Hard Tac

Well, I couldn't afford Age of Sigmar, so I just painted some Space Marines. Who can tell, amiright?

The solid core of a Marine army is its Tactical Squads. The Crypt Angels will have theirs mixed in with Chaos Space Marine models, which I know I enjoy painting. So I thought I'd get the less exhilarating models out of the way first. Although you know how it is with Marines, they're the twiglets of the modelling world. Strangely moreish, despite the feelings of self-loathing they bring.

Perhaps it's because they're one of the first models many of us painted, back in the day? Or possibly just because GW have imprinted them into our consciousness so often. It's like returning to the mothership.

Ah well - either way, this lot had a near miss. After a recent discussion about Purity Seal, I nearly lost the whole paintjob to the creeping grey velvet it sometimes produces. (Weather was hot and humid, can was nearly dry, I maybe didn't wait long enough for one side to dry before coating the next, in case anyone wants to compare notes.) It took a bit of postproduction work with Nuln Oil to restore the shading.

The sergeant's banners were an afterthought. This is why they aren't terribly impressive in terms of fancy designs. I'd almost finished painting before I thought 'oh yeah, he ought to have something on that coat hanger'. It's made from one of those twisty plastic strips that keep bread bags closed, with the wire trimmed out and the ends fraying with scissors. This, I believe, is traditional for the Crypt Angels. It looks like something I would have painted when I was fifteen, I'll almost certainly come back to it.

Spiky bits courtesy of the Chaos Land Raider. 

A light vehicle to go with them - this Land Speeder is lacking a underslung gun, I think, so I haven't done much painting on the bottom. If I find some spare bits later, I'll stick something on it. It had an older paintjob already on, quite a blobby one that I failed to remove, so it's carrying a little extra weight. Bit puffy looking in places. Hey ho, nothing the antigrav can't cope with.

By the Power of Dewey

A Librarian to lead them, too - nice character model, from the 40k starter set. Whereas some of his compatriots, standard marines, had their Dark Angel insignia filed off before I put Flying Mouths on, Just the daggers, not the wings - I needed those. Anyway, I couldn't reach the nice one on Library Man's chest tabard. So I just painted the Crypt Angels colours on over the top, which worked better than I could have hoped.

Shh.

That doesn't mean it worked brilliantly, mind - it's the same story with the tac marine shoulders. It does an okay job of plastering the cracks, and that's all.

That's not a plasma gun.

This is a plasma gun.

Painting Guide:

• Black - Chaos Black Spray, Eshin and Dawnstone grey drybrush, a little Longbeard Grey here and there
• Red - Khorne Red with Wazdakka Red layers, a little Blood Red and Wild Rider Red in select places
• Steel - Leadbelcher, Nuln Oil, Mithril, Runefang. Some of the models are currently without their backpacks, so I went with a very plain 'silver on black' scheme for the ones that did have them. This makes it easier, hopefully, to mass produce a bunch of backpacks later and then stick them on
• Brass - Tin Bitz, Brass Scorpion, Runelord Brass drybrush
• Eyes - Averland Sunset with a Hexos Palesun spot
• Librarian Blue - Deadly Nightshade, Averland Guard Blue, Teclis Blue and a bit of Etherium drybrush

Elsewhere, fantasy models!

More Reaper stuff, a trio of heroic types. These paintjobs were all started by my daughter (in Wild Rider Red), and I hoped to impress her by showing the final result. Ha. She was furious, and I'm in trouble.

Yeah, the boss sent me round. Sent you this present, she has. 

It's genuinely not a knife.

Honest.