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Is there a shoulder pad for the team total badass? Every team needs one of them!

Gitsplitta wrote:
Limbo: It's not a spare tech marine for every unit, it's that one member of each unit has a certain amount of tech training (though well beyond a normal marine), as well as another with apothecary training. Has to do with their need to survive w/o recruits or re-supply. It's in the fluff section if you're interested. Basically they can perform triage on men and machines that improves their chances of surviving. In game terms it doesn't do anything, just part of my fluff. Something to set the chapter apart.

Makes sense, I'll go back and read the fluff, sorta skipped ahead cause I really wanted to see the test figures ^^

On another note, read your Doom Eagle blog, loved it all the way through. Me and my friend started playing and painting about 6 months ago, and it's sorta disheartning to see a 9-year old pull ahead -.-

Today's offerings...

1. Finished conversion: added sling, marksman award, decided to save purity seals for later. Also decided to add spiky bitz after the fact as it's much easier to blend without them. Building the gun was fun, getting it to fit in a natural pose with the arms was not.
2. Yellow spray primer.
3. 2 layers of sepia wash.
4. First color-up (golden yellow).



5. Next lightest shade (2/3 golden & 1/3 sunburst yellow)
6. Lighter still (reverse above, then all sunburst)
7. Final product after highlighting w/ Bad Moon Yellow (do they even make this color anymore??)

Awesome sauce.

While I like the pose for the most part, I would suggest tucking his head slighlty down and forward towards his right shoulder to suggest he is looking through the scope.

While it looks like that would work from this angle, it's deceptive. In actuality the head is much too far away from the scope (and too far forward) to be set correctly behind the scope. I figure marines have a head's-up display anyway, so the "scope" is really more of a video feed than something they look directly through. I have another conversion like this one where the head is in a better position... but since our modern army is moving in this direction (video from gun to heads-up), I figured it was a tech the space marines would have as well. I might even do a tiny little antenna on the back of the unit & on the instrument package of the helmet to make my point..


Question:

Gun color? Anyone have any ideas on what would go good with these guys?

Black and boltgun metal highlighted with chainmail is always good.

I agree... that's my standard formula for space marine weapons too, with orks I use a tin bitz base instead of black and wash with sepia to give it a very slight rusty patina look.

I was wondering more about the "hood" or whatever you call it and the flash suppressor/silencer. Should I mimic the paint job on the marine, color and camo... or do something totally different?

Suppressor should either be the color of the gun to the color of the casing on the gun (ie, black). And what hood?

Casing... that was the word I was looking for.... not hood.

With your colors I'd go with black or the same "metal" color as the rest of the gun (like the BT in the How to paint SM book you got for thing 1). Red looks good with a dark green, not sure how they would look with the light green and yellow

Red with dark green looks like christmas...

"Red and green should never be seen..."

Meh, red is good with green in small amounts.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Gitsplitta wrote:I agree... that's my standard formula for space marine weapons too, with orks I use a tin bitz base instead of black and wash with sepia to give it a very slight rusty patina look.

I was wondering more about the "hood" or whatever you call it and the flash suppressor/silencer. Should I mimic the paint job on the marine, color and camo... or do something totally different?

I am sorry, I seem to have confused you. When I said the word "black", I was saying that black bolter casings look good.

Here are the results of last night's efforts. Painted detail on marine and gun. Started with a very dark gun (black/boltgun metal w chainmail highlights) and it just didn't look right next to the yellow marine... so I went with the "camo" color instead. The gun still needs to be washed & highlighted and will get the same black striping as the marine will get. I should start the striping tonight or tomorrow night... depending on when I get the nerve. We'll see.

Lovely yellow, I wasn't a big fan of the camo scheme on Lexicanum, but I can't wait to see your's finished

Thanks! It's a bit brighter than I'd anticipated... maybe I should have held off on that last highlight w/ Bad Moon Yellow. Sure "pops" though. For some reason all of my yellow paints are really glossy, much more so than the greens on the earlier figure... when it's done and I hit it with a good dull varnish, it might tone it down a bit...

Right now I'm kicking around how I'm going to do the base. I can base it like the rest of my army, or I could try to base it in a way that the camo makes sense... yellow desert with yucca or agave type plants around. Course these guys aren't fighting in the Tranquility Campaign any more.... but I did think it might help put them in context when the rest of the army was green. I don't really want to "Tranquility base" the entire army as I think that would be a tremendous amount of work.

Any thoughts?

I'd do the same basing as the rest of your army, it gives them a sameness throughout. If you do a different base people will think they are from a different chapter and you ran out of green guys. Its not like most space marines really blend in with much of anything.

Truely impressed. Thank you for sharing your hard work and cant wait to see more.

Never has one man spent so much time modeling and painting a simple beakie...

I just want to state for the record that by the time I'm done with this entire squad, you young guys will all be retired with bouncy grand-children on your knee, and I will be long dead. I will however, still be painting feverishly in my grave... and each Halloween the Great Pumpkin will rise from the most sincere pumpkin patch, and place a single, pristine Tranquility Sniper on my grave stone... along with a written request for the next strongest lens for my optivisor...

Ah, I can't wait to see actual mantis warrior snipers from the tranquility campain. This'll be sweet...

Here 'tis....



Oops... damn.... forgot to paint the rock under the leg. I'll get that.

I'll admit I was a bit iffy before - but that turned out great, nay, awesome! I'd do something with the white (studs, cross) - it looks unfinished. Maybe some grey to shade? Oh, and the rock - but you knew that already. Keep up the great work!

If i may make a suggestion as par mantis warriors stuff. www.belloflostsouls.net has a .pdf fan boy codex about the badab war and there's a lot of mantis warrior stuff in it. B.t.w. the snipers look great. i can't wait to see a complete squad.

Arakasi: I have some Valejo "pale wash" that should do the trick... thanks for pointing that out. I've been so obsessed with the camo pattern and shading of the yellow that I spaced the studs.

Warriors of Mayhem: I printed down a copy of the BoLS Badab Dex & have really enjoyed reading it... and there's no questions that it's influenced my thoughts on the MW's. In the end, I decided to go a different way... but it's not because I "rejected" the BoLS codex as much as I just had to follow my own star (so-to-speak). Thanks... I'll be working on this squad until it's done... that should take me... oh... longer than I want to think about. (sigh)

Next I'll move on to the Vanguard squad which will be a lot of fun to model too. Probably then the HQ (or at least some of it). My plan is to do the "showcase" or unique units first, and use them with my existing MW army, then slowly replace my old figs over time with new ones. That way I get a playable, charachterful MW army very quickly and can take my time on the rebuilds and repaints of the other units, so everything looks as good as I can make it when it's all said and done.

"Last star to the right... then straight on 'till morning!"

He's a bit shiney, but otherwise looks great! Not sure what that would actually blend in with, but looks good none the less!

Looks awesome! Wasnt a big fan of the Yellow at first but the Camo really makes it work. Great work

Beautiful my friend.

Love the tranquility sniper. Nice work my friend.

Thanks guys... I feel like I've given birth. I know the last two guys aren't much compared with the other work on Dakka... but they are by far the best marines I've ever painted, and I really appreciate everyone's guidance and support throughout this process. Now all I need is 9 more of 'em. ... *sigh*

Can anyone recommend a nice flat finish spray-protectant? He'd look better with the glare gone.