Warhammer 40,000: Ultramarines

Back in the darkness of winter 2023, my wife and stepson went to the UK and came back with an amazing present - the Leviathan box for 40,000, by Games Workshop. Amazed and a bit stunned, more space marines and Tyranids arrived soon after.

I've been painting them all in dribs and drabs since then and have a growing collection of finished minis. My wife has taken on the task of painting up the Tyranids, which is as equally stunning as it turns out she's an amazing painter 😆

Primaris Veterans

Some first company vets from the Leviathan set. Painting white helmets against blue armour... sigh... worth the effort in the end and for the terminators, I'll spray their helmets white before assembly.

Primaris 3rd Company Flamers

Gotta have some 3rd company, but who the hell wants ten flamers. Will beg, borrow, or print some different heavy weapons for the other five of these dudes from the Leviathan box, and do some converting.

Washing the flamer's heat cowlings was easier than I thought it was going to be. I used three different Citadel shades for the job and applied and mixed them while still wet.

Heroes of Macragge

Bit of second company fun. These guys came from the Warhammer Heroes boxes, which were a fun thing for me and my stepson for a while. We'd head down to do shopping and head in to the local GW shop (Iron Knight Games), anticipating which ones we were going to get.

First Born Tactical

From the pre-10th Edition box of Tactical marines... did not dry fit enough and hate the pose I made for the sergeant 😆

The others came out pretty well, and really went for a grimy look for these guys. These were the first ones I did. 

I think I've gotten less grimy as I've progressed onto the Leviathan box minis and love they way the weathering ties in to the bases.

Chapter and Setting

Picking a paint scheme was a no brainer. Having painted an entire Ultramarine Epic army, and not having any 28mm SMs since the 90's, the Ultramarines were still my only choice.

I liked the ascetic of the 'grim dark' of recent paint schemes so have gone full on dirty, 'mid-campaign' look... without the rust. Its more grim than dark, and I just can't paint rust on equipment that's meant to be serviceable... it your equipment is rusty, its dangerous and won't work... rant over.

So with the Behemoth colour scheme chosen for the Tyranids, the only other thing to do was to weather and base the SMs as if they were doing their last stands in the twisting and turning concrete tunnels, beneath the frozen northern laser defence batteries on Macragge.

Still a truckload of minis left to do, but slowly getting through them amongst other projects.

Painting

For anyone whose interested here's the painting guide (nicked from a mix of Youtubers):

Step 1: Undercoat spray Citadel Macragge Blue.

Step 2: heavy wash 50:50 mix Citadel Agrax Earthshade and AV 73.201 Black Wash (or Nuln Oil).

Step 3: sponge 70:30 mix Citadel Macragge Blue Base and either Vallejo 72.021 Magic Blue or Citadel Caledor Sky.

Step 4: Detailing equipment with whatever blacks, reds, greys are on hand, washing with Nuln Oil or Agrax Earthshade, and line highlighting lighter colours.

Step 5: Aquilas and highlights using Citadel Retributer Armour, Reikland Fleshshade, and Retirbuter Armour again.

Step 6: Line highlight armour using Citadel Calgar Blue and shade pauldrons between edge and plate with Drakenhof Nightshade.

Step 7: touch ups using mix from step 3, and doing step 6 again if necessary.

Base: Citadel Dawnstone, wash as per step 2, highlight using Administratum Grey.

Tie in Base: Lightly dab Administratum Grey on marines using a drybrush, focusing on legs and feet and angling brush from the bottom (opposite of zenithal highlighting) - with hardly any paint on brush.

Helmets: Red - start with Blood Angles Red contrast and highlight up. White - start with a white and use Apothecary White Contrast and highlight from there.