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Well, long story short when I decided to play Space Marines I wanted to jump straight in and paint a full company. About 1/2 way through I thought of making up a blog to show my progress and here are some test pictures while I get my boys lined up for your viewing pleasure: more details as I get this ball rolling. I welcome ideas on format, I was just going to go through the squads as I've numbered them. I'm also trying different lighting, flash etc. to get clearer pics. I even have a tripod so there's no shaky ticks on my part.



This would be (from left to right) the 3rd tac Sarge, the 2nd tac flamer, a bolter from 1st tac sqaud, and the 4th tac squad plasma carrier. A little dark but I'm messing with lightbulb distance and timing the flash. Also the arrangement so the focus stays true to them all.



This would be the sarge on his lonesome. I'm not sure if this pic is too large or fuzzy but I tried to zoom as close as the macro flower would get. That would be a lizardman head on his shoulder for quick I.D. and an old bolter side clipped and combied with a flamer.



And this last one is a little free-handing for the shoulder tabard(?) and squad number. A micro-pen was used on all of them for storing them together.

I guess I should ask if there's any sizing/cropping I can do to try to help the image out but I will be curious how many can be made to fit in a frame before it gets too crowded. 5? All 10? I will try to post more pics and update weekly/bi weekly. Thanks for viewing!

Alright I got the lighting better and so here is my 1st tactical squad

and I'll get more pics by Thursday so you can see the other sides as I go through the roster.

Thanks!

Here's another update with the 2nd tactical squad

and the 3rd squad

You may have noticed the first 3 squads have flamers and 2MLs/HB. They're the anti-infantry/horde part of the company. The 4th squad has the plasma for heavy infantry, while the last 3 squads will have the anti-vehicle. So most all comers lists will have one of the first 3 squads (whoever I feel should make an appearance), 4th, and 5th (f/ML, p/PC, m/MM).

and some of the 3rd tac sarge. I'm proud of him as the first two sarges had magnets to hold a flamer bit this guy I actually started cutting and gluing the bits together. It was an older bolter that I used.

The decal was put on and painted over to give each marine a more unique feel. I may still wind up buying some more bits to make the plainer bolter marines more 'ornate' with scrolls/salamander bits etc. Also touch ups (like some paint on the base) and a varnishing to protect the company

But at this point I decided to take some pics of something else so...

Forge World makes it better

Then I decided to post my wip of a TFC with a Lizardman Stego head cut up and partially finished.

I am tempted to put a hammer/anvil on the sides as it seems just a bit empty...thought that might make it busy too. Obvious WIP is obvious

And so another update:
the plasma squad for the Heavy Infantry/light transport

I am proud of my freehand on the tabard/litany bits.

The 5th with meltas

Yes, yes the sarges aren't done but then it wouldn't be a blog that updates now would it?

The 6th with meltas

and the wire is black so the 2 melta squads can be picked out at a distance without squinting at the roman numerals on the shoulder.

here's that FW rhino coming along nicely

And I do plan on drilling out the exhaust pipes, and getting some flames sometime this week. Which brings me to another mentionable, The next two weeks may see some more scrolls/flames/corsair cloaks added on so as to give the bolter marines more individual umph. Seeya next time!

One more time to the Forge Brothers!

The last tac squad - the 7th tactical squad is for light and heavy vehicles


and here's the first of 3 devastator squads

Close ups helped but still

And since I'm still priming the other 2 devs here's the 11th squad. The 1st assault squad has arrived!

Look! A flamethrower!


x2. So I have both kinds of Assault, anti horde burnanation and a little extra vehicle popping possibilities.


And so all who are following this are caught up to where I am now. Mostly done Tac squads, Assaults needing details, 5 sarges needing work, and another 2 dev squads to finish priming. The only other thing I can think of mentioning is waiting on bits like scrolls to add on to add variety and some flames on choice battle brothers. Oh! I also added some horns to the TFC to make it symmetrical but no pics as it needs more work to show any real difference.

Thanks for viewing and I'll keep at it.

No pics update:
I played an apoc game over the weekend and got all tacs, devs and assault at least 3 colors (green, black and red eyes ) with decals. I also got my second FW doors so 2 rhinos will be on their way to getting done. Still trudging along

Oh and here is the gallery to the game: it was 3100 points, 3 vs 3 and ended in a tie.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-23066-16617_Apoc%20Game%2005-15-11.html

Awesome job , keep the updates coming.

i cant beleive only one person has commented on this thread other then you untill now. this is awesome. liking the amount of posts and pics your getting on here really nice to see keep up the good work

Thanks you two. To be fair there are some really active blogs/threads in this area and I think within a day this'll be back on the 2nd or 3rd page. I'll try to get some more work in and pics of the dev squads on Thursday.
Thanks to all who view this thread

chin up, this is only on page 1 when you get to 3-5 , people start viewing more anyway

I like the highlights and the use of lizardmen bits to include the stormshield thats a saurus shield

Look forward to seeing more, Salamanders are one of my favorite chapters.

So instead of painting I drilled and magnetized my dreadnoughts
So here's the Ironclad and Venerable


and thus the AoBR as GW intended them (plus some reforging work )


And this would be the Ironclad with both DCCWs and Venerable with PC and DCCW. I haven't gotten to drilling all the SB/HF holes but it is on the list of things to do. Also those bits are going to be magnetized as well.


And now switching it up for AC DCCW and tl LC CF


and now the rifledread and just showing off the benefits of magnetizing



So yes, the Salamanders rescued this black and white dread from a destroyed chapter (read as sold as lot) as well as a wrecked LR (read as no weapons model needing TLC) which if I don't paint again, THAT may get onto the thread. I switched up some Venerable/Ironclad bits to enhance the plain janes and will later add some scrolls and other Salamander iconography to them all. But for now MAGNETS FOR THE WIN!

Company update:

Still waiting on bits so I tried adding some things to the dreads and rhinos. So for my sanity here's a listing of everything I have done and needing done

HQ wise I have a number of models but no desire to paint them...
Libby plain, Libby in TDA. Four chaplains- 2 old school chaps, one with JP and another in TDA. I may have too many Then I have the MotF on bike. Don't worry, he's magnetized so he can get a bike or foot it.

Here's his back from the apoc game. He is getting closer to what I want done but still needs work. The servo arms need to be fleshed out so as not to look like 2 cross beams. I also need to assemble the Captain and magnetize his command squad so they can hoof it or get on bikes.

Tactical Squad 5 done, 1-4,6-7 needing bits/flame work done

Devastator Squads 8, 9 and 10 are nearing done paint wise but still need bits and basing. They had my attention since the last update.

Assault 11 may get some bits and 12 still needs details paint wise and basing

6 rhinos assembled, 2 needing CH stuff, 1 has been painted. I need another to finish the lot

5 Dps, 3 for troops and 2 others are assembled. I'm debating whether to get some CH icons or make some for them

Mk I Razorback is assembled but needs the weapons magnetized

TFC needs work as does the Techmarines/servitors. None prime/painted

I need FW bits for 20 termies as well as another 5 assault terms to buy

Dreads are getting done, I just need to decide what Salamander bits to throw on

20 scouts are primed and some are painted green (10 snipers, 10 CC)

Land Speeder Storm needs to be assembled

Two LRs assembled but need some bits glued on before I prime

A vindicator mostly assembled but needs bits before the priming can be done

Maybe on Thursday I can get everything together for a group shot. My biggest issue is just getting all the bits together but as I'm low on funds it's been slow going. Still I'm trudging along and that's all that matters.

awesome dude! Really liking those customs!

Great work here. Are you planning on doing the Salamander specials from IA 10? I've just acquired a pile of lizardmen bits to do up some Dragon Warriors, interested to see if they gel with marine figs. Keep at it, and don't be dispirited by lack of (apparent) interest; remember there's a lot of lurkers, in p&m especially.

So here's the raw company pics and I'm sad I couldn't get the lighting better. Oh well...

Any questions? I did do some more basing and painting on the assault squads and they're basically 95% done. Just need to paint some rocks and the sarges' details.

That is a lot of marines. Nice work.

who is the guy in the middle of the second picture? he looks really quite cool

That would be my WIP Master of the Forge on a bike. His upper body and arms are magnetized so I have the option to foot it and change his weapon load-out.

Yes the servo arms move, I just need to round them out so they aren't so flat. And put clamps/drills etc on the ends. I pulled them from a VCR so I think they were part of the rewind/fast forward mechanism. Some tank ant. bits and 3 plasma pistols make up the welder and flamer on that harness; plus some wires wrapped around the back for effect. I may mess with the facebits some more as it doesn't seem right yet...maybe wait and prime it to see if that changes it.

Also, I'm still waiting on those purity scroll bits for my company so I may take some time before posting again...scratch that, I can load pics of the devs that I worked on later.

And here are some better painted devastator squads

Squad 8 (dev 1) have 4 HBs for the AI work.


Squad 9 (dev 2) AT with 2 LC and 2 PC for lighter armor and heavy troops.


Squad 10 (dev 3) Mostly light armor with 2 PC and 2 ML. I have some MMs in the wings


There are some MLs and MMs in the wings to replace any if needed I tried magnetizing but the arms were too finicky to place properly. I've also since painted the eyes and am getting ready to finish the basing with purple rocks/crystals. I'm still trying to decide how to mark the squads so that there are servo skull toting marines in each squad. I just realized looking they're all in the last dev squad I posted up. Oh well, trudging on.

They look good and you sure have an impressive amount.

But why the crazy squad numbers? I thought the Salamanders were a Codex Chapter?

Taken from lexicanum.com:

Although the Salamanders follow the Codex Astartes, they nonetheless also follow the doctrines of their own Promethean Cult. The Promethean Cult places high emphasis on self-reliance, self-sacrifice and loyalty. Symbols of the forge - such as fire and hammers - are prominent throughout Promethean iconography. As such, Flamers, Melta Weapons and Thunder Hammers are widely used throughout the chapter. As one can imagine, this preference for Flamers and Meltas leads to a strong affinity among the Salamanders for close-range firefight when in combat. Because of their early training as blacksmiths, all Salamanders are fully capable of maintaining and performing moderate repair on their weapons and armour, leaving the Chapter's artificers with the free time necessary to create great works of technology and metallurgy. As a result, the Salamanders Chapter has an unusually high number of Master-Crafted Weapons and Artificer Armour. The Chapter also favours the use of Land Raider Redeemers.

In an interesting example of juxtaposition, however, the fluctuating gravity of Nocturne makes training with certain units such as Land Speeders and Bikes difficult, therefore the chapter makes little use of them, in favour of Devastator squads and Terminator Squads (the chapter has 120 veterans as opposed to the typical 100).

Indeed, it is fitting that Salamanders be lacking in the way of Fast Attack, as for some inexplicable reason, they naturally have slightly slower reflexes than most Space Marines. It should be noted though, that their reflexes are still significantly faster than those of a normal human. Also, as a result of a reaction between their genetics and the high levels of radiation on Nocturne, Salamanders battle brothers have dark or jet black skin and bright, burning eyes. This frightening appearance is entirely superficial, but has intimidated more than one rebellion into submission without firing a shot.

Trained never to give up or retreat, Salamanders are capable of going on when their entire squad is dead, holding positions for months on end. This is one of the more significant effects of Promethean doctrines upon the Chapter's collective psyche. Additionally, instead of having 10 companies, the Salamanders have only 6 companies of marines in addition to a small company of about 60 scouts.



So the Chapter tries to have something like 720 marines at any time and another 60 in training. While this means fewer companies to pull from, each Salamander company has more to give and with better equipment to boot. That was another reason I really like their fluff was the upkeep and veneration of the various machine spirits plus the Promethean Cult helps explain the four chaplains I possess

I see. All right, you got me, I'm not really that knowledgeable in the Codex Chapters area.
Thanks for the enlightenment and keep up the good work.

So all the bits I was waiting for all showed at the same time and I'll be busy converting and painting for a while. I hope to get a large number down and have pics uploaded by 06/21 at the latest. Here's to a solid workload

Sorry to say the hobby went on the sideline for problems that shall remain unsaid. I'll try to get some painting done for an apoc game on July 10 so I should feel the pressure to paint stuff.

Here's hoping things sort themselves out.

hope things get sorted

Do you have plans for basing them? That's the one thing that really sticks out as lacking. It would add a lot, imo.

Good luck!

Cheers,
Rawson

Well, the assault and devs still need basing but if you look at the Tactical squads you can make out the volcanic (black) sand and purple crystals.

mrwhoop wrote:Well, the assault and devs still need basing but if you look at the Tactical squads you can make out the volcanic (black) sand and purple crystals.

Oops, sorry! From here the volcanic black looks exactly like regular plastic bases

Cheers,
Rawson

What a productive week I've had. I still have to green highlight and base the little purple 'crystals' but thee squads are coming along nicely.
1st Dev squad with 4 HBs

I mixed up MLs and PCs but it works out as I can't number their shoulder pads like the tactical squads.

2nd Dev squad with 2 LCs and 2 MLs

3rd Dev Squad with 4 PCs


And I managed to base coat some Dreadnaughts!

Here's the plain jane AoBR Dread...rocking a Salamander Hide! Yes I will com up with names/back stories for these entombed warriors.




Followed by the Rifle Dread. I gave him the front plate with 3 bullets because he's earned them. He has not failed to bring something important down. Yes he's missed but with that much ammo it'll get the job done at some point.

Next up is the hard hitting Ironclad - which hasn't seen close combat but they can't all be winners. Maybe his Salamander Hide is a hand me down from the previous occupant

And the most venerable,er Venerable Dread which is pulling the Cathedral look together quite well.



So there you have it. I take some time off and I can still get the company rolling forward again. Thanks for viewing