Ultramarine 5th company

[ZAChos]

Greetings brothers. For many years I have fought with a 1000pt ultramarine army, under the rules found in the old codexes and rulebooks. Recently, however, a local Techpriestess (my faience) showed me the lost and archaic wonders of a place known as eBay. From this place I could get the newest and bluest space marine codex of all time, all for a low, low price, and so I sat down and worked out my army.

It very quickly became clear that my old army was not only non competitive, but also illegal. Having worked out what I need to do, and started work on such, I shall begin posting my progress here. This is the starting point. What comes next, nobody yet knows.


The entire army. Yes there are no transports. Yes I am aware that this is a very easy way to get ripped a new one. Word has it that the 5th companies Techmarine is negotiating with the forgemaster as we speak...


In nominal command, the chaplain has recently had his base size reduced and his backpack magnetized so that he can jump about when needed. His jumppack needs painting. He will also get a bolt pistol for when he needs to soften people up. Holstered of course. I couldn't cut up that ridiculous sword.


The assault squad. The squad that tends to do the most damage in any one turn, before being ripped apart by the massed lasguns of my opponents guard army. Hopefully coordinating the army will be easier in future, as unsupported these guys tend to die. Modeling wise, all they need is basing. For now.


Tactical squad 1. These guys are good and faithful. Due to re-arrangement under the new codex I need to re-paint all of the squad markings, plus this squad has it's auspex marine undercoated and ready for painting. The other 9 just need a little bit of work on their bases, bolt pistols adding, and then they're done.


2 guys need painting in Tactical squad 2, one being their sergeant. They also all need bolt pistols and squad markings added, plus some need some extra basing work.


The predator. Only recently magnetized the sponsons, the turret was glued together before I'd even heard about magnets, so that's a lost cause. I do have some slimline lascannon sponsons to paint up though.


The venerable dreadnought. 5th company force disposition states only one dreadnought in the whole company, so it had to be venerable right? This was converted ages ago, but I'm only just getting around to magnetizing it. It needs some TLC, but when it's done it'll hopefully look cool.

Well that's everything so far. I also have a captain model in the works, the idea being to be similar to the original marine captain, but with some differences to make him unique, and mine. This guy is the captain of the glorious 5th after all. His secondary weapon is magnetized, so he'll have a selection of equipment I can give him depending on my mood. I'm looking forward to having him finished. If he turns out half as good as he looks in my mind, then I think I'll be proud of him.

Any thoughts/criticisms/words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated. My mind is similar to a butterfly's, so if I'm going to get this done, I'll need some motivation, or I'll just go back to painting my Eldar. And we wouldn't want that would we?

No.

Zac
5th company
Ultramarine

[Dudde]

ZAchos - very nice army, that venerable dreadnought looks amazing! Could you post a tutorial or something? It looks very pre-heresy. The rest of the army looks good too. What kind of basing do you plan to do? Magnitizing the captain is a MUST, so that he can tacticaly change to whatever.

Can't wait to see more.

[ZAChos]

Thanks Dudde.

The dreadnought was following an old conversion.I think it was in a white dwarf, or from the GW website when it actually had content. It's made with dreadnought legs, weapons and shoulders, Ghazkhulls body, defiler head, and an Inquisitor models shoulders. Tyrus I think. Some cutting and greenstuff is required, but I did it so long ago I can't really remember what I did. I certainly think I could do it better now. Maybe I will. If I do, I'll see about making WIP pics. The basing is a technique I saw on a Tau army ages ago where the texture is a mixture of painted and stuck on. I'll take a photo when I do them to demonstrate.

Well here's what I've been up to: my captain. Like I said, he's a re-make of the original Ultramarines captain, so his basic weaponry is power gladius and plasma pistol, but I have magnetised the pistol and the backpack so I can have him as a jumper if I want. Here he is at his current stage:



Hope you all like. The model is insanely detailed, so I hope I can do it justice.

Thanks for looking.

[Dudde]

ZAchos - Thanks, I'll have to look for that white dwarf. It sounds like a very very interesting conversion. The captain looks good to, will you do a command squad? Finally that plum is AWESOME, if only I had your skills.

Can't wait for more.

[ZAChos]

Thanks Dudde. I'm torn between a command squad and a sternguard squad. The Sternguard seem the best value wise, but the command squad fluff wise. Why can't the command squad have specialist ammunition? Any thoughts on what lane to go down would be appreciated.

More pictures now:

First of all, my basing scheme:


This army was started before the widespread availability of resin bases, so I made an effort just with painting to make them more interesting. Of course, some do have extra stuff like plasticard on, but most of the detail is simply paint on a standard base.


In a similar vein, I have here a picture of the back door of my predator. I couldn't let the large flat area go without doing something with paint. It needs a bit of tidying which I'll no doubt do while some other model's washes are drying.

And here is the controversial dreadnought with it's arms finally attached:





I still need to finish his leg armour, but he's pretty much finished now. I think if I work on him too much longer, I'll have to pull him apart and start again.

I've also redone the tactical markings on squad one and started finishing squad 2. They'll need transports soon, and I'm considering drop pods, as I've never used something like that before. I am worried that it would separate the army too much and leave things unsupported. Any thoughts on the Drop pod/Rhino debate are appreciated.

Thanks for looking.

Zac

[sheep]

I'd pay good money for plumes of that quality mate.

Always good to see someone reinvigorating their collection, look forward to more,mesp that captain.

[Student]

NIce green stuff work on the captain and I like your dreadnought conversion.

[ZAChos]

Thanks guys. Your comments are much appreciated, and spur me on to further work.

In that vein I did some painting this week, and got some serious progress on the three tacticals to finish the second squad. Taking the photo has shown up some things that need touching up, plus there was some finishing I was already aware of, and basing.



I've also managed to pull a squad of 5 devastators with missile launchers out of my left over bits and a box of marines I was given by an old friend. These will be a useful addition hopefully, especially as I don't have a dreadnought anymore: I accidentally managed to break it. having damaged it, I decided I could make a better one, so that's the next job, once Tacticals, Captain, Drop pods and Devastators are done that is. Oh yeah, that's right. I decided to go for drop pods.

I do have 5 Mk 4 marines as well. Should I make them into Sternguard or a command squad?

[ZAChos]

Well I suppose half finished tactical marines are a bit boring. Managed to sneak outside and spray some models in a five minute gap between the rain today. I present:

ML Devastator squad: Undercoat style.



When I get round to it, I'll add something to the sergeant to rep the signum. For now it'll just be that the advanced autosenses in the beakies help them with targeting when they can pool data from the whole squad. Was really pleased I was able to build a squad of all beakies. I love them a lot. Not as much as MK4, but I do love them.

Captain Galenus: Undercoat style.



I love the undercoat stage. It's the first time you know for sure whether your conversion has worked, by whether it looks like a whole model, or lots stuck together. I'm quite pleased with Galenus. The backpack and guns will all be undercoated separately. I'm not sure I trust them not to get blown away by the sheer power of the spray can.

I've also finished putting together and spraying my first drop pod. I kinda wished I'd gone with Rhinos. They're so much easier to put together. Oh well. It'll be worth it once they're dropping in behind my buddies Leman russ tanks. Steel Rain!

So things to buy for this army are: One more drop pod, 5 more assault marines, and possibly a razorback.
Things to paint: Finish three tactical marines, 4 devastators, two drop pods (plus one), 5 veterans (I think I'll paint them as a command squad but use sternguard rules), and captain Gallenus (plus 5 assault marines and possibly a razorback). I really need to get an army case too. It annoys the hell out of me that my current one has slots for the models that are in 4x9. Why do that? Really!?