Painting Space Marines: A Change in Philosophy

Periodically I go through each of my armies, repainting the whole army and upping the quality, and I must say, my Space Marines are past due for theirs. As a matter of fact, the army really does need a bit of an overhaul.

One problem I'm facing at the moment, is that I'm more into Fantasy, with 40k coming up a lot further down the list, hence why I post a lot more frequently on my Warhammer fantasy site, Last Chance War. Having said that I have been giving a little bit of thought to colour schemes for my own Space Marine Chapter: The Crimson Blades.

Historically I always painted them Blood Red then gave them a gloss varnish (apart from some black shoulder pads and gold bits). This of course violates my number two rule when it comes to painting: ALWAYS USE AT LEAST TWO SHADES OF EACH COLOURS - PREFERABLY THREE.

I've been wanting to dull down my marines and make them look a bit more real and professional, without changing the basic colour scheme. I'm not turning cartwheels over the red gold and black but I'm a bit nostalgic about it and they ARE called the Crimson Blades.

Check these out.

Apart from being annoyingly blurred, you'll see the one on the left is painted using my old method. Now this isn't an old miniature I just carried on using my slightly amateurish method with my marines even after I'd graduated to better things with other armies.

The on on the right is from my Dinosaur Space Marine army. Same principles really but at least I made a bit of effort on the weathering. My old style base (which doesn't match the war board completes the picture to tell us something needs to be done.

These two guys are prototypes of my more recent aspirations.

They aren't finished but you'll see I'm using a range of reds to get the look I'm going for... which I feel I haven't quite mastered yet. What I want to achieve is to have a pretty extreme overhead lighting effect, with the upper levels red and the lower parts very much in shadow.

The one on the left was done with the whole thing getting a dark red coat to start. The right one still has l=plenty of black in the lower areas.

It's one of these funny things where I'm really not sure. Neither model is getting me excited and without the excitement I tend not to get on with anything.

I think I'm going to need to think longer.

But watch this space. Things have to move forward sometime...

Spotlight On... The Triceranoughts!

Background

With the majority of their armoured support devastated beyond repair, the Crimson Blades solution was to turn to the indigenous xenoforms on the planet where they became stranded, but this new biological “armoured” division proved the equal of any technology that had come before.

Used both for spearheading heavy assault actions and as beasts of burden, the Triceranoughts excel at the role they play in allowing the Deinosus company to maintain such a potent mobile force. Carrying everything from heavy armament to the concentrated liquid gruel used to sustain the marines in the field, the Triceranoughts prove invaluable, especially with the Cortex Units drilled into their brains to control them while accelerating their natural aggression.

Making the Models

The Triceranoughts were made from the same basic Triceratops toys as the Triceratank. Then I strapped on as many spare parts, barrels, lights and rolled up sleeping bags as I could. The goal here was create the idea of a support unit that spends long periods in the field and I wanted to explore the question of what Space Marines might eat in those circumstances.

As with the Triceratank (and the rest of the army), I wanted the Triceranoughts to be heavily weathered and battle damaged and used a drill to make shell wounds in their armoured front plates.

They have the same assault armour on their legs as my Tyrannosaur has as well as the razor wire, to act as a deterrent.

Game Rules

In the game, they count as Chaos Space marine Dreadnoughts. The rules there match up well with their capabilities and also have the Crazed element to symbolise their out of control nature.

Tactics

It’s difficult to talk much about tactics here because in almost every game, the Triceranoughts have ended up getting immobilised far from the enemy. They are designed to be close assault units and need to get into combat as quickly as possible to avoid getting shot up. Because they look so threatening however, they tend to draw a lot of fire.

Spotlight On... The Triceratank!

Background

Utilising xenos biofroms to fill weaknesses in their diminished strength, the Crimson Blade Deinosus Battle Company cane equally be referred to as Dino-Marines!

The Crimson Blades are principally a close assault force and as such they ran the risk of being vulnerable to overwhelming armoured opposition. Fully aware of this, Captain Felix Wulf saw to it that the weakness was immediately addressed, both in the specialised equipment handed out to the Hunter squads but also by strapping the bulk of a wrecked Predator Annihilator onto the back of one of his xenoforms.

The Triceratank (as it is affectionately known) is the perfect precision tank-hunting tool, able to lay down an overwhelming field of needle-sharp heavy las-blasts exactly where it is needed.

As long as it is alive and its weapons still functioning, the Chapter has nothing to fear from heavily armoured opposition.

Making the Model

The Triceratops was a particularly nice toy that I started off with and to that I strapped on the turret, top and sponsons of a Space Marine Predator Annihilator tank. Wanting to match the battle-worn look of the rest of the company I added heavy weathering and battle damage.

Game Rules

In the game, the Triceratank uses the rules for a Space Marine Predator Annihilator.

Tactics  

With three lascannons, the Triceratank is there to take out vehicles. The rest of the army does contain some meltaguns and Dreadnoughts capable of tackling tanks but this is the specialist item right here. If there aren’t any tanks to shoot it can feel a little redundant but it’s just as good at taking out heavy infantry (like Terminators).

Spotlight On... Golgotha, Space Marine Alpha Level Psyker

A while ago I wrote a little blog about my Space Marine Alpha Level Psyker, Goliath... Well now it's time to meet his brother, Golgotha.

Like his brother, Golgotha is a member of my Crimson Blades Space Marine Chapter who developed incredible psychic powers and wound up being put in suspended animation until recent events required him to be resurrected.

 

He possesses incredible psychic might, far in excess of a Space Marine Librarian. Here we see him using the strength of his mind to lift balls of magma up from far underground before hurling them forward to explosive effect.

 

 

As I mentioned in my previous article, although both Psykers make nice display pieces, they function in the game as Baneblade Super Heavy Tanks - the armour representing psychic force fields and the weapons representing psychic blasts.

 

The large fireballs are made from ping pong balls, painted with a ripple effect from dark red up to orange and then yellow. The base is made from a mixture of gravel, sand, all-purpose powdered filler and PVA glue.

The smaller fireballs were made from little polystyrene balls I got from Hobbycraft. The smoke trail is made by a piece of stiff wire with clump foliage (basically tree foliage) glued onto it. I bought from a railway model shop. This was then dry brushed a few shades of grey.



Golgotha is actually standing on a levitated rock - it isn't that easy to tell.

I was going all out with this model because I was hoping to get a look-in at the Best Army award at a Tempus Fugitives event at Warhammer World. I didn't win.

But I did get nominated.

It's a pool of water at the front of the base. The idea is that bubbling steam is surrounding another magma ball being brought up from below. I like it (although the steam - made from clump foliage - doesn't look quite as I would have liked). Unfortunately three out of four people asked aren't sure what that part's supposed to be.

For Golgotha himself, I wanted a different look from his bare-chested brother - more regal and Librarian-like. He's made from various Dark Angels parts and was quite parts-expensive.

The rock he's standing on, by the way, is made from insulation foam.

I'm interested to hear any comments if you have any views...

Another Failure

Necrons vs Deinosus Crimson Blades | Rob v Tim | 40k | 51 | 108.997.M41

In the far Chillward regions of Kaltirey, the Necrons continued their implacable march Scorchward. They had passed now outside the vicinity of any Guard outposts and moved now through the deep snow fields, blasted by blizzards but moving ever onward nonetheless.

But ahead of them, silhouetted figures moved in the snowstorm. The Necrons slowed, narrowing their visual detection units. Suddenly explosive shells streamed out of the white mist, hammering into their lines and the Deinosus Space Marines ran forward, Triceranoughts bellowing in fury as their cortex units flooded their systems with rage inducing hormones.

The Necrons showed no fear or surprise. They had defeated this opponent before after a series of tactical validations. They calculated only a 17% chance of significant loss now.

The Bladelords and Hunters ran forward, opening fire with bolters, plasmaguns and meltaguns, bringing down the lead Necrons, but scuttling fast round their flank came a gigantic insectile Tomb Stalker. It didn’t slow as it parted the ranks of the Bladelors, ignoring their bolt and plasma shots, ripping them apart one by one.

The Necron ranks opened for a moment and floating forward came the sinister form of the Necron C’tan: the Deceiver. The marines ran forward led by Felix Wulf and engaged him but they lacked the strength to harm him at all! Methodically, the Deceiver started to crush them, one after another. Realising the situation was untenable, Felix Wulf ordered his squad sergeant to activate his homing beacon.

The air started to crackle and spark, the godlike Deceiver pausing momentarily as it crushed the larynx on one of the marines. Then the sergeant transmatted up to the orbiting Black Scabbard and the Mammoth landed hard in its place. The great hairy beat trumpeted and crashed into the C’tan, knocking him back and Felix grinned. “Take that you bastard!”

But even the mammoth barely had sufficient strength to wound the Deceiver while every return blow tore chunks out of its flesh. It wasn’t going to work!

And meanwhile, the Necron warriors continued to march implacably forward.



"You will leave this battlefield immediately you hairy brute!"

A team of Raptor Riders pulled ahead of the Space Marine line, engaging a unit of Immortals. Their powerful weapons and the strength of the raptors’ jaws proved to be a dangerous combination, but any victory was insufficient. Both Triceranoughts were crippled now; the aggressive strength of the Deinosus battle group was diminishing to the critical level.

There was nothing now for it but to call a withdrawal.  

Captain Woolf put the withdrawal code out across the com and slipped out of the reach of the deceiver’s swinging fists as it ripped the Mammoth into its constituent parts.

The battle was over; and once again the Space Marines of the Deinosus battle Company had failed to halt the Necron advance.