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So if you've been following my P&M blog you'll have seen this army progress from the first few Tactical Marines to Marneus Calgar today. I decided to get the army out, array them on their display board, and take a few pictures.This project started back in October, and it's been really fun to do. I grew up poring through the 3rd ed rulebook, and the Ultramarines and Valhallan armies always captivated me. I made the Valhallans before I did up this army, but went with a more realistic WW2 look. I wanted this army to feel "authentic" to 2nd edition/early 3rd edition 40k, so I went all out with bright colors, transfers, banners, and green bases. There's more to do with transfers and banners (as well as plans to expand the army further) but I think I'm at a point where I can show it off in the showcase! Anyway, without further ado, here they are:

That takes me back!

Fantastic looking old school Ultra Marines! Even down to the green flock bases. Love it!

How can you gaze upon that and not smile? Crisp, clean, bright, retro, excellent. Gets me right in the nostalgia. A more civilized army from a less grimdark time.

Just keep alert for cardboard ork dreads; they come at you sideways, never see them until it’s too late...

I'll keep an eye out! Those cardboard dreads are tricky buggers. Also:

 Nevelon wrote:
A more civilized army from a less grimdark time.

I think I need to steal this for my next retro thread title

SO.MUCH.WIN!!

Great stuff!

Painting aside, even collecting all that retro stuff must have been an effort in itself.

So great to look at, you even have the old cardboard terrain piece.

Colours are perfect for that era, thanks for sharing

Down to the Goblin Green flocked bases. Well done sir.

Great army, I think the cardboard bastion makes it. Talk about a GW classic.

Absolutely fantastic army!

Remember a very similar looking army in the pages of WD, fighting against Orks, during the 2nd edition period. Believe there was a 'Captain Sicarius' (before that character officially entered the codex, it was just a name given to the captain in the report.)

Great stuff

Very cool ! Looks like my very first army . Great paint job . Love the retro 2nd ed look

Awesome!! Great to see them altogether. Thank you for the trip down memory lane

Love it! Straight out of the pages of early 90s white dwarf. Really fantastic job painting all of this stuff, awesome looking army!

That's how 40k should look. Brilliant work.

Just Awsome

 Paradigm wrote:
Great stuff!

Painting aside, even collecting all that retro stuff must have been an effort in itself.

Thank you! Collecting the army involved a lot of eBay sniping, help from a friend who also does the retro stuff, and the occasional donation from friends and folks on the Internet who wanted to see more retro goodness.

 Pacific wrote:
Absolutely fantastic army!

Remember a very similar looking army in the pages of WD, fighting against Orks, during the 2nd edition period. Believe there was a 'Captain Sicarius' (before that character officially entered the codex, it was just a name given to the captain in the report.)

Great stuff

Danke! It was probably the same studio army that they kept using up through the early part of 3rd edition. There have actually been like 4-5 models called "Captain Sicarius" in one battle report or another over the years, including one in the 3rd edition rulebook, the captain from Black Reach, and the cool lightning claws captain you got for subscribing to WD in late 4th edition. I'm glad I have the predecessor to the current Captain Sicarius, since he's such a fun model to paint:

Boggy79 wrote:
That's how 40k should look. Brilliant work.

While I do love the gritty and gothic look 40k has now, the Saturday morning cartoon aesthetic has always been my favorite.

And to those I didn't get to, thank you for your kind words!

This is brilliant, i actually grinned from ear to ear when i saw this page. This colour scheme was about when i first found out about the hobby, love it!

Superb, as a veteran this gave me a warm glow

Oh Yes!!! its 1998 in blue. Love it man. How awesome

Wow! As galgar sits atop representing his old school chapter. This is awesome! Have you played with them yet? Wait dumb question... How could you not have?

Thanks for the throwback to when I started.

Needs the sticker banners!!! And I think the rocket launcher tubes should be bolt gun metal. Fantastic regardless!!!

 Josey4u wrote:
Oh Yes!!! its 1998 in blue. Love it man. How awesome

You got the year down and everything! I was going for right on the cusp of 3rd, hence the more modern looking Scouts that I love so much. It kinda surprised me how much modern looking stuff came out before 3rd edition!

lawlskees wrote:
Wow! As galgar sits atop representing his old school chapter. This is awesome! Have you played with them yet? Wait dumb question... How could you not have?

I've unfortunately only played 7 games with them, but I've done one really solid battle report that hearkens back to the old WD reports:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/581555.page
And just a teaser:

 mrshl9898 wrote:
Thanks for the throwback to when I started.

Needs the sticker banners!!! And I think the rocket launcher tubes should be bolt gun metal. Fantastic regardless!!!

I'm working on adding them! I've actually had to use a high quality scan of Codex: Ultramarines, print and cut out the banners myself, and then put those on, so it's been taking a little while to get them all together. I also need some more transfer work on the early tac squads, but I thought there was enough progress to show off!

Heh fantastic.

Takes me back, so I'll forgive the square bases used, always hurts my eyes.

Awesome work!!! I love old school minis and your collection is one of the best I have seen!! Clean and bright colors, really nice job nailing the 2nd edition paint scheme!! My favorite squad is one with the thunder warrior in it. Keep up the good work!

 SJM wrote:
Heh fantastic.

Takes me back, so I'll forgive the square bases used, always hurts my eyes.

There's a guy in my group who says it's the one thing he doesn't like in the army, but I've gotta keep it era-appropriate!

perezba7 wrote:
Awesome work!!! I love old school minis and your collection is one of the best I have seen!! Clean and bright colors, really nice job nailing the 2nd edition paint scheme!! My favorite squad is one with the thunder warrior in it. Keep up the good work!

Why thank you! The Sternguard are my favorite unit in the army as well. Painting up all those varied marks of armor was really fun, and sidestepped some of the fatigue you get from painting yet another dude in standard Mk. 7 power armor.

I agree with keeping the square bases. This is how the models were sold and based in 2ed and imo important in order to help maintain the the retro feel to the army.

Really awesome army. I love retro ones..

Having only really discovered 40k at the dawn of 5th ed, I don't have the same nostalgic draw as many veterans, but I just can't not like (let alone dislike) this army. It's a style I don't like from an era I'm glad has passed, but it's just... so well done. Have you managed some new-age-y where your love and care actually radiate out from the models, even in a digitized form?

My hat is off to you, SRM. My wife's hat, actually - it was the only one within reach and I felt that this warranted a literal show of respect.

 oadie wrote:
Having only really discovered 40k at the dawn of 5th ed, I don't have the same nostalgic draw as many veterans, but I just can't not like (let alone dislike) this army. It's a style I don't like from an era I'm glad has passed, but it's just... so well done. Have you managed some new-age-y where your love and care actually radiate out from the models, even in a digitized form?

My hat is off to you, SRM. My wife's hat, actually - it was the only one within reach and I felt that this warranted a literal show of respect.

I'm glad you like the army, even if it's not exactly your cup of tea! I think whenever a project is executed with some level of enthusiasm and passion, people can tell. I see plenty of armies featuring models or styles I don't personally like all that much, but I can appreciate them for the gusto required to pull them off. I know Nard's Tyranids are divisive for some people, but I don't know how you couldn't find an appeal in sticking to that particular style he uses.

Your comment is much appreciated

 Brother SRM wrote:

 Josey4u wrote:
Oh Yes!!! its 1998 in blue. Love it man. How awesome

You got the year down and everything! I was going for right on the cusp of 3rd, hence the more modern looking Scouts that I love so much. It kinda surprised me how much modern looking stuff came out before 3rd edition!

lawlskees wrote:
Wow! As galgar sits atop representing his old school chapter. This is awesome! Have you played with them yet? Wait dumb question... How could you not have?

I've unfortunately only played 7 games with them, but I've done one really solid battle report that hearkens back to the old WD reports:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/581555.page
And just a teaser:

 mrshl9898 wrote:
Thanks for the throwback to when I started.

Needs the sticker banners!!! And I think the rocket launcher tubes should be bolt gun metal. Fantastic regardless!!!

I'm working on adding them! I've actually had to use a high quality scan of Codex: Ultramarines, print and cut out the banners myself, and then put those on, so it's been taking a little while to get them all together. I also need some more transfer work on the early tac squads, but I thought there was enough progress to show off!

And what look like period Orks too. That is to sweet.