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So... the kids got into Warhammer and now I'm revisiting it as of the end of 8th... for the first time since 3rd dropped. I started out with the new hotness of Primaris but the more I paint the more I realise I'm pretty nostalgic about a lot of the older sculpts and I kept on looking at metal mini listings more than new ones.

With equal parts nostalgia and wanting a bit of a handicap in the games with my kids (who play Primaris only forces) I figured I'd put together an all-metal firstborn force (well, all metal infantry anyway). I had a successor chapter back in 2nd called the Harbingers which appears to actually be a thing now, so I'll need to come up with a new name. Going for a not-entirely-goody-two-shoes backstory to somewhat justify lore-wise the battles as the kids seem happy with a good narrative going on.

With that in mind, I started hunting around for some old metal minis. The first one I found was from the very end of 2nd. ed - a Techmarine:



I definitely need more practice painting faces but I'm reasonably pleased with my attempt at this one. Paints used are here. Not 100% completed yet but I'm happy enough with the colour selection that I think I'll go ahead with those paints. Will be leaving basing until the end.

The idea so far is that there'll be a Storm Eagle that's full of marines - which I think will be an achievable goal for this little force in terms of model acquisition and painting time and if I'm still enthusiastic by the end of those models I may keep going.

They're a Raven Guard successor - and since the 19th are known to engage in misleading tactics I can lore-wise probably explain running these guys alongside my Primaris RG force, as a deceptive detachment...

Love seing the older models brought to life for use in 9th edition (im guilty of it myself) will follow this with interest

 lordbickerstaff wrote:
Love seing the older models brought to life for use in 9th edition (im guilty of it myself) will follow this with interest

I do wonder about the sanity of putting the time into this as they'll get phased out at some point in favour of the Primaris, but... oh well! I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how they fare on the tabletop.

I picked up a sergeant to add to the force:

Everyone knows that 3rd ed metal minis are the best minis! I have the old metal command squad, including the techmarine, which im slowly painting up. Hopefully i can finish them before they are squatted! Looking forward to seeing what other treasures get added to the force.

Never hurts to keep the old ways alive. Good luck with your army!

bantha_beast wrote:Everyone knows that 3rd ed metal minis are the best minis! I have the old metal command squad, including the techmarine, which im slowly painting up. Hopefully i can finish them before they are squatted! Looking forward to seeing what other treasures get added to the force.

I wouldn't half mind finding the rest of the command squad - I think I have a lead on the sergeant, will have to piecemeal it together...

youwashock wrote:Never hurts to keep the old ways alive. Good luck with your army!

Thanks!

This is a little outside the scope of this particular project but I couldn't help but pick it up once I found it:



I'm getting a few of the RT minis now so I think that'll be a following project. They keep on turning up in bulk lots of other metal minis so I can't complain...

I always wanted the old metal assassins - now I have a Callidus:







The green is sorted now!

More pics.

Nice!

Multi-melta guy is a great blast from the past, too. Will you be seeking out all the Assassins eventually?

 youwashock wrote:
Nice!

Multi-melta guy is a great blast from the past, too. Will you be seeking out all the Assassins eventually?

I have a couple of other RT era marines on the way - will put up some pics once they arrive.

That's the hope re: the assassins. Way back when I had a Culexus and wanted the others - will just have to keep an eye out for them as they come up.

Always goo to see more RT era stuff. That multi melta marine is great; i've got him and another guy holding his MM upright like a pistol. Great character in the old sculpts. Kev Adams, Trish and Aly Morrison, Bob Naismith...

Who sculpted the Intercessors plastic box set?

 PaddyMick wrote:
Always goo to see more RT era stuff. That multi melta marine is great; i've got him and another guy holding his MM upright like a pistol. Great character in the old sculpts. Kev Adams, Trish and Aly Morrison, Bob Naismith...

Who sculpted the Intercessors plastic box set?

I can't seem to find who designed the Intercessors anywhere! Maybe it's mentioned in a WD issue where they were announced... I haven't picked up a new WD in years.

Speaking of Bob Naismith, I was talking to him about the Chainsaw Warrior when I painted one to get some feedback about what some parts of it were envisaged as being. Not related to this project, but it was the first face I properly attempted and I rather enjoyed painting it:

Sweet dude, chainsaw warrior roolz

Sorry it was a rhetorical question about the interscissors, GW don't credit sculpters anymore, or writers, or artists. A step backwards imo, an frustrating for fans who love thier work - there's some great stuff heing made

 PaddyMick wrote:
Sweet dude, chainsaw warrior roolz

Sorry it was a rhetorical question about the interscissors, GW don't credit sculpters anymore, or writers, or artists. A step backwards imo, an frustrating for fans who love thier work - there's some great stuff heing made

Huh, I had no idea they had stopped doing that. That’s a shame - when did they stop? It was pretty interesting being able to find the person that sculpted the chainsaw warrior 34ish years ago and ask them questions.

This one is also not metal but I came across it in my vintage searches - won't be part of this force but how can you not love that face?



More pics.

Nice, I remember too Avanced Space Crusae which had a bigger version of that guy. I always thought the face spoiled the mini, and it would be more sinister without it, maybe just a robocop style visor/slit.

Re: GW not crediting creatives - not sure when it changed, I only just returned to the hobby myself after a 20 year gap.

Gotta love the old Chaos Dreadnought. Chainsaw Warrior is another classic. Great stuff.

Found some more metal Assassins - this is the first one I got some pics of, hasn't been stripped yet - love the socks and ninja thong look:



More pics.

Love seeing this old stuff get some love. It's before my time hobby-wise, but I did a retro project some years ago and it was pretty-cool learning the history of this stuff. Excited to see some paint on that Space crusade dread. Also, as to the not crediting of sculptors and writers -- it may not be a nefarious move (although it is GW so who knows?) I imagine it has something to do with the outpouring of hate writers like Matt Ward and Robin? Cruddace received in the late 5th, early 6th edition era...

 brushcommando wrote:
Also, as to the not crediting of sculptors and writers -- it may not be a nefarious move (although it is GW so who knows?) I imagine it has something to do with the outpouring of hate writers like Matt Ward and Robin? Cruddace received in the late 5th, early 6th edition era...

Yeah I gather some rulebooks they wrote were unpopular, at a time when GW was particularly badly thought of for it's policies. It just reminds me of British comics, pre-2000ad, where artists and writers would not get credited, so they couldn;t be stolen by competitors, or build their own fan-base away from the company and so wield too much power, to ask for a pay-rise or whatever.

Anyway sorry for going off topic. I'll be following this thread with interest.

Always liked that sandals on the old assassin!

A bit of whimsy for the sculptors.

I found it interesting going back through some of the older catalogues and seeing generic credits there, too, so it seems that they weren't always consistent with crediting the specific designers even back in the day.

Got lucky with an Eversor:





More pics here.

Kinda getting away from the Marines theme at the moment but I'll take what metal minis I can find when they come up! There's a bulk lot of metal marines on the way, just waiting on the post...

Alright, getting back to Marines. Three Devastators, from back when real marines carried their heavy weapons on their shoulders:



More pics.

Ooh. Nice find. I love the Jes Goodwin space marines. Did you manage to snag the Heavy weapon arms as well or is that an ongoing search?

Some fabulous footwear making an appearance here. Big WOOT for the OG Assassin.

brushcommando wrote:Ooh. Nice find. I love the Jes Goodwin space marines. Did you manage to snag the Heavy weapon arms as well or is that an ongoing search?

I have a couple - not a full squad worth of any one type yet. I have modeled the heavy bolter and may do the others but since I’m keeping it as much metal as possible I think I’ll just modify the shoulder pad to mate neatly with the recess to improve the look a little and stick with the metal weapons.

youwashock wrote:Some fabulous footwear making an appearance here. Big WOOT for the OG Assassin.

There’s some seriously funky styling going on with the older minis, it’s a much less serious aesthetic!

Picked up a Sergeant Telion for the scout squad that's coming:



Hoping for some more time to paint in the coming weeks if work gets quieter but for now I'm content building up a to-do list...

Another cool find. Although this one's making me start to feel old, as I remember when Telion was the new hotness being marketed and seeing him on a nostalgia thread feels a bit odd.

 brushcommando wrote:
Another cool find. Although this one's making me start to feel old, as I remember when Telion was the new hotness being marketed and seeing him on a nostalgia thread feels a bit odd.

He’s a bit of an outlier age-wise for this force, and was made well after I had stopped playing - there’s about a 20 year gap between the RT marine above and Telion! I like the sculpt though and he’s metal so I’m calling it a good fit.

I wonder what the last Space Marine model/s cast in metal were for GW.

If we're talking vanilla marines, I think it was the vanguard/sternguard kits(Barring any special releasees). This would have been during 5th edition, so same vintage as Telion. If we're going broader, I think there were some grey knight heroes, (Crowe I think?) that got limited metal runs right before finecast. I remember trying to convince my friend who played grey knights at the time to pick these up before they went finecast, but he believed the propaganda and said the finecast would be more "detailed"

 brushcommando wrote:
If we're talking vanilla marines, I think it was the vanguard/sternguard kits(Barring any special releasees). This would have been during 5th edition, so same vintage as Telion. If we're going broader, I think there were some grey knight heroes, (Crowe I think?) that got limited metal runs right before finecast. I remember trying to convince my friend who played grey knights at the time to pick these up before they went finecast, but he believed the propaganda and said the finecast would be more "detailed"

I managed to skip the whole finecast thing... I don't think I've ever had the (dis)pleasure of owning one of those minis.

Got one of the other Techmarine sculpts:



More pics.