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.

Epic Ultramarine - Updated Pics

Noticed that my Ultramarine army posts were getting some attention and realised I hadn't updated the pics, which were too dark and lacking detail when I brought them over from the last blog site.

So here are all the posts, with all new - but still not great - pics:

1st Company - Terminators and Veterans

2nd Company - Tactical, Devastator, and Assault Platoons (Rhinos)

3rd Company - Tactical, Devastator, and Assault Platoons  (Drop Pods)

6th, 7th, 9th & 10th Companies - Bikes, Speeders, Devastators, and Scouts

Ultramarines & Imperial Navy - Aerospace Units

Legion Support - Predators, Razorbacks, Whirlwinds, Hunters... More Rhinos

Titan Legion - Warlord, Reavers, Warhounds

Blue Hawk Down - EA Battle Report

So Tim and I had our final game for a while (back in early March) as he’s moving away. I felt so sorry for him having to move that I let him win… maybe not.

So it was a 3000pts tournament game, Tim Biel Tan, me Air Assault Space Marines, so no surprises there.

Tim had finished some Epic scenery and dumped it on the table, forming a little bazzar in the center. Later on in the game there was a satori regarding the movie Black Hawk Down and the bazzar in that. 

Hence the name of this BR.

Set up occurred with no great surprises. 

I set up my SC Tactical formation on my Blitz in a corner (not realising it was no longer my BTS as it was in the 4000pt army I’d been recently playing) and kept the Warlords and Land Speeders close enough to lend a hand if any first turn madness occurred against my Blitz.

Tim set up in a beautiful symmetrical pattern around his own Blitz, erring on the side of defense should I unleash any first turn madness.

First turn started with teleports on both sides (didn’t realise you put one unit down at a time – meh), and madness was unleashed.

Terminators awaiting the initiative roll.

We rolled for intiative with breath baited, my intention was to come in hard on the first turn and continue rolling up Tim’s force from (my) right to left. Everything depended on the first turn initiative roll; and I lost it.

It was a good game, if a little short, but it pretty much ended there and then for the Marines.

So Tim shoots the Terminators with his Revenants, wiping out the entire captain’s formation, then engages the remaining formation with the Avatar.

I rolled like a trooper needing '3s' for macro weapon close combat...

Oh yes I did! Then this happened...

Broken remnants of the Terminators run away into the nearest ruins.

Desperate to do something I broke with my plan and came in on the other side of Tim’s army – why? I have no idea. Will I ever learn? But at least took out his tanks.

Then this happened and I was down a Thunderhawk and two formations of Devestators as well – crikey!

I conceded at the end of turn one as my main offensive units and half my army had been shredded, but Tim has an evil and unsportsmanlike streak and made us play on.

At the beginning of turn two the table looked like this.

Stuff happened and the SMs were being worn down. Tim got my BTS taking out the Warhound pair.

At the beginning of turn three the table looked like this.

Then in the last activation Tim landed an awesome looking Eldar lander and I didn’t get a pic of it! But alas there was a massive assault over my Blitz which destroyed my Supreme Command Tactical formation and gave Tim the Blitz – but only just, as he nearly broke himself in the process.

But it is Epic and that was an epic way to end the last turn of the last game we’ll have for a while. 6-0 to Tim.

I’m not going to whine about the Marines this time (I had already had a wee cry before hand, asking Tim not to bring a developmental list). I was happy facing what Tim put on the table and it seemed a manageable match. If the initiative roll had gone the other way, I’m pretty sure it would have been a close game. Them’s the dice.

One of the things I should have have spent a bit more thought on was forming the army list. I’d just taken a 4000pt list and sliced bits off to make a 3000pt list. Not a good idea, all sorts of things happen, like only having three formations on the table in the first turn. Like the BTS switching to an offensive formation – the Warhounds.

But this speaks volumes about resilience.

This was the only SM unit left on the board. A loan Terminator which had sucked up at least 7 activations as Tim tried to destroy it outright; from turn one no less. I feel a Terminator list coming on.

I’ll miss you Tim. Be safe out there on the roads!

Ultramarines: Ground Support

OK, the penultimate post of this epic blog subject, covering the plethora – yes, a veritable plethora – of unique track based armoured vehicles maintained by the Chapter, all based on the Rhino APC, and used to project specific types of force support for marines in the field. (Updated Pics)

I give you the Ultramarines: Ground Support post, or tanks for the memories!

Predator: Annihilator

SM armoured anti-tank capability.

Predator: Destructor

SM armoured anti-personnel capability.

These Predators are painted up in another early Ultramarine colour scheme, I think came just after the Epic 40,000 one. They come in units of four and there’s never enough.

Razorbacks
Fast mechanised infantry support in two flavours.

Anti-tank


Anti-personnel

Whirlwinds

For self-propelled indirect fire operations. Several colour variations depending on which company is using them.

Gotta love a good barrage!


Vindicators

For when only giant assault cannons will do.

Again never use these babies, pity cause there some of my favorite models and didn’t regret the time it took to get those decals on such small models.

Hunters

Anti-aircraft fast support, not sure why I thought I needed eight of these guys, I think I was expecting to face a lot more airpower when Epic came out. Again painted in several versions of the Ultramarines colour schemes to match whatever core formation I was taking.

Must be a way of using all these babies at once!


Spare Rhinos

Why? Because there’s never enough Marines!

Ultramarines & Imperial Navy: Aerospace Units

Man when EA came out I couldn’t believe how absolutely cool the rules were. Not only covering ground units, the EA rules covered aircraft and spacescraft, and operations for both. (Updated Pics)

So I went head long into buying and painting up the ‘air assault’ and ‘orbital assault’ units, and I give you my aerospace support units for my Space Marine army.

Grand Unit of the Army – The Battle Barge

This Battle Fleet Gothic model is the cornerstone of any Ultramarine battle that doesn’t occur on Macragge, especially when Planetfall and Orbital Bombardments are called for. Unfortunately, no matter what I do, my stupid *&^%$&(*^ camera cannot seem to focus on this model!

Landing Craft

Love it! Funny story, I got the model for Xmas way back and spent a good deal of the holidays painting it up. I used it in the very next game when it was finished. First time out it takes AA fire, which scores a hit, Mark – my opponent – roles for critical and BOOM!, up it goes, taking the two tacticals and their transport with it. Talk about a baptism of fire.

Thunderhawks – The backbone of Marine air arm

I take all three in a 4000pt ‘air assault’ list.

Why wouldn’t you?

Thunderbolts – The Imperial Navy’s Contribution

Painting them in Inquisition colours just seemed right for the Ultramarines.  Getting the handle of these small airborne units can really make a difference in the third and fourth turns of any tournament game, one day I might actually do it.

(Yes I painted teeth on one of the pairs of 6mm aircraft, a little extra effort makes all the difference.)

Ultramarines: 6th, 7th, 9th & 10th Companies

I would have loved to have produced 4th, 5th, & 8th companies for this army, but its a rare situation now to get the entire army onto the board. So while from a collection point of view these missing companies would be a great thing to have, practically I doubt they’ll ever eventuate. (Updated Pics)

But sticking to the fluff from the last edition of Epic Armageddon, I bring you 6th, 7th, 9th and 10th companies of the Ultramarines.

6th Company 

A reserve company specalising in the use of SM Bikes.

Couple of formations of bikes in case the situation ever calls for them, don’t tend to use them with the tournament rules.

7th Company
Another reserve company but specialising in the deployment of SM Land Speeders.

Company commander for 7th Company, a very old metal miniature, I think, from one of the first editions of Epic/Space Marine.

Three formations of normal Land Speeders. I use one formation in 4000pt tournament list, but it never seems to survive!


9th Company
Now this is my kind of company, made up entirely of Devastator formations.

1st Platoon

2nd Platoon

3rd Platoon

4th Platoon


10th Company – the Scouts
When it comes to munchkinisim in the tournament rules, you don’t have to go past the scouting screens to get examples of it. But it is what it is, so I give you 10th Company.

Two formations of scouts to garrison during tournament games and draw the fire and activations of the enemy – talking of units that never survive!


So that’s the last of my company blogs, next up the support formations that make the Space Marines the fighting machine they are, and the tournament list I can never quite get the hang of.