+ Clawthorn refinements +

+ Refining miniatures +

+ As with most decisions, sometimes your gut feeling or snap judgement is correct; and other times it's best to sleep on it. Coming back to the group yesterday, I made a few tweaks. +

+ Warning! Rivet-counting Space Marine nerdery ahead! +

+ While I liked the head this chap had before [VisREF: above right], the pose was very similar to another marine in the squad. Not a problem in an army, where you want things to look cohesive, as though following orders in synchronicity; but for a desperate kill team living on their wits, I wanted these to look a bit more individual. I swapped the head for a more standard Mark IV, altering the angle, too. The slit-eyed helm he had previously will likely appear on some future Iron Warrior. +

+ The overall pose for this marine just didn't feel right to me before [VisREF: above right]. With his arms down by his side, his legs needed to be more planted, his weight more centred. I built another body, and transplanted the arms and head. I ended up altering the suit with a lot of Mark VI elements, just for a bit of variety. This involved reshaping the lower legs – ankles and knees, and removing and replacing detail on the torso. He also has a RTB01 backpack. +

+ Note that he's not pure Mark VI – none of the marines are a pure mark. I like the slightly patchwork, peronalised feel of M41 marines. It highlights their ritualistic, knightly nature as well as the sense of constant warfare. It also provides me with some welcome creative relief from my more uniform projects, like the Blood Angels. +

+ With the changes made to the unhelmed marine above, I ended up with a spare body. A quick bit of conversion later and I had this bruiser, toting a drum-fed heavy bolter. The Mark V helm is a bit of a favourite of mine; combining the brutal grille of the Mark VII with some interesting greebles. I married this up with rimmed shoulder pads from the Mark III plastic kit, to echo the reinforcing studs on the helm. +

+ This chap remained unchanged, save for some addtional pouches and holsters and things. These help bulk out the waist and add visual interest – something that'll be important for the silver and blue scheme. Please excuse the {SCRAPSHUNTERRORABOVE] mouldlines! +

+ As above, this guy just seemed to work. A nice standard firing pose, a model like this in any squad helps to set the mood for more unusual models to 'sing out' against. +

+ ...and the sergeant; again unchanged. +