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After about twenty years of wanting to create my own custom Space Marine chapter I finally got motivated to do so last year shortly after the latest Codex Space Marines was released. Inspired by the Mechanicus themed tanks I had turned out the summer before, I decided to contstruct a chapter with a similar paint scheme.

The Spears of Ares is a chapter with close connections to the Adeptus Mechanicus and whose names, symbology and history are aligned with what they've been able to learn of classical Greece through the mists of time leading up to the 41st millenium. Ares is of course the Greek god of war and his Roman name is Mars, so my chapter name provides the essential connections to both ancient Greece and the Adeptus Mechanicus that I wanted for this army.

Chapter Master Minos of the Spears Of Ares Space Marine Chapter is armed with a Thunderhammer and Storm Shield. In the classical Greek traditions adopted by the chapter, all Thunderhammers have spear points in place of hammer heads and the shields are round like the Hoplites of old. Terminator troopers have abstract mosaic patterns on their bases while characters have pictures like the bull shown here.


I converted this Venerable Dreadnought to the Spears Of Ares theme. All the models in this army have mosaic tile basing with tiles of various sizes. For the Dreadnoughts (there are five so far) I've used large tiles on the bases. I used the plain front plates on the Venerable's sarcophagus so that I could customize his decorations. One plate has a Hoplite painted on it, the other the chapter's cog symbol cut from thin plastic card. The skull on the cog was cut from one of the Crux Terminatus symbols that come with the Venerable Dreadnought kit. The Venerable Dreadnought carries a huge spear like the Hoplites of old. The spear is built from plastic rod, thick plastic card and Apoxie Sculpt. The Dreadnought's Greek Corinthian style helmet is converted from the Warriors of Chaos sprue. The molded decorations on the vertical portion of the right shoulder were covered with thin plastic card and then the Greek key pattern was hand painted onto it, white over black. The alternating black and white patterns seen throughout the model are meant to echo the pattern used so often by the Mechanicus on their badges. This model was featured on the March 22, 2010 "What's New Today" post on the Games Workshop website.


The Mechanicus inspired color scheme is played out again throughout these Land Speeders with alternating black and white patterns on control surfaces and areas of the hulls. Drivers have the Mechanicus badge pauldrons from the vehicle accessory sprue. The Hoplite theme plays out in the converted horsehair crests of the drivers and the Greek style pillars and mosaic basing of the flying stands.


The cog-like fan housings in the Vindicator kit made it easy to execute the Mechanicus-related paint scheme for my Spears Of Ares Space Marine chapter on this Linebreaker Squadron. Also note how the pattern on the Siege Shields interlocks from vehicle to vehicle when the command vehicle is in the center.


I already have about 3,000 points worth of models painted for this army with a lot more planned. If there is interest, I will post more pictures in the near future. Thanks for looking. Also note that I have a gallery on dakkadakka for this army and other projects.

Gotta say I love this idea... paint scheme is really nice and the hand painted symbols are fantastic

Wow. Beautiful models. Are you writing an IA article for them?

Keep em coming! Wonderful stuff there man. I have an art background (well, tons of stuff in HS and some in college) and can't do freehand symbols to save my life....

Moar please! These guys are sick!

Well done sir.... I really like where you went with this. A++

Very cool!

Congrats on the GW feature!

Amazing work. I really want to build out a full chapter too.

I thought that dread looked familiar

Nice

The dread and the super heavies the paint scheme is based off of look even cooler in person. Keep up the awesome work!

Pretty cool, and very striking colour scheme. Well done!

I like..!

I'm digging this army. I do have a question/suggestion: what are you planning to do with the tiles? Consider painting a marble effect. It's what I'm planning and I think
if you can pull it off it would really suit the Grecian aesthetic.

Thanks for the great feedback. Here's another photo. This one shows the "Titanhammer" formation for the army as well as a Dreadnought, Tactical Squad and Commander Minos. All models in the army have mosaic tile bases, different units have different size tiles. All Thunderhammer Terminators have spears and round shields and each squad has a different animal on their shield. A larger version of this image is in my Dakkadakka Gallery for this army.

Nice stuff!

Awesome, dude!! Fantastic concept, is it possible to see a full army shot?

I love the designs on the bases!

Wow I can't wait to see these in person in Annapolis when I get back. They all look amazing.

Nice use of classic greek graphic language, well applied.

Amazing! Heading over to your gallery right now!

Here's a shot of my Sternguard Squad for the Spears Of Ares. The black and white split helmets distinguish them from ordinary tactical squads. There are four combi weapons in the squad, three combi-melta guns and one combi-plasma. As always in this army the unit has tile bases with a distinguishing pattern.

Those Sternguard are masterfully painted! The black and white really help to break up the models and give them a veteran feel. Like the cog pattern on the bases as well, awesome!

Wow. Do the Sternguard come posed like that, or did you have to do it yourself? Those are some of the most dynamic looking minis I've ever seen.

I'm pretty sure they're just stock models, i could be worng though!

What about more roman-ish look?? Like making some muscle like looking armour (sangiugunary guard or whatever are they called?) for some characters or what about some hair on helmets (that thing that centurions were marked with)

One thing i dont like much is dreadnought carrying a spear. Its original but i wonder how do you represent its abilities ingame. How penetrating a chaos landrider with a spear sounds cool.

These are really clean in a great crisp paint job with wonderful freehand looking forward to more!

I like the stern guard

Great stuff as always!

Perhaps we'll get a game in someday!

Valete,

JohnS

I really like this, i am going to do the Sons of Antaeus, which is a trial of heracles guy.