Imperator Commilitones WIP

[Wolfhart]

Hello. A few weeks ago I decided to get back into 40k after about three years away. So on a whim I got some Blood Angels. Given that I already had rather large Space Wolves and Black Templar forces in varying stages of WIP, and neatly boxed away too, I figured with the new BA minis that I should start a public thread to part document the work, and part to keep me motivated. I expect this to be slow going, I both work and go to university full-time.

While I'm not new to the hobby, there are some new things I intend to try. The first is undercoating with gesso, which I've never used before but am intrigued by, and using more advanced techniques than a simple basecoat and edge highlight combo. I've never used layering techniques, washes, glazing, or anything more than simple basecoating before.

 

To start, here's the Angels, all assembled. I don't much care to paint each model's individual pieces separately and then glue it together later. Also, sorry for the guerrilla photography. I only have smart phone camera at present, and no good set up for taking pictures.

First is the chaplain:

Next here is the first squad, with flamer and heavy flamer special weapons.

Second Squad, also with flamer and heavy flamer special weapons. I'm awfully fond of flame-throwing weapons....

And finally the Baal class Predator, with heavy flamers and flamestorm cannon, of course.

 

Next is a few pictures of the state of my other marines, which I will go through more thoroughly in future. In particular is this box of various marines and vehicles that I had several years ago tried to strip, but gave up when the simple green did next to nothing. They have now been dumped in a bin of super clean, so I will document both what all was in the box, as well as the results.

The rest of these are my BT and SW (as well as some grey knights for fun) that I had stashed away. Better pictures will come once I figure out a good way to take them.

 

That's all for now. I'm going to get to work undercoating the Angels, and be back soon, thanks for reading ! 

[deathspectersgt7]

Welcome back into the fold . 

[Wolfhart]

For a first update, I (mostly) undercoated the Blood Angels. Using gesso as a primer was certainly very different from what I'm used to. Following the instructions I found online, I just globbed it on each marine. With how thick the stuff is I seriously thought I ruined the models, all the details just drenched in black goo, but the gesso shrank just as all the guides said it would. I'm honestly really pleased with the results too, barring some areas where it shrank too much that I'll need to go over again:

 

I really like the primed surface, and while doing it by hand is very slow, I really like the control I get doing it this way. With one exception, priming the Predator this way is extremely time consuming, as the image shows, and I'm still not even close to finished undercoating it. So from here it's time to get to work on the real painting work. My current plan is to follow the paint scheme done by Horus Heresay's youtube video on how to paint Blood Angels (I'd just link it, but since its not my video I don't know if that's bad form here). Essentially its the same scheme I think games workshop uses, with Mephiston Red --> Agrax wash --> Evil Sunz Scarlet --> Wild Rider Red, or any similar equivalents anyways. The one difference here is that I'll be using a red wash since I'm not fond of the brown washes on red effect. I'm not yet decided on any of the other details and effects for the rest of the models, which I think I'll figure out once I work out the red on a test model.

 

Next up is the first round of paint stripping on the miscellaneous box of marines. I'd never used super clean as a stripper, and just like with the gesso, I'm really impressed with the results. Many of the models were primed with a gray automotive spray primer, and was caked on pretty thickly. Not all of the models I put in the chem bath were completely stripped, but the majority were after just an overnight soak. Some of the models' glue disintergrated, like the Razorback thats now in pieces.

 

Welcome back into the fold . 

Thank you! It feels good to be back :)!

 

 

[BrotherJim]

This is epic man. So many marines :) what a jackpot. Interested to watch this unfold!

[Wolfhart]

This is just a short update, but I painted a test model for the red armor scheme I had in mind:

 

The colors look fine at least from a few feet away, but I think I botched his face a bit, and the first highlight is completely dominated by the orange. I think it's too bright maybe... I can only tell it's there when looking at the model really close up. I'm concerned about where/how much to highlight, so I went pretty conservative with it though I think I didn't do enough. The old Black Templar black/dark gray was so much easier in retrospect .

I really like the darker red base (I think the marines in the codex seem much brighter, though I could be imagining it), but part of me feels like he just looks 'dirty', like the armors been coated in soot or dirt or something.

Also I forgot to mention at the start, but comments and criticism are welcome of course.

[Wolfhart]

I finished stripping the last models, and decided to take a quick account of where each army is at. I still haven't figured out a good way to take pictures yet, and I'm really disappointed with the close ups I did take, so I decided not to take more detailed pics of everything. I probably will once I start work on them, but if anyone wants closer pictures I'll certainly take them. First off is the newly cleaned models:

In total there are:

2 Land raider crusaders, 1 Land raider, 1 Land speeder with no weapons, 5 Rhinos/razorbacks,12 normal Terminators,7 assault terminators,16 scouts, 1 Dreadnought, 1 Ironclad dread, 5 Vangaurd veterans, 10 assault marines, about 65 bolter marines, 1 terminator chaplain, 1 oldschool metal captain, 2 plastic captains, three ultramarine Honor guard,  Cato Sicarius, Tigurius, Chronus, Shrike. I know the rest of the honor guard are supposed to around somewhere, along with Marneus Calgar and the scout special character, though I may have lost them when I moved a few months ago. I also just bought the kit with Roboute Guilliman, so I plan to make those Ultramarines a side project for when I get sick of working on the primary three armies here. Maybe make a diorama? I'm not sure yet. I'm also a little at a loss for what to do with all the models. The two LRC's, terminators, assault terminators, and scouts will all go to the Black Templar, as well as the dreadnought and ironclad dread. I was thinking the regular land raider should go to the blood angels, but otherwise I don't know. I'm a little worried that the basic marines won't look right next to the much more kitted out SW and BA, since they're models have A TON of extras all over. I'd just swap some parts out/ like heads and shoulders, use some of the left over backpacks/bolters, but a large chunk of the bolter marines are the static two piece 'glue on bolter' guys. I have some serious work cut out regardless.

Next up is the Black Templar:

And of course the EC:

I quite 40k during sixth edition when the new space marines codex hit and I found out BT where stuffed in along with the rest. It was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back situation at the time. I was already pretty done with the game because of the sixth ed. rules overhaul, specifically with regards to wound allocation rules, variable charge distances, challenges, cc weapon rules, and of course that overwatch  . So with that in mind, the army is not quite in line with the current rules for 7th ed space marines. I don't own the codex so I can't be sure, but iirc neophytes don't have bolt pistol/cc weapons anymore, and sword brethren aren't even a 'thing' anymore either. I don't think I'm going to change the neophyte models though, mostly because the ones I have are almost all metal. 

Finally here's the Space woofs:

Next is the lone wolf Hrymfullr, though I don't own the current Wolves codex either so whether this is even a legal model anymore I don't know:

Wolf Lord Dainn Icefang:

And Dainn's most trusted ally, the Runepriest Skjalfa:

I believe that I'm missing a dreadnought for the wolves, so I used my old rogue trader dread as a stand in. I wanted the wolves to run light on the vehicles as a contrast to the BT, with drop pods bringing the grey hunters and rune priest in close, with a smaller contingent of tanks/dreads/blood claws/ etc. giving support. I wanted to run those ridiculous wolf riding marines but left the hobby at about the same time a plastic kit came out, so I never did. They're next on the list after I get that new Magnus model here soon.

Lastly, I've been working on the Blood Angels but haven't made any noteworthy progress.

[Wolfhart]

Here's a short update on the work I've done so far. Life and work has gotten a bit in the way recently, but nontheless I've been slowly grinding some work out.

Painting is slow going, and this is as far as I've gotten. It's just base + wash + layer, so no highlights or any other colors than just the reds:

 

Next up is the Land raider. Unfortunately the front doors are both broke, so they'll be glued in place once it's ready to paint. I the side lascannons both broke off at the axle, so once its back together they wont be able to pivot up and down anymore. I added some greenstuff work to the front and one side door, they aren't done yet as the front gem needs both sets of wings still, and the side door wing needs a second layer of feathers. Lastly, I drilled out and added magnets to the sides of the tank. I'm currently working on scratch building some extra armor kind of like the forgeworld 'reinforced armor' stuff, but I also want it removable. Hopefully I'll have that figured out soon.

[deathspectersgt7]

   !!!!

[Doghouse]

Great job on the GS work mate, I really like the blood drop on the front. 

[Wolfhart]

Just a short update on what I've been working on. Life has gotten intense recently, and so I haven't had much time to focus on painting/ assembling anything in depth. I did go out and buy a lot of new models, but for now they remain in their boxes until I can figure out what to do with all the marines and finish up the Blood Angels I started to begin with. So to that end, I've been working on fabricating the extra armor pieces for the land raider:

Side view with the layout for the second door set up with sheet plastic

Side angle view.

 

The armor is pretty much what comes from FW, at least at the moment, since that's what I'm using as a template. Theyre just built up in layers of sheet plastic, and in some cases filed down to make the angles. It's still very much 'in progress' as its not level to the model yet and some green stuff work is going to be required to fill in the gaps and truly make the pieces look like they should. Also, only the front piece that wraps around the tread is magnetized so far.

 

   !!!!

Great job on the GS work mate, I really like the blood drop on the front. 

Thank you!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Impressive work on the Land Raider.

[Wolfhart]

Well, two years later and I've come back for an update. Major life events put a real damper on the whole 'doing hobbies' thing. That's not important, however, so instead lets talk models!

First off, I've shelved the Blood Angels since I wasn't happy with the paint technique I was trying, and I don't actually know where they are since I've recently moved and still living out of boxes. Instead I've gathered all the paint stripped models and chosen 20 of them to become new Black Templar initiates, and one LRC for good measure. Now I ran with Black Templar since the end of 3rd edition, they were my first marine army, and I've done some work here and there (as well as using the upgrade kit) to try and make them look "templary". This time however I've decided that I needed some rules to follow in modelling them. To that end I sifted through and took some notes on all the BT artwork in all the rule books I could find and came up with a list of traits that make a Templar marine -look- like a Templar marine (see Codex Armaggeddon, Codex Black Templars pages 1,3,6,7,9, 11, 13, 21, and so on, Codex Space Marines v1 8th edition). In no particular order:,

1. All marines from Initiates to the High Marshal, chain their weapons to their wrists. There is no exception.

2. Some 8-9 tenths of all marines from initiate to the High marshal wear a surcoat, and occasionally a second tabard over the surcoat. Additionally, this surcoat may have studded/spiked leather straps that run down the length, or seals, or ribbon, even an occasional cape or cloak over the left shoulder.

3. Any marine that wears a surcoat also wears a non standard belt, in particular, a belt that looks like an 11th century crusaders belt.

4. Most if not all marines wears at least some iconographic element on a chain, or has something chained to their armor. 

5. The above elements are shields, swords, lanterns, reliquaries with bones/skulls/both, candles, and more shields.

6. I mark this one separately, because I feel like it bears noting and I never see anyone do it, many marines have a shield chained to their right wrist.

7. Many power swords are of a large two handed type, reminiscent again of a crusaders sword of the 11-13th centuries.

8. Many marines of various levels have high collar gorgets, extra flanges or filigree, and rondels over the joints. In many cases as well, this extra embellishment is painted gold. Many marines also have studs or spikes along the trim of their shoulder pads.

9. Black Templar use extra shoulder armor, as is seen on the sword brethren models, and they use shield badges as brooches.

10. Lastly, many marines have little shield badges/emblems/brooches/etc, all over themselves, their weapons, etc. These badges are not all the same, and I suspect are markers of previous crusades the marine has participated in.

 

With all that in mind, my rules are to emulate that as closely as possible, ie, all weapons chained, 8/10 marines with surcoats (at least), and a large number of various details carried even by the lowly initiate.

So to start us off, lets have a look at some models:

These are the marines that will become close combat initiates. Note that since I need some more power weapons, three will have a power sword instead of a chainsword. As in the rules I set for myself, 8 of these initiates will have surcoats.

 

And here, we have the marines that will carry bolters. Again, at least 8 of them will have surcoats. 

 

And lastly here we have some setup work for the Land Raider. The intent here is to borrow some elements from both the upgrade sprue doors, and the now oop forgeworld door embellishments. I'm not going to copy them completely, partly since my ability is not at the same level as the guys working for GW, and partly since I want to recombine the same elements across a lot of models, so each little bit of uniqueness is important.

 

I'll close with that I'll be working on a 'type' model to illustrate what I'm aiming for, so look forward to further updates as I work out how to achieve the vision onto the models.

[Wolfhart]

Just a short update today, ill start with the work I've done with the land raider:

Here I've added some plastic to the edge of the cross that will be smoothed out in greenstuff and become a 'lip' that I'll add some large rivets or spikes to. Note that the empire skull with crown is only a stand in for the moment, as I want to put a skull in its place but I haven't figured out how to sculpt that in a way I like. At present, something like a face or skull is a little beyond my skill.

Next here we have the doors, I used a quick gs mold to copy the wings I did in plastic on the other door, so it will be cleaned up once it fully cures. Additionally, I want to do both doors asymmetrically, so I wont have the sword+shield with chain combo on the door on the left. I'm still working out what I want the final look for it to be.

 

Here we have all the close combat crusaders with their surcoats on, I've been going back and forth in my mind about whether I wan the tail on the coats to be both front and back, or to just copy the upgrade sprue style and only have it in front. Currently I'm leaning to the later, since I don't want the marines to start looking like Dark Angels.

 

Lastly we have the model I've chosen to be a sort of 'type' marine. I've used some plastic to add fringes around his hips and on his arm, his power sword is the two handed kind from a grey knights kit but since it doesn't have any of their specific iconography I think it fits just fine as a crusaders sword. Lastly, in lieu of a belt, I've given him a chain with bells on the end. I'm thinking I'll add another small talisman or effect to his belt-chain as well as either some scrolls or a reliquary to his hip. 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I commend your efforts in customizing the Land Raider and the Templars.

[Son of Sacrifice]

Very promising start, good stuff here.

[Wolfhart]

A quick end of day update:

I've finished up most of the real work I want to put into this guy

Here we have his sword chain, and a little wrist shield (that helpfully hides a little gap between the hand and arm joint), as well as a skull reliquary from a GK kit, and of course his head. From here theres only a little more detail to go on such as a few seals and his pauldrons. For the latter I'm thinking a shield chained to one, and maybe just a basic for the other. He is supposed to only be a regular initiate after all!

 

All that said I think I've hammered out a core list at least of the rules I want to stick to moving forward:

!. As above, all weapons must be chained to the marine, no exceptions save for a bolt pistol in holster bit.

2. As above, 8 of every 10 marines must have a surcoat, and at least half of those must have extra embellishments on the surcoat such as long seals or straps, possibly even a tabard (though I haven't mocked up what that will actually look like yet).

3. Where possible, all marines must have edge filigree where possible.

4. All marines must have at least one, preferably two detail bits that pull from the above observed iconograhic elements.

5. All marines must have at least on purity seal and one crusader seal, the latter having a more BT friendly wax seal head.

This list came as a result of trying to emulate the art onto the type setting mini. I'm certain I'll be adding to the list as I finish him up, but for now this is the goal I'm going to stick to as I start working on the rest of the current marines I've picked out for the crusade.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The swordsman with the oversized power sword looks most promising, though I advise adjusting the cuff's position to rest closer to the guard, so it won't cover too much of the cutting edge and reduce the sword's usefulness as a direct consequence. Is he meant to be the Emperor's Champion?

[Wolfhart]

The swordsman with the oversized power sword looks most promising, though I advise adjusting the cuff's position to rest closer to the guard, so it won't cover too much of the cutting edge and reduce the sword's usefulness as a direct consequence. Is he meant to be the Emperor's Champion?

He is not actually, this guy is only an initiate with a power sword. I have the old 3rd ed. metal champion lost in a box somewhere, and the current model also in metal

 

Here's as well a quick shot of what I'm working on:

Instead of using either green stuff or plasticard, I'm trying out a technique where you first use card stock which then is soaked in thin superglue. I'm going to see how this turns out, since it may end up saving me some serious heart ache with ribbons, banners, and seals!

 

 

I commend your efforts in customizing the Land Raider and the Templars.

 

Very promising start, good stuff here.

Thank you both!

Edited September 9, 2019 by Wolfhart

[Wolfhart]

Small update for today:

Here's the initiates I've been focusing on:

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Edited September 13, 2019 by Wolfhart

[Wolfhart]

10,000 of crusading:
 
After fiddling around with greenstuff and paper, and digging through all the bins of bits I have around, I'm happy to say that these ten Initiates are finally 'done'. All that remains is to clean up the Vaseline on their green stuff, and give them all a good sanding across any defects they still have. That said, they are essentially ready to paint.

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However, because of the amount of detail bits they took, I am actually running low on things like reliquaries and purity seals, plus my green stuff stock is low. Thus I have decided to pause on taking on the next ten bolter initiates, and instead move on to a different project until I can get more kits, or a goof grab bag of bits from a 3rd party seller. That bring me to the next update:

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Here we have some dreadnoughts. Firstly I have a Librarian/Furioso that belongs to the Blood Angels, and a basic venerable that I think will go to them as well. The basic dread, as well as the Ironclad and the Contemptor will join the Black Templars. And thus I have chosen the Contemptor as the next major project. Right now I'm not sure what to do with him to make him 'templary' like I've done with the marines so I'll spitball some ideas for the next update.

[Custom Hero]

What about using one of the small cross storm shields under the helmet of the center of the torso, providing you can get it to bend correctly after shaving off the back? You could then put the ribbonry on each side like in your templars. Finish up with chain around the power fist?

 

Just spit balling...

[Wolfhart]

What about using one of the small cross storm shields under the helmet of the center of the torso, providing you can get it to bend correctly after shaving off the back? You could then put the ribbonry on each side like in your templars. Finish up with chain around the power fist?

 

Just spit balling...

 

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Do you mean the small storm shields from the terminator kits? It may work, though the shield is really large in comparison to the dread's neck/chest region. In this picture I've compared it to a WHFB empire knights shield, though since I've already used one on the dreads leg it wont be going on his chest.

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[Wolfhart]

Last update for the night:

First up is the Contemptor's arm

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And next is the sort of banner I've come up with, it's meant to evoke the same ideas as the oop forgeworld mk4 venerable dread.

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Finally we have the initiates in a nice shiny new undercoat.

 

[Custom Hero]

Yeah, I was talking about the terminator shields. Don’t have a contemptor, so sizing is definitely wrong when using one in another part of the model.

 

Do you have any “smaller” sized swords or knives? Those may fit on the chest area. Maybe even a crossed pattern...

[Wolfhart]

The gears turn slowly, but they turn:

 

I have given up on trying to add more to the contemptor, I had kicked around an idea to copy the IF dread from FW, and just switching the fist with a cross. That turned out to be more than I cared to do and I think he has enough extras as it is. Given that a contemptor is a relic, I may add more to it after I dig out my BT venerable dread, since the rains have come I can't undercoat any of these suckers anyway.

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I'm happy with the basic dread, though I think I'll continue adding to the ironclad, even with a few bits he feels too 'basic' still. Possibly some chains...