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Ultramarines Successors: the Cobalt Scions


Here's the first squad I finished for my off-brand Ultramarines, the Cobalt Scions. They're even more Roman than the Ultramarines, in that they'll have Roman flaws as well: dangerous levels of personal ambition, an obsession with venerating and exceeding the deeds of their ancestors, and the naivety to think that the humans already living in the area they're going to claim as their new fortress monastery will be happy to hand over the reins of power.

Heraldry
I'm breaking from the standard rules of shoulder trim indicating company colours. Instead, the left kneepad does that job, with the squad number painted onto the right shoulder pad. Everyone gets gold trim, because gold looks great with blue. The chapter icon represents the Gauntlets of Ultramar (again, a bit of ancestor worship).

The eagle-eyed will note that I appear to have some marines from squad 1 and some from squad 2 in this post. That's because there'll be some bare heads coming later, sprinkled among the units, but initially I just wanted to focus on learning how to paint Mk.X plate.

Of course, an unexpected downside of this was my other half asking "why do they all have M&Ms on their knees?"

It cannot be un-seen. I have accepted my chocolaty fate.

Painting
I've followed pretty standard G-Dubz paint recipes here. The only exception is the gold, which I basecoat silver before putting any gold on, which helps offset gold's natural transparency. For ease, the stages for the major colours are laid out below.

Blue:

  1. Spray the whole model Macragge Blue.
  2. Line in the crevices with Nuln Oil (if your Nuln Oil has gone dodgy, as mine has, a mix of medium and black paint will do just as well).
  3. Highlight with Calgar Blue.
  4. Edge highlight with Fenrisian Grey.
  5. Point highlight with a 50/50 Fenrisian/white mix.
  6. Go back over with thinned Macragge Blue, covering any mistakes and softening up the transition from the base spray to the initial Calgar highlight.

Red:
  1. Mephiston Red.
  2. Agrax Earthshade.
  3. Highlight Evil Sunz Scarlet.
  4. Edge Highlight Wild Rider Red.

Black:
  1. Basecoat with... black.
  2. Overbrush with thinned Eshin Grey.
  3. Highlight with Eshin Grey.
  4. Edge highlight with Dawnstone.

Silver:
  1. Basecoat Army Painter Gunmetal (leadbelcher would do).
  2. Nuln Oil Gloss.
  3. Edge highlight with a light silver.

Gold:
  1. Basecoat gunmetal/mid-silver.
  2. Basecoat gold.
  3. Reikland Fleshshade Gloss.
  4. Edge highlight with a 2:1 gold/bright silver mix.

Basing:
It's been done to fit in with my temperate/grass board, and is consistent with my Imperial Guard army so that they'll look coherent when operating together. Which they will. A lot.


How long does this take?
I'm probably clocking about five hours per marine, give or take. I've been pretty slack with some elements of the mini; hopefully the work I've put into the blue will distract from that. The challenge is to accept imperfections, or I'll never finish them.

Where'd you get those fist icons/power fist/backpack unit?
From the Imperial Fists Battleforce Box GW put out for Christmas 2018. The signum/scanner/thingy on sarge's backpack has been slightly converted so that it's looking in the same direction as his helm, suggesting a mind-impulse link.


What's their background?
Ohhhh boy I've gotten overexcited. Again. I'll have to cover that in a future post; maybe when I've got the next five marines done. Which won't be for a while, as right now I'm working on some Fantasy stuff.

Right, now for a heap of pictures. Enjoy!


Every marine has had sidearms and pouches added.





The bolt pistol grip was clipped out of the holster, and the holster was then hollowed out a little to make it look empty.
The power fist, like the unit on the backpack, is from the Imperial Fists upgrade sprue from the battleforce box.

I almost went cross-eyed painting 'Tyvus' on the pauldron. My eyes ain't want they used to be.


Comments

  1. Great looking huge marines!

    if you want to avoid the M&M look, you could paint the knee-pad rim in gold or red to match the rest of the knee.

    Are you going to make use of some of the more stereotypical Ultra Roman bits from the upgrade sprue, like the horse hair crests, and laurels?

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    Replies
    1. Interesting idea about the knee pads, I might try it and see how it looks. Thanks!

      As the standard primaris captain has a crest on his helmet, that should be fine as is I reckon. :)

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