Wardens of the Eastern Fringe - An Ultramarine Blog

[adamantium_wang]

"I can see the questions you have written on your face. 'Why am I here in such a place and in such company? Here in the cold and uncaring Dark so very far from Glaudor, standing with the Emperor's Angels in their sacred and hallowed places? Why me? Why here? Why now?' I shall answer them for you.

You are here because you have been chosen to be the latest remembrancer of my company. The implants, the training, the pain, nightmares and harrowing journey of the last three years have all been toward that end. You have shown a talent for recall, for interrogation. For realising that asking the single right question will glean more knowledge than a thousand lesser ones. For understanding the threads that bind the present to the past and that will go on to weave the future. And your body has shown a tolerance and receptiveness to certain cranial implants and the hypnotherapy that will enable you to use them.

Legend holds that the remembrancer program dates all the way back to the days of the Great Crusade. It is said that the Emperor Himself ordered that the Truth of the actions of his Legions be accounted for by the people for whom they were forging an empire and thus be remembered for all time. As with much else during the madness of the Heresy it was all but lost, but Primarch Guilliman attempted to preserve the tradition within the Chapters of his sons. It is not often maintained these days and is not viewed favourably by many in the Astartes but the idea holds a certain resonance with me. If rumour is to be believed while Captain Agemman violently abhors the concept Captain Sicarius has no less than four remembrancers attending him at all times. One is sufficient for my needs.

Of course the Truth of modern times is far too horrifying and dangerous for man to contemplate. The Emperor's citizens must not only be protected from the malice of their enemies but often from knowledge of their very existence. The work that you do here will likely never be seen by those outside of our ranks. But to my mind it is important work. What we do in the Emperor's name must be witnessed and documented, it must be passed on to future generations and we must be always aware that we are always held to account for our conduct lest we lose ourselves in arrogance and pride.

As such I, Brother-Captain Caito Galenus of the Fifth Company Ultramarines, commission you to go forth and document the lives of myself and my brothers. Record not only their words and their deeds but also their hearts and their souls. You may interview whomever you wish and they will make themselves available to you when duties permit. You will have access to all areas of the ship save the Reclusiam, the Armoury, the Strategium, the Librarium, the Enginarium, the hangar decks and private chambers without escort with escorted access being arranged to these restricted areas upon request as duties permit. All materials you document will be submitted to the Librarium on a daily basis and will not be discussed with those outside our Chapter under the most severe pentalty. Aside from such your person shall be inviolable and you may consider yourself under my protection. You may of course include your observations and considerations in your work but you will not editorialise nor excise material on the basis that it appears unfavourable or unkind. Your work will join with that of your predecessors and shall ensure that the Truth of our work will endure.

Welcome aboard the Internecio."

- Initial interview with Captain Caito Galenus, 303978.M41

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Hello and welcome to my first WiP thread. I am adamantium|wang and have been playing with power armour for a little over 20 years now. In all that time and across all those games I have never actually had a fully painted force of my own, and I thought that a thread here would not only give me some motivation to start such a project but also maintain it through to the end. It would also let me document what I was doing, collect some thoughts and experiments, ask for ideas and feedback and better manage the creative process that something like this goes through.

Way, way back in the mists of time my two brothers and I played a game called Space Crusade. We had no idea that two decades later we would still be painting and playing with the same three Chapters we did then. I wish I could point to some kind of provenance that influenced my choice of the boys in blue, but it was nothing beyond liking the colour and the Medikit wargear card they could equip.

Ever since I started playing 40K back in the heady days of 2nd Edition I always wanted to have a pool of models I could draw from to form an army with. I didn't want to be limited to just 1500/1850 points of something and not just put together and paint the things that were the most rawly efficient units on the tabletop. I wanted to select from the forces I had at hand to perform the job I needed.

In short, I wanted a company.

Back when I was younger I started fiddling around with actually putting paint on my minis and thought of doing the 3rd. It... Didn't go so well.

http://i.imgur.com/4JWm4b2.jpg

Yeah. Still, its important to remember where we came from. This little dude still rides with the rest of my guys. Not out of shame, just as perspective. Back in '05 I decided to have another stab at it, this time picking the colours of the 5th:

http://i.imgur.com/4NwGRta.jpg

An improvement, but I believe I can do better these days. Plus, 5 or 6 painted marines do not a company make.

This thread will be a document of my process to realise my vision of a fully modeled and painted 5th Company of the Ultramarines. Saying that the progress will be glacial will probably be wildly optimistic, but I aim to post not just photos of constructed and painted miniatures but thoughts and whatever purple prose I hammer out at 1 in the morning. Having said that I seem to have been bitten by the bug and have churned out more models in the last week than I have in the previous year so who knows:

http://i.imgur.com/IjkcCvY.jpg?1

Thanks for poking your head in and hopefully you will accompany me on this journey

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ULTRAMARINES CHAPTER

V COMPANY

ORDER OF BATTLE C. 978.M41

Captain - Caito Galenus, Master of the Marches, Lord of the Fifth

Chaplain - Gallio Severus

Apothecary - Decius Lucian

Company Champion - Gaius Nerus Antilles

Company Standard Bearer - Ancient Titus Cinna

Company Command Squad - Veteran Sergeant Marius Pullo

I Tactical Squad - Sergeant Galen Ixion

II Tactical Squad - Sergeant Julius Tacitus

III Tactical Squad - Sergeant Marcus Fabian

IV Tactical Squad - Sergeant Paulus Gnaeus

V Tactical Squad - Sergeant Kaeso Octavian

VI Tactical Squad - Sergeant Vel Malthus

VII Assault Squad - Sergeant Titus Scipio

VIII Assault Squad - Sergeant Caius Lucretian

IX Devastator Squad - Sergeant Cicero Sabinus

X Devastator Squad - Sergeant Veralum Abraxes

I Dreadnought - Ancient Brother Invictus

II Dreadnought - Ancient Brother Agrippa

ATTACHED LIBRARIUS

Epistolary Gideon Khybre

Codicier Tiberian Septimus

ATTACHED ARMOURY

Techmarine Arun Bellator

ATTACHED I COMPANY ELEMENTS

VI Terminator Squad - Veteran Sergeant Luc Crixus

IX Veteran Squad - Veteran Sergeant Torion Gage

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[deathspectersgt7]

Look forward too seeing more.

[adamantium_wang]

Was a lovely day outside so I thought I'd start mucking around with colour tests. I fired up the compressor and prayed to the spirit of my Sotar and away we went.

 

http://i.imgur.com/DXK86gW.png

 

I always preferred darker Ultramarines to the blue Smartie look. I picked out a triad of VMC Dark Prussian Blue, Blue and Royal Blue for the basecoat. DPB would go on over the whole model followed by Blue and Royal Blue held at higher angles to the model. Doing some experiments on Terminators the final highlight looked a bit too bright for me, so I went for a roughly 50-50 Blue-Royal Blue mix for these guys.

 

Then I completely forgot how much varnish darkens a model.

 

http://i.imgur.com/mwdYo3I.png

 

http://i.imgur.com/J7wlpW0.png

 

http://i.imgur.com/3u6Rw46.png

 

There is still a gradient visible which I'm happy for, but now instead of bring too bright I'm worried it will be too dark. My plan was to go over with a more traditional line highlight of Royal Blue, with some VGC Ultramarine Blue and possibly as high as VGC Wolf Grey in parts. After that I would hit the mini with a pin wash of Winton Lamp Black, but I would want to do as much detail as I could before I did that. Hopefully that will help better define the model. I've ordered a lovely little desk lamp with magnifying glass that should be here in a few days and will update then. Until then, does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?

[Adeptus-Alaska]

Either FW is dropping the "Ultra" book soon, or the boys in blue are finally getting their due.......either way it's nice to see some ultra love.

[Veteran Sergeant]

Darker colored Ultramarines is the only proper way to do them.

[adamantium_wang]

"We are not the only Chapter of Astartes to utilise remembrancers but there are not very many that do. Favourability towards them drops off sharply after the Second Founding and it is rare to see any Chapters instituted after the Thirteenth to even be aware of the concept. We maintain a strong tradition of them. Our mighty Chapter has engaged remembrancers to follow at least one of our companies for each of the last ten thousand years and what survives of their records are kept in each company archive. It may take some digging around but everything ever witnessed of the Fifth are tucked away in these data stacks along with whatever copies of other accounts the Internecio was able to make whenever our strike cruisers cross paths.

 

Do I know of any? I know for a fact that the Blood Angels still use them, as do the Wolves of Fenris. What's the word they use for them again? Ah, skjald. Heh. It is a funny thing. The Wolves almost love to howl about the decadent and useless foibles and trappings of others but as soon as they are able to plaster over something with one of their own words they suddenly become sacred traditions.  

 

Oh, here. Use this to stop the flow. There you go. Your adjustment will continue. Be thankful that it is your nose this time and not your ears."

 

- Conversation with Codicier Septimus, 304978.M41

 

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Decided to go over the test marines again with the lighter blue. Think they held up better after varnishing and have a better defined gradient to them.

 

http://i.imgur.com/JsVSAzJ.png

 

http://i.imgur.com/pGIcbrB.png

 

I liked it so much I thought I'd hit the Terminators with the same:

 

http://i.imgur.com/2yG3Rtx.jpg

 

I know they look very candy now, but the gloss varnish is only for protection between layers. They'll get a layer of dullcote to finish everything off and take away the shine. Thoughts?

 

(Also need to get around to building another lightbox and using something a bit better than my phone.)

[Adeptus-Alaska]

You shore do got a purrty mou........blue. great stuff.

[Midnightmare]

I'm liking where you are going with these, yes they do look quite dark but I think that could be a good thing. I would like to see one details complete and with all the insignias, but I think that they will look spot on.

I will be back for more updates

[adamantium_wang]

Did some more work on a test marine, I think it's coming along.

 

http://i.imgur.com/nibV5tp.png

 

http://i.imgur.com/vBBbmQI.png

 

I don't have much experience with oil washes, I need to get my ratios right to make a better effect. I tried to shift some pigment off the left shoulder pad but had to stop when I realised I was starting to lift the basecoat off through three layers of varnish. Still very glossy, I'm waiting to get some MicroSol and MicroSet to apply transfers then dullcote it down. Base will probably be a warm light brown to contrast the dark cool colours of the model.

[adamantium_wang]

"Look to the sergeants Remembrancer. They are the heart and soul of a company and their demeanor will tell you more of our state than any number of field reports will."

 

- Conversation with Codicier Septimus, 306978.M41

 

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Hi folks, I thought I might stick up some work in progress shots of my company characters. Some details like grenades and purity seals may be missing of a few of them and their bases are very bare but they're complete enough to give an idea of what I'm doing with each one. Each squad looks to their sergeant for guidance and leadership and each squad takes on elements of their character. I wanted to make them different to one another (of course) and will include beneath each a few concepts I've been trying to convey when building them. Let me know if you think it works or have any suggestions about how I could better represent these things on the models.

 

Squad Sergeants

 

I Tactical Sgt Galen Ixion
http://i.imgur.com/eiroB2Q.png

(Veteran, aggressive, heroic)

 

II Tactical Sgt Julius Tacitus

http://i.imgur.com/kCVAqCs.png

(Veteran, analytical, commanding)

 

III Tactical Sgt Marcus Fabian

http://i.imgur.com/Rxnp3WT.png

(Wounded, experienced, dauntless)

 

IV Tactical Sgt Paulus Gnaeus

http://i.imgur.com/reGhCgN.png

(Flamboyant, daring, heroic)

 

V Tactical Sgt Kaeso Octavian

http://i.imgur.com/ZFVOxC9.png

(Young, eager, aggressive)

 

VI Tactical Sgt Vel Malthus

http://i.imgur.com/63Gry82.png

(Resolute, dauntless, relentless)

 

VII Assault Sgt Titus Scipio

http://i.imgur.com/osfy0j6.png

(Brutal, violent, aggressive)

 

VIII Assault Sgt Caius Lucretian

http://i.imgur.com/p2IBCqR.png

(Experienced, analytical, calculating)

 

IX Devastator Sgt Cicero Sabinus

http://i.imgur.com/yiPJCTi.png

(Young, bombastic, demanding)

 

X Devastator Sgt Veralum Abraxes

http://i.imgur.com/2VM8eUv.png

(Veteran, experienced, calculating)

 

-----

 

Other characters

 

Company Champion Gaius Nerus Antilles

http://i.imgur.com/FvQB59H.png

(Heroic, veteran, dangerous)

 

IX Veteran Sgt Torion Gage

http://i.imgur.com/wlJCyzf.png

(Venerated, experienced, dangerous)

 

Captain Caito Galenus, Lord of the Fifth

http://i.imgur.com/iexWukr.png

(The goddamned Batman Captain)

 

-----

 

All of the above except for the I, II and IX sergeants have at least one magnetised weapons mount. As such I've gone a bit mad with magnets:

 

http://i.imgur.com/YkYEbcm.png

 

...with some more left to do:

 

http://i.imgur.com/1BlZOK6.png

 

At least then I can still field the models I like without being constrained by weaponry. It lets me do fun things like this:

 

http://i.imgur.com/AOjpxFZ.png

 

Again, would love to hear any questions or comments.

[deathspectersgt7]

The Sgts look Ace!!!! 

[Combat_Vet]

I too just started try to use oil paints. I found that less is definitely more. I thinned it down to almost pure thinner and washed the mini and then added a little paint at a time and got closer and closer to the edges. About the same as a glaze really.

[BrotherCaptainArkhan]

Very cool names and 'profiles' for each character. Love to see where you go with this.

 

Also, I'm commenting because your username is my inner 15-year-old's pinnacle of wit and humour. ;)

[Adeptus-Alaska]

"Julius Tacticus" heh, awesome.

 

Your champion is boss as hell.

[Doghouse]

Very nice start :tu:

[adamantium_wang]

Trying to apply marine shoulder pad transfers without Micro Sol is an exercise in frustration and futility. An order has been placed and with some luck I shall have it by Friday so I can get this test mini finished for C&C in time for the weekend.

 

I've also been eying the Horus Heresy patterns of bolter that are now available. I might pick up a few Umbra and Phobos patterns to scatter around the squads. I figure that if any Chapter is going to have working versions of these venerable weapons available it would be the Ultramarines.

[Grizzly_bear]

Great sargents fella. Real characters

[adamantium_wang]

Appreciate all the kind comments and feedback folks =]

[adamantium_wang]

Well, the Micro- products arrived so I thought I'd slap the decals on him and call him done. There are still bubbles and folds here and there, I'd completely forgotten the old trick of slicing a bit out of the ultima so it sits on the pad more easily. I'll rectify that with the next ones.

 

I've been lazy and haven't built a light box yet so these shots will have to do for the moment. They get the idea across well enough though.

 

http://i.imgur.com/uLAx7ks.png

 

http://i.imgur.com/scE3HmL.png

 

http://i.imgur.com/c1FwRlP.png

 

http://i.imgur.com/cVlvAWy.png

 

I have four of his brothers lined up ready to try a mass production run on. I think they might turn out a little bit lighter as instead of doing an oil wash I might just do a black lining with thinned down black wash. C&C appreciated again.

 

Edit: Now with 100% more actually dried Dullcote!

 

http://i.imgur.com/ZidKNzu.png

[adamantium_wang]

Decided to set up a KanBan Flow board to better manage and monitor my work (click for big):

 

http://i.imgur.com/1oFZvswl.png?1

 

Items with comment bubbles are what are in my current 1850 point army list to help me prioritise. This thing is pretty neat, and while the task seems a lot larger now that it's all laid out in front of me its also a bit easier now that it's all laid out in front of me :v

 

e: Having said that it would probably help if I added the Terminator squad in there too. Sergeant Crixus won't be pleased with me.

[adamantium_wang]

I liked the idea of putting Space Marines on 32mm bases but did not want to go to the trouble and expense of completely rebasing what I had. Fortunately I discovered some very cheap MDF base extenders on eBay and ordered 10 to test them out.

http://i.imgur.com/00YvLTZ.png

You can see because they are straight-cut there is a bit of a gap between them and the bevel on the GW 25mm base.

http://i.imgur.com/UOVBn05.png

Aside from that they fit well enough, with only a slight difference in height between them. Turns out the GW ones are a little more than 3mm thick.

http://i.imgur.com/f1VigtZ.png

So I grabbed some Liquid Green Stuff and filled in the gap on a model I'm halfway through painting.

http://i.imgur.com/Umnsz6h.png

When it sets I'll throw some sand on it and finish the mini to see how it looks. If it goes well I'll give extending a finished base a try.

http://i.imgur.com/QLbXNXo.png

Fingers crossed.

[deathspectersgt7]

Nice update!!!

[adamantium_wang]

Well, so much for that. A certain 4-year old (who shall remain nameless) got to my desk and snapped half the extenders. Oh well. With the effort it was taking to fill in the gaps and build up what was left it probably would have taken less time and effort just to straight-up replace the whole base. I'll put in an order for some 32mm bases in the next couple of weeks.

 

In the meantime however, progress has been made. Lightbox setup is still not working the way I'd like it to, so while I figure it out here's a shot of five Marines of Squad Tacitus:

 

http://i.imgur.com/RLUvl7O.png

 

I dialled back the highlighting a bit and changed the bases to a brighter earth colour. I think I realise why the last attempt at brown seemed out of place; while the colour contrasted the luminosity didn't so instead of acting as a counterpoint or an accent it was tied in too closely to the miniature standing on top of it and was just too drab.

 

Work on the remainder of the squad continues apace with experiments in holding an old metal plasma cannon together successful, albeit requiring 8 magnets for a single infantry miniature. I think I need to get some plastic heavy weapons. Or more magnets.

[MagicMan]

Looking good! Always glad to see more well painted Ultra's. ;)

[Brother Galfridus]

Lovely ultramarines there! I think you've got it spot on with the new basing colours. Always have a soft spot for the 5th company.