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Okay, so I'm doing up a Celtic themed Space Wolves army as my first major army (my first army is a bunch of savage orcs that I thought were cool looking.) I've got some robey marine torsos and I want to do the robes as space wolf color tartans and paint their actual armor a sort of rustic irony color. What say ye? I'm not sure if it'll look too ridiculous and out of place but I'm really not a fan of just wolf crap all over the place and I never really agreed with the Wolves as "vikings" as I always saw them more as celts and the like.

What are your thoughts?

Celtic SW sound fine in principle, but tartan robes will unavoidably look like real-world dressing gowns or bath robes :( Personally I'd restrict tartan to small areas of fabric(e.g. loin cloths or purity seals) or banners. Hmm, or tartan pattern painted bits of armour, like knee pads?

That's what I was afraid of. I wasn't sure if sanding down the upper portion of the robe until it resembled a normal chest would be a viable option or what. But I ended up with a bunch of black templar guys and I figured I could salvage them as wolves without having to do too much to their appearance beside greenstuffing some pelts on them and trying to make 'em look kilty.

Perhaps sanding down the chest and green stuffing a sash to meet with the bottom half of the tabard to resemble a kilt?

I did some Tartan marines once. Heavy scottish highlander theme. Just saw Braveheart.

I did the tartan for each marine on their left shoulder. Company color on chest eagle, squad color on right knee, and Company symbol on Right Shoulder. Had about 5 different tartan I used (Black Watch primarily).

Have you thought of using Warzone Imperial miniatures (the Scottish sub-faction with "Wolf" in the name)?
http://www.princeaugust.ie/target_games/index_imperial.html

Wow, those are fantastic! That's more or less the desired look I was aiming for. My fears have been assuaged.

These look to be modified vanilla marines, correct?

Caliginous, what did you use for those unarmoured arms?

Agreed, done as a 'sash' avoids the dreaded bath robe look, unlike full robes. Hmm, a cloak would probably look ok too.

Warning, painting tartan won't be easy

 Clang wrote:

Warning, painting tartan won't be easy

While the above posted images look awesome, remember that probably less then 3% of this board would be able to pain anything near that level.

 Clang wrote:
Agreed, done as a 'sash' avoids the dreaded bath robe look, unlike full robes. Hmm, a cloak would probably look ok too.

Warning, painting tartan won't be easy

That's why I've got 10 models for practice But I agree, it isn't easy. Probably going to have to go get some new brushes to accommodate the incredibly thin lines.

Question: Can you paint greenstuff before molding it, or does it have to cure first?

Hey guys,

Sorry I didn't paint these! They appeared in a WD many moons ago, in a GD wrap- up if I remember correctly, and I just googled them.

They do look great though and certainly prove tartan can be done well on a space marine. If you look at the pattern, it's actually quite a simple technique. Good luck!

Cheers!
Cal

Foster wrote:
Caliginous, what did you use for those unarmoured arms?

Those look like catachan arms, actually.

I've not seen Catachan arms in those positions. The wrists also seem a little thick, I'd say more likely ork or even orc arms.

Scottish Space Marines? They would be the only thing in the Universe more angry and stormy than the "Angry Marines". FACT.

Just keep them away from the "White Lightning" and Bottles of Bucky.

Foster wrote:
Caliginous, what did you use for those unarmoured arms?

I think they're catachan and marauder.

They were featured in a white dwarf many an age ago. Gave a good break down of the parts.

I especially like the hammers made from plasma pistols.