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Greetings!

I am an old time painter/collector, coming back to the hobby after a long hiatus.
I recently resumed a pet project I left behind some 10-15 years ago, and I'm showing you some WIP shots.

As a teenager I used to have a BA successor army; but my old miniatures felt outdated compared to newer models.
So, when I resumed painting, I resolved to start from scratch, and assume my new marines were successors/survivors from my old chapter.

Enter "Lagramortis", a non-codex-compliant, fleet-based, irregular, multi-ethnic, clan-based, bolter-for-hire, "count-as" space marine force.
That was a mouthful...

Ok, I first started assembling these guys a 10-15 years ago, when I still ran my older pseudo-Ultra SMs.
Back then we didn't have plastic scouts, and I was trying to phase out metal from my army list.
I tried kitbashing mine own, out of cadians, catachans, with a smattering of kroot weaponry.
They look like human soldiers alright; not sure they still look the part right now, with GW releasing full plastic armies.

I recently managed to finish my "count-as" scouts, resumed collecting, and assembled a 2000 pts army out of recent purchases.
These are the early WIP shots from a few months ago.

More from my growing SM army.

First picture, scout "assault" squad.
A kitbash unit, borrowing legs and bodies from Space Wolves SMs.
And everything else from chaos marauders/berzerkers/cadians/catachans/middenheimers/necromunda.

While I had no external input, I later realized other people beat me to the idea of mixing space wolves with marauders/catachans.
The parts just mingle well, and the bare arms/heads sell the idea they're wearing lighter armor, instead of a full powered suit.

They employ a mix of close combat weapons and shotguns.
While the mixed arms could work in kill team, I plan to assemble more, and split the unit in two specialized squads.


Second picture, cadian/catachan kitbash, couting as weapon servitors.
I dislike the whole idea behind armorium cherubim.
My "cadiachan" recruits already count as the lowest rung in chapter hierarchy, waiting to become full-fledged marines.
So they made sense to me as weapon servitors for heavy squads.
Besides, they are just "tokens" in the current edition - I could just employ cardboard counters in their stead - and they look nice enough.


Third picture, more cadiachan models; fifth sniper.
By running some numbers, I realized bringing a heavy weapon brought my squad point total to an odd 100-something.
I'd rather have squad cost round numbers; makes building a list easier for me.
So I kitbashed a fifth sniper, and brought the total to an even 90.
Much better for good old OCD me.


Fourth and last picture for today: a WIP color shot with yet more cadiachan scouts.
They come from my fourth scout squad, using cadian commander heads and mordheim swords.
They weren't meant to be like that; I originally envisioned the cadian commander as a sergeant type.
But it didn't mingle visually with the other "spec ops" type scouts.
So I grabbed a bunch of bits online, and made a full unit of high uniform scouts.
I my head-canon, my scouts come from different planets and clans; each with its own history.
These scout are high-born guys, revelling in ancestors' traditions, and they bring a unit standard to battle.
Visually, I like the idea of a scout unit raising a chapter banner, while holding the hill.

Colorwise, I employed a mix of warpaint, citadel and primo colors.
I particularly loved the uniform grey from warpaint, it works great as a primer too.
I used to dislike grey primer; of late I came to appreciate it as a middle point that afforded me to shade or highlight to my heart's content.
Paintjob is middle of the road: I gave a warpaint strongtone wash, then worked highlights up with uniform grey, used fog grey for plates.
White for stark lights, cadian flesh for skin, and leadbelcher for barrels and grenades. Primo for some details and the flag pole.

I haven't painted stuff in ten-some years; it's gradually coming back to me, but eyes and hands ain't what they used to be.
They look the part on a table-top though.

^_^

Ok, after the raw plastics, I guess I might post some more WIP color shots.

Last post I showed a raw to painted progress image.
This time I'm going to show you some fairly final shots for these minis.

First batch, my count-as assault scouts: armed with bolt pistols and melee weapons.
They are bashed together from catachan legs and cadian arms and bodies.
Originally meant as count-as scout sergeants, I eventually turned them into a full squad, using cadian commander heads and assorted IG weapons.
The standard bearer was a proof of concept character, which I decided to keep and paint as a veteran scout character.

Second batch, my count-as sniper scouts - still missing camo cloaks, which I later added using dyed gauze.
My original count-as scouts, bashed from "kroodiachan" bits, meant to be a sort of "spec ops" squad.
They borrowed parts from kroots - rifle barrels and some belt stuff, catachan - heads, legs and backpacks, and cadian, arms and rifle stocks.
The heavy weapon specialist is a recent bash: I used the IG heavy weapon missile launcher, which I shortened and turned into a hand held weapon.

Fairly happy how they turned out.
My original chapter was pretty much a blue brigade.
Back then paints were temperamental things, and enchanted blue for some reason took plastic better than others.
So my marines turned out blue out of necessity, than deliberate choice.

Now I'm using a mix of artist and modeller acrylics: warpaint, citadel, primo and others.
For my refounded scouts I opted for a neutral, military hue: warpaint's uniform grey plus fog grey for plates and highlights.
Uniform grey is actually great for priming too.
I gave them a heavy wash with strong tone, then built hues back with greys.
I have mixed feelings for nuln oil; some employ it as a general purpose shader; I like strong tone better in that role, using nuln for spot shading only.

On the other hand, I'm loving armageddon dust; some review bashed textured paints.
I used to paint bases with white glue and then dip them in flock or a mix of sand and litter, but I wasn't too happy with it.
Enter armageddon dust: I now glue just a couple of larger litter stones, then apply armageddon either pure, or watered down to provide dusting.
While I am unsure about crackles, armageddon worked wonders for me.

I'm struggling with faces; I lost some of my old touch, and my detailing has suffered.
Until I get better or die trying, they are serviceable as gaming pieces.

Subbed! I like this thread, your non-compliant fleet has a cool feel!

I like the greys and do lots of Catachan/Cadian combos myself.

 lipsdapips wrote:
Subbed! I like this thread, your non-compliant fleet has a cool feel!

Thanks!
I have more from this batch to show.

^_^

 kestral wrote:
I like the greys and do lots of Catachan/Cadian combos myself.

Initially, I was going for a darker base-coat; a dark blue/grey.
I bought some of the paints online and I didn't knew how they'd look like once applied.
While the colors turned out lighter than expected, I kind of liked the results, and kept painting on.

I like how cadian and catachan parts mesh together!
The catachan heads and pants give models that rougher, commando-type looks.
Cadian torsos and arms look like something out startship troopers, and they fit the "specs ops in space" theme.

Right now I'm out of catachan parts, tough.
For some reason they aren't as readily available as they used to be.

Ok, this time I'm back with more "assault" scouts.
From berzerker, catachan, marauder, middenheimer and kroot parts I assembled new scouts for my assault squad, effectively turning it into two separate squads.

One squad will be armed with melee weapons and do some infiltration work; the other one will employ shotguns and mount a landspeeder storm - which I haven't assembled yet.
The idea is quickly bringing the shotguns and meltas in range for a flank attack.

I'm particularly happy about the hammer toting scout; I nicknamed him "Thormarine" and he'll be a count-as veteran scout.
I'm aware the only scout veteran is Telion; I plan a proxy conversion for that one too.

The other models are still "in progress"; I ran out of Necromunda shotguns, and the sarge got an ork weapon as a "jolly" item, meant to represent different gun options, but nothing is final yet.

^_^

It's been a while since I last posted an update.
I haven't been idle in the meantime: I assembled new kitbashed squads, and painted old models.
I finally settled on a color scheme for my SM guys: bluish grey and crimson/bronze accents.
The grey is a mix of uniform grey and fog grey from warpaint.

First picture is my devastator squad still in raw plastics.
The guy are armed with a mix of different pattern missile launchers; the longer bazooka launchers are IG heavy weapon team weapons, cut down to size.

Second picture is a devastator marine, with sergeant and weapon servant.
The whole undead flying cyber-fetus just rubs me wrong, so the cadiachan scout proxies for the armorium cherub.

Third picture is my commander guy: a simple weapon swap on a Mk III body.
The oddest thing out is the GK shoulder shield, giving him a medieval knight air.

Third picture is a group shot, featuring my command squad: lead guy and "count as" scout, with a painted foil banner.
I lost the coordination/technique to draw proper designs, so the flag is plain red.

On the whole, pretty simple bash and paintjob, but striking on the table nonetheless.
The color scheme is very 30k Space Wolves, but my guys come from a different gene-seed.
I'm pleased how they're coming together.
You like them, I'll post more.

^_^