Sunday 19 July 2015

Reserve Company Reinforcements

 
As we all know, Codex Chapters consist of a (nominal) 1000 Warriors consisting of ten Companies of 100 Marines each.  Add to that the Librarians, Chaplains, Command Squads and so on and that number can grow quite a bit.
 
As I have a full Second Company I decided that additional elements such as Land Speeders, Bikes and others would be crewed by Marines from the Reserve Companies. 
 
With that in mind, the bike mounted Command Squad and Land Speeder Squadron shown below are from the 6th and 7th Companies respectively.  The Codex indicates that the 6th is equipped with bikes and the 7th Land Speeders.  To that end, I need to change the transfer to a Tactical arrow on the Speeders.
 
This means of course that I can throw in a full 2nd Company plus support without some pedant (because they do exist) pointing out that "There is only 100 per Company".  If I purchase any Centurions in the future, they will have 8th (Assault) or 9th (Devastator) colourings.
 
The Chaplain is the 6th Company's and as with all 2nd Ed character models, the relative simplicity beats all the modern faff!
 
 





 

Friday 17 July 2015

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!!

Not much else to say other than it looks like Victoria Lamb Miniatures may be on to a bit of a winner here if the Kickstarter goal is reached within the next 8 days.

Linky:  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1513061270/reaper-miniatures-bones-3-the-search-for-mr-bones



I'm potentially signed up for three especially as the final retail price will be in the region of US$70 per gun.

Saturday 11 July 2015

Ultramarines - Assault and Devastator Squads (or Shock and Awe).

For today's post, I'll round off the Ultramarines 2nd Company.

Now the majority of these are the first version of the Assault plastics with some upgrades from the follow up version.  I am currently building up a further 10 Marine Squad from the brand new sets.  At present I'm undecided if I'll paint those up as a squad from the 8th Reserve Company or replace one of these squads as 2nd Company.  I'll have to see how the muse takes me.

VII Squad




 
VIII Squad





IX Squad.  On the back row are two metal/plastic hybrid Heavy Bolters.  Same as for the Assault Squads, I am currently building up 12 Heavy Weapon equipped Devastators from the new box set (after purchasing six more Devastator legs from an eBay bits seller).


X Squad





So that is the foot power of the 2nd Company, a full 100 rank and file Marines plus the Command Squad.  Of course with the new rules, if I field them as two demi-companies, I can include a second command squad to accompany a Chaplain.  As the current Chaplain has a jump pack, I will be painting up another 2nd Ed Chaplain to accompany this squad.

For future posts, I'll include the 1st Company Terminators and the 10th Company Scouts.  Moving on from there it will be the support units I add to the main force consisting of bikes, Land Speeders and Dreadnoughts.

Friday 10 July 2015

Ultramarines - Command and Tactical

As per previous posts, I acknowledge I'm not much of a detailed painter, mainly being happy to achieve a "tabletop standard" suitable for gaming.  I have always been loathe to personally put unpainted figures on the gaming table unless absolutely necessary (personal choice and not a position I hold others to).
 
 
So, starting off with the Command.  I own the new Sicarius but love the relative simplicity of the original Ultramarines Captain.  I have an unpainted spare that I'm considering a slightly different scheme for.  I'm also a fan of the 2nd Ed character banners and you'll see some more below.
 


One of the Command Veterans was a bit late in getting up for the new armour issue and has to make do with a Thunder Warriors set.  I used to use this as an Inquisitor for my Ordo Hereticus force.

My most favourite Chaplain ever.  Again, the 2nd Ed Goodwin simplicity shines through.

I Squad with their Forgeworld enhanced Rhino "Euryalus" (named after the first warship I ever set foot on).

Showing his age now is the aux grenade launcher Vet Sgt released around 94-95.

I may bung him on a 32mm base after a bit of paint stripping as part of the Company reorganisation.  I think he deserves a Thunder Hammer upgrade to his choice of close combat weapon.

Another stalwart, this fellow is from the first box of Space Marines I bought, the 2nd Ed metal/ plastic hybrid set.  As such he is the squad's Squad Leader as detailed in the first Ultramarines Codex, taking charge of the second five man element and wears the halo and carries the banner to indicate this.




II Squad led by another 2nd Ed Vet Sgt model.




III Squad.  All plastic.


IV Squad also has a couple of old metal models.



V Squad and Rhino 'Lucius'.  These are the Black Reach models.  Very good for snap fit models.


VI Squad.



Tomorrow I'll post the rest of the Company.

Thursday 9 July 2015

My Shameful Secret...my first army was Ultramarines!!!

Unfortunately, due to short notice work requirements, I've not really had the time to post much for over 3 months now.

As I'm also in the process of getting stuck into some of the new Space Marine kits, I'd though I'd post some photos of the current iteration of my Space Marines army.  Now, as I started my indulgence in 40K shortly after the release of the 2nd Edition, my first army was Ultramarines.  There has been different variations of the army in that 21(?) years with a lot of the older models going the way of car boot sales or eBay, especially after the launch of 3rd Edition in 1998.  Some of the older metal/plastic hybrids still survive amongst the Tactical squads and I'll follow up with some detailed photos of the squads later.

Shown below is the extent of the painted models I have with lots more unpainted (more Vanguard and Sternguard to make up a full 1st Company along with the already painted Terminators) or under construction (new Assault, Tactical and Devastator Marines).  In addition, there are some other projects such as the 8th Reserve Company Command Squad (all with jump packs).

 
The army primarily consists of a full 2nd Company with elements of the 1st, 10th, 6th and 7th in support.

 
 
 

More to follow over the next couple of days as I'm under some enforced rest time!