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Ultramarines Painting Guide

Intro

A few years back I painted and subsequently sold an Ultramarines army. I have decided to revisit that project, while this time staying with the aesthetic of second edition of Warhammer 40,000. I acquired a few miniatures from that period and have stripped them of their previous paint.

In the early days of second edition and the later days of Rogue Trader, one of the main story events was The Battle for Armageddon. A huge planetary campaign which was the setting for a number of games, miniatures and white dwarf articles. This background setting introduced Commissar Yarrick, the disfigurement of Captain Tycho and later the Astra Millitarum Steel Legion. As the campaign setting was such a large part of 2nd edition, I decided to paint these classic marines as participants of that campaign.

Image from “Battle for Armageddon Scenarios” contained in Warhammer 40,000 2nd Edition boxed set. By John Blanche.

Painting Guide

The first thing I did was assemble and base the miniatures. Sub assembly makes it easier to paint details on the models. So I stuck the bolters and backpacks on cocktail sticks to a piece of kindling. I consider bases part of assembly, so I glued basing sand to the bases with PVA.

I then primed the models with brush on grey primer. Grey is a good neutral colour to prime models with.

The next stage is to base the model and start the metals. As these are usually drybrushed, which can get messy I do these first. Firstly the metals were base coated with black. The shoulder rims and chest were painted with Balthasr Gold and highlighted with Greedy Gold . The weapons were drybrushed using Gunmetal and Plate Mail. After that the metals were given a wash of Mixed Strong & Dark Tone .

After the leaving the wash to dry for a day. The final highlights were applied to the metals. This was again another round of drybrushing. This time with Plate Mail and Shining Silver. The other metals with Greedy & Bright Gold

I used thinned Dark Sky followed by a layer of Macragge Blue, for the base coats of the armour plates. This gives a good strong colour to work with and it’s first shading.

Here I have edge highlighted each piece of armour individually using Crystal Blue, Ultramarines Blus, Voidshield Blue, and Viking Bue. Using the same technique I painted bolter casings with uniform grey and hardened carapace. The model then gets its final assembly.

The final part is to detail the models. In this case chapter markings, tactical markings and codex dedications. I painted all these freehand with Matt White. Eyes were done with Pure Red, with a Matt White dot in the corner.

Combat Squad IV Ready

Finally a here is a group shot with a sergeant. I made the sergeant from different parts from a mid 90s plastic multipart space marine kit and the close combat weapons sprue. I have added a number purity seals from more recent kits. Unusually for a sergeant he is wearing a helmet.

Paints used from The Army Painter and Citadel Colour.

Models from Citadel Miniatures 1993

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Ultramarines! Or Why did I sell these again ..? Part 2

Welcome to the conclusion of an old project I sold ages ago..  This project was a great test for Deco Art paints and I had got into a great rhythm painting the Ultramarines.  I choose to continue the colour scheme into a new project.

Oldhammer is what many players are calling the 80s period of the hobby.  For this project I wanted to get into some classic models.  That last thing I had painted for the previous project army was Terminators so I decided to continue..

One of the things I like about these models is the concept has not changed much over the years.  They are still very recognisable.  Once I started the squad I quickly added a classic Terminator Captain to the production line.  Again I added designs and detail to the officers.  Though this wasn’t too hard.  The knee pad had an embossed skull & Iron cross onto a quartered background which was copied onto the shoulder pad and belt buckle.

For sergeant and assault cannon I didn’t do anything too fancy.  Sometimes completing a project is better than being too ambitious and not completing it.  It can be seen that The Inquisition has favoured both those brothers and they proudly display the accolade.

After completing both projects they went into my eBay shop.  The RT Terminator squad lead to a further commission of more terminators from the original release.  The client was going to use them all for Space Hulk and had special bases prepared so I left the bases blank.

I really enjoyed this commission a great excuse to paint more models.  Perhaps one day I will revisit my painting roots.  Though there are excellent models being released all the time, it’s important to remember the classic models from yesteryear.

Paints – Deco Art Crafter’s Acrylic

Models – Citadel

Varnish – Vallejo

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Ultramarines! Or Why did I sell these again..? Part1

Before I opened the store, I had recently recovered from a painting hiatus.  Like a number of gamers I was buying figures from eBay and trade shows.  This can be a good way to get cheaper and out of production models – though you can never be sure of what is available.  Among the figures I ended up with was a number of Space Marines with an embossed symbol on their armour.  I had painted a squad for a commission years ago and thought that it would be good to revisit the familiar colour scheme.  Combined with a number of older figures in my collection the decision was made.  I was going to  paint an Ultramarines Army.

 

The last time I had painted Ultramarines was over 10 years ago.  The principles hadn’t changed though one big thing had.  I was using an entirely new paint set: Crafter’s Acrylic from Deco Art.

My first to paint was the tactical squad  now named Squad V.  Composed mainly of  starter set, many of them have chapter and tactical symbols moulded onto the armour already making painting them really easy.    To complete the squad I needed a heavy weapon and another marine.

 

These two were from my existing collection the 1998 tactical marines and the 2004 plastic devastators. I chose the heavy plasma gun to be different from the usual missile launcher squad weapon load out. The final marine was completed with an arm from an earlier version of space marines.  Which brings me to Squad III all the way from 1993.

 

OK so a few are from the 1998 version of MK7 armour.  Though if you look closely all of the backpacks, arms are from the early nineties and most of the weapons are too.  By now I had got into a rhythm of production line painting ultramarines.  So I needed to change things up.  It was time for Terminators

 

These older figures were pinned onto larger bases than they shipped with, and they certainly look more comfortable on them. The Codex Astartes is a great resource for Space Marine colour schemes, even if it is fictional.  It certainly helps to be accurate on things like helmet colours and sergeant markings especially with Ultramarines.  Shields on the other hand are for personalisation…

 

I filled in a few quarters though I left the last one blank for future honours.  This marine was being prepared for promotion to a command position.

To be continued…

 

Models by citadel miniatures

Paints used are Deco Art from Crafter’s Acrylics

Citadel Varnish