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Like a lot of folks, I'd really like to get into the Horus Heresy, but I can't really decide which legion I'd like to do. To help me out, I thought I might buy a box of the new plastic Mark 3 Space Marines and try out doing a few of my favourite legions.

Since I was planning on doing this anyway, I thought it might be quite cool to do some kind of a diorama (since I would like to keep these test models and I won't be using them for anything else) based around a skirmish in one of the more chaotic battles of the 31st Millennium, which brings me to why I'm here. I've never done anything like this before, and I'd really appreciate it if anyone could help me out with a few questions.

1. How easy is it (if it's possible) to pose Space Marines with a hobby knife and greenstuff? (Leaning against walls, crouching, etc.)
2. Where would I get started in building a small terrain board, and how expensive might that be? Nothing too complicated, maybe just a small hill to pose around.
3. Where might be a good place to get supplies for this sort of thing?
4. Any general tips for painting MK3 armour? I have a few ideas already, but any extra help would be very welcome.

Relative beginner here (judging by some of the amazing stuff in the gallery at least) so any help appreciated!

PS. Mods - do let me know if this doesn't belong here or if I should put it in the 30k forum instead and I'll be happy to move it.

Ah dioramas, I truly do love them, and wish I had more time to make more of them.

The MK3 kit should be relatively good to cut up and pose around, my only concern would be the bolter arms are relatively static and could make natural looking posing a little harder than you might think.

As for your specific questions.

1. Posing space marines with a hobby knife and greenstuff is entirely possible, but it is rather dependent on your personal skill set.
2. How small is small? Do you want it to be 12 inches x 12 inches, or could you put the diorama on an existing large base?

If you are looking for something in an odd shape, or larger than any existing bases, look at hardware stores and buy something like Masonite or MDF to make your base.

As for actually creating the ground if I was starting over, i would be buying XPS Extruded Polystyrene sheets (can be carved and sanded to shape), cork, spackle or kneadatite (some kind of putty), river sand, and balsa wood.

3. Hardware stores for bases/foam, hobby and craft stores (model train stores are normally great) for everything else

4. What paint scheme do you want to paint?

My last suggest would be to plan your diorama first, plan the ground/base. Think about what it will look like, what section will be raised/lowered, what will be on the ground, where are the models going to be.

The ground is just as important as the miniatures in a diorama.

I was thinking about maybe something like a 12x12 diorama with 10 marines, all of different legions, trying to vaguely pose them with the legion's character in mind. I can see those arms being an issue, particularly if I want to give any of them chainswords, because as far as I know you don't get any chainsword arms in the box. My level of skill with conversions and so on is pretty low, but I think I might give it a go anyway. Would it be worth doing some sketches before anything else?

Short answer:
Yes, sketch first. Dry place models before painting, or building to check your concept.

(Very) long answer:
Dioramas are like a storyboard for a film - you need to be thinking about what the action is, and the angle you're going to show it at.

Technically, this boils down to two kinds of lines - action lines, attention lines, and sight lines. I find you need at least three for a working diorama.

Attention lines are what drag your eye around the diorama. With few models, this will often run very close to the action lines of the model, but you want to ensure that you also bring them to the environment. These run between 'strong actions' (aiming, punching, attacking, shouting) and the recipients of those actions and/or 'strong features' (bright colours, unusual details that are close enough together to hop between). Ideally you'll want to go from one to the other to flit attention to your environment as well as the models on it.

Sight lines are where you as a viewer of the diorama can see, so if your diorama is viewed from each of 4 sides, you track sight lines from where your head would be looking at it to the endpoint of an attention line. Think of these as an entry point to your diorama.

You need at least one good attention line starting on each sight line.

Action lines should generally move 'across' a sight line (so you can see both ends of the action), but can cross each other - ideally bounce from one to another; a is aiming at b, who's getting shot by c etc.

Bit rambly, I'll stop now, but I think you get the idea.

Winterdyne:

Although not an expert my any means, this reads a little like setting up a shot for a film, I think that'll help me a lot conceptually. I'm getting a few ideas for good action lines, maybe a melee combat in the centre and a shooting match between small walls running along the sides? From the side of each of the walls, you can see the marines pointing across the diorama and from the other two sides, you can see the melee. Would that make sense?

And don't worry about rambling, it's when people ramble that I learn the most! (Unless it's about AoS's quality...)

If you plan on painting a bunch of different legions why not do something like the drop sight massacre where multiple legions was at.

as for the board. make sure you have a place to put it
nothing like having a 1x2 board of coolness but no shelf to put it on. make sure whatever you start off with is the right size.

MDF is pretty cheap just make sure you seal it so it doesn't warp.

everything else can be done with extruded polystyrene and knife and a few terrain kits for spice.

 SpaceOstrich wrote:
Winterdyne:

Although not an expert my any means, this reads a little like setting up a shot for a film, I think that'll help me a lot conceptually. I'm getting a few ideas for good action lines, maybe a melee combat in the centre and a shooting match between small walls running along the sides? From the side of each of the walls, you can see the marines pointing across the diorama and from the other two sides, you can see the melee. Would that make sense?

And don't worry about rambling, it's when people ramble that I learn the most! (Unless it's about AoS's quality...)

Exactly like setting up a shot for a film, although you have the added complications of it being a frozen instant in time, and that (generally) dioramas are built for viewing from multiple directions, not one. It also helps to divide the diorama into 'sides' - this allows you to work from the 'point of view' of each faction and tell little stories within the details visbile from the sight lines for each.

Fairly by-the-numbers technically on this diorama I did for Maelstrom's Edge:

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/650720.page

If you plan on painting a bunch of different legions why not do something like the drop sight massacre where multiple legions was at.

as for the board. make sure you have a place to put it
nothing like having a 1x2 board of coolness but no shelf to put it on. make sure whatever you start off with is the right size.

MDF is pretty cheap just make sure you seal it so it doesn't warp.

everything else can be done with extruded polystyrene and knife and a few terrain kits for spice.

I'll keep an eye out for that! I want to do a Dropsite Massacre theme, but unfortunately I really want to include Imperial Fists so it won't quiiite adhere to the fluff.

 SpaceOstrich wrote:

If you plan on painting a bunch of different legions why not do something like the drop sight massacre where multiple legions was at.

as for the board. make sure you have a place to put it
nothing like having a 1x2 board of coolness but no shelf to put it on. make sure whatever you start off with is the right size.

MDF is pretty cheap just make sure you seal it so it doesn't warp.

everything else can be done with extruded polystyrene and knife and a few terrain kits for spice.

I'll keep an eye out for that! I want to do a Dropsite Massacre theme, but unfortunately I really want to include Imperial Fists so it won't quiiite adhere to the fluff.

i forget if everyone eventually made it to terra.

 SpaceOstrich wrote:

If you plan on painting a bunch of different legions why not do something like the drop sight massacre where multiple legions was at.

as for the board. make sure you have a place to put it
nothing like having a 1x2 board of coolness but no shelf to put it on. make sure whatever you start off with is the right size.

MDF is pretty cheap just make sure you seal it so it doesn't warp.

everything else can be done with extruded polystyrene and knife and a few terrain kits for spice.

I'll keep an eye out for that! I want to do a Dropsite Massacre theme, but unfortunately I really want to include Imperial Fists so it won't quiiite adhere to the fluff.

Then do Terra. It included over half the legions. You could do something like Fists, Blood Angels, White Scars, and/or Custodes vs World Eaters, Sons of Horus, Deathguard, and/or 1k sons. All of those armies were definitely there, and you could likely stretch the fluff a bit to include pretty much any other legion you wanted, since parts (even if small) of every legion participated in the Siege of Terra.