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Ah, fascinating! That's stronger than I thought. So I gather that Vigilators and the like fall under a siiiimilar category? What other sorts of HQ choices are available? Hehehe Para why don't you just teach me the entirety of 30k's rules

Basically, Praetors are a bit better than Captains and have the Rites of War available (as do certain other units, notably Primarchs and some characters), Centurions are more in line with your 40k Librarian or Chaplain in terms of stats, though a bit cheaper before options as they don't have Power/Force weapons as standard. They can then by upgrades to make them better at specific roles; traditional ones like Chaplain, Librarian and Master of the Forge (or thereabouts) are available, and then there are more specific ones such as Vigilators (snipers), Siege Breakers (anti-tank/building specialists), Moriats (dual pistol jump pack gunslingers, properly badass) and Master of Signals (comms specialist that buffs reserves/artillery and such). A kitted out Centurion will run you between 90-130 points, a Preator is more in the 140-200 range once you throw in gear.

Those two basically cover your 30k HQ options, and between them can fill most roles. As for the rest of the army, a quick rundown of what goes where:

Elites is chock-full of cool stuff. Veteran Tactical Squads, Terminators, Seeker (essentially Sternguard) Squads, Apothecarian and Techmarine detachments, Dreads in several flavours ect.

Troops are built around Tactical Squads (10-20 men, no weapon upgrades), Support Squads (5-10 men, can ALL take specials or heavies but must take the same type), Assault Marines (10-20 again) and Breachers (10-20, boarding shields as standard).

Heavy and FA are about as you'd expect. Tanks and arty in the former, speeders, bikes, jetbikes and flyers in the latter.

More than happy to answer any more specific questions if you have them, in here or via PM if you don't want to clog up your thread.

No, no, I wont ask any more of you. Thanks a million for that rundown - when I get into 30k i'll do so proper style, and get up to speed meself, but your fill-in has been massively helpful. 30k certainly seems an awsome platform for exploring SM armies beyond the level in 40k, and has more variety for playstyles. I've been meaning to get into 30k for the last couple months, but monetary limits are holding me back. But soon...soon
Again, thanks a million for all your help and offerings Paradigm

This stuff rocks. I've been long struggling to get a blue for my own ultramarines which I like. Your's is pretty darn perfect. Do you mind sharing how you get your blue like it is? Cheers!

Your painting has come a long ways since when you first started this plog lips. Good to see you're still at it after all this time and really enjoying seeing your army take shape. The army shots a few pages back are especially great.

Excellent paint jobs. Your ultramarines are coming along beautifully.

Slightly jealous that you have got a shelf to display some stuff going on... I've been wanting to do that with some of my better models for a while, but all my stuff still sits in foam out of sight :(

@timthehierodule Thanks man! My blue is like my sacred recipe haha and i'm glad to share it - It starts with a Macragge blue base, followed by a drakenhof nightshade wash. Next I layer macragge blue again, leaving the wash in the recesses. Then I do edge highlights with pure altdorf guard blue, followed by the same thing but with a 50/50 mix of altdorf guard blue and space wolves grey. finally I do a very thin, rather faint and reduced 25/75 highlight of the same, and lastly a small dot of pure space wolves grey on corners and the sharpest edges. Occasionally, if the colour looks a little off, I bring it all together with a Guilliman blue glaze. Hope this helps!

@Eggroll Means the world hearing this from you man. Thanks a bunch. Had a hiatus or two in recent times but i'm back in the hobby and stronger than ever

@Warboss_Waaazag You're too kind. Thanks a million

@Mad.. Yeah, its a pleasant addition to my room. I wish I could say I built it but it was merely acquired for a bargain price of NZD$10

Soooo vuala!
Finished the 2nd bunch of guys. Rather pleased with the result, the 7 finished guys are looking very consistent on the shelf in front of their rhino. Having trouble nailing the outside photos lately, they just aren't coming out like they used to. I've been taking photos at ~6:30pm lately which I suppose is too late in the day, but these photos were taken around 12, and something in my opinion is just a little off. I believe 3-4 is supposed to be the prime time, so I should really try around then. Going to surge through the final three and they'll be done. After this I may start work on these two boys for Paradigm's painting comp - as I fear with the Christmas dates and all, my DKOK will arrive too late. but we'll see. Built this plasma guy yesterday and I reckon his pose is pretty neat, but would love to hear what you guys think

LDP

Wow.

Love the UM Space Marine game champ shoulder. Can that work for any chapter?

Those UM are beautiful.

Looking great LDP

@Stormwall Cheers bud I assume you mean the cloak arm? If so then yes, it works with all SMs, is the MK4 Captain arm that normally holds the helmet, though I precariously cut that away and threw a grav pistol and combat shield on instead

Also good to hear from you again ayoku, thanks for tuning in

Fantastic work as always LDP. Your clever posing and excellent freehand get loads of mileage out of standard tactical marines. Each one looks totally unique while still being tied in to the unit.

Those Tac Marines are gorgeous! I love seeing the older armor marks used in 40k (at least I'm assuming that plasma gunner and captain/champ are for 40k)

Amazing stuff as usual! The poses have just been brought to life by the paintwork, and consider that 'hand over bolter' pose nicked for one of my HH guys...

Cheers BC, that's a cool way to look at it. I suppose in a way that's the aesthetic i'm trying to pull off so i'm glad you perceived it as such

War Kitten, yeah man they are being used for 40k - at the moment if you like those two boys I think you'll enjoy tomorrow's update, or you'll have seen it practically already if you're up to speed with Para's painting comp

@Para my man! Thanks a bunch buddy, and go crazy! Looking very much forward to your iteration glad I could give you some posing ideas seeing as iirc you were struggling for some after having so many unique lads of your own

Love that grav gunner in particular, but they're all looking fantastic.

EDC

What is your recipe for your gold trim work? it's beautiful!

Thanks EDC

@Master Azelle my gold recipe goes as follows:
-Base the gold area with black
-Layer the entirety with scorched brown
-Same again with Warplock Bronze
-Highlight with Gehenna's gold
-Edge highlight with Auric Armour gold
-Edge highlight again with Mithril Silver
-Wash Agrax Earthshade
Hope this helps

So, the tactical squad is done! Very pleased with their cohesive look, and looking forward to what's ahead. Have a game scheduled against Knightley on the 20th and am planning to do a thorough batrep on it, and want to field a fully painted army. I have roughly 6 or 7 models that need painting for me to have my list fully painted, 5 of which are this command squad that i'm also painting for Para's painting comp - and let me just say, The swordsman with the storm shield is one of my favourite kitbashes that i've ever done, and I can't wait to get painting on him . The remainder is a devastator or two that i'd like to paint so that I don't have to counts-as for the game. This said, however, the CS plasma gunner will count as a PP and PW on the day of the game, but I feel these loadouts aren't massively different - so i'm letting it slide . Anyway up next is this command squad. I have ~9 days to paint them and then the devs if I have time. Its an ambitious project especially considering that I want to give them the best paintjobs of which i'm capable - so if I find myself struggling and under stress, I will abandon the goal and stretch it to the end of the month for the comp, but ideally I want them good for the game. Anyway, enough rambling - here's the eye candy you're all here for

LDP

The Tacticals look great, normally not a fan of ultras but yours always look stunning. I can see why you love your swordsman so much, he is definitely going to be jaw dropping when he is finished. The command squad came out really well done. They don't look cohesive but when painted I'm sure they will be.

The finished Tac squad looks splendid.

The new command squad is simply stunning, they're going to looks great painted.

EDC

This guy

This guy right here is why I love your blog so much, he oozes character and I hope you paint him next

Great consistence on such a high quality paint job over a whole squad! They look fantastic!

Looking forward to the command squad next. Knightly pretty much sumed it up.

@Spacewolverine Thanks a lot man I'll do my best to make em look cohesive
@EDC Thanks as always buddy - yeah, i'm keen to see the finished product and can't wait to get some solid paint on them
@Knightley Maaate i'm flattered you know me well enough to know that character is what I live for, and yes i've begun painting him already - like I said maybe my favourite model i've ever assembled
@Zambro cheers buddy

Cracking stuff as ever! Love the conversions and the Tactical Squad is amazing!

Very nice work as usual. Love the alterations you make to each model to get much more dynamic poses.

Looking forward to seeing your latest models painted up as they already look sweet as unpainted minis, I think my favourite of the newest bunch is the one with hammer on its shoulder, although Knightley's pick with his massive shield is great too!

Wow, you're Ultras are beautiful. Loving that Tac squad and the mix of FW Heresy stuff used for the others as well. Fantastic stuff.

Your UM look amazing, mate! I'm very impressed by the quality but especially over how far you've come since I browsed through the earlier parts of the blog. You've clearly got a great eye for builds and kitbashes of Marines, and you're able to follow-up with paintwork that does them justice.

@Para Cheers matey
@Mad Thanks a bunch man, yeah i'm looking forward to painting them all I'm a fan of the hammer guy as well, he means business with that pose but Knightley's favourite is mine also I have to say
@Adamski Alders Thanks a lot mate! Cheers for tuning in
@Azazelx Thanks a million - very kind words Yeah i'm properly ashamed of the start of my blog hahaha, I feel like it puts people off the better stuff later but its very good for perspective and like you've said, reminds me of how far i've come Thanks again.

So! Knightley - you're in luck with your hopes that i'd paint the shield and swordsman first, because how could I resist
Here's the first one of the squad done - I belieeeve i'm just about on schedule but it'll be bloody hard to maintain...but we'll see how I go - also, even harder because some death korps arrived the other day and I did up a test model and feel like somethings missing...obviously the base isn't done because I can't decide whether to do it usually or the grey basing I used for my IG. If anyone has any tips to spice the guy up, please let me know!
On to the plasma gunner next, and then probably the hammer after that

Stay tuned! Would love yer feedback!

LDP

That Veteran looks so gorgeous. Really good work

Wow, that sword and shield Ultra looks immense. Such beautiful painting and intricate details on the shield especially.