Tag: Squad Dolos

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Blood Angels Space Marines Grey Knights Miniatures Warhammer 40k

My first game of 40k since 1993: Blood Angels vs. Dark Angels

Despite a near-lifelong simmering love for the 40k universe, until this past weekend I’d only played 40k once or twice. That was back in 1993, when I pitted a box of Squats against my then-girlfriend’s Tyranids for a game or two. For a variety of reasons — some good, some irrational, let’s file them all under “it’s complicated” — I wrote off 40k for the next, uh, 27 years.

In 2020, I decided to start painting 40k minis with an eye to maybe playing the game again at some point. The pandemic’s “official” start date, March 12, was about two weeks later, so I spent the next three years painting 40k minis without actually playing the game. That got me properly into miniature painting as a hobby in its own right.

But once things opening up again lined up with a shift in my family’s pandemic risk calculations, it was time to kick those 40k tires. So on June 10, 2023, I met up with my friend Shay to play the first game of 40k I’d played in 30 years — with two fully painted forces, on a fully painted table, to boot! It was a blast.

Blood Angels vs. Dark Angels

We played a stripped-down 9th Edition Combat Patrol learning game: no CP, no stratagems, no secondary objectives. Shay is a veteran 40k player, but hadn’t played in several years; we muddled through things together.

40k, at least in 9th edition, is an odd mix of relatively simple rules but a complex array of extras, fiddly bits, and exceptions. Even with all the stuff we ignored, it still took us two hours to play two rounds. A fun two rounds! But it’s a commitment.

I know we got some stuff wrong, but despite that, and even after just a single game, the strategic and tactical decision space has opened up for me. I learned stuff; I’d build my force and play differently next time. I came away with plenty of rules questions, but those will smooth out over time. The bones are sturdy. This is a game I’d love to keep playing.

A light battle report

Due to some technical hurdles, we had to work out Shay’s points on the spot with only my copy of the Adeptus Astartes Codex for reference. Those points have changed over the years since that book came out — which didn’t occur to us at the time — so in hindsight I had an unintentional 52-point edge on Shay. I’m also pretty sure 2x Plasma Cannon isn’t a valid option, and I forgot to get my Sergeant out of the case (the first Blood Angel model I painted for 40k, no less!).

Our scenario was Incisive Attack, minus the secondary objectives.

Blood Angels, 497 pts.

  • Chaplain Arrius
  • Close Combat Terminators, Squad Barakiel – 1st Company, 1st Squad – 4 Terminators led by Sergeant Barakiel (5x Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield)
  • Tactical Marines, Squad Karios – 2nd Company, 1st Squad – 7 Space Marines (6x Bolter, 1x Heavy Bolter) led by Sergeant Karios (Chain Sword and Hand Flamer)
  • Primaris Infiltrators, Squad Dolos – 2nd Company, 3rd Squad – 4 Space Marines led by Sergeant Dolos (5x Marksman Bolt Carbine)

Dark Angels, 445 pts.

  • Terminator Captain (Storm Bolter, Power Sword)
  • Terminators – 5 Terminators (4x Storm Bolter and Power Fist, 1x Assault Cannon)
  • Tactical Marines – 10 Space Marines (8x Bolter, 2x Plasma Cannon)

We played two rounds and the start of a third, and called the game at that point for a late lunch. My Blood Angels won, but again: points imbalance.

The fun was the important part, and man is it every bit as fun to play with fully painted armies as I’d hoped it would be! There’s a real immersive joy to seeing these little dudes on the table.

It’s Bolter time!

My pictures didn’t turn out great, largely due to a mix of interior lighting and my desire to focus on the game rather than the photos. I’ve spared you the irredeemably blurry ones.

Mustering our forces. I’ve had that dice tray for 15 years, but I think this is its first usage for a minis game.

We played at Mox Ballard, which has excellent gaming tables and terrain. It was great to be able to uncover only the amount of battlefield we needed while using the covered half of the table for dice and storage.

The first draft of our table. It got a few tweaks before we actually deployed our minis.

Looking at the Incisive Attack mission map after the fact, I see that I somehow put our deployment zones too close to each other. If we’d deployed differently, that really could have turned this knife fight in a phone booth into a chainsaw fight in a phone booth.

I think this is turn one. I’ve just deployed my Infiltrators on objective 4, and both of us still have our Terminators in their respective Teleportarium chambers.
Squad Karios in the foreground, Squad Dolos near the top.

Our Tactical Squads took plenty of pot shots at each other, which is how I learned that even vanilla Marines are pretty tough.

Dark Angels with a commanding field of fire.
Shay’s Deathwing Terminators make their entrance.

This was my decisive play, although I didn’t realize it at the time. Once my Terminators started taking fire, I got to see just how tough they really are — especially with Storm Shields. We both spent a lot of points on our Termies, but man were they worth it.

Squad Barakiel (right) teleports in next to Squad Dolos.
My Terminators make a push for objective 2 — and Shay’s Tactical Marines.
Close combat ensues.
The scrimmage from afar.

My Terminators clinched things by wiping out a chunk of Shay’s Tactical Squad and claiming objective 1.

This fight proved decisive. Storm Shields and Thunder Hammers are amazing.

We both had a ton of fun with this short match. The glitches, shortened game, and outcome played no role in how much fun this was for me. Getting to play 40k for the first time in decades, with my friend, with an army I painted was an absolute hoot.

We’re on the cusp of 10th Edition, so this might turn out to be the only game of 9th Edition I play. I’ve already started learning the 10th Edition rules.

What’s that on the horizon? MOAR TERMINATORS

And, somewhat predictably…I’ve also started planning a fifth army. Terminators were my favorite thing in the 40k universe before I saw them in action. And now, after seeing how well their performance matches the fiction — they just laugh at small arms fire! — I love them even more.

Just a couple hours after our match, I started drafting Grey Knights lists. Terminators as troops! Tiny knight helmets! The Baby Bjorn of doom! Terminators as far as the eye can see!

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Blood Angels Space Marines Finished miniatures Lightbox photos Miniature painting Miniatures Warhammer 40k

Squad Dolos brings me up to 730 points of painted Blood Angels

It took me longer than I’d like to take Squad Dolos from this state, where they languished for a few days:

Partially base-coated

To this one, starring the worst base-coating work I’ve done this year:

Fully base-coated

And then to the “starting to not look like shit” stage:

These are such simple models — look how few colors I’m using for layers/highlights!

And finally through the undocumented and quite frustrating stage where I discovered that the ~20-year-old knee pad decals I’d planned to use were — at least as far as I could tell, still being pretty new to using decals — too old to soften properly despite repeated applications of Micro Sol. I was hoping to avoid freehanding their squad markings; in the end, that’s what I had to do.

…But I finally got there!

Squad Dolos, 2nd Company, 3rd Squad
Rear view

I have to say that these weren’t my favorite models to paint. Their highlighting was fun, but they’re kind of basic — excellent sculpts and detail, but with so few ways to personalize or pose them that the end product was not all that exciting. I didn’t cut corners on them, but it always felt like a bit of a struggle; I suspect that’s why it took me so long. Ah well.

Thus far I’ve painted more troops than anything else, so my current point total of painted figures (730/2,000) is low relative to the number of models I’ve completed. I’m one figure shy of the 50% mark now, and it’s all characters, elites, and fast attack — plus one massive tank — from here on in.

It doesn’t look like I’m going to match April’s record month, but you never know. Next up I’m going to paint my Sternguard squad and my Chaplain, and fitting in one more squad of five after that — which feels like a stretch right now! — would match April’s tally.

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The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is available in print and PDF.
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Blood Angels Space Marines Miniature painting Miniatures Warhammer 40k WIP it good

WIP it good: Squad Dolos

Squad Dolos was the second 40k kit I built, back in mid-March, but they got nudged back in my painting queue to make room for minis that looked more exciting. But now, after pushing hard to finish Squad Ultio in April, and then spending 10 days on my Rhino (and, to be fair, tons of assembly), simple minis with a limited color palette sound perfect to me.

Squad Dolos, 2nd Company, 3rd Squad

Thanks to a generous fellow #warmongers poster on Twitter, I have a stock of old Blood Angels transfers — including some for squads that GW no longer provides on decal sheets (at least to my knowledge). That means plenty of red blood drops for these Infiltrators’ knees, which is good because 100% of them have knee plates that support transfers.

Other than those knees, they follow my usual Blood Angels color guide. The knee pads will be Averland Sunset > Agrax Earthshade > Yriel Yellow. (May 19 update: After shading with Agrax, the Averland was much too dark to read as yellow. I painted over it with Averland, then just highlighted with Yriel.)

Sergeant Dolos

Lots of black on these guys — many more gaskets and seals in the Mark X Phobos Armor than in the shorty marine armor I’m used to painting, plus I’ve gone with black for the “soft” items, like the straps, pouches, and holsters. Should look pretty rad when they’re done!

Down to lenses and their main color, Mephiston Red

They’re coming along slowly, but I hope to have them finished up this week. That would bring me to almost exactly the halfway point in my current army list, model-wise: 25 marines, 1 Dread, 1 tank. Adding 1 character to that tally would be exactly halfway.

Alongside these guys, I also put the final coat of varnish on the bottom and treads of Relentless. I discovered that all three of my backup bottles of Vallejo Matt Varnish were discolored and an odd consistency, like maybe they’d gone bad. The bit I had to use — because I’d finally exhausted my original bottle — messed up the wash and dried funny where I applied it, so it was lucky that that happened to be the least-visible spot on the whole tank, the bottom panel.

Relentless in my little drying station

I’ve almost broken off the gunner’s helmet antenna by dropping this tank several times, so there’s no way I’m resting its entire weight on that spot while it cures!

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Blood Angels Space Marines Miniature painting Miniatures Warhammer 40k WIP it good

Weekend work in progress roundup, army lore, and 500

I finished listening to the audiobook of The Devastation of Baal last week, and then over the weekend — while naming my Sanguinary Guard — realized that I now know something else about my Blood Angels army. Before that I had two bits of lore/flavor around my army:

  • They all wear helmets, no bare-headed models
  • Their bases are meant to be the plains of Armageddon

To which, because of the events of the Devastation, I can now add:

  • My army is post-Devastation of Baal, because it includes both Primaris and non-Primaris Marines

Lore-wise I might be getting a bit fuzzy here, because the only info on post-Devastation Sanguinary Guard — all but one of whom died fighting Leviathan — is on 40k wikis, but that points to the Guard being composed of the lone survivor and Primaris Marines. I see no reason the new Guard can’t be composed of a mix of Primaris and non-Primaris, though, so that’s what I’m going with in my head.

Prepping my May minis

I also found myself on May 1st without a single ready-to-paint model, so I set about getting a few to that stage. That entailed doing the texture paint on Squads Amedeo and Dolos, and priming my Rhino, Relentless.

Into the painting queue with you!

I soon realized that properly priming Relentless was going to be a two-day job. For day one, I did the undercarriage and both ends; it then sat overnight to allow the primer to cure.

I briefly considered not painting the bottom…but yeah, that would drive me bananas

On wings of frustration

As I was listing my May 2020 BGG painting challenge minis, I realized I couldn’t put off figuring out how to name my squad of Sanguinary Guard any longer. They have no sergeant; to the best of my knowledge, Space Marine squads are traditionally named after their sergeant. That’s how I’ve done all of mine.

But these guys are weird. The unit is four, often accompanied by an Ancient — but he’s not part of the squad. He’s a character, he gets a name; that’s Brother Abaoz. But the rest? It seems easiest to name them all and pick the one I like best as the nominal squad leader (since the actual squad leader is Commander Dante): Remiel, Uriel, Zarnaah, and Ballaton.

Squad Remiel rolls off my tongue the best, so Squad Remiel it is. They’re all angel names, which I found by Googling “angel names.” As always, I bounced them off Lexicanum’s list of known Blood Angels names so as to be reasonably sure I’m not claiming someone who already has a place in the lore. (Emphasis on reasonably; I’m going to overlap at some point, it’s almost inevitable — and that’s okay.)

Curse these wings

Their wings, though? Most frustrating thing I’ve glued in my two months of building 40k minis. There’s no “mating” joint, no locking nub, nothing to ensure that the wing is in the correct spot and matches its partner. The instructions imply where they go, but even with the angled 360-degree spinning model on GW’s site I still wasn’t totally confident.

It took me 45 minutes to do Remiel, and most of that was his wings. And every time I’d adjust them, his awesome sword-arm pose would slip because of his huge pauldron, and then the other wing would get bumped, and then…

Brother Remiel, first among equals

The outcome, though, is a straight-up badass pose. Brother Remiel is winding up for a death blow while leaping into the sky, all motion and dynamism. His wings don’t quite match, and that gap at his right shoulder is going to require a healthy amount of Agrax Earthshade to cover up — but this is a great sculpt, and he should look awesome when he’s painted.

I returned to Squad Remiel on Saturday, armed with a new approach: I came prepared to relax, which sounds funny but can be quite effective; I built in a pause between gluing on their arms and wings, to make sure the arms were fully set; I test-fit the wings before the glue on the arms and pauldrons was dry, so I could nudge them around a bit before it was too late; and I checked both wings from every angle before their glue was fully set, leaving time for delicate adjustments to them as well.

Squad Remiel, led by Sanguinary Ancient Abaoz

The end result is one of the coolest squads I’ve built so far. I absolutely love these guys. Whereas after building Remiel I was kind of glad I only had one box of them, with the squad done I certainly wouldn’t mind doing another box. Their details, their dynamic poses, the massive melee weapons — I was drawn to them way back when I was choosing a Space Marine chapter, and now I remember why.

500!

Yore also hit a fun little milestone, one I’ve been watching for since I got back into blogging this past February: 500 impressions in a day.

April 30, 2020

Thank you for reading Yore! I write it because I want to, but I like knowing that folks are reading it — and hopefully getting some mileage out of it, too.

Digging Yore? Check out my book!

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is available in print and PDF.
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Blood Angels Space Marines Miniature painting Miniatures Painting tools Warhammer 40k WIP it good

WIP it good: Squad Ultio, turbo priming, hazard stripes

I’ve been making some progress on Squad Ultio, my shooty Terminators.

I decided that I’d lean into silver as their primary accent color, and unify them with silver Crux Terminatus emblems on their left shoulders. Sergeant Ultio is getting more gold, but with silver accents.

Silver blocked in

I used to start with the most prevalent color and work my way down to the small accent colors, but now I go in reverse. Once it hit me that, for example, the only way I can manage to paint the gold setting for a red gem on red armor is to hit it first — slopping over into what will be red areas — and then circle back with the red, carefully painting right up to the gold, I realized many accents could be painted better and quicker that way.

Everything but the red — and maybe hazard stripes — done

Reaching the point where what’s left is “just” the red takes some time — probably about two hours, maybe 2.5, for this squad. The red will likely take longer, but blocking that in somehow feels more manageable when I’m down to only one color.

One down!
Black left fists

I almost forgot to give them all black left fists (except the sergeant). I know that — like just about all details of chapter paint schemes — that’s optional (and not universal over the past decades of studio paint jobs), but I like it. It gives them a different presence and energy.

Two base-coated

Warmed up from some quick basing work (on Squads Amedeo and Dolos), and with a bit of momentum built up, I managed to get two more Termies base-coated on Sunday night. That left about another 90 minutes of base-coating, followed by a couple hours of touch-ups and detail work, before I could move on to shading.

Priming speed

It took me 12 minutes per figure to prime Squad Ultio, but since I don’t love priming I’ve been looking for ways to reduce that time without sacrificing quality. On Sunday I consciously employed a loose, light, feathering stroke — and blasted out Squads Amedeo (Sternguard) and Dolos (Infilitrators) in 45 minutes, or 4.5 minutes/figure.

50% of my priming for May done

That leaves just my Rhino, Relentless, and a squad of Sanguinary Guard to prime so I can paint them in May.

Hazard stripes

I want to do yellow/black hazard stripes on the two Chain Fists in this squad, and I bought some 2mm and 3mm Vallejo hobby tape for that purpose — but every time I look at those tiny chainsaw housings, which wrap around on three sides, I question my ability to actually do it.

But fuck it, I’m going for it. Colors are Averland Sunset/Abaddon Black. (The rest of these guys just follow my usual Blood Angels colors, no surprises in their recipes.)

Step 1: paint the housings Averland Sunset, two thin coats for even coverage.

Step 1

Step 2 was going to be “apply diagonal strips of tape” until I actually tried that and physics disagreed:

Definitely not step 2

Step 2: apply vertical strips of 2mm Vallejo tape, edge to edge with no gaps (to ensure even spacing).

Step 2

Optionally, at this stage you can feel free to question the judgment and moral character of the dingus who decided to put a big rock right in front of this Chain Fist.

Step 3: remove every other strip of tape.

Step 3

Step 4: paint the exposed yellow portions Abaddon Black.

Step 4

Step 5: remove the remaining strips of tape. Ta-da! Hazard stripes.

Step 5

Not, I hasten to add, amazing hazard stripes — but better than I could freehand, especially as they wrap evenly around the housing, and easily touched up during the next step of my painting process.

Finished hazard stripes

For true old-school Terminators I should have hazard-striped the Fist itself, not the saw housing, and then painted John Blanche’s face freehand on top of the stripe pattern . . . but these will have to do.

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Blood Angels Space Marines Finished miniatures Miniature painting Miniatures Space Hulk Warhammer 40k

March miniature progress

March was a productive month for me, miniature-wise: I painted 16 miniatures! As far as I can remember, this is the most figures I’ve ever painted in a single month.

  • Painted 11 Space Hulk Terminators, completing my set
  • Squad Karios: painted 5 Space Marines, primed and based 5 Space Marines
  • Squads Dolos and Ultio, Dreadnought Narses: assembled and partially based 13 models
  • Squad Cain: primed and partially based 5 Scouts

Squad Karios, 2nd Company, 1st Squad, started March on sprues and is now half done as of last night — just under the wire.

Half of Squad Karios

My 2,000-point Blood Angels army list is 50 Space Marines, 2 Dreadnoughts, 2 tanks, Commander Dante, and a Chaplain — and my backlog of other fun Blood Angels stuff for future use stands at 2 Dreadnoughts, 15 Space Marines, and a Chaplain.

At my current painting pace I’ve got a solid three months of painting just for the Marines in my list, plus the tanks/Dreads, plus my backlog; that’s got to be good for another two months, give or take. I’m looking forward to it!

Blood Angels army progress pics

I have a thread going on Twitter where I share photos of my 40k army as it reaches new milestones — full squads assembled, primed, painted, etc. Here are the photos from March:

First squad built
Two squads assembled
Three squads assembled, one of them primed and fully based
Starting to look like a little war host

I’ve never had a proper 40k army before. I started a Squat army in the mid-’90s, but never made it past one or two squads (and a like amount of games). It’s a real pleasure to be plugging away on my Blood Angels.

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The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is available in print and PDF.
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Blood Angels Space Marines Miniature painting Miniatures Space Hulk Warhammer 40k

A month as a miniature painter: February-March 2020

Since I got back into miniature painting — and actually into it for the first time, really — on February 22, I’ve gotten quite a bit done:

I also put together a painting area on my desk, including paint racks and a lamp and lightbox, and added a host of Citadel pots and tools to my arsenal.

My WarpedMindGames paint racks
My TaoTronics painting lamp

I’ve got a 2,000-point Blood Angels army to paint during quarantine, all mapped out in BattleScribe. My baseline was my favorite units in 40k and units that looked fun to paint until around 1,500 points, and then 500 points of units that looked fun to paint but also supported what I already had. “Paint the army you love and don’t worry too much about the ebb and flow of the rules” is my mantra.

Along the way I’ve grown as a painter: used brush-on primer, wash, and sealant for the first time; experimented with edge highlighting; improved my detail painting and drybrushing; learning to make terrain bases; stepped up my assembly game with new tools; and played around with different workflows to find the one that’s right for me. I’m not going to knock anyone’s socks off with my paint jobs, but I’m having fun and loving the hobby.

All of my Space Hulk Terminators
Squad Karios
A converted Scout with a Skitarii Ranger head
Terrain bases on Squad Karios

Yore also turned 10 this year, and crossed the 300-post line last week in my flurry of miniatures-related posting (here’s #300). Traffic has doubled and I’m having a blast blogging again — and I’ve discovered the joy of the #warmongers community on Twitter, a tremendous source of inspiration, motivation, and camaraderie.

If you’re reading this I hope you enjoy Yore, and thank you.

Digging Yore? Check out my book!

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is available in print and PDF.
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Blood Angels Space Marines

WIP it good: more bases, naming units, and building my Librarian Dreadnought

By pure coincidence, this is my 300th post on Yore! I didn’t plan this one as number 300; I noticed I was getting close and then forgot about it, but as it turns out this grab-bag post of what’s on my mind right now (miniatures!) is pretty emblematic of my approach to blogging here. I hope you’re enjoying Yore, which also turned 10 years old this year — thank you for reading!

I kicked today’s hobby session off by adding rocks and skulls to the bases of Squad Dolos and Squad Cain, my Primaris Infiltrators and Space Marine Scouts, respectively.

Squad Dolos and Squad Cain

I envisioned Squad Karios as slogging through the shit, fighting their way through the graveyards of Armageddon — but these two squads are sneaky boys. They’re not charging up the center, Bolters howling; they’re infiltrating, skulking, lurking, sniping from outcroppings.

So whereas Squad Karios got lots of rocks and skulls, I focused on rocks for Dolos (since a lot of the Infiltrators’ feet include them), picturing them up in high places; and on sparse use of both for the Scouts, with their tiny bases. Both will get extra tufts in the final stage, so they look quite bare now.

Narses

I’ve been itching to build my two Dreadnoughts — one Librarian, one Furioso — but also a bit intimidated by them. I’ve never built a larger miniature before, and I love these units so much that I really want to get them right.

Dreadnoughts are one of my favorite things in 40k: a life-support sarcophagus, in which is entombed the still-living remains of a Space Marine who was mortally wounded on the battlefield centuries ago, mounted at the heart of a walking tank — a machine of eternal war. How fucking rad — and metal! — is that?

One of the reasons I picked the Blood Angels is because they have three special ones, all of which come out of the same kit (you pick when you build it): the Blood Angels Furioso Dreadnought (paid link). I started with Narses, my Librarian — named after the 6th Century Roman general, a deeply religious eunuch whose martial successes came late in life, and an unlikely leader; that sounded like a perfect fit to me.

All of Narses’ parts ready for cleaning and assembly

After building his torso and the legs, I decided I’m going to paint Narses in pieces. I’ll sticky-tack the foot divots, waist joints, and maybe arm joints; prime and paint them all separately; and then peel off the sticky tack so I can get a clean plastic/plastic join for the final gluing stage.

Come back, I’ll bit your legs off!

Names

One of the little joys of building a 40k army is naming units. I’m starting with just the sergeants and characters, but may eventually branch out to naming more of the models as well. Karios was a son of Zeus, Dolos is a Greek spirit of trickery and guile, and Cain can mean “possessed” and “spear” (plus the whole Christian mythology around the first murder).

Narses is coming along nicely, but I’m out of hobby time for today — his arms and power plant will have to wait.

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Blood Angels Space Marines Miniature painting Miniatures Painting tools Warhammer 40k WIP it good

WIP it good: Squad Karios bases, ZEM brushes, Citadel texture paints, Squad Dolos assembled

I know I’m posting a lot these days — I’ve been blogging for almost 15 years: posting twice a day, for one person, is a lot! — but I’m deep in the joy of this extended moment, of being a novice miniature painter falling in love with this hobby. Everything is new for me right now, even little things — like today’s new little things, blending paints and following a basing recipe.

Plus, you know, the whole family is stuck at home — like yours probably is, if you’re reading this around the post date and not years later. Not to make light of the situation, but late February has turned out to be a serendipitous time to get back into painting miniatures.

The larch

Before diving into today’s WIP post, I want to wish everyone reading this well. I hope you and your families are safe and weathering the COVID-19 pandemic as well as possible.

Yore isn’t a news blog, or really a serious blog at all most of the time. It’s a creative outlet, it’s my hobby space, it’s something I work on when it’s fun. I figure you’ve got COVID-19 stuff coming at you from a million angles, so I’m going to keep doing what I do here: talking way too much about miniatures.

Stay safe out there!

Infiltrators, assemble!

After giving myself what I suspect was a glue-induced headache last night, I changed up my assembly routine a bit. Instead of trimming and gluing in small stages, which is more fun, I’m trimming every piece and then assembling them all at once.

The final four Infiltrators

I’m also sticking newly-glued minis in the bathroom with the window open and the fart fan running. So here’s a bathroom shot of Squad Dolos, fully assembled:

Squad Dolos

Sergeant Dolos is front left; the sub-squad leader (pointing hand) is back center. Since my current Blood Angels list doesn’t have room in it for either of the Infiltrators’ special units, the comms guy or the Helix Adept, I had to get a bit creative with the mini that the kit assumes will be the comms guy. (Weirdly, you don’t get the Helix Adept mini in this kit; it’s only in the Shadowspear box, I believe.) I used two Incursor arms, which are included because this kit lets you build either; he’s the sub-squad leader.

ZEM brushes

I also picked up some inexpensive brushes, a ZEM detail set (paid link), since I’m still pretty bad at taking care of my brushes. I’m getting better! But I’m still not great. These are under $2 each, as compared to a $5-$6 Army Painter brush — and available for delivery, which is handy since my family is sheltering in place for who knows how long.

My new ZEM brushes: 0, 10/0, 2, and 3/0

I used the 0 today and quite liked it. It’s got more bristle tension than some of my other similarly sized brushes, which is handy. After a short painting session, though (just skulls and rocks on 10 bases), the tip looked like this:

From what I’ve read, that “tip curl” is a hallmark of cheap brushes in general and cheap synthetic brushes in particular. Still not a bad brush for the price, but I’m now doubting how much I’ll like the finer-tipped ones — since a curl in those can really wreck detail work.

Basing Squad Karios

My first squad has a post tag of its own (they all do; so far that’s Dolos and Cain), in case you want to follow their journey from box of plastic to fearsome painting Space Marine infantry. Today’s step on that journey, now that their primer is cured, is to paint the little rocks and skulls I glued onto their bases and then apply texture paint.

Sergeant Karios, my test pilot

I don’t have a medium gray in my paint stash at the moment, and I want these rocks to be lighter than the texture paint (Astrogranite Debris) but darker than the drybrush color I’m going to use (Grey Seer). So: it’s blending time!

I did a 50:50 blend of Corax White and Mechanicus Standard Grey, thinned it with a bit of water, and went to town.

Rocks: done!

I use a dry palette, so I had to mix up a new batch after about five guys — which is fun, because the little variations in my batches will ensure that my rocks don’t all look like they came from Rocks ‘R’ Us. It tickles me to no end that the best way to get actual rocks to look like they belong with a miniature is . . . to paint them to look like rocks.

Next up were the skulls, in Corax White, followed by a quick Agrax Earthshade wash on them and the rocks.

Rocks and skulls: done

And after that, the texture paint. I gather than Citadel has reformulated this stuff in the past few years, and merged it into their Technical line (it’s no longer actually called Texture), with one of the results being that you can apply it with a brush. But as soon as I opened my pot of it, I was glad I had the Citadel Texture Spreader (paid link): the Astrogranite Debris is a thick, slightly dry paste.

I used the small end of the spreader for all of these. The large end looks ideal for wider bases, but on these I needed the little paddle.

Sergeant Karios

This stuff is fun. Like, really fun. I’m applying it now so I can wash and drybrush without ruining my minis’ legs, but lots of folks apply it last. Using the tiny end of the spreader I was able to manipulate the paint easily enough that I’d have felt just as comfortable doing with a fully painted mini.

After each one, I ran my finger around the edge of the base to corral any loose grit. (Once the whole mini is done I’ll paint the base edges, of course.)

Three down

This paint also feels like cheating. It’s a bit like the magic that occurs when you apply a wash to a base-coated miniature — poof, it suddenly looks a million times better.

Squad Karios, set to dry overnight

Even having not done the finishing steps yet (wash the texture paint > drybrush it and the rocks/skulls > possibly highlight the skulls > add tufts), these are already the best-looking bases I’ve ever done. Miles ahead of my past efforts with just glue and little rocks — and that’s 100% down to this paint. I love this stuff!

That’s probably it for tonight’s hobby session — but damn, this one felt good. As a proof of concept for my “plains of Armageddon” basing recipe, the rocks don’t stand out as much as I’d like — though I’m betting a nice light-colored drybrush will help — but otherwise I’m calling this concept proven. I can’t wait to see what it looks like after the whole process is complete!

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Blood Angels Space Marines Miniatures Warhammer 40k WIP it good

WIP it good: Squad Dolos, Primaris Infiltrators

I wasn’t in the mood to prime minis today (I did some test priming, which I’ve detailed in a post for tomorrow), so I picked another unit to build: Squad Dolos, my first Primaris Space Marines — the cool-as-hell Primaris Infiltrators (paid link).

It’s building time!
Sergeant Dolos

Gotta start with the sergeant! Although unlike Squad Karios, the first squad I built for my Blood Angels army, these dudes have many, many fewer unique elements to them. That makes it harder to flavor the squad based on the sergeant, but I’m sticking to my guns anyway.

Making Space Marines look small since 8th Edition

After my first two (drawing-his-pistol guy is such a cool pose!) I stood them up next to two members of Squad Karios for a quick size comparison. Space Marines are massive compared to an average human . . . and Primaris Space Marines make them look small.

(It was while I was working on my third one that I realized the chest-grenades come in right- and left-side variations, and I’d already done one wrong. Now it’s two!)

Twinsies!

I want zero exact duplicate figures in my army, and ideally zero near-duplicates as well — so this kit is a bit of a challenge, since it includes two sets of identical twins and the Infiltrators are almost mono-pose figures.

Compared to the Space Marines I built last week, and even setting aside that the level of uniqueness in that kit is higher than in a standard Adeptus Astartes kit, these Infiltrators are much more rigid: no waist rotation, entire torso is one piece; each torso matches exactly one pair of legs; legs locked into position; only five sets of different legs (2x of each set); identical weapons; etc. You do get 10 pieces of “waist bling,” 2x each of five designs, and of course I’m limiting myself unnecessarily by using only the helmeted heads (which are all identical, save that I used the comms guy’s head for the sergeant).

For the two dudes above, I really had to stretch the limit of how far the arms on the one on the left would go in order to make his posture emphatically different than his twin. That said, the poses are quite dynamic, I dig the pouches and holsters and other doodads, and the special ones are rad — the sergeant cradling his Bolt Carbine, the guy reaching for his sidearm, the comms guy. They’re good-looking minis overall, I just miss the blinged-out variations in my Tactical Squad.

Tonight’s progress

I built the other set of identical twins, far right and third from the right, and squeezed as much individuality out of them as I could: different Bolt Carbine angle, head position, bling style and location, and presence/absence of grenades on the chest. I’ll add a bit more variation when I base them (skulls, tufts, etc.).

I’m pretty bleary-eyed after doing six of these in a row, so it’s time to call it a night.

Digging Yore? Check out my book!

The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is available in print and PDF.