New Marines

 This post was originally titles "new Marine rumours" but it's taken me so long to get around to writing it that it's now no longer rumour but mostly fact. This is mostly down to starting a new job. As the kids are getting older, I'm finding myself moving from stay at home dad to part time working dad, with the consequence that my hobby time had greatly reduced, as there is now no time for setting up photo shoots or sitting down with a cuppa and writing a post in the mornings while the kids are all out. That will change again next year when the littlest starts school proper but for now I have to grab a few minutes here and there to write what I can (currently watching a swimming lesson!) 

Anyway, little rant over, on to the main topic, shiny new Space Marines! 

So with the release of the new codex we have been given a number of new units and while some of them are not of interest to me at this time, there are a couple that are very interesting. So, what he we seen released? Company hero's, terminators, terminator chaplain, brutalis dreadnought, sternguard veteran squad, desolation marines, jump pack intercessors, Captain with jump pack and (of course) a lieutenant.

There is also the standard codex and various special editions plus the new data cards as well. However, I'll come to those in a bit. Firstly the new models.

As I said above, there are a number of models that I'm not really interested in right now, that doesn't mean I won't be interested in the future, but for now, I have no plans on adding them to my forces. These models are both the terminator squad and chaplain models, the company hero's, the sternguard vets and desolation marines. 

The desolation marines are the easiest to explain, they look shit. Plan and simple, they look rubbish and I don't care how good they might be, they still look crap and I don't want any. If I was going to bring anything similar, I would kit bash some primaries marines with first born missile launchers but that's a lot of work and I'm not interested in doing it. 

The company hero's are the next to mention. Now, I do like these, I think they look very nice but they don't fit with the aesthetic that I have going on for my elites, namely kit bashed from AoS models. So I currently have a champion and I will look at getting the others sorted in the future but I want to have a look at the options, as I don't really want the heavy bolter. So I will wait and see what the options are and then I will built my own versions using AoS models, as there are plenty of options for conversions.

The sternguard veterans are a slightly different matter however. I do really like these guys and would like to put a squad of these in my Eagle Knights but only if I can arm them with the big flamer and combi-flamers. You know, proper old school blood angels style. This isn't something I want to do in the short term though, it's more of a longer term project, well down the current list. 

The various terminators, within this release the squad and chaplain but also the librarian and captain, are models that I might be interested in at some.point in the future. My Dark Guardians are a Dark Angel successor, who currently have some bikes and jumpy boys but if I do decide to grow the force in the future then it will be terminators that will for the main part of the force, in line with the first born contingent. However, I have no plans on doing this just yet, as I have several guard models to purchase and paint plus I want to finish the eagle knights before starting any more marine  projects. So you may see some terminators in a couple of years but not any time soon.

Lastly for here is the lieutenant and it's another marine lieutenant, so I don't think I need to say anymore there.

So that leaves just the jump pack intercessors, the captain with jump pack and the Brutalis dreadnought. All of which are models I want, so of. 

I say sort as I don't plan on getting the proper jump intercessors but plan on converting up the 10 assault intercessors I have with 3rd party jump packs and grabbing at least 10 more assault intercessors and converting them as well, to give me 20 jump intercessors. I don't anyone will mind or notice, seeing as I don't play at any GW stores or events. I know there are some differences between the two but I really don't care enough to go and buy 4 boxes of the new models when I could convert what I have for about the price of 1 box. 

The captain is a slightly different prospect, as I really do love the new model and converting one is going to be quite a bit harder due to cloak and shiny gubbins. Buying one shiny new model to add to the army is fine by me and will give the family something to buy me at Christmas, which is always useful. 

Lastly we have the Brutalis dreadnought. I absolutely love this thing. I have not really liked either of the other two walkers (or three including Invictor) but this one I do like. I know there is t really much difference between them, just the weapons but I think it alters the balance of the model and this one, to me, looks the best. I will be looking to get at least 1 of these for my army, maybe even two!

So all in all not a bad release but not one I'm super excited about. There are a number of units that I may get in the future but nothing that I put in a pre-order for, one or two might make it on the my Christmas list but only if there isn't anything else I want more (like new archery kit, which I really do want!) 

Colour test schemes (and cat)

 So after a couple of sneak peaks for the colour schemes, here they are in close up. I’ll start with the Kasrkins, mostly has that was the photos that blogger loaded up first!

The colour scheme on this one was dictated not by any sort of historical ideas or cool colour schemes but but the fact that I wanted a colour that I hadn’t used yet. The DKoK are painted mostly red and light blue, the Navy Breachers, as you’ll see, are painted dark blue, the Rough Riders, which are yet to be built, will be painted a green and red colour scheme and the platoon command squad built by my son are painted green to look like WW2 para troopers. So this didn’t leave me with many colour options. I had initially thought about doing red anyway but it just didn’t seem right given the DKoK. So looking in my paint box there were a couple of options, light green, bright red, orange, white/beige or purple. The plan is to do the Rough Rider in the dark green, so i could use a light green, but it would have look to much like my other armies with green troops. The bright red was out as it would look to similar to the darker red of the DKoK and the orange was out as its a guard colour to paint and its also the colour of my main Marine chapter. I did think about going for the Beige / white colour option, as this would be different to the other unit on the table but I just couldn’t figure a good colour combination to go with it, as the browns would either make the whole model washed out or overpower the main colour. So in the end I went for Purple.

There are two sets of pictures here, this set, taken just after I finished painting the model, which show the colours but have a very messy background and the ones below with a clean background but turned out very dark and so you cant see all the details.  

Anyway, i do like this colour scheme a lot. The purple is not to strong, especially on this model with the backpack. The only thing that I’m not sure on yet is the bed roll. I wanted it a different colour to the backpack itself to help it stand out but I don’t know if the black is a bit to much, I’m tempted to try grey on the next model and see if that tones it down a little. The other thing that i may change is the stock on the weapon. At the moment it’s all metallic but I’m thinking that I might add so brown or black in to it so that it’s not quite so bland looking. Brown would give it a bit of a wood type effect but I think black would look better and suit the colour pallet a bit better as well. 

As you can see I had a little bit of an issue when trying to take pictures of the models in my makeshift Photo Booth. Luckily she didn’t break anything and she was more interested in my attention than the models, mostly i think because she wanted some fresh food, despite the fact that I’d only fed her breakfast about an hour before this point! If this had been one of the kittens, they probably would have been trying to play with and eat the models, they have a habit of doing that with my little ones models!

Cat shifted and fed, i manage to get some pictures taken. As I said above, they are a little dark, even though I took them in the conservatory on a sunny (ish) day (It’s September in the UK, it doesn’t get that sunny, especially up north!). I probably should get myself some sort of photo light box or even some lights I can use with the camera, but I really cant justify spending the money on stuff like that right now, maybe after I start my new job I might be able to splash out. 

The second unit here is my Navy Breachers. The colour choice for these units was a lot simplier and i had a very good idea of what I wanted to do right from the off. In WW1, the Royal Navy had more men than it had ships, due to the number of Royal Navy and Royal Marine reservists and volunteers, so they formed the Royal Navy Division and sent them off to war.

The result was basically what you see above, at least in the beginning. The did eventually get Khaki uniforms and steel hats but to begin with they had their Navy or Marine blue uniform and webbing with rifle. The steel helmets they ended up getting also tended to be blue in colour and not green, like the army versions. So, the plan was to have a uniform that followed this pattern, with blue as the main colour. The metal areas had to be brass, as when you think of navy ships of old, it’s brass that is the metal that comes to mind. The guns are going to be normal gun metal, as that makes most sense to me. So what does this look like?

So brass boots and chest plates, blue jacket and hat, with black trousers. I thought about blue or white trousers but decided that blue would make the models too blue and white would just look off, especially with the white trim and belts.

The white belts come from the Royal Navy and Marine dress uniforms. This also adds break in the blue and a nice bit of detailing to the model. You’ll AoO notice that the axe is all metal, with no wooden handle, as I figured that they would be constructed to be as cheap and easily repaired as possible, and wood in any form is going to be rare in space! Lastly, the tank on the back is a nice red colour to add a little bit of contrasting colour to the blue and add another feature to the model. 

I know in the proper models, they come with full face masks, which makes more sense with the tank but I imagine that these guys have their gas masks stowed away somewhere of the moment as they are running around planet side and don’t need the full space suit setup. 

I’m happy with both of these test models, so with just a couple of tweaks, I will be cracking on with painting up the other 19 models of each type and as soon as I have them finished and I get an opportunity to take photos I will get them posted up her.

Count as Kasrkins

 This time round we have my count as Kasrkins, the Wargames Atlantic Bulldogs from the Death Field range. The box actually comes with 24 models but I am only using 20 here. The other 4 are being added to my 3 Grognards (also Wargames Atlantic Death Fields) that I have had lying around without a home for a while. These 7 models are being used to form a command squad, Commissar and Castellan for the army, I’ll try and post some pictures of them sometime soon, if I remember!

First up, the group photo, with test model front and centre this time!

Both squads are pretty much the same, the only difference being the special weapons within each squad. 

The first squad contains flamers and grenade launchers. While these might not be the greatest weapon options to the Kasrkins, I wanted the two squads to be different for no other reason than I want to have all the options and not just some cut and paste super units. Both squads also have the Hotshot marksman rifle, because why wouldn’t you? The rest of the squad is formed of a Sgt and some riflemen, not vox casters in here though, I decided that it wasn’t really necessary as they are going to have a Castellan with them to issue orders and they can also issue themselves an order per turn, so the vox caster abilities are not really needed, plus I didn’t have any suitable vox caster (I actually do, but I forgot when I started building these and now they are primed I’m not going to bother changing them now as I really don’t think a vox caster is needed) 

There were some issues with these models. Most of them went together nicely with out any issues, however the grenade launcher just does not fit at all. The only way to get the launcher to fit without modification is to put it in some random awkward position that just looks really unrealistic. With some modification to the torso and weapon you can get a reasonable fit and look to the launcher. The flamer on the other hand works fine but i wanted to show off the gas mask fitted to the two flamer models. This was because I decided that these two guys would need some extra protection when so close to the flamers and to deal with any potentially leathal toxic fumes from the flamer or anything they flame. I think it makes them stand out a bit as well. 

Lastly from this squads we have the Sgt, and when you have a hand holding a tea cup you can guarantee that it will be getting used! So the Sgt is carefully carring his cuppa in to battle, just in case he gets thirsty or runs in to a problem, cos everybody knows there’s no problem that cant be solved over a cuppa tea. 

Pistol at the ready just in case.

All of the Riflemen in both squads are equipped with the SMG style weapons. I did think about using rifles for all the models but decided to keep them for just the marksmen and there weren’t enough carbine arms in the pack, so i went with the SMG style weapons. All of them also carry backpacks, as the bottom of the pack and not carrying any specialist equipment, they are lumbered with carring the extra kit and ammo. 

The second squad is armed up with the plasma guns and hotshot volley guns. In theory I will be able to mix and match these squads as I feel like, rather than being fixed squads but I probably wont change them around much. 

Hotshot volley gun and plasma gun. The plasma gun looks a bit like a plasma cannon but it’s just a plasma gun. I really like the hotshot volley gun, looks very much like the old Lewis guns of old. Luckily there were no issue with building these guys, they went together perfectly, although the arms on the volley gun were a bit fiddly.

The second Sgt has his sword and pistol out. Now, the best option for the Sgt is the plasma pistol and I could probably have kit bashed one together but the scale would have been off if I had used GW and I didn’t have any other options to hand, so I went with the standard hotshot pistol. 

These models are next up on the paint table once I have finished the Navy Breachers. Next up however is the test paint schemes and the reasons behind the choices for the colours. 

Navy Breachers

 These pictures were taken pre-primer as I’m priming these black and we all know how well black primed models show up on camera. These models came out of the Imperial Agents Boarding patrol and i have built up both squads to field in my latest Imperial Guard army, because i really need a 4th 2000 point guard army!

All the models 

And before anyone says anything, yes, there is a painted model in there at the back. You’ll see more further down but there will be a post coming up with better photos and some discussion on the paint scheme used but for the moment I’ll just show off the models. 

This first squad is the full on Kill Team squad, with all the options for the specialist models and extras, including the CAT and Gheistskull. The two models are not playable in 40K but are important in kill team and so will be getting painted up along side the other models. 

As you can see, I’ve made a minor kit bash with these models but swapping out the standard navy Breacher helmets for a set of WW1 style British helmets. These were from the Wargames Atlantic Bulldogs set, more of which will be along in the next post. The main reason for this change was to add some flavour to the force and also to take some inspiration from the WW1 Royal Navy Divisions who fought on the western and Gallipoli fronts. Again, more on this in a later post. 

I really like the look of the “Brodie” helmets and they fit very well with the rest of the models, giving them quite a different look to the standard model.

Of course, the Sergeants have a different helmet, in this case it’s a peak cap. Now, i think it’s supposed to be a Service Cap but it looks a lot like the Forage Caps. Either way it does make the Sgts stand out.  

The CAT and Gheistskull are very nice little models and look like they will be quite good fun in Kill Team if i can get the hang of using them properly but there are no rule for there use in 40K, which is a shame but that fine, they’ll go in the box once painted for the occasional Kill Team.

These two are probably my favourite two models, but for very different reasons. It’s kid of hard to see on these pictures due to the poses and also the rubbish lighting I was taking these photos in. (I really should get a light box or some decent sets of lights for my pictures) 

The Endurant model has been given a gas mask version of the helmet. He is the only one that has this version and it’s because I thought it made more sense fluff wise. Fluff wise, this man is the first though the door / hatch / hole / breach or whatever it maybe and in being first you never really know what’s on the other side of the door, so he has to go in expecting the worst, hence the gas mask. Now, i realise that each model has a oxygen tank on their back, so the point is a little mute but in my mind, this is the emergency supply, linked to the gas masks as part of a re-breather style set-up and most of the guys only use it in an emergency but the Endurant has it all the time, hence the mask and twin tanks. It makes sense in my head anyway! However, i just like the pose and look of this model, big, beefy and ready for anything on the other side of the door. 

I also really like the Grenadier model, but for very different reasons. I think his rules are rubbish and I would have built him if it wasn’t for needing him as a Kill Team option. I also don’t think the overall model is very good, its to big and bulky for my liking but i really like how it fits with the Brodie helmet. The helmet first almost perfectly with the shield in front of his face and looks like he could very easily just toss his demo charge and then Turtle up inside his suit by pulling his chin down to his chest and sealing up the helmet and shield sections. 

The second squad is a very basic squad. There is no special operatives or characters, just shotguns and a melta. 

There are seven basic troopers with shotguns (including model with the test paint scheme!) 

Plus a Sgt. with shotgun and Endurant with shield, because these are compulsory choices. There is also a melta gun. Why a melta gun and not plasma or Las-volley? Well, every weapon in the squad has a 12 inch range and so I though that it made sense to have the special weapon be a 12 inch range as well, I could have used the plasma and used the 12 inch rapid fire range but I decided to go with the melta and have a little bit of anti-armour in the squad.

Endurant with his trusty shield and gas mask.

I’m looking forward to getting these models painted up and I’m working on it as this goes live and i hope to have a post up here fairly soon.