Beyond the Praetors of Calth

[Tyrannicide]

I'm in favor of changing the second guy's pose to firing off a couple shots with his bolter. Those legs will look perfect with that type of pose. Right now he looks kinda unsure of what he's doing.

[Doghouse]

I think with Number two the original should pads might help him out a little. The pose you have for him is very good, I tend to prefer more open poses purely for the fact that you don't lose so much detail on the torso.

Keep going mate, I'm playing serious catch up but I'm still hard at work, got something pretty interesting to show you next time I update my log. ;)

[Veteran Sergeant]

It's good to see you continuing to make Praetor pattern helms. That's always been one of my favorite parts of your projects and what really helps set it apart. 

 

I hope that Forgeworld eventually makes them when they get around to Ultramarines, and I hope they do as good of a job.

[apologist]

[Praetor-pattern helmets and other heads]
I spent the weekend hanging out with my friends Lord Blood the Hungry and grahamgilchrist (along with a visit from Bob_Hunk, who has recently shown off his latest creation, a new daughter ), and managed to put together some Death Skull orks for Omricon, along with some new heads, torsos and bits for my Ultramarines:

 

While I like Forgeworld's design for mark 2 armour (which wasn't available when I started this project), I did miss Praetor-pattern helms that had been a pretty distinctive part of the Praetors of Calth. For these new chaps, I've sculpted up some new helmets. I also did a few bare heads, including some with facemasks. I've changed the dotted fronts to grills, as these seem more Imperial to me. I really like the Bane-style straps on these heads, so an excuse to use some more in the army is awesome.

I also decided to just build as many marines as I could last night. Bob_Hunk had kindly dropped off some more cast of the self-sculpted torsos, so I set to work adding some little symbols and altering them a bit for variety. Here's the WIP bunch at the moment (heads are just balanced in place).

 

Pleasingly, I think I have just enough arms and shoulder pads to go round, so this should bring me up to around thirty marines for this new group. I've been thinking about the character of the force, and I'm starting to think about the commanders. The sample extract for Unremembered Empire is now available, and – minor sort-of spoiler – the Librarius has been confirmed as being back in action. A post-Calth force can have Librarius support, so it might be fun for me to have a go at that.

 

In addition to that, I'd like to create a more distinctive character to lead my army, and I thought that since the Praetors of Calth were loosely based around the Greeks invading Troy (hence the names of the various Greek forces for the squads), it'd be cool to use tricksy Odysseus as the basis for the Captain leading this army.

 

I think there's definitely room for Ultramarines who utilise more underhanded methods, even if they're not lauded as much as the more obvious, upright heroes. Odysseus is a great character, relying on cunning rather than courage, though he has no shortage of that, either. Doghouse has recently said that he'd like to resurrect the idea of us playing a game – my Ultramarines versus his Iron Warriors. An Odysseus-styled character would be a fun concept for this; the Ultramarines battering uselessly against the Iron Warriors' fastness, until one Captain works out a cunning ploy to get inside... I think a sly, slightly dubious Ultramarine would be a fun concept and a nice contrast with the more upright Orar and Holion of the last group.

 

+++

[GrandMagnus]

I need to learn how to make those praetor pattern helmets. Are you using a regular MK VI helmet as base for it?

[apologist]

I did a tutorial back in (blimey!) 2008 - should help:

http://z15.invisionfree.com/The_Great_Crusade/index.php?showtopic=1903

 

If you have any questions, let me know and I'll do my best to help.

[Lykos]

Could you please post a picture of your contemptor dread next to one of your marines for a comparison shot? I would like to have a couple contemptor dreads but I am unsure how well the scale to true scale marines. Thanks in advance.

[apologist]

I haven't got a proper scale shot with a marine next to the Contemptor yet, but these might help give an idea:

 

 

 

Hope those help, and I'll see if I can get a better shot soon. Looking forward to seeing your Space Wolves :)

[Lykos]

Thanks that helps a lot. That first picture makes them look like they fit in good with the contemptor dread. I will soon have a lot of time on my hands to work on my wolves. I want them to be closer to heresy era so that I can use them with Horus Heresy lists.

[GrandMagnus]

Thank you brother, great tutorial. I will have to try it out on a few left over helmets.

[apologist]

WIP Marines

More Ultramarines on the workbench. I tweaked a couple of the three I posted earlier, and made two new ones.

 

This marine has been updated with new pads, some different hands and his additional wargear combat knife, ammo pouches and bolt pistol sidearm) sorted.

 

 

The two new marines are this one – who has a Praetor-pattern helm:

 

 

...some useful rope...

 

...and a +SCRAPSHUNTERRORABORT+ moudline.

 

The other new marine is an update of a sergeant from the Praetors of Calth. He'd been used for a recon squad which later got used for a command squad, so he's been without a position for a while. I've always been very proud of the paintwork on his face, so thought he deserved a proper update.

 

 

He's removed his helm, but it's securely strapped to his belt.

 

Here's a shot of the group.

 

[Doghouse]

Nice work mate, they are looking great. :tu:

[geordie]

Totally awesome. The tartaros legs really work well. Hard to add any constructive criticism really. I suggest maybe trying some Tigrus pattern bolters in conjunction with the praetor pattern helm guys for a slightly more modern, sleeker look.

[apologist]

Ta – and I'd love to include some more Tigrus boltguns. I want to keep Phobos the basic pattern, but a few more Tigrus scattered here and there would work well, I think. The pack also comes with those cool holsters, which I want.

 

Other marines
Two more on the workbench. One complete aside from backpack and equipment; the other needing pauldrons as well.

A closer look at the kneeling marine. The legs are from Space Hulk 2013. Expensive to source from ebay, but worth it, I think, to get the variety in and move the basic pose away from the Terminators (kneeling terminators are very rare!)

Some shoulder pads balanced in place.

[Doghouse]

Very nice work mate, the kneeling guy looks great.

 

Still waiting on the parts for my new ones but I'm going to try and make mine in a similar style to yours so we get a much more coherent overall look to the battle. Bits should be arriving on the 8th so I'll get cracking then. ;)

I'm also going to take a look at scenery as well as I know we are both keen to get a proper 1st ed Space Marine feel to the game. I may be able to cast up some pieces of terrain we can use and chuck them in the post to you so we can halve the work between us. I've got an idea for some scenery bases we can both use as starting points, I'll play around with it and see what sticks.

Ideally I'd love something like a Mars pattern warlord head as a centre piece, there is a piece of artwork in Adeptus Titanicus I may try to reproduce for the game. Pretty sure I can make it. 

[Unknown Chronicler]

The progress looks great so far and I have always been fond of the Praetor pattern helmets especially the ones you made which are very iconic to your army :) , I must ask though when I searched your thread in Warseer that I have seen the Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus  marines. Do you know where I could find more pictures of them by any chance? I am thinking of making a Luna Wolves army but I am not sure where to start exactly. Also I can't wait to see the new additions finished as they look like a true Ultramarine should in the Grim Darkness of the future

[malika666]

The progress looks great so far and I have always been fond of the Praetor pattern helmets especially the ones you made which are very iconic to your army , I must ask though when I searched your thread in Warseer that I have seen the Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus marines. Do you know where I could find more pictures of them by any chance? I am thinking of making a Luna Wolves army but I am not sure where to start exactly. Also I can't wait to see the new additions finished as they look like a true Ultramarine should in the Grim Darkness of the future

I don't remember Apologist having built a Luna Wolves army. I do remember his Sons of Horus.

[apologist]

+inload: Black Ulixis+

 

It was then, I think, that I began to realise I hated him. Forgive me my choler. This vessel; my cradle... [excursus] my cold, cold cradle – is of steel and glass. There is scant comfort there, and no escape from my meditations, [excursus] my thoughts – upon what is to become of me.

[excursus] To what can a posthuman aspire, when he is deprived of that post-human body? What does a man become, when he is entombed in a cradle of steel and glass?

I digress. Things are different now. It was then, after I had awoken and felt the cold clutch what remained of me, that I began to hate him. 

But he remained... [excursus] he remains – my commander. He is my point of reference. And I will serve him.

– Brother Lacrimans, extract from the Colloquies of Ulixis, primer by the memorist Hansa.

 

I dug out a few bits for the commander last night and began to see how they'd work together. The head is looking promising, I think. The neck needs bulking up, and I'm tempted to add an eyepatch or somesuch.

There's a great quote from One Hundred Years of Solitude by Marquez that reads:

 

Arcadio Buendía would not accept, because according to him he could never understand the sense of a contest in which the two adversaries have agreed upon the rules.

 

I really like this, and want to apply this idea to the commander. His characteristics will be:
* Sly, wily – he is respected amongst the Legion, but not admired. An Odysseus figure.
* Driven by duty, as all Ultramarines should be; but also on an intellectual level in pitting his wits against the Iron Warriors.
* Wise, but guarded. Not well-loved by his men; though his results are.

With these characteristics in place, I'll need to start thinking about how I'm going to get that across on the model. Currently, I'd like to tie the following in:

* Slighter – or certainly no larger – than his men.
* Robes of some sort. Perhaps a toga/cloak?
* I like the idea of an eyepatch/crude bionic/eye replacement to evoke the Odin myth of knowledge – this'd tie in well with the robe
* Staff/maul in addition to his gladius?
* Greek/Roman feel – key pattern on cloak?
* More elaborate armour
* Iron halo replaced with something else... halo is at odds with the concept

 

The torso is ProCreate over a plastic marine torso and back. It needs tidying up and smoothing, ready for the addition of a large robe/cloak.

 

The neck is trimmed from a plastic marine head, and the head itself is the bare-headed option from Privateer Press' third version of Vladimir Tzepesci. It's not yet fixed in place, as I may well rethink the legs and general pose – this was really just an experiment to see if the scale worked.

The legs are from Space Hulk. I think these are taken from the marine with a heavy flamer. I've trimmed off most of the obviously Blood Angels insignia, but need to do filling and detail with greenstuff. Since the legs will show under the cloak, this is where the majority of the detail should go, I think.

 

+++

Doghouse

 

Still waiting on the parts for my new ones but I'm going to try and make mine in a similar style to yours so we get a much more coherent overall look to the battle. Bits should be arriving on the 8th so I'll get cracking then. ;)

Ah, cool – but you won't be dropping the ones you've already made, I hope? Those looked cool! 

 

 

I'm also going to take a look at scenery as well as I know we are both keen to get a proper 1st ed Space Marine feel to the game. I may be able to cast up some pieces of terrain we can use and chuck them in the post to you so we can halve the work between us. I've got an idea for some scenery bases we can both use as starting points.

Sounds groovy – what sort of stuff were you thinking of?

Ideally I'd love something like a Mars pattern warlord head as a centre piece, there is a piece of artwork in Adeptus Titanicus I may try to reproduce for the game. Pretty sure I can make it.

I think I know the one you mean – black and white, with a titan standing over a fallen foe that has Ultramarines (and someone else – Sons of Horus?) crawling all over it, right?

 

+++

Coldwinter, Malika's kindly linked to my Sons of Horus thread. I'd put up some more pictures, but I'm afraid I sold them on (to a lovely chap, so I'm happy with where they've gone!)

 

Here's a few pictures of them, to give you a taste:

 

 

 

 

 

The colour's a bit light compared to the official scheme, so I can see why you'd mistake them for Luna Wolves! :)

[apologist]

Text-only update, I'm afraid, as I completely forgot to upload any pictures of my progress last night.
 
I reached a bit of a stumbling block with the officers until I receive some more bits in the post, so I decided to crack on with building up my basic marines. After spraying the latest batch, I set up the force to see where I'd got to, and was really pleased to see I've got nearly thirty marines in various stages of painting from complete to primed. This is well on the way to the bulk of the force; which will be able to be used as a standalone army or in combination with the Praetors of Calth as a bigger force.
 
Not sure how 'good' it is, but I think I can make what I consider to be a very characterful Ultramarines army. It comes to 2260pts, which leaves a bit of space for random bits and pieces to take it to 2500pts. Thoughts? I'm far more interested in whether this looks and 'feels' Ultramarine than competitiveness or similar.
 

Captain Ulixis 'the Black' –
Praetor with master-crafted power weapon [maul] and archaeotech pistol.
Frag and krak grenades, artificer armour.
 

Lieutenant –
Centurion with power weapon [sword], and charnabal sabre.
Frag and krak grenades, artificer armour.
 
Apothecarion Detachment –
1 Legion Apothecary with artificer armour, bolt pistol, frag and krak grenades, chainsword and Narthecium
 
Techmarine Covenant –
1 Legion Techmarine with artificer armour, bolt pistol, frag and krak grenades, power axe, servo-arm, augury scanner and Cyber-familiar
 
Legion Command Squad –
Legion Standard Bearer
2 Space Marine Chosen
Bolt pistols, Combat blades/chainswords, boltguns (Chosen only), Legion standard (Legion Standard Bearer only), Frag and krak grenades, artificer armour.

Legion Tactical Squad –
1 Legion Tactical Sergeant and 9 Legion Tactical marines
10 additional marines
Every marine has an additional combat blade, power armour, frag and krak grenades, boltgun and bolt pistol.
Sergeant has artificer armour, plasma pistol
One marine has a Legion Vexilla, one has a Nuncio-vox

Legion Tactical Squad –
1 Legion Tactical Sergeant and 9 Legion Tactical marines
10 additional marines
Every marine has an additional combat blade, power armour, frag and krak grenades, boltgun and bolt pistol.
Sergeant has artificer armour, plasma pistol
One marine has a Legion Vexilla, one has a Nuncio-vox

Legion Tactical Squad –
1 Legion Tactical Sergeant and 9 Legion Tactical marines
10 additional marines
Every marine has an additional combat blade, power armour, frag and krak grenades, boltgun and bolt pistol.
Sergeant has artificer armour, plasma pistol and power weapon
One marine has a Legion Vexilla, one has a Nuncio-vox

Legion Breacher Siege Squad –
1 Legion Breacher Siege Sergeant and 9 Legion Breacher Siege marines
Sergeant has artificer armour, plasma pistol
Two marines have flamers
Every marine has hardened power armour, frag and krak grenades, boarding shield, boltgun and bolt pistol.
 
Legion Heavy Support Squad –
1 Legion Sergeant and 5 Legion marines
Sergeant has artificer armour, augury scanner
Every marine has a heavy bolter, power armour, frag and krak grenades, boltgun and bolt pistol.
 
Contemptor Dreadnought Talon
2 Contemptor Dreadnoughts
One has multi-melta and dreadnought close combat weapon with inbuilt twinlinked bolter.
One has twin-linked heavy bolter and dreadnought close combat weapon with inbuilt twinlinked plasma blaster.

 

+++

One suggestion I liked was the inclusion of a Librarian. I think it'd be a particularly good way to suggest the era (post-Calth), and would probably be fun to model. If you have any thoughts on what a typical Ultramarine army would have at this period, then I'm all audio-inputs.

[ephrael]

A librarian sounds like a terrific idea, in my humble opinion.  You might try the Grey Knight terminator torso for the base of the conversion.  I used one for a INQ28 marine I've been toying with and if you trim down the vents on the back they don't need much work to look the part.  

[Lykos]

Did you read The Unremembered Empire yet? You could glean quite a few ideas from it to fill out your force.

[apologist]

Lykos: Yes, I picked it up over the weekend and enjoyed it a lot. Not sure quite what I want to include, but it's nice to get more information on the Legion and Macragge in particular.

 

mikhail: I'm definitely warming to the idea of a Librarian, and have a Grey Knight Terminator torso or two lurking somewhere – good idea for the hood basis. Ta!

 

+++

+inload: Shots galore

A bevy of pics today showing how the force is building up:

 

Nearly everyone.

 

Painted.

 

Part-painted.

 

Primed.

 

Work in progress

 

 

 

 

[Dragonlover]

Where's the helmet on the Chaplain from?

 

Dragonlover

[Dosjetka]

Where's the helmet on the Chaplain from?

 

Dragonlover

 

From this kit.

[Dragonlover]

That means that at some point, I need to pay 31 pounds for a head. Because I need to use that on one of my models. Ah well, one to file away for a rainy day.

 

Dragonlover