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
You must be logged in to post a comment.