(Bikes combat squads count as one round) with vehicles in a block of like 2 or 3. Working on other things now actually, so this is a definitely a "when I get to it." project.

As promised here is the completed Victrix builds!

TinyLegions wrote:

 JordySteve wrote:

@Tinylegions – Good effort, whats your plan for getting it finished? I think I have two tactical squads unbuilt, and a few more squads unpainted, and I need to catch up on my characters!

I just saw this, apologies for taking so long. I broke them up into three blocks or batches, and to break them down further of either a full squad or two combat squads at a time,(Bikes combat squads count as one round) with vehicles in a block of like 2 or 3. Working on other things now actually, so this is a definitely a "when I get to it." project.

No problems Tiny, don’t worry, time gets away from us at times. I’m finding it easier and more approachable to break things down a little rather than looking at a mass of troops and get depressed at the number I still need to do! It’s working so far so will see how long it lasts!

Today’s offerings to the hobby gods!

Managed to get these cleaned and assembled. The blade guard box were a gift last Xmas (oops) - and they have been bolstered by three lieutenants to make the squad up to a full 6 man team (although not sure I agree with this new fad - much prefer squads of ten or five - not sure why they have decided to change seems very uncodex to me!)

They can now move into the “to be primed pile” and await sunnier weather before progressing further!

I love the picture collages of 2025 progress, nice work throughout Mr Steve.

Cheers Ragsta thanks very much.

I some how managed another productive day, however it does just add to the pile of models that’s needs priming, but given the previous days build I thought it was a good opportunity to do some parallel painting in future and clear something else from the pile of shame.  Now these have been in the cupboard for about 20 years so it is about time that they got some loving. 

Painting progress was slow, but got the blue complete on two librarians and now basing in the remaining colours. These models are almost older than me and are from a classic time when books were carried into battle. I think they are lovely sculpts and will be a nice addition to the libraries when finished. 

And finally (sorry for the separate posts but I've been doing this in my phone and I haven't figured out how to interspace photos and text yet!).  Here are the completed epic tanks, all based and ready to be added to the display case. A few more marines to go and the epic Ultramarine contingent will be finished.  The base for the demolishes ties in with the other leman russ tanks (and the titans) whilst the Predators are progressing through a similar ruin to the Vindicators.  When/if I get round to doing some buildings they will be in a similar style to that which I used on the bases!

Well something went wrong today and there was a minor xenos infestation, thankfully it wasn’t too bad an incursion, but a number of larger creatures escaped into the priming area. Hopefully they will be easy enough to put down but for now they are roaming free.

And in case you haven’t guessed they are support for the tyranid combat patrol (maybe can’t call it that now)!

I should say it gonna be very strange combat patrol with Tyrannofex in it

Oh, I see you also have a GW archaeological dig as well. I periodically excavate mine for projects.
I have a Skulls Iwo Jima Diorama waiting in mine for over 20 years.

Heavy metal!

I like how the Librarians are shaping up and I look forward to seeing Calgar and the boys painted.

@kabaakaba - lol yeah your probably right, not the kind of thing you want to bump into unexpectedly! Tbh I don’t know the rules / limitations for combat patrol are monsters verboten?
@Tommygun1918 - yup that’s right, I dived into aladdins cave to see what wonders could be unearthed. I think there are a few more treasures in there that I will try to get through but they generally interfere with other ongoing projects (like finishing the company - which was the original goal when I started the blog).
I’ve finally managed to get hold of the Iwo Jima diorama as well (I think it is a great miniature), after many years of searching (and waiting for a reasonable price). It does fill me with a little dread thou trying to get all those arms arranged and then painted!!
@youwashock - heavy metal indeed, although not as bad as the old dreadnoughts - they are lethal weapons when dropped!

Yesterday’s painting effort was surpringly productive, kids were in bed early, house was tidied, partner was reading, so managed a solid couple of hours at the painting station. First priority was the librarians and it was finishing off the details on them, scrolls, books, chains, etc, before deciding how I was going to paint the swords. On the last two librarians (see pg 1) I had painted flaming swords which I really enjoyed so I went down that route again. I find that it is a fun little challenge, made a lot easier now i have a bigger range of paints to transition between and a wet palette to work from. I am happy with how they turned out and they got the thumbs up from the misses! So they can now move to the pile that needs to be based, which will likely happen when I get the rest of the tactical squad done (although I do seem to be finding excuses to work on other things!).
After the librarians I added a few more colours to the standard bearer, another fee thin layers of white on the banner, gold on the pole and then tidied up the blue. He is now probably ready for dry brushing the armour and getting that finished before I do any more details (or layers of white!)

You’re really going the full range of the latest sculpts and the oldest lead. Looking good!

@Nev - I think I’m just showing my age more than anything else, some of the old stuff just has more character - but is about half the size of some of the new models. Having said that the victrix are quite nice!

Managed to get a few layers on tonight, focused mainly on the standard bearer to try and get him done. In doing so I realised I don’t have a thin enough brush (OO doesn’t cut it) and I don’t have a steady enough hand even if I did have a thin enough brush (or probably good enough eye sight but the magnifying glasses help with that)! But all you can do is try and then tidy up your mistakes when you make them (and learn which colours/ layers to do first and which to do last)!

I have to say this model does confuse me a little. He is holding a banner, but has a tactical shoulder pad, and the banner looks “non-company” specific. So what is he- a company bearer or a chapter bearer? In the end I’ve decided to go down the company route, figuring that he must have proven himself in a tactical squad and has been promoted up from there. So he will have less bling and be more of an average trooper!

Alternatively, the old ancient just got killed, so the nearest tac marine picked up the banner for the remainder of the battle/campaign. There will be time to sort out promotions and insignia once back on the battle barge.

Some lovely old metal models there.

Always liked the skullz standard bearer (on reflection think I have one buried in my plastic/metal treasure pile somewhere...), as Nevelon said field promotion makes sense!

Rules are on warcom in download section. They very limited but sometimes fun to play. Psychophage allowed I think.

Darn, I love that old lead. I think some times to buy one or two recasts they pretty affordable locally, but I don't wand lone mini on shelf and I'm to young to collect lead army, except old IG guys. Vostroyans I'm looking at you..

@ Nev & Pious - yeah ok I will go with that narrative, field promotion following a stalwart defence of the banner, I like it - thanks.

@ Kabaakaba - I’ll check of warcom thanks. Some of the old lead is great, I usually try and keep an eye out for it on eBay but it rarely comes up, especially in an unpainted condition. I’m lucky that I’ve been around a while and have some older stuff, which I am finally getting round to starting! Some of the old imperial guard stuff is great, I have a few catachan and cadians knocking around, vostroyans deliberately avoided due to the fluffy hats and my aversion to painting them!

One of the (few) perks of being older then dirt is the classic lead hiding at the bottom of the Pile of Shame.

So tonight I managed to find an opportunity's (after the swimming lesson debacle) to sit down and engage in one of my favourite past times. The painting area was re-established (we have been using the dining table recently as the “in-laws” are here) a beer was cracked open and the water pots refreshed.

I think I’ve managed to wash and highlight everything now, just need a little more work on the base and it will almost be complete. The banner has had multiple layers of white (of various shades) to get to the stage it is at now, and I am happy with it. I’m also pleased with how the chaos banner on the base turned out, as the colour should stand out nicely once it is all done. I’m probably going for a grassy flock once I get to that stage which will tie in with the majority of the 2nd company.

I would be grateful for any comments or advice from you good folk.

Also I’m tempted to enter it in the monthly competition, which will be my first entry ever, so just need to get it based and dig out the unpainted pics!

Looking fancy! Great touch the chaos standard in the mud.

Looks awesome! And the chaos banner on the ground is a really neat touch!

Only comment would be a pretty minor detail I noticed, it looks like you've missed the bolter grip inside his hand?

@muette - thanks, I wanted the banner to stand out a little and I think I’ve managed it. Just means I will have to now paint up some chaos marines to come and wrestle it back!
@pious - yup your right, thanks for that I will need to go back and correct it next time.

Just seen some of the releases that have been previewed, and whilst nice I’m not really drawn to impulse buying any of them - which is a bit of a relief! The corsairs (red and eldar) both look really good, and I think that it is great they have updated Huron and provided a means of modelling an army with him. The Tarellian bounty hunter looks awesome, reminds me of an old world Saurus or Bossk the bounty hunter, I imagine there will be a kill team of them following soon! Marines tanks are good, but I have one or two already I need building so no point adding to that pile. Although I have always liked the look of the Fellblade, so never say never. The custodes (male and female) are the most tempting of the models on offer I still have those from the Burning of Prospero box to complete (start), but the dreadnought looks a thing of beauty and I have always been tempted to get one, hopefully it will be available outside the battle group box (some time in Q3 this year so I have some time to clear the decks a little!

Today I managed to get a little done on the tactical squad, all the base colours are now complete, and washes have been applied, the only thing left is to highlight the gold and silvers, put some effort and colours onto the plasma weapon and sort out the scanner. I think once these are done illl have a good number of models (20ish) to base so will have a session to get them all done. Then pictures and migrating to the cabinet.

I was also happy to see the arrival of my final Xmas present (thanks sis). I ordered a banner from Archie’s forge to add to him, and also picked up a second company one at the same time. He will be added to the prime pile for when the weather improves!

I had a good weekend, managed to finish the 5 tactical marines, so all that is needed to glue on the arms, get them based and then they are good to go.

Managed a trip into town as well so I’ve signed up for the painting challenge, pledged 25 to the cause so hopefully that should be doable over the next few months - I think I might do a few tyranids or epic models to increase the numbers quickly. I also acquired the latest freebie thats been given out, (actually got two as the misses picked up on as well), so will try and use a few skitarii parts to change one up a little.

Not sure what to put next on the painting table, there are four guardians I need to finish, the veterans squad (although I might leave them for the February painting challenge), some deathwatch or maybe another terminator or tactical squad…. Hmmm will have a ponder and see what strikes my fancy.

I've read the first two pages of your blog, and I'm enjoying it. Keep up the good work It's funny what a draw it is to try to make an entire Space Marine company. So many of us are doing it. I'm doing it too. I'm trying to make the entire Dark Angels 5th company, all firstborn marines. I'm happy to see that so far you are sticking with all firstborn marines for your Ultramarines 2nd company, too. Best of luck. How close are you to finishing your company, now? I still have to make and paint both assault squads, part of both devastator squads, chaplain, some 2 dreadnoughts, several sergeants, and probably so other stuff.

Hi Syro, glad you like it so far, a company used to be such a big target to achieve, collecting never mind painting, but with age comes wisdom and more models, but it is still a hell of a lot of painting to get through. I’m always impressed when I see other peoples efforts and so I’ve always held on to this dream of getting it done.
In terms of models, I have about 7 devastators (mainly heavy weapons to complete), and 3 tactical squads to do then I could technically say I’m done. (I have one more squad built and undercoated, a 2nd edition squad that needs resurrecting and then I need to figure out what bits I’m going to use to put the last one together - either mk7 or mk6) I should probably put together a proper command squad and get that painted as well - I recently got the 2nd company banner which I should do as well. Chaplains and librarians are all done, no lieutenants, but I do have an old school Sicarius I want to get done as well. All will be first born so no need to worry about that!!
Sounds like you are quite a way on with your company as well, and we probably have about the same amount of models left to paint. Going to see what I can do this year to move it along, but can’t see me managing to keep motivation for 3 tactical squads, but will have to see. I have managed to speed up my technique so will have to wait and see. When was the last time you managed a family photo of them all?

And just by chance as welll I snapped a photo tonight of the finished marines for the 3rd tactical squad, so just need to be based then they will be good to go!

Good work on squad. Old plasma da best. New one looks a bit naked of details.

Cheers Kabaakaba, it feels good getting this squad done, one down a few to go.

Managed to get a little time tonight, so put a few colours on the guardians, well actually was a couple of layers of white. I’m not the biggest fan of the white helmets I’m doing, they are a pain to get right, but never mind. Helmets are done now, and wash is applied to the armour so they just need highlights, and spot colours then they are done! Also decided that I’d continue with (2nd edition), he was on the painting tray and easy to hand so he had a bit of gold applied. I think once I’ve done the metallics on him, then all the cloth/robe/sash in yellow then he will a good portion through to being completed.

Once these are completed (it will probably be Feb so I will move on to the veteran squad), but if not I’m thinking the next tactical combat squad and probably some tyranids (barbgaunts) and tau (stealth suits) to mix things up a little and give me options. I do have 10 ,ore termagants I want to build then going to try and attempt some indoor priming (and hopefully not get caught by the misses!)

 JordySteve wrote:
Hi Syro, glad you like it so far, a company used to be such a big target to achieve, collecting never mind painting, but with age comes wisdom and more models, but it is still a hell of a lot of painting to get through. I’m always impressed when I see other peoples efforts and so I’ve always held on to this dream of getting it done.
In terms of models, I have about 7 devastators (mainly heavy weapons to complete), and 3 tactical squads to do then I could technically say I’m done. (I have one more squad built and undercoated, a 2nd edition squad that needs resurrecting and then I need to figure out what bits I’m going to use to put the last one together - either mk7 or mk6) I should probably put together a proper command squad and get that painted as well - I recently got the 2nd company banner which I should do as well. Chaplains and librarians are all done, no lieutenants, but I do have an old school Sicarius I want to get done as well. All will be first born so no need to worry about that!!
Sounds like you are quite a way on with your company as well, and we probably have about the same amount of models left to paint. Going to see what I can do this year to move it along, but can’t see me managing to keep motivation for 3 tactical squads, but will have to see. I have managed to speed up my technique so will have to wait and see. When was the last time you managed a family photo of them all?

Thanks Jordy. My last comment was going from memory, so I may have been over estimating. The last time I took a full army shot of my Dark Angels was a year and a half ago. The pic is near the end of page 54 of my blog, if you are curious. Unfortunately, I only have 3 sergeants painted. If I had 3 more painted, then all 6 tactical squads would be complete. I have 12 marines (no sergeants again) of the two devastator squads. A captain, a librarian, and a scratch-built dreadnought. No assault marines, no chaplain, and no command squad, which I probably need. So, 69 total painted Dark Angels, I still need to make and paint 41 marines and two dreadnoughts to complete my 5th company. It's a slog, and you may have to put it down and come back multiple times, but you may want to try batch painting those 3 tactical squads all at once. It feels great once you finally finished. I did 21 Dark Angels tacticals at once, one time. I don't know if I will even have time to add to my Dark Angels this year with how much else I already have planned, but I am planning to do group photos of each of my armies in March. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress of 2nd company (and 1st )


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Oh yeah. I also saw in the back ground of one of your photos that you have Asimov's Foundation series. I've heard good things. What do you think of it? Would it be worth adding to my already too big book collection that I don't have enough time to get through?

Love the old metal Librarians, I listed over them in many an issue of White Dwarf and the Citadel catalogues. You’ve certainly done them justice, especially with the hot effect swords. Not seen the banner bearer before but he’s coming along nicely now

@Syro - just looked at your dark angel stuff and they look great, on a side not your mental!! Painting 30 tactical marines in one go - that’s crazy! Very efficient thou and a great way to bash them all out, but wow you must need some staying power not to go a little nuts doing it! I find 5 at a time hard enough, I can extend that to 10 for termagants but thats cause I am using a simpler scheme! I might try and up the numbers just to get some of the basic guys done and out the way, maybe try my best at the next tactical squad I have ready to go! I’m going to try and batch all the remaining devastator heavy weapons, I think they are all built and primed so just need to schedule them in (and based on Nev’s advice might need to change them up a little)
lol don’t joke about the 1st company, I think I’m half way there by accident!
Asimov - Foundation, yes - great series, first couple of books are really good, goes a little off piste towards the end if I remember correctly, but still a really good read. And if you are wanting something else sci-if to add to the list, try E E Doc Smith the Lensman series, definitely worth it if you can find it, I’ve just started it again and it’s as good as I remember!

@gobert - thanks glad you like them, the old original reg/green/blue citadel catalogues were a treasure trove of models that I wished I could get but never managed to purchase. I’ve managed to source some over time, which has managed to satisfy my inner child! The standard bearer is an old skulls reward model, I think from the 90’s, he had been on my radar to try and get for a while.

Painting the past couple of days has been slowly progressing the guardians, one more left to dry brush and then on to highlights for the four of them. I’ve also been slowly working on another librarian (shock!) but this time it is chief librarian tigurius (pre primaris) getting sorted. I think all the base colours are done, wash has been applied to most areas and the yellow is now finished. I need to get the gold shining, and decide what colours to add to the staff to make it stand out (I’m thinking silver), but he is getting there slowly.

That OG Tigurius is such a great model and the paint job is looking real good too!

Very nice work there ! The yellow on Tigurius' toga is amazing !

Evening,I’m a big fan of the OG models and old school metal, the sculpts are good and there is something really satisfying about the weight of a metal model, (although not if you are trying to base some of them….!)

@Pious & @Sarpedon - cheers guys, I relay enjoyed doing the yellow, not something I would have considered a few years ago (ok a lot of years ago) as yellow had notoriously bad coverage, but new paints make it so much easier to get good coverage and nice shading/highlighting!

I managed to get him finished yesterday, and the four Eldar guardians on the paint station have been completed as well, (I may have had a brandy whilst doing them so no guarantees I didn’t miss something on them…..). They have now all moved to the base it pile, which is probably now at a stage where I need to do something about it (currently 20+ waiting to go). With all that completed I’ve decide what the next batch will be, 4 Tau pathfinders, 1 tyranid warrior, and finally the 10 veterans (my aim is to get them done for the monthly competition.

Evening, a bigger update than usual tonight, as I have managed to get through the basing pile, and then photograph them (some better than others), so apologies in advance for the photo dump. Also in another milestone of a personal first I have submitted my entry for the monthly painting competition (thanks for running it Nev!), I'm not hoping for much but kind of fun and helps steer the narrative a little on what needs to get completed next so that's quite helpful!

So here is the list of whats been based and added to the display cabinets:
- Tigurius, he has been in the too do pile for over 25 years now so it is good to finally get him completed.
- 1st Company Medic, my adaptation of brother Omnio for Ultramarine duties!
- 2x Librarians, with the completion of these 2 I now have 6 finished, with one (possibly 2) more to go.
- 3x Chaplains, this is all four of my chaplains now finished and ready for duty.
- 2nd Company Standard, my entry for the monthly competition, the old Skullz edition Ultramarine standard bearer, quite a nice model and fits in well with the rest of the company!
- 2nd Company Tactical squad, not the best photos, and I haven't added the little details (squad markings and chapter symbols) that I did on the last squad so i think I may need to revisit these at some point. But that is 3 done now, 3 more to go!
- 2nd Company dreadnought, he was painted in the 90's, and has now just been gorilla glued to base so he doesn't fall over! He weighs quite a bit, so I am slightly worried if he does fall over he might go through the glass shelf - but i hope not!
- 4x Eldar guardians, that is 8 now done and only 2 more to go, I think these are painted better than the first four, but I'm not sure the photos do them justice.

You’ve been busy Jordy! Love that medic terminator, neat little conversion

@gobert - thanks, glad you like it, it’s a new favourite of mine!

So for this months painting challenge I decided to try and complete the outstanding vanguard marine squad thats have been ignoring for the past few months. It would therefore make sense to start painting those models, but no, I decided to start/finish the tyranid warrior, and in all likelihood I will probably finish off the pathfinders before starting on the marines, which is crazy, but my slight OCD demands it, which means I might not finish the marines by the end of the month, but that’s a risk I’ll take!
Photos of the warrior (and probably pathfinders) will follow in the next day or so!

Nice collections of marines. Keep at it!

@Nev - thanks - trying my best to keep some momentum!!

Here is the tyranid warrior in all his glory, off to the basing pile!!

So it’s been a little slow recently, with a distinct lack of time for painting. The youngest has just started nursery and is a veritable plague monster at the minute. He has also decided that when he wakes at 3 in the morning for a feed it’s time to get up, so muggins is staying awake for 2 hrs trying to tire him out! Fun fun fun - it’s just a phase…hopefully a short one!

I have managed to get little bits and pieces done, 4 tau pathfinders are now complete (although the colouring in the photo isn’t the best - colours are all off slightly - I blame the camera man!), and I have managed to do some spray painting in the house (naughty but just about doable with out gassing out myself or the dog!), so the honour guard, Victrix guard, Calgars and tyranids are now all undercoated. Just starting to work on the vanguard models now for the monthly challenge and doing tidying on the first four. Really quite enjoying the models and no idea why I have put them off for so long. Hopefully be able to get bits done over the next week - if the little guy lows me sleep!!

When I first saw that pic of the pathfinders I instantly went back to the classic genestealer paint scheme. Wrong Xenos.

Kiddos are germ magnets. Nothing for it. Just get what rest you can and keep at it. Things will get better. Or differently bad. They joys of parenting!

Managed to settle down for some painting for an hour or so tonight, which was nice. Decided it was worthwhile starting on this months painting targets for the competition. I’ve tidied up and finished off the first four veterans, as you can see they are fairly ‘armless marines, but the majority of the work is done on them. Hopefully get the arms done tomorrow, then can start on the next four over the weekend.

Well it has been a busy weekend with the family, which translates to very little painting time. I did manage to complete the outstanding arms at the end of last week, and over the past two days I’ve managed to make a start on the next four marines. The blue is finished (shaded and highlighted) and I’ve just about finished the white. I’m finding the white such a pain to get good, consistent coverage, multiple thins coats is trying my patience but I’m almost there, one more to to get to then the white on all four will be done. They are starting to come together nicely and I can almost see the light at the end. I don’t think I’ll get all 10 done for the end of the month, but they won’t be far off (probably two short).

White sucks to paint.

Most of the white I do these day is base coated Grey Seer, an Apothecary White contrast wash, and then edge highlight with an actual white. A lot less trouble trying to get an actual white to cover and not end up looking chalky.

Keep at it! Get that paint down.

I’ve been using a similar method, a light grey (I think it is astronomican), followed by corak white and then a birght white (the name escapes me at the minute - I checked and I think it is White Star ) on top. Thin layers, followed by thin layers, and then thin layers to finish

Well the white is now done, or at least as done as it is going to be at the minute, I will no doubt look at it next time and add a layer or two more. Tonight was spent doing purity seals, and shoulder parchments - hooray! Next will be shoulder trims in gold and tabards in grey (or at least a few shades of grey).

And as it was a slow day at work, I’ve decided to do the (Tau) stealth suits and barbgaunts next - unless the monthly challenge intervenes and I have to think of something else to do. I’ve noticed that currently (by accident), I’m working three combat patrols at once so I might else well keep them all going at a slow pace alongside each other. I will have to figure out what to do with the marine one as well, my head says not ultramarines, so might try something more exotic (tbc and tbd), but it won’t be blood angles or imperial fists either!

Next month the compition topic will be “Space Marine” but I can’t promise what will show up for April. If you need help motivationg to paint something, when I ask for suggestions on what topics to put in the poll for the next month, feel free to toss loaded ideas my way. Just keep them open ended enough that you could interpret it for a wide selection of minis, both sci-fi and fantasy.

Mr Steve making steady progress on many precious things I see! I'm liking that apothecary terminator- they're the lifeblood of the Chapter so terminator armour makes alot of sense to me! Realise he's 1st Company of course.

That Tyranid Warrior looks good! Liking the blues on the chitin, nice work there.

You should read the Asimov Foundation series by the way- and thank you for the tip re. Lensman! It's weird, that's the second recommendation for that series I've seen in a week!

Evening all, been a productive little period for me, although I’m not going to manage to finish the full squad this month, I have 8 veterans completed and ready to be based, which is great progress for me, the other two I’ve started blocking in colours so hopefully won’t take too much to complete. Although I feel that is wishful thinking given I spent two hours painting today, and I would struggle to explain what I did, the misses says small details and I’m inclined to believe, but it doesn’t feel like it should take that long to do, I suppose I was working on four models at once so ….

I’m happy with how they have turned out (the photos are from my phone so apologies on the quality and lighting), I realise I do need to do 6 backpacks now, and that is a minor miscalculation on my part but never mind. I know they aren’t exactly codex complaint with the gold trim rather than white, but they definitely have the veteran, 1st company, vibe going for them.

 Ragsta wrote:

Mr Steve making steady progress on many precious things I see! I'm liking that apothecary terminator- they're the lifeblood of the Chapter so terminator armour makes alot of sense to me! Realise he's 1st Company of course.

That Tyranid Warrior looks good! Liking the blues on the chitin, nice work there.

You should read the Asimov Foundation series by the way- and thank you for the tip re. Lensman! It's weird, that's the second recommendation for that series I've seen in a week!

Cheers Ragsta, trying to keep a few things going to prevent blue (UM) burn out, it helps that the others are small combat patrols that I’m trying to complete, so relatively few models. I think the Eldar, Tyranids and Tau all have about 20 models left to do to complete their various patrols (maybe 30 each at a push if I want to get all the of the models I have done). It is nice dancing between them and playing with other colour schemes. The Tyranid Warrior was fun to do, and relatively simple, just have the other two to build now and will probably try and get them both done together. I also have a bit of a soft spot for the Tau so look forward to doing a few more of them, I now need to figure out how to translate the scheme up so that it is suitable for the bigger mechs!

The Asimov series is great, I read it quite a few years ago, the first few books I think are the best, much like the dune series tbh! Two recommendations for the Lensman series, wow not bad for something written in the 70’s! I’m just reading it again at the minute and really enjoying it, the first book starts a little slow, but once you get into them they are great!

Woop woop, after a few hours, a glass or two of wine and no interruptions it is done. Back packs complete, models based and all ready to go. Formal pictures to be sorted tomorrow but happy the models are all complete, plus managed to get the pathfinders and tyranid warrior based as well. Heading to bed late, I’m not sure if the baby (13 month old) is going to give me the sleep I need to function as a human but I’m wishing!

The other two veterans have had the gold applied and washes on the reds and racarth flesh. I need to do base colours on the faces, the wreaths (greens) and bolt gun metal. Haven’t started any highlights, but they are starting to come together.

One thing I have realised is that trying to display them is going to be a challenge as all the models for the squad are at conflicting angles and so there is not a hope of them being arranged uniformly! Not a tonight problem, but when it comes to adding them to the shelves my OCD will be an issue!

No painting tonight, but managed to get the camera out to take a few photos. I still haven't quite figured out how to get the best lighting or angles to make them look as good as they do in real life, so that is a bit of a work in progress for me. Unfortunately when i do figure it out I will probably have to take everything out of the cabinet and snap some proper photos of them. Any tips would be more than welcome!

Until then - apologies for the quality - but here are the pathfinders, tyranid warrior and the 8 completed veterans.

No painting tonight, but managed to get the camera out to take a few photos. I still haven't quite figured out how to get the best lighting or angles to make them look as good as they do in real life, so that is a bit of a work in progress for me. Unfortunately when i do figure it out I will probably have to take everything out of the cabinet and snap some proper photos of them. Any tips would be more than welcome!

Until then - apologies for the quality - but here are the pathfinders, tyranid warrior and the 8 completed veterans.

Multiple sources of diffuse light. And lots of it.

This can be as simple as taping some parchment paper over desk lamps. You can use just normal paper, but be careful on how hot it gets on the lamps. Parchment paper is designed for oven use, so less spontaneous combustion. A dedicated light box, either purchased or constructed, is more ideal. You can get a nice one for less the a box of marines.

The first thing I see looking at that pictures are the harsh shadows. You get those from single sources of bright light. By having multiple sources you get light from one lamp into the shadow of the other. By diffusing the light you get it coming in from a wider range of points, and not a single harsh spotlight.

The crop on the tyranid is good. We are getting more of the subject in the picture, less of the backdrop. Dakka likes to resize the pictures to the same size on the screen. So if the minis are only a quarter of the picture, they are going to be real small on the screen for people viewing them. You can use whitespace/background intentionally to frame the mini, suggest motion etc. But in general to show off your work, tighter crops are the way to go.

Brace your camera/phone to prevent blur. Tripods and such are the tool of choice, they make adapters for phones. But just resting on a box to eliminate sway from just holding the camera in the air helps. Ideally, set a time to take a pic a second or two after you press the button. This way the jostling of your finger on the trigger is removed.

Sometimes you need to half click the button to autofocus. Make sure you let your hardware do it’s thing. Sometimes you get blur from depth of focus troubles. If you are hypers zoomed in right next to the mini, there is no way you are getting both the tip of a sword and the face in focus at the same time. The easy answer is to take the photo from farther back, and crop in to what you want. The long answer involves things like shutter speed and f-stop. I used to know that magic mumbo-jumbo, but everything is automatic these days, so I’ve forgotten how it all fits together.