Tranc's Ultramarines (and Successors) Blog

[Tranc]

Hey,

A few years ago, I had a blog in the Bolterandchainsword's blog repository. Unfortunately, it was lost in the warp storm (a.k.a., forum software upgrade) of 2012. Though I continued to paint (slowly), I had no place to post photos. Echoes of my old blog can still be found in the Wayback Machine web archive:

https://web.archive.org/web/20120404130052/http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.php?autocom=blog&blogid=854&

https://web.archive.org/web/20100509173045/http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.php?automodule=blog&blogid=854&

Recently, my wife asked for an SLR camera for her birthday, which I borrowed yesterday to take photos of my more recent space marines I think I'll post new photos of my miniatures in Hall of Honour forum section, but I wanted to start this thread as an index of my work.

So without further ado, my first space marine photos in ~3 years:
Veteran Sergeants
Sternguard Veterans
Land Raider Redeemer "Fabian's Revenge"
Terminators

 

Other 40K stuff:

Cadian Leman Russ Battle Tank & Vanquisher

 

I will try to post more photos as time permits (I have an 1 year old daughter now ).

-Tranc

Edited July 27, 2015 by Tranc

[Olis]

Sucks that you had to visit the Wayback Machine to see your old blog but man, that stuff is good. I look forward to seeing more photos, brother. :tu:

[ShVagYeR]

Some excellent paintjobs and lots of inspiration there. Well done sir.

[Tranc]

Thanks guys!  

 

I've updated the post in the Hall of Honour section with photos of my Ultramarines successors Sternguard Veteran squad:

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/308509-our-presence-remakes-the-past-again/?p=4067918

Edited June 2, 2015 by Tranc

[Templar1]

Outstanding job. Crisp, clean, detailed, bright... This is excellent. Space marine paint jobs at their finest.

[Tranc]

I FINALLY completed my 40K Ultramarines army.  It has been years in the making, and I actually made the list last edition, so it's a combined arms detachment (no formations).  To celebrate, I've posted my army list below, with links to photos of each unit.  Please have a look and let me know what you think (of either the list, or the painting).  Just bear in mind that any suggested tweaks to the army may not be realized for couple editions ;-)  I have a Gladius Strike Force version planned, but I need to paint a few devastators first.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

Ultramarines Army List (Combined Arms Detachment)

 

 

HQ

Captain Galenus w/ Relic Blade, Storm Shield & Artificer Armour - 150 pts

 

 

Elites

Terminator Squad Helios (10) w/ 2x Cyclone Missile Launcher & 2x Chainfist - 410 pts

 

Sternguard Veteran Squad Darius (6) w/ Lightning Claw, 2x Combi-Plasma & Combi-Melta - 177 pts

Stronos pattern Razorback "Venator" w/ Lascannon, Twin-linked Plasma Gun & Storm Bolter - 80 pts

 

Dreadnought Ideaus "Ferox" w/ 2x Twin-linked Autocannon - 120 pts

 

 

Troops

Tactical Squad Solinus (5/5) w/ Veteran Sergeant, Powerfist, Combi-Melta, Flamer & Missile Launcher w/ Flakk Missiles - 215 pts

Razorback "Guilliman's Will" w/ Twin-linked Heavy Bolter - 55 pts

 

Tactical Squad Manorian (10) w/ Veteran Sergeant, Power Sword, Plasma Gun, Multi-Melta & Teleport Homer - 195 pts

Rhino "Thermopylae" - 35 pts

 

 

Fast Attack

Attack Bike w/ Multi-Melta - 50 pts

 

Land Speeder Typhoon "Daedalus" w/ Heavy Bolter & Typhoon Missile Launcher - 70 pts

 

 

Heavy Support

Mk IVc Predator Annihilator "Galatan" w/ Heavy Bolter sponsons - 120 pts

 

Whirlwind "Aurora" w/ Storm Bolter - 70 pts

 

Land Raider Redeemer "Fabian's Revenge" w/ Multi-Melta - 250 pts

 

 

Total Points: 1997

 

[Saul Invictus]

I cry a little every time I see Fabian's revenge, it's so beautiful. I've seen a few of the others before and had no idea they were all done by the same person. Wonderful miniatures, and a great theme.

[Gaius Atticus]

Love the Praetor of Orpheus and the Black Consul. The Ultra successors are very under represented.

[Tranc]

Thanks Saul, Gaius! There are elements of this army that I started painting back in 2009, so it's been a long long time! I hope to do 2 more land raiders someday (one in 2nd company colors, and another as a Mk IIb). I'd also like to do a Vanguard Veteran squad of Ultramarine successor chapters as a complement to the Sternguard Veteran squad. Alas, if only there was more time!

 

What do you guys think of the list? Is it still reasonable given the current edition?

 

I get the impression that not everyone wants to follow links, so I'll just leave the collages of my infantry here:

 

http://www.coolminiornot.com/pics/pics16/img56d80378a6818.jpg

 

http://www.coolminiornot.com/pics/pics16/img56d40ed344252.jpg

 

http://www.coolminiornot.com/pics/pics16/img56d40bea20738.jpg

 

http://www.coolminiornot.com/pics/pics16/img56d54bedae8dc.jpg

Edited March 18, 2016 by Tranc

[markham82]

Holy smokes, you've got skills!

[Toxichobbit]

It's difficult to tell in the photos, but I'm thinking you've gone for directional highlighting and shading, rather than just the usual edge highlight you see on these forums (I blame GW). I'm sure I see some blended shadows and highlights, although it's often hard to spot with photos. What I really like though is the attention to detail, the freehand especially.

[Tranc]

I haven't been 100% consistent with it.  Troops, especially my earlier paint jobs from 2009-2010, were mostly edge highlighted.  Veterans received more attention and usually had zenithal highlighting (to simulate light from above), though that may be hard to see from the photos.  I definitely try to paint Veteran Sergeants and Captains with directional lighting now, and obviously that takes more time.

 

I like to experiment, and want to see if edge highlighting plus the addition of glare spots might be a happy medium for at least troops.

[Dosjetka]

Blame GW all you like, Toxichobbit, edge highlighting is arguably the most simple and effective way of painting miniatures for an army. ;)

 

Tranc: Seeing your blog was a real blast from the past! It reminded me how long it had been since a) the B&C had blogs and b) I last saw your work. Excellent stuff and congratulations with completing this gorgeous army! :)

[Toxichobbit]

Blame GW all you like, Toxichobbit, edge highlighting is arguably the most simple and effective way of painting miniatures for an army.

 

 

For painting an army, yes (although wash + drybrush is probably more simple & effective). But I didn't say painting for an army, I said painting. I'm talking about more than just painting an army - stuff like characters or display pieces where you can afford to spend the time to do more than just a simple edge highlight etc. It'd be awesome if GW did some work to encourage the community to push beyond the medium level techniques they constantly advertise, given the amount of influence they have over miniature painting, especially that of GW products.

[Tranc]

The GW 'eavy Metal team has shown us two enhancements to the edge highlighting technique recently.

 

If you take a look at the Blood Angel from the recent Deathwatch game, notice that his edge highlights are not uniform in intensity. The edge highlights themselves get brighter in certain areas, with glares represented as spot highlights. Note that these glare spots are absent on the Raven Guard marine, perhaps indicating that some of the team are doing them, while others are not.

 

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Deathwatch-Overkill-EN

 

The second enhancement to the edge highlighting style can be seem on the Ultramarines in the Betrayal at Calth board game:

 

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/The-Horus-Heresy-Betrayal-at-Calth-Book

 

There are paint chips and scratches all along the edges of their armor, most noticeable on the Terminators. So even though they haven't put in the time to do proper layering, they're still showing us we can get pretty good mileage via some simple extensions on the basic edge highlight technique.

Edited March 11, 2016 by Tranc

[Brother Tyler]

Better links:

 

Raven Guard mini from Deathwatch: Overkill

 

Ultramarines Terminator from Horus Heresy: Betrayal at Calth

 

Now that GW'/'Eavy Metal have incorporated these techniques, it would be nice to see tutorial articles from them showcasing the techniques - perhaps in those Paint Splatter articles.

[Toxichobbit]

They do add interesting techniques every now and then. They sometimes do funky stuff with power weapons for example. The Grey Knights, or the Sergeant from Space Hulk are two that come to mind. I'm sure there has been others though. Eavy Metal doing chipping effects predates Betrayal at Calth by quite a bit. I can't remember when I first noticed that they did chipping on some models, but I'm sure it was well over 12 months ago. IMO the problem is this is never consistent and the support for such techniques can be hit and miss. Were they to regularly include chipping, more subtle edge highlighting, interesting effects on power weapons etc in their tutorials then I'd have a much higher opinion of their painting. As it is, it feels like the majority of their stuff* is like that Raven Guard, uninspired (albeit neat) edge highlighted with very little in the way of transition.

 

*I say "feels like" because I have no idea if the majority, or even close to the majority of their stuff is actually done in this basic style.

[StraightSilver]

Some stunning stuff in here, really lovely Ultras. I'm quite gutted I missed out on some of those old veteran models. Nice to see some successors too.

[Tranc]

I really miss GW's 'eavy Metal Masterclass series, and dislike the newer really basic painting guides. The link to the Raven Guard in Brother Tyler's post should really be to the Blood Angel :-).

 

I'm working on a Blood Angels Storm Raven right now. (A test model for my Ultramarines Storm Eagle next year :D)

[Ishagu]

Wow, just wow.

 

Lol now I realise I utterly suck!

[Cpt. Lacerus]

Need some Novamarines 'round these parts. Unless I'm blind and didn't see them. Lovely work as always.

[Tranc]

Wow, just wow.

 

Lol now I realise I utterly suck!

You do not suck.  Miniature painting is a continual learning process.  You can check out this link to see where I was not too long ago.

 

Need some Novamarines 'round these parts. Unless I'm blind and didn't see them. Lovely work as always.

 

A Novamarine is planned for the vanguard veteran squad

Edited April 7, 2016 by Tranc

[SickSix]

You are clearly a far better painter than I, but I do have one small critique: I feel like several of your white helmets have zero shadow to them. The main culprit being the veteran with the banner.

[Tranc]

All my veteran sergeants have back banners ;-) but I assume you mean the one with the fully white helmet.

 

I actually basecoat all my white with 50/50 Shadow Grey + Skull White these days, and then add increasing amounts of white for layers until I get to pure white for edge highlights. The problem is the color gradient from 50/50 Shadow Grey/White to pure White is a more subtle transition than from say blue to white, and doesn't show up as dramatically on camera. That's my story and I'm sticking to it ;-)

Edited April 11, 2016 by Tranc

[Toxichobbit]

You are clearly a far better painter than I, but I do have one small critique: I feel like several of your white helmets have zero shadow to them. The main culprit being the veteran with the banner.

 

 

All my veteran sergeants have back banners ;-) but I assume you mean the one with the fully white helmet.

 

I actually basecoat all my white with 50/50 Shadow Grey + Skull White these days, and then add increasing amounts of white for layers until I get to pure white for edge highlights. The problem is the color gradient from 50/50 Shadow Grey/White to pure White is a more subtle transition than from say blue to white, and doesn't show up as dramatically on camera. That's my claim and I'm sticking to it ;-)

 

I'll back Tranc up on this one. It's actually really tricky to get white to not look flat on a camera when it's not the primary colour (it's easier on a mostly white miniature). I've had it multiple times in the past - usually I just put a note under the picture that the white has more definition but is drowned out by the lighting/camera flash.