Warhammer 40K: Conquest Challenge

The next batch of mini’s received for the Space Marine forces are a mix. They include reinforcements for an existing Intercessor squad, another 3 Reivers, 2 Hellblasters and a single Inceptor.

As usual primed and based on the sprue, assembled then given washes to shade. Tidy up the damage and I’m at this stage:

I say “overdone” highlights above as I prefer very thin highlights on the armour. It’s basically edge highlighting… but not right around the whole piece like GW does.

I started by pre-base coating and shading this mini on the sprue, in order to get to all the layers that would later be difficult to reach.

I then went ahead and assembled the mini. However, when I did I found that the cloak front and rear halves of the cloak didn’t quite meet properly…

This is the Conquest Magazine exclusive Primaris Lieutenant, Calsius. Or Calcium as I like to call him.
Anyway… since the marines in this set are supposed to be Ultramarines, the lieutenant has the appropriate heraldry and iconography all over him. Not the ideal for a leader with any other Chapter. A little conversion was in order, but I didn’t want to change the miniature completely from the original.
I decided that a couple of little fixes would solve the problem. I removed the UM icon from the backpack. A little shave with a hobby knife took care of that easily.

Initially I wasn’t going to use the pauldron with the UM chapter heraldry on it, but then had second thoughts. I decided I’d swap the left and right pauldrons and use it as a character feature. As an Easy-Build miniature they had keys to locate them. I shaved the keys off each of the shoulders and applied a good amount of plastic glue, simple!

Clearly this still leaves more than a couple of UM markings. This is easily explained by crafting a history for this new Blades of Vengeance Lieutenant, Calziel. The current DA Codex states of the Blades of Vengeance:

“They aided the Ultramarines Primarch Roboute Guilliman during his Indomitus Crusade, serving with distinction” 

So Lieutenant Calziel served alongside Ultramarine forces, perhaps the big man himself. For his work, he has received awards and recognition from his blue-armoured battle-brothers. What the Inner Circle make of this is their own council to keep… for now he serves well in the position that he holds.

Beginning work on the Agressors and Lieutenant

Final steps to be complete: Squad markings and Chapter Heraldry (Transfer and paint combination). To be done with others in a final step later.

A second squad of Primaris Intercessors. Mild conversion donce, since they’re the exact same miniatures that I’d done already. I’ve used the Dark Angels Primaris Upgrade sprue to change the head of the Sergeant. I also lowered the pointing arm to match the direction the head was looking.

Painted: 25/ 47

I thought I was going to catch up… then the next package arrived… two weeks early.

So either they’ve moved the schedule forward, or it’ll be six weeks until my next bundle. In any case a quick update to show some of what I’ve completed so far.

The colours on this guy are the same as the Plague Marines. To recap:

• Primer: Army Painter Leather Brown Spray
• Armour: Citadel Iyanden Darksun
• Flesh: Citadel Fortress Grey
• Steel Trim: Citadel Boltgun Metal
• Bronze Trim: Citadel Dwarf Bronze
• Pustules: Citadel Foundation Mechrite Red
• Eyes: Army Painter Black

Shading:

• Glaze: Citadel Baal Red. On each side there are three hooks pulling taut the flesh behind the weapon. The glaze was limited to those areas.
• Wash: Citadel Leviathan Purple. Across all the fleshy areas including inside the mouth.
• Wash: Citadel Baal Red. Inside the mouth only. I did this twice to really differentiate inside the mouth from the rest of the beast.
• Wash: Citadel Devlan Mud. Everywhere. Wait ’til dry!
• Wash: Army Painter Dark Tone. Everywhere, again. Really grime that guy up. Wait again…

Highlighting and Details:

Not much highlighting done here, keeping it dark and grimy. But a couple of details:

• Drybrush: Vallejo Model Colour Khaki. The Chitin around the mandibles, the teeth and the vents on top.
• Drybrush: Army Painter Skeleton Bone. A lighter drybrush on the same areas.
• Wet Blend: (My first attempt!) AP Black/ AP Skeleton Bone. The central eye on the front. Painted in black to look like a Crab/Lobster type eye. With more Black at the top, graduating towards grey at the bottom. A small spot of pure Skeleton Bone at the top of the eye.
• Shade: AP Dark Tone. In the very back of the mouth, and at the little spout right at the tip of the tongue. (It’s a bile spurter… how very Nurgle)
• Mid-tone: Citadel Mechrite Red. The small missiles in the missile pod.
• Mid-tone: AP Skeleton Bone. Two thin layers on the tips of the large missiles in the missile pod.