Good morning fey followers.
Anyone who has got me chatting about 40k knows I have been playing for around 15 years. They will also know that I have collected Space Marines for all of that time, whilst having affairs with other Codices. What few people realise is that during those 15 years, I haven't had several different Space Marine armies or painted them up as different chapters like many of my fellow hobbyists. Aside from the first 10 months or so, I have solely focussed one one Space Marine force, one chapter of my own creation; The Brotherhood of Fire.
As you might imagine, the paint scheme dreamed up by a pre-teen version of myself is far from the nicest looking thing;
These are, by some margin, some of the better models I painted at the time and in this style. Over the years I have refined the scheme somewhat, but it has been impossible for me to get away from these less than stellar roots.
In recent years however, I've been using my Vindicators more and more in my Space Marine lists. No matter what, they always get a lot of attention from onlookers and opponents, asking about the scheme and saying they look really nice. I'll leave that up for you to decide;
Part of that is, as you can tell from the picture, the strong contrast
between them and the rest of the army, being so dark compared to the
bright reds, oranges and yellows of the rest of the force. Originally this was to mark out the three Vindicators from my Linebreaker Apocalypse Formation as an Ambush Spearhead, rationalising the colours as a night camouflage of sorts. It's also a
really quick scheme, comparatively, so when it came to painting up my
Contemptor for a tournament I followed suit;
With such a large part of the lists now in this scheme, several of my
friends started to comment on how well it worked, how much better than
the rest of my Marines it looked (even given the 10+ years of improved
painting skill!) Slowly that began to get the old cogs turning in my
mind, finally deciding it was time to update the army I have been
continually adding to since my pre-teen years. Before taking the plunge
though, I wanted to check that the same style I had used on the vehicles
would still work on a smaller scale. Scrambling through my collection I
found only two models that were undercoated but I had not started
painting properly. One of which was the special edition retro Space
Marine from the Skullz Promotion several years ago, the other the
Terminator given away with WD at the release of Assault on Black Reach.
That wasn't much of a choice...
The Sergeant in the front (horribly out of focus on purpose) just gives you an idea of how my regular Marines compare in style to the Terminators, with the Assault Terminator Sergeant giving you an example of a similar standard of painting in my current scheme and the Classic Terminator in the back being about the most similar model I have in my collection to the new guy that is fully painted (even if it was many years and a lot of brush skills earlier.)
I got overwhelming support for the new scheme, bar a few minor constructive criticisms. With those in mind I dived in to my first combat squad, as well as finishing up those last few details on the Terminator.
They still need their bases, but they all ready look far better than my previous scheme, at least to my eyes. As well as being more unique (I highly doubt I'll be asked if these guys are Blood Angels like I have so many times before) the gradiented red, orange and yellow drybrushing is far more evocative or fire, which was something I was going for originally. The have also lost a lot of the goofy, cartoonish look that seemed to plague my army. If it is a style you are intentionally going for, it can look great, but as my painting skills progressed it really started to make the realism and darker feel I was going for on certain parts of certain models (such as faces) look very out of place and far worse painted than they actually were.
The Sergeant's skin is a nice bronzed tone, like someone who has spent
his life working in scorching sun. This was done to tie in with the rest
of the scheme rather than really pop against it. As you can see, I also tidied up the Terminator with Bronze metallics. Rather than diminishing the blue as a spot colour, it makes the eyes and purity seal (and personal heraldry in this instance) pop even more. I also added a turquoise wash as verdigris. I'm not sure one way or another and may apply it on a model-by-model basis to add gravitas and age to the models whilst keeping the flames on the armour sharp and crisp.
Where to go from here? Well I have a staggering amount of Space Marines in my collection; just shy of a full battle company, a full first company, more dreadnoughts than you can shake a stick at, a decent sized motor pool and nearly enough HQ choice to lead a full chapter. There are precious few reasons to prioritise certain models over other at the moments, as I want a break from using my Space Marines for gaming after the last few tournaments, so the most logical place to start was with unpainted models and those that most desperately needed stripping (i.e. the oldest, most crudely painted miniatures in my collection.
These piles of bits represent some of the most veteran models in my collection, many of who were crusted with 3 or more layers of previous paint schemes, either by my own hand or their previous owners, that had never been stripped. The process broke down some of the glues used on the models as well, but little to no damage was done to the actual components. I'm really looking forward to putting them all back together over the coming months.
These Terminators have been sitting in my cases without undercoat for a few years; it is certainly time they got their due. They have performed admirably in many a large game, hopefully getting them painted up will encourage me to use them even more!
Lastly, for today at least, I present the second Tactical squad I have started. This is the first time I have created a colour scheme for any of my armies that actually seems to work for me when batch painting. With any luck, that might mean I actually get through my sizeable force in decent order, but I won't hold my breath. The second photo shows just how much the details tie the main colours together.
So what do you think of my ideas? Any further criticisms or suggestions for The Brotherhood of Fire? Do you have any experiences of your own of stripping and repainting entire armies? Let me know in the comments below,
Matt
Anyone who has got me chatting about 40k knows I have been playing for around 15 years. They will also know that I have collected Space Marines for all of that time, whilst having affairs with other Codices. What few people realise is that during those 15 years, I haven't had several different Space Marine armies or painted them up as different chapters like many of my fellow hobbyists. Aside from the first 10 months or so, I have solely focussed one one Space Marine force, one chapter of my own creation; The Brotherhood of Fire.
As you might imagine, the paint scheme dreamed up by a pre-teen version of myself is far from the nicest looking thing;
These are, by some margin, some of the better models I painted at the time and in this style. Over the years I have refined the scheme somewhat, but it has been impossible for me to get away from these less than stellar roots.
In recent years however, I've been using my Vindicators more and more in my Space Marine lists. No matter what, they always get a lot of attention from onlookers and opponents, asking about the scheme and saying they look really nice. I'll leave that up for you to decide;
Again, he got more than his fair share of attention, even when there
were plenty of other Contemptors around. The bold, simple colours
bringing out the shape brilliantly and again acting as a strong contrast
to the rest of the army, as well as the Killa-kan on the base. Roll on
another tournament, and another vehicle I needed to paint up quickly,
the Stormtalon got a similar treatment;
The Sergeant in the front (horribly out of focus on purpose) just gives you an idea of how my regular Marines compare in style to the Terminators, with the Assault Terminator Sergeant giving you an example of a similar standard of painting in my current scheme and the Classic Terminator in the back being about the most similar model I have in my collection to the new guy that is fully painted (even if it was many years and a lot of brush skills earlier.)
I got overwhelming support for the new scheme, bar a few minor constructive criticisms. With those in mind I dived in to my first combat squad, as well as finishing up those last few details on the Terminator.
They still need their bases, but they all ready look far better than my previous scheme, at least to my eyes. As well as being more unique (I highly doubt I'll be asked if these guys are Blood Angels like I have so many times before) the gradiented red, orange and yellow drybrushing is far more evocative or fire, which was something I was going for originally. The have also lost a lot of the goofy, cartoonish look that seemed to plague my army. If it is a style you are intentionally going for, it can look great, but as my painting skills progressed it really started to make the realism and darker feel I was going for on certain parts of certain models (such as faces) look very out of place and far worse painted than they actually were.
Where to go from here? Well I have a staggering amount of Space Marines in my collection; just shy of a full battle company, a full first company, more dreadnoughts than you can shake a stick at, a decent sized motor pool and nearly enough HQ choice to lead a full chapter. There are precious few reasons to prioritise certain models over other at the moments, as I want a break from using my Space Marines for gaming after the last few tournaments, so the most logical place to start was with unpainted models and those that most desperately needed stripping (i.e. the oldest, most crudely painted miniatures in my collection.
Lastly, for today at least, I present the second Tactical squad I have started. This is the first time I have created a colour scheme for any of my armies that actually seems to work for me when batch painting. With any luck, that might mean I actually get through my sizeable force in decent order, but I won't hold my breath. The second photo shows just how much the details tie the main colours together.
So what do you think of my ideas? Any further criticisms or suggestions for The Brotherhood of Fire? Do you have any experiences of your own of stripping and repainting entire armies? Let me know in the comments below,
Matt
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