+ inload: Leg day on Nocturne +

+ Building truescale legs from Gravis armour + 

+ A portion of yesterday's evening was spent bulking up the legs started in the previous inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. They're not yet finished as they're being built up in stages – I long ago learned the pitfalls of squishing previous work when trying to do too much in one go! +

+ The pict-capture above is interesting to compare with that below; pre-greenstuff. You can see the difference the additional bulk around the thighs makes. I've tried to keep as much of the 'greebling' detail of the existing legs, so most of the work was really built around integrating the additional reinforcing layers that are a feature of Mark X armour in general and the Gravis variant in particular. +

+ Ultimately, I'm pleased that the legs look more like Mark VII – absent of any scale comparisons, I think they'd fit nicely in place  with the plastic Tactical squad that came out in 3rd edition; if roughly a third larger again. These Salamanders are going to be quite chunky! +

+++

+ Iterative improvement +

+ One thing that I have been trying to improve here is my green stuff work, and I'm finding taking photographs of progress helps keep me honest with myself. Below is the shot I took when I first felt I had finished. I was pleased – but  under the camera lens they looked so lumpy! I went back to refine and smooth them a little more, which is the shot you can see above. Still not perfect, but a little better. +

+ While the difference is subtle, I think little iterative improvements like this is what's going to help me get better. A job for another evening is to fill the gap between the bottom of the shin plate and that first additional plate; leaving a single, rather than double, plate above the boot.  +

+ After that, perhaps onto the torsos... +

+++

+ And for no other reason than Kroot are cool, here's a picture of one riding a Knarloc. I brought him in from the happy hunting grounds (my garage) and decided to take a picture. +

+inload: Salamanders notes +

+ inload: Salamanders, advance! +

+ Building the squad +

+ Quick build of a second marine, using bits I had lying around – but I wasn't sure the heavy bolter was quite right, so that's been taken off and will likely be swapped for something else. +

+ The arms and torso are made using the same process I used for my Iron Warriors of Officio Monstrosa. The step-by-step tutorial, if you want to have go yourself, is here: [+noospherinloadlink embedded+] +

+ The legs are an iterative development of my old approach for converting 'truescale' marines. Rather than being based on Terminators, the legs use a Heavy Intercessor/Gravis base with greenstuff work (above). I haven't worked up a tutorial for that yet, but if there's interest I'll aim to do one for the next one I make. +

+++

+ Here's a quick comparison of how my older process – the Ultramarine Ancient on the right – compares with the new. This isn't a deliberate decision to simply enlarge models for the sake of size, but rather new materials and my own development allowing me to better capture the image I have in my mind of Salamanders in particular. +

+ That mental image has the Salamanders being notably, but not excessively, larger than most other marines, and generally having a bit more variance in their ranks. This chap is probably as big as they'll get; as I want to be able to mix and match these marines with those based on Primaris etc.. My aim it to give a more custom, artificer-made and personal feel than the very uniform, structured and formal look I wanted for my Ultramarines. +

+++

+ A particular appeal +

+ I like the dichotomy between the slightly more humane attitude of the Salamanders and their monstrous appearance, and this seems a nice way to nod to that – as well as allowing me to be a lot more free with my modelling, and enjoy the creativity. As to the inspiration, I've been gathering my thoughts, so figured I'd tap them out here for discussion and later reference. +

+++

+ Musing on the composition of the army, I thought I'd start gathering some ideas and turning them over. The Salamanders 'thing' (or strategic disposition, if you prefer) during the Second Armageddon War was protecting supply lines and patrolling the ash waste desert: +

While the Ultramarines defended the beleaguered hive cities of Armageddon and the Blood Angels assaulted the Orks head-on, the Salamanders lent their strength to the protection of Imperial supply convoys and refugee columns, ensuring the safety of the civilians caught up in the war. This was a task often neglected by the other Imperial forces fighting on Armageddon. The actions of the Salamanders in defending the Imperial citizens of the beleaguered world from the massive Greenskin onslaught has often been held up as a shining example of the role of the Adeptus Astartes in the protection of the Imperium.

+ ...which could be used as the theme for the force. I rather like the idea of playing against type and having some Salamanders bikes, or perhaps a mounted force – which had been the original inspiration for this army. As it stands, I think small steps are the best way, and constructing a Kill Team seems a modest ambition. +

+++

+ Who's Who in the Second War for Armageddon? +

We've definitely got the 1st, 2nd and 5th Companies to pick from.

• While the Salamanders don't operate in a fully Codex manner, I think it'd be fairly safe to say that the 2nd Company probably represents the core of the army, with the 1st, 5th and possibly 6th there in support.
  
• The 6th Company are fighting in the Tochran Crusade in 943.M41 (i.e. during the height of the war on Armageddon), and are very badly mauled, losing forty Battle Brothers – a third of their strength. It's odd for a Reserve Company to be fighting on its own, so I'm going to guess that the Tochran Crusade involved one of the other Battle Companies (3rd or 4th)
  
  • We can thus also likely discount He'Stan making an appearance – though it's not beyond the realm of possibility, I do like to focus on lesser-known characters where possible.
• As Tu'Shan is present, there's probably quite a substantial amount of the 1st, too. So, probably knocking on 200+ Salamanders – a not inconsiderable army.
  

I'll go with 2nd Company for the first squad, then, but I rather like the idea of having a few 5th Company Reservists somewhere involved...

+++

Potential Dramatis Personae

• Captain Pellas Mir'san of the 2nd Company, Winter Blade, Defender of Nocturne – Noted swordsman; might be fun to base him on the 3rd edition Captain with power sword, who appeared in Codex: Armageddon. Noted as old.
• Captain N'Kelm of the 2nd Company – An alternative to the FW and GW studio option, N'Kelm is from Nick Kyme's Salamanders books; he replaced Mir'San in one Codex, but Mir'san later reappeared. I toyed with having him as a Lieutenant, but unfortunately there's a third (deceased) Captain of the 2nd Company mentioned as his predecessor. I think I'll probably square this circle by picturing N'Kelm as being Mir'san's predecessor, and the events of the Salamanders book preceding Badab and Armageddon; an approach which keeps things as internally consistent as possible.* 
• Captain Mulcebar of the 5th Company –
• Master Apothecary Harath Shen, Defender of the Final Vault– Another Badab veteran noted as surviving, he's not strictly part of the 2nd Company. Given the Chapter's recent losses, he might be better off staying on Nocturne to oversee the new implantations – but equally an argument could be made 
  

Pyre of Glory – Battlebarge

An artwork of the period – I'll need to find some orks to scrap with!

* It has, however, struck me that you could do a cool whole project based on the Salamanders' lack of successors, and odd contradictions within the lore like this. 

I'm picturing the Salamanders' original role (as part of the 'trefoil legions') being intended to monitor chronological and dimensional anomalies and displacements: those caused by warp travel shenanigans and so forth, and dealing with the various 'time travel' weirdnesses of things like the Hrud, Necrons and Orks.

The forlorn hope/suicidal tendences of the 'Dragon Warriors' are intentionally fostered in order to ensure that things are dealt with there and then, and for the Marines in question to self-immolate (not literally!) in combat to minimise potential problems with polluting the timeline. 

Just as Vulcan was set as a guard on the Imperial webway, so his Astartes are set as guards on time and space itself. Why have they no successors? Simple – they are all present, but slightly time- or dimensionally shifted. 

+ inload: Nyoto of the Salamanders +

+ They that touch pitch shall be defiled +

+ I've painted a couple of Salamanders before – odd one-offs, or parts of my May You Live Forever project, themed around the Isstvan Dropsite Massacre [+noospheric exloadlink embedded+], but fellow PCRCmate Omricon's awesome Salamander Kill Team got me enthused again, and I've been tinkering away, as mentioned in this inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. +

+++

+ Since then I've been working on the greenstuff, using Heavy Intercessor legs as the basis for the conversion. Why don't I just use my existing truescale tutorial? [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] Well, mostly for the sake of experimentation. Trying new things is fun – and where better to try new things out than on the famously master-crafted Salamanders? +

+ Mutatis Mutandis +

+ I'm afraid I didn't make a step by step – mainly because I'm still feeling my way around, but the broad strokes of tutorial linked above still apply – the only real difference here is that I've trimmed away the odd gyroscopic nobbles on the various joints before getting stuck in with putty. +

+ Work slowly, and in layers. As you can see, I've worked from the 'inside-out' – that is, I've started from the most recessed parts first, and allowed those to cure before moving on to the outer layers. This is the best way to avoid inadvertently knocking or smearing your work as you go. +

+ A neat detail of the Forgeworld Salamanders heads upgrades is that the brow reinforcement is flat, rather than angrily angled like other Legions'. +

+ You'll note that I've retained some of the details on the existing armour – not only does this add some greebling [+vocabref={interesting surface texture}+], but I've also found it a good way to ensure that I don't 'over-bulk' the model. What I mean by this is that the figure needs to look muscular and bulky – a walking tank – but retain structure and form, and not simply look distorted and uneven. Adding bulk to the back of the upper legs and form to the outer front part of the leg (i.e. the hams and quads), while adding only a little to the part nearer the knee makes the leg appear muscular rather than like a simple tube. +

+ It's easy, when adding greenstuff, to lose the underlying shape of the muscle, so I try to work symmetrically – cutting equal amounts of greenstuff and adding them to (say) both upper legs, and refining those. If there's not enough, I'll cut smaller equal amounts and repeat, sculpting first one side, then mirroring it on the other. Working gradually, with small amounts, is the best way I've found. It's surprising what a difference even tiny amounts of putty can make! +

+ Taking a black-and-white pict-capture is a handy way to check form and line. It takes away some of the visual confusion of the various putties and plastics, and makes it easier to judge your work. You'll notice I've added some pipes to the sides of the upper legs – again, to add greebling together with a sense of weight and bulk. Should work nicely to suggest Mark V Heresy armour. +

+++

+ A Tale of Difficult Decisions +

+ But enough of the modelling, what about the lore? There's very little I find more disheartening in this hobby than getting enthused over a story I've come up with only to find I don't enjoy making the characters I've described. +

+ As a result, most of my projects start with models that I want to make and loose ideas that gradually cohere and come into focus, rather than being rigidly pre-planned beforehand. +

+ The background that I've been playing with is thus a bit patchy, and explores a couple of spaces that I find interesting about the Salamanders. Here are my notes:

• Post-Isstvan Dropsite Massacre
• The road to hell is paved with good intentions: the force is making some very difficult, arguably dubious, decisions in their search for Vulkan
• Senior character's opinion is Exitus acta probat; the junior's is more aligned with Vulkan's own teachings and enduring. A clash?
• Searching for a way to revive their Primarch. Recon/scouty – light vehicles.
• Olive drab scheme
• Importance of fire – cultic symbolism: explore the runic incisions in painting.
• Alliance/associations with similarly morally grey forces – Blackshields and Thousand Sons
• Vehicle crew – how can I add some flavoursome differences to standard marines
• Painting-wise: pure oils?
• Gaming: Something I've never done – differentiated from other forces
• All mounted? Infantry in Rhinos rather than bikes
• Perfect excuse for lots of flamers – to the exclusion of other weapons?
• Concept: each squad is a specialised unit of veterans that works mechanically in Kill Team. Understrength units.

+++

+ inload: Iron Warriors commission +

+ Getting back to the Officio +

+ I was commissioned through this blog to build a trio of Iron Warriors line officers, along the lines of my own Officio Monstrosa project [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. Happily, the chap who's retained me is happy with how they're looking, so thought I'd share them here to talk through a few notes, in case they're of interest to anyone. +

+ After a bit of discussion back and forth, the brief was pleasingly open – three Iron Warriors that could conceivably be loyal to the Emperor or Horus (so no obvious Chaos symbols or motations), each armed with chainsword and bolt pistol, and with the cool helm with the additional Legion symbol mask from the  Forge World Iron Warrior upgrade pack. The figures would be used as sergeants or similar, so needed to be fairly restrained in pose – bothing too dynamic. Beyond that, and urban rubble basing, I was given free reign. +

+ I don't do a lot of commission pieces, but the principle I always apply to them is 'would I want this in my personal army?' To that end, I spent some time roughing out some ideas, then got stuck in. Coming back to older techniques or processes – in this case Terminator-based Trusecale (you can find the process yourself through here [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]) – is always interesting, as you find ways to refine or go further as new options open up, or you simply refine your skills. +

+ This marine, who I mentally named Ostrod while working, uses one of the Terminators from Space Marine Heroes series 2 for the legs. These figures have much more interesting poses than most Terminators, and come with rather nice integrated bases. As with the others, you'll note he's missing his backpack – they hadn't yet arrived, so will be added after the rest of the model is painted in each case.+

+ I've tried to keep the pose fairly neutral, so that he looks good during games. Whether pictured in combat, mid-strike, or simply advancing warily, he should provide a nice focal point for a squad  without standing out too much. The addition of a bit spiky pauldron – as usual, from Master-Crafted Miniatures – gives him a suitably brutal feel without being too obviously Chaotic. +

+ Iron Armour and Iron Warriors go together like particularly violent ice-cream and jelly, so a warrior in Mark III – Konstantz – in mid-strike seemed fitting. The torso's a cast of a converted torso I used for my own army, which married the bottom of plastic torso with a sculpted upper. The legs here are from the Grey Knight Terminator set, with the thighs considerably bulked-up. I've added to the heavy, solid feeling with plenty of pouches and an arm from the Gorgon Terminator kit.+

+ The final marine is levelling his bolt pistol, as though to execute a downed enemy. This sort of pose looks good in isolation or as part of a dedicated vignette, but can look odd in-game. To avoid any visual awkwardness, I placed him on a slightly modified Stormcast base. This raised him up a little further than the others, which makes the pistol gesture make sense outside of the very specific places he might otherwise need to be in. +

+ As noted elsewhere in the blog, I tend to prime figures before considering them completely finalised, as it helps to stop your eye being thrown off by all the different colours or plastic, resin and putty. While I remained happy with the other two, this figure (Ubricz) was the only one of the three that I altered after priming. The original, with a chainsword, is shown above, the final version below. +

+ Why the change to chainaxe? Mostly, it was to better convey the almost casual disdain with which this marine is treating his downed foe. For me, the slung chainaxe resting on the shoulder better encapsulates the arrogance and cruelty of the Iron Warriors. Secondly, the more relaxed pose fit better with the posture of his legs. I thought he looked too alert and wary before, with his chainsword down, which didn't 'read right' with the ponderous confidence suggested by his legs. +

+ Secondly, I thought the chainaxe was both a bit different – while part of the Iron Warriors 'thing' is a mass of faceless soldiers, complete uniformity of armament is a bit boring. It's easy enough to 'count-as' a chainsword, but adds a flavourful Horus Heresy-era touch. Together with a small skull trophy slung on his shoulder pad, it also hints as background influences on the Legion, with Khorne berserkers a part of the Iron Warriors. Is this warrior a future axe-happy lunatic, lost in slaughter? Will his discipline survive? Little things like this add much to the story of a piece. +

+++

+ Painting next; as per request I'll be using the same approach as for my own army – so keep an eye out for another inload soon. +

+ inload: Captain Aethon +

+ Captain Aethon, painted +

+ I built this model nearly a year ago; the process being detailed in this inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. Earlier this month I heard about GW's #marchformacragge 'event' on Instagram – basically an excuse to paint and show off your Ultramarines. I dug out my marines and – as is the way – immediately decided that I needed to update them. +

+ Let me assure you that this wasn't a full strip-down; the army's taken me more than a decade to paint, and I have no intention of restarting them – I've flirted with that idea before and, goodness, am I glad I didn't. Rather, I contented myself with rebasing them. After all, as I confidently announced back in 2014, this is a quick way of updating things! +

+ Reader, it was not a quick thing to do. I got fed up halfway through, and the army has languished, half on snow and half on rubble, ever since. This time, I was determined to get things done, and really stuck to it over the course of three evenings. Any time I got bored, I'd turn to work on Aethon, or – depending on my mood – tick in some details that, again, I'd been confidently telling myself that I 'd do when the army was finished. +

+ Of course, as no army is ever finished, my poor Ultramarines had been wandering around missing their squad markings – long since revealed in a HH 'black book'. This provided a great opportunity to fill them in. There are a few of the rebased models shown above, but I'll do a proper inload on the army as a whole at a later date. +

+ Y'know, when it's finished. +

+++

+ Captain Steloc Aethon +

+ And talking of unfinished – or to be kinder, not yet finished – projects, my 'truescale' Betrayal at Calth set [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] ticked along just a little with the completion of the Ultramarines' leader, Aethon.

+ A fun little exercise in trying to remember how I painted my Ultramarines, it's proven the usefuleness of having a blog to record techniques, mixes and approaches. +

+ As with most of my recent Terminators, Aethon's converted from a Custodes Aquillon Terminator, giving him what I think is the correct proportions against Primaris or truescale marines. +

+ inload: Squad Redemptor – truescale Terminators +

+ First Company, Squad Redemptor +

+ Sustainers; First-amongst-equals of the War Eternal under Master Formosus, Lord of the Host, Master of the divided Legion and heir of Sanguinius +

+ Terminators are a troop type that I've always liked, and yet rarely used. Since I moved to building larger 'art/truescale' marines, I've tried lots of different ways to make Terminators to match, and – until these ones – never really found a way that hit the mark for me. I'm very proud of these, though. I think they capture the brutal walking tank aesthetic nicely, and – unless they're pictured next to another model – are convincingly familiar to the standard models. – thinking about it, I should probably have got some pictures of them against some aliens! +

+ The tutorial, if you want to have a go yourself, is probably lurking at the top of the + High-access Datacores + to the left, as it's long been the most popular post on the blog. If it's not there, here's an inlink [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. +

+ Anyway, a mere two years and three months after building this squad, I've finally spent the three evenings necessary to paint them – funny how timings work. I'm delighted with how they've come out, so brace brace brace for a wall o' pics! +

 + SQUAD REDEMPTOR +

Sinistro e Dexter:  

Brother Lucello the comely (Tiphareth 3:04)

Brother Comeccino (Abacyel 2:02)

Sergeant Redemptor (Pahaliah 2:01)

Brother Lesandro (Caranial 6:18)

Brother Martial (Agshekolah 2:09)

Additional

Brother Etruscus (El Neqemah 7:01)

+++

+ Sergeant Redemptor (Pahaliah 2:01) +

+ Terminators are heroes of the Chapter, so they're all decked out with widgets, doobries, charms and honour markings – though I've not gone completely over the top. Large as these models are, I want to avoid them drowning in details in order to keep them recognisable as related to the squad in White Dwarf 139. +

+ Blue and turquoise gems abound on these models, adding some eye-catching points to lead the viewer around. +

+ The original's power sword was all gold; I've made it a little less gaudy and restricted the gold to the decoration near the hilt. The gold is washed with purple to enrich it and harmonise with the red. +

+ Similarly, the originals have yellow-cased bolters. I couldn't decide whether to follow that or tie them in with the rest of the army, and compromised on black casings with yellow markings. Note that Redemptor's chapter marking is yellow on black, as per the rest of the sergeants. +

+ A fun bit of freehand, this is a direct copy of the original's banner. Looking at it here, I might add a decoration to the top. The original had a skull – but perhaps one modelled after an ork or genestealer skull might be a fun update/homage? +

+++

+ Brother Lesandro (Caranial 6:18) +

+ As standard a Terminator as you get; storm bolter and power fist. The base models – Forge World's Adeptus Custodes Aquilon Terminators – arelovely, but limited in pose. After making the tweaks mentioned in the tutorial [REF: above], I made sure to add some bits taken from the Space Hulk Terminators, as I had loads of their bits left after making my truescale Ultramarines, the Praetors of Calth, many years ago. +

+ The spiked pad – from Master-Crafted Miniatures, though I've modified it by trimming away all but a few spikes – injects a bit of modernity to the army , preventing it being a slavish recreation. This modelling decision meant that I had to adapt the freehand Crux Terminatus, making it smaller and pairing it with a Company symbol: the '1' on the rear of the pad. +

+ As with the rest of the army, Squad Redemptor's been marked with the Army badge – the small blue circle. I was particularly pleased with the gradient and freehand on the shoulder pads. The large area really gave me space to play. +

+++

+ Brother Martial (Agshekolah 2:09) +

+ The bionic eye, jewels, eye lens and purity seal wax here show the use almost all of the accent colours from my palette – orange, blue, green and purple. It just goes to show that as long as you keep them subtle, you can use a lot of accents without overwhelming the scheme. Note the use of lots of neutrals – the purity seal papers, loincloth/pteruges and neutral gold. These help provide the eye some resting space. +

+ The chainfist is another bit culled from the Space Hulk set. It came with moulded blood drops that fitted nicely in the theme, so I left them. These are a good example of less being more – there's no need to pick them out in a different colour, as they stand out nicely simply through highlighting and shading. +

+ The bionic arm here is from Anvil Industry. Nicely posable, it fits perfectly with these marines and gave me some variety and flexibility beyond the fixed three poses of the base figures. +

+++

+ Brother Lucello the comely (Tiphareth 3:04) +

+ *BRRRRRRRRRRT!* +

+ Assault cannons are awesome. The big rotary machine guns are a classic Space Hulk image and – for me at least – the iconic Terminator weapon. Lucello here – a good-looking boy, judging by his epithet – is decked out with scanners and details culled from the Space Hulk set, which is also where his assault cannon was sourced. The tilt shield was painted using a little granulation medium on ink, something I've been experimenting with recently. The medium causes the particles in the ink to clump together, leaving a lovely random grainy effect. + 

+ The assault cannon has lots of nice details. I had to be careful to match the angle to the original, or the dangly bits would have fought against the composition. It was a less fiddly conversion than I had expected – I had to carve away the forearm of the Terminator to match it to the larger Custodes arm. +

+ At least one of the marines needed the classic Rogue Trader/2nd edition hazard markings, right? In retrospect, perhaps I should have saved this for one of the others marines – Lucello here is in danger of being swamped by details. However, having said 'less is more' above, sometimes you can have too much good taste. A bit of flamboyance is nice, and together with his rather smug name, perhaps suggests something about Lucello's character, don't you think? +

+++

+ Brother Comeccino (Abacyel 2:02) +

+ Tactical Dreadnought Armour is tough, and a bit of weathering and battle damage go a long way to getting that across. The huge holes blown in his pauldron (again, from Master-Crafted Miniatures) catch the eye here, and hint as the squad's resilience. His pose certainly implies he's not been bothered by it. +

+ The skull here is marked with a red roman numeral on the forehead. What it signifies, I have no idea, but it definitely shouts out the madness and ritual of Warhammer 40,000. Leaving details like this unresolved and unexplained adds to the atmosphere. +

+ This rear shot shows the beautiful sculpting on both the Master-Crafted Miniatures piece and the main Forge World body. As the conversion tutorial above explains, there's been extensive modification to the front of the model, but much is left as standard at the back. The sculptural form fits nicely with the Blood Angels, but I think for other Chapters (as with my Ultramarines Captain Aethon [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]) I'd resculpt at least the lower legs, and possible the rear vents to look more like the official Terminator sculpts. +

+++

+ Brother Etruscus (El Neqemah 7:01) +

+ Etruscus was the first one I painted, a while back, and I'm pleased with how closely he matches the rest of the squad. The tufts on the base are something that I've not added to the rest of the army (save Captain Tycho [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]), but I think I will. They add a nice contrasting texture without losing the desert scheme. +

+ The powerfist here has a more subtle band of hazard markings, showing that you can interpret your inspiration in a number of ways. +

+ The Chapter heraldry received a repaint. I had initially painted it with white to help it stand out, but decided to make it black to match the rest of the army, and the squad. +

+++

+ ...and that's the lot for now. I'll leave you with some group pics, and would love to hear your thoughts and feedback. +