Jud's Great Crusade/Horus Heresy Ultramarines!

[judcottrell]

I recently read the Black Library novel Unremembered Empire (highly recommend it) and was
inspired to paint some blue marines. I want to be as creative as I can with this project, also
I will try to bring through the Greek/Roman theme as much as possible. This will be a slow
start and then speed up as I build up the components needed.
So after raiding my bitz box, this is the sergeant for my first tactical squad.

[cheminhaler]

That's an amazing sgt. I like your highlights; almost white at the edges.

Unremembered Empire was good but it was also 'all over the place' if you catch my drift
The Word Bearers trilogy book 3 will really inspire you to paint Ultras as well if you can get access to a copy; it features White Consuls who are just Ultras in all but name. The Ultras are Empire builders so there are lots of guard allies and their worlds are fortified to the max.

[judcottrell]

Thanks for the heads up, I'll check them out.
Got a further 2 marines out of the bitz box.
Probably the last ones I can use for Horus Heresy.
More pics:

[judcottrell]

Quick update on my progress, got 2 more marines done.
Really pleased with the way the project is going.
I'm thinking I'll build a large tactical squad first, just 10-15 to go!

[mccaptain]

Looking great !

[Jackal-0311]

Nice work sir.

[judcottrell]

Thanks lads! I'll post some more pics when I get some time to work on some more.
I think the next addition will be an Assault squad sergeant.

[judcottrell]

Ok, here's my latest update (probably the last before Christmas). It's my
assault squad sergeant.
As with all my Ultramarines he's a mish mash of lots of different kits.
Here's the pics:









Let me know what you think of him

[scotti88]

Looks glorious, I know I'm late but catching up while in hosp with the little one, love his helmet.

[judcottrell]

Hope your little one is OK.
Your timing is amazing! I just decided to update this thread after a long absence!
Glad you liked them the head is from the Emperors Children Palatine blades, I
just stuck a crest on it!
Here's 2 more I've done










As always thanks for the interest!

[scotti88]

Cheers pal. Looking great, wish I could finish like you guys

[judcottrell]

After a lot of practice I've realised that the Ultramarines I'd done
previously were a bit over done. I've dropped 2 layers of highlights
and I'm pretty chuffed with the results.
The model below is my stand in Praetor, he's boss because he's
my favourite paint job so far!

[judcottrell]

Added a tactical support squad to my XIII legion forces.
These guys will be the bane of any terminators they get in
range of (at least that's the plan!)








Next up will be a legion assault squad.

[cheminhaler]

They look fantastic, even with less highlighting.

Everyone loves all plasma guns but isn't Graviton a better option in 30k? In 40k at least grav weapons are slightly better terminator killers than plasma weapons. Those fancy 30k terminators are supposed to have a better invulnerable save, I believe...

[judcottrell]

Thanks for the positive feedback!
Sadly tactical support squads can't take graviton guns.
but you're right Cataphractii terminators do have a better invuln save.

[judcottrell]

Got a bit more done on my Ultramarines.
I have 2 more to go and the unit is finished.








Thanks for getting past that wall of pics!
Please do leave some feedback.

[judcottrell]

Finally painted the last of the Ultramarines I have.
It's my first assault squad, as usual it's an eclectic mix of parts
in this unit's case it's FW MKIV assault squad and a GW vanguard veteran kit plus a few odds and sods.
I'll be making an order on Wednesday, I'm going for more tacticals for the time being (I can't wait til Guilliman is released!)
Here's the pics, the last 2 plus a couple of group shots.

[kirsten]

they look fantastic. I particularly like the guy with the hammer and shield. great mix of 30 and 40k bits, they give a great heresy feel, more than you might expect so many 40k bits to achieve.

[mccaptain]

Great looking Marines! They are pretty sharp. I like them better with less highlighting. Is that a 30k shield on the hammer sergeant? Because I'm digging it.

[judcottrell]

Kirsten, thanks very much! The idea was to mix the bitz to give the 30k feel on a budget!
Mccaptain, I'm glad you approve given the quality of your own work.
The shield was from Scibor I spotted it on ebay, I intend putting one on my
praetor when I get round to it!

[kirsten]

yeah I did similar things myself in the past, so long as you can get a few eye catching 30k pieces in there, then people don't easily noticed.

[mccaptain]

I checked put scribor's web store. There are some sweet shields on there. I may use some as well!

[judcottrell]

I know! Great aren't they! Kits for space Romans, space Spartans, space... you get the idea!
Got my hands on the new Ultramarines upgrade pack, couldn't resist making my Praetor at last.
I had an image in my head and wanted to wait until I could achieve it. Pretty pleased with
the result.









Next up are more tactical marines, thanks for taking a look.

[cheminhaler]

The Praetor looks really Classic.

So were the chestplate, backpack, plume and shoulder pad from the new upgrade sprue? Admittedly I was spying up the new releases myself on Saturday but only got to look at the DA sprue.

[judcottrell]

Thanks.
Yeah, the chestplate, plume and shoulder pad were in the upgrade pack.
The back pack is from the Marneus Calgar in power armour.