The UltraMarch Project: More Progress With The Mucky Ultramarines

I'm getting increasingly experimental with these Ultramarines. In doing so I'm balancing the joy of free artistic creativity with overwhelming crippling self-doubt. That just about sums up my hobby to me. In the last week or so I've been all about shading, slapping on lashings of the Tamiya X Clear Orange. Perhaps it's the fumes but I seem to have gone completely crazy with this paint - it's beguiling me, drawing me in mesmerically to using more, more, more... At some point I'm going to have to get back to doing some highlights or even some regular colours.

The UltraMarch Project: Mucky Marines Take Shape

Here are a couple of my very mucky Ultramarines. I fear it's only going to get worse for them! As per usual I'm building up glazes and washes over a series of highlights (hence the white), however, this time I've decided to get all experimental with the Tamiya Color 'Clear X' range of paints. These are glossy, gloopy, transparent colours available in Blue, Red, Yellow, Green and Orange. 

I've mostly used the orange here, building up from a heavy covering over the basing cork and up the legs. Then, I added some into the deeper recesses on the models, which I overlaid with the clear blue Tamiya X and some purple wash. This combination is proving very good for open-ended process I favour. These Ultramarines will end up quite some way from the squeaky clean GW preferred look. To my mind, 40k should be covered in deep layers of filth - the Eldar perhaps being an exception. 

The UltraMarch Project: Marneus Calgar And His Honour Guard Suffer The Indignity Of Finecast

There's not much that hasn't already been said about how rubbish Finecast can be. I've had mixed fortunes over the last couple of years and Calgar and his Honour Guard fit into the 'rather dodgy' category of Finecast fail with a few holes, badly formed parts and inexplicably melty bits. Oh well, at least GW are extremely good with their plastics now. So the brief news is simply that I got everyone based and glued together, with green stuff and superglue filling all (hopefully) the holes. Let's get some paint on these guys tomorrow and let the fun begin. 

The UltraMarch Project: Ultramarines Tactical Squad Manorian Takes Shape

Here is first update of my UltraMarch Ultramarines project. As you can see I've constructed and based Tactical Squad Manorian, coupling their bolt pistols with shields to style them in line with their less formal name as 'the Shield Bearers'. I like to imagine that they are mid-combat and mid-campagin - their bolt pistols are drawn as they plunge into combat, with small shields attached to designate their identities in the midst of a drawn-out campaign in hostile territory. 

The next steps will be to clean up the models and apply a white under coat followed by blue base coat - I've not chosen this yet as I've been away from my paints in Oxford, but at the moment I think I'll go for a lighter blue that can be shaded in interesting ways, with blues and greens and perhaps even some orange. 

The UltraMarch Project: A Month Of Ultramarines

Ok, I admit it. I've not painted a single Imperial Space Marine during the last 25 years. My last dalliance with these enhanced warriors was back in days of Rogue Trader, when I was but a boy and the fascist undertones of the Imperium of Man were sown more clearly through the satirical weave of the 40k universe. As a father with increasingly diminishing funds, these days I'm on the look for small, contained and satisfying projects to get my hobby fix*. And so UltraMarch was born.

I picked up Marneus Calgar and his Honour Guard on eBay about six months ago for the princely sum of £15 - yes, well under half-price. I think I reasoned with myself that I would convert them somehow, although that never happened and they sat quietly at the back of a draw until today (I did add an additional metal guard to them via a secondhand store).The Tactical Squad has been muddled together through spares and some basic marines I'd gained over the last year or so.

And now the plan: pretty basic really, I'm simply going to focus on the Ultramarines during March and try to get as far along as possible with the project as I can. Obviously Ultramarines are rather by-the-book - literally codex-as-written. This means very little latitude for conversions etc. However, looking through the fluff I found the details of Tactical Squad Manorian 'The Shield Bearers' in Second Company.

Building on this fluff I'm going to build my Tactical Squad with these colours and with their hands holding bolters and bolt pistols, as if they're just about to engage in close combat. I'm using their informal name to justify giving them small shields (pinched from the Empire Swordsmen) on their bolt pistol hands. It will all make sense once I put them together...

Anyway, this should be really enjoyable. I know plenty of people think Ultramarines are dull and - worse - they they have been fanboyed to death by Matt Ward. Others still call them Space Smurfs. None of this really needs to bother me, of course. I'm sure I can do something interesting with them, make them nice and dirty and arty. It will be fun finding out.

* I'm always really alarmed when I see blog posts or eBay sales that are framed with the whole "I'm a new dad and I have to get rid of my toys" business. Believe me when I say: I have two kids and the hobby fits perfectly into my life. It's the ideal 'me' time that everybody needs in their life when they have a family. I cannot dispense blanket advice for all hobbyists and gamers, but I do not think there is ever a reason when having a regular family to drop your hobby. And age should never be a factor either! 

Dear Fan Boys, Please Stop Breaking The GW Website!

For goodness sake, has the world gone utterly mad? I'm just a casual observer wanting to take a glance at some new toys. From what I can just about see, what's on offer is an almost-exactly-the-same tactical squad, a couple of ok-ish characters, and the weirdest bloody fat Space Marines I've ever seen. Seriously? You want to break the GW site in a stampede for these?!

Imperial Fists, Very Early Stages And Planning

So on Friday I had a mini rant about Finecast. Not about how crap it is but about how much I like it. Well here is further evidence of what I was on about. Here you can see (part of) the very early beginning of my Imperial Fists. I've stayed away from power armour up to now, though as someone who spends a good dose of their week in one or the other warhammer universes I could hardly stay away from the Imperium for too long.

I chose the Fists because they're yellow and should be great fun to paint: simple as that really. I've chosen the models you see here because they're some of the most ornate marines currently available. None are specifically Fists - yes, you can see Ultramarines and Black Templars there. Yet thanks to the wonders of Finecast they need not be other than Fisty for long! Resin means easy conversion opportunities. For example, compare these two identical honour guards:

It's not difficult to see which will be easiest to convert to a Fist. And here's what will help me with the whole process - Forge World Imperial Fists etched brass.

This is brilliant value when you consider how much emblem bearing shoulder pads cost. There's enough here to change the insignia on a whole force. I'll be busy with Chaos for a while yet, but in the background I'll be patiently and quietly picking up marines from eBay, getting Finecast bargains every few weeks...

There's A Storm Brewing

What, you might ask, am I doing with a Stormraven Gunship? It's a good question seeing as I've so often sniggered at all the power armour lovers out there. Well it turns out that I've been wrong all along and it's time to get me some Space Marine loving.

It all began when I was thinking about future paining projects. I wanted to find something different in order to really stretch my skills and learn a few new techniques along the way. My Nurgle project, Beastmen, and soon-to-be-started Dark Eldar are all bestowed with a grubbiness that I adore. However, it's never a good idea to stick in a comfort zone, so I'm going to have a shot at some Imperial Fists.

And there's an additional plan at play here because long-term - by which I mean next year - I'm going to enter my force in GW's Army On Parade (probably). This will be a totally new challenge and goal for me. It's all getting started with a few crafty eBay purchases, as I build up a small and elite force that has just the aesthetic I'm looking for.

Oh yes, and why the Stormraven Gunship? Aside from being able to zoom it about making whooshing noises and pretending it's for the benefit of the kids (it's not). It looks as though Space Marines will get the use of this fine war bird with the advent of the new 'flyers' supplement, due in a few weeks time. And it was a bargain and I'm such a sucker for a bargain on eBay.

(Must stay off eBay...Must stay off eBay... Must stay off eBay...)