Gladiators of Ultramar: Captain Icarus Striton (WIP)

I saw a documentary about the Peregrine and decided to use its names for my next Ultramarine Gladiator. The arrival of the resin heads from Puppets War also sealed the deal. I really need to start painting my Ultras again after this conversion :)

I present to you Captain Icarus Striton, The Peregrine. He will be my Counts As Kaayvan Shrike. I have chosen The Peregrine as his call sign as in the fluff he adopts the tactics of the bird of prey. Captain Striton plummets out of the skies at super high speeds, too fast for any anti-air defences to spot, before taking down his prey.

His Lightning Claws are from the Assault Terminators Sprue. The purity deals are from the Ravenwing sprue. The helmet is from Puppets War Horus Heads Set. I added small wings to the side of the helmet to denote his Captain status. The small wings are also from the Ravenwing sprue.

Tried to pose him as if he is charging into battle. Looks a bit like he's also gettin' jiggy with it lol!

Side view. I think the purity seals really worked out well as they provided the model with a sense of flow and motion.

 

Pretty standard Assault Marine back view. I gave the Captain a winged icon on the top of his jump pack instead of the smoke launcher type that Kaayvan Shrike has. I think this is more appropriate as he is not a vehicle ;P

A top down view of Captain Striton. The wings on the top of the Jump Pack are again from the Ravenwing Bike sprue.

Just as Shrike has his Shrike's Wing, I have decided to also name Strition's Wing as The Anemoi. The Anemoi are the Greek gods of the Winds. Quite apt as the Assault Marines are warriors of the air.

This is the first of the Anemoi, Veteran Sgt Notus. Pretty standard Assault Marine body with just the head swap. He is armed with the Power fist to take out enemy armor.

That's all from me today. I hope everyone had fun reading this.

Have a great week ahead all!

Ultramarines: Immortals (WIP)

"The fury of their wrath shall be like the Eternal flame,
Their bodies and resolve clad in Enduring steel,
They shall be his warriors Everlasting,
They are, His Immortals."  By Captain Caius Aracus, The Dragonslayer

Well that was a bit of fluff I had written for my Ultramarines Gladiators project :)

It was timely as while being laid slightly low by Nurgle again (got the sniffles), I did get my package in from Puppets War. I ordered some sci-fi head sprues off their webstore. And the details and quality blew me away. The sculpts are awesome!! One of, if not the best I have ever seen!

Here's the link to Puppet Wars. Please do check them out and see for yourself.

My first Immortal in mid-assembly. They are to be the elite warriors of Captain Aracus's own cadre. Slayers of monsters and titans. The heads are from Puppets War Temistokles Head Set. They come in a set of 10 with 5 variations. The head fits snugly in the Terminator Armor. The Temistokles heads appear to have the classic style of the Greek, with some Roman and Celtic influences thrown in.

I added a cloth/purity seal on the side of the shoulder to further distinguish them as the elite's elite.

Here's a clearer view of the side. The head sits almost flush within the slot for the head on the Terminator model.

The back view of my Assault Terminator. Standard look. I may add some scrolls to the back as well. Its in their fluff which I am working on.

Lookin' all ready to smash some xenos beasts! I'm still debating in adding more purity seals. Will probably go ahead with it.

And finally, here's a group shot of The Immortals with their fearless leader Captain Caius Aracus.

I had also added the new head/helm for the good Captain. I'll not be gluing his helmet or head in as I can interchange them on whim hehe!

Have a great weekend everyone! Good rest and great games to all ;)

Gladiators of Ultramar

This is a mini project i'm doing for the Codex: Space Marines. There are many interesting characters in the codex. I'm planning to make these other characters into an Ultramarines equivalent or counts as. Its practicality is two fold. One, it presents really great modelling and conversion opportunities. And two, i don't have to start a new army each time i use a special character.

This group of special characters are The Gladiators. They are Calgar's A Team, so to speak. Kinda in the similar vein to Horus's Mournival.

I've started this with Captain Mikael Fabian, my counts as Pedro Kantor. My next character will be a counts as Darnath Lysander.

Onto the next Gladiator!

 The Dragonslayer, Captain Caius Aracus
(counts as Lysander)

The Thunderhammer Grimfang is from the Space Wolves Terminator sprue. I may plan to add more bits and converting to the skull on the hammer to make it look more like a drake's skull.

I used the longer Storm Shield to make him appear similar to the original Lysander model.

For the cloak, it is from Warhammer Fantasy Pistoliers. I added more length to the cloak using some greenstuff.

Character Background
It has been a century since the days where Caius Aracus was a Sergeant in the 3rd Company. He joined the 1st Company after his heroic act of delivering the felling blow to a winged Hive Tyrant in close combat. His exploits have since included the destruction of many foul abominations of gargantuan proportions.

He was later elevated to the rank of Captain and charged with the destruction of the most terrible beasts, both daemonic and material that plagued the Imperium.

Aracus is also known as The Dragonslayer. He belongs to a brotherhood of Gladiators, and hunts his prey with both cunning and strength of arms.

Squads of brave (and some say foolhardy) Scouts, also known as Stormseekers, corral their target. Aracus and his warriors would then descend onto the battlefield like multiples flashes of lightning surrounding the quarry. These squads of Terminators or his Immortals, as Aracus calls them, are both fearless and merciless, bringing down even the most titanic of terrors.

I plan to include lots of scouts and terminators in a new interesting list. It may not be too tactically sound, but its quite dramatic. Its also partly inspired by how the soldiers who call themselves the Archangels in the movie Reign of Fire hunt the dragons.

The List
The Dragonslayers

1 Captain Caius Aracus
(Counts as Lysander) XXXpts

10 Assault Terminators 400pts
8 Th/SS, 2 LC

10 Terminators 460pts
2 Cyclone Missile Launchers

5 Scouts 180pts
Sgt w/Twin Plasma, 4 Shotguns
Teleport homer
1 Landspeeder Storm
Multi-melta

5 Scouts 165pts
Sgt w/Combi weapon, 4 Bolters
Teleport homer
1 Landspeeder Storm 65pts
Multi-melta

5 Scouts 165pts
Sgt w/Combi weapon, 4 Bolters
Teleport homer
1 Landspeeder Storm 60pts
Heavy Flamer

Total: 1570pts

I got 180 points to spare to make it to 1750 points. I may take a Tactical squad. Or a 10 man Scout Squad as objective claimers. The strategy is foolhardy indeed and risky. The Landspeeder Storms hang back or infiltrate and make it as near to enemy lines by Turn 2. The Termis then drop as close as possible. Great if there are any teleport homers left and smash face :)

Press on my fellow gamers, the weekend is nigh!

Ultramarines Scout Sniper (WIP)

I'm still painting the Ultramarines. Moving on to the test mini of a Scout. This one is an old metal one from quite a while back.

Scout Sniper Brother Trey of the 10th Company, currently seconded to the 3rd Company.

I particularly like the profile of the miniature. He's got this really resolute look as he approaches his target. Am still thinking of what details I should add to his base.

The mini has quite a bit of accessories. I think its quite realistic given the long periods of time scouts spend behind enemy lines.

Repainting the scout, I do notice details I had missed out before. Particularly what looks like a cloth bundle that I painted as a stowed camo cloak strapped on top of his armor. I am also almost tempted to make a Scout themed army. I do have quite a few Scouts and it could be a fun army list to play.

On other news, I've also just shaken off the assault of Nurgle (had a flu during the weekend), and hope to be able to game again next weekend :)

I wish everyone a peaceful and pleasant week ahead.

Sternguard Veteran with Heavy Weapon (WIP)

Its great to be on holiday as one can get much more painting done :) I've taken to painting up another Sternguard, this time with a heavy weapon. I present Brother Danoc of the Ultramarines Sternguard.

The conversion to the weapon was made using an Eldar Scatter Laser bit. The attachment is my counts as Lascannon. In fluff terms, its a special armament made to take down big nasty monstrous creatures.

I pinned the laser in place, so I can actually remove it and it will be a Heavy Bolter again.

The miniature is partly metal. I do like the new plastic Devastators much better. I still have yet to start on the highlights. But the anticipation of the resumption of work is getting to me again lol!

Well that's all I got for today. Time for food and sleep again ;)

Sternguard Veteran Marine (WIP)

Its been a nice restful holiday thus far. Enjoying the much needed sleep and good food all round :) I've picked a Sternguard to work on today. Again got most of the colors and shading on. Just the highlights left to go.

Here's Sternguard Veteran Brother Tristan. He wields a combi-weapon and a combat knife. As can be seen by the realtively fresh trophy of the Genestealer head on his backpack, the tendrils of Hive Fleet Behemoth still plague the Imperium.

Brother Tristan is converted from a normal tactical marine. I added some purity seals to make him look more like a Veteran having earned several honors through his years in service.

I gotta admit, from this angle, he looks like a marine with a genestealer head lol!

I did some simple conversion work on his left hand. The arm is from a Space Wolf sprue. I stuck a combat knife on it for the cool factor. Brother Tristan looks forward to another Tyranid trophy!

Have a great rest of the week ahead everyone ;)

Ultramarines Veteran Sarge (WIP)

The weekend is finally here! And its a long weekend to boot! Its Chinese New Year and there will be lots of food and drink to be sure. I took the opportunity to paint up another Ultramarine for the occasion. I am happily still on track with painting up the boys in blue :)

Above is a WIP pic of Sgt Vaeran. I based him on a black undercoat to see if there would be any difference in the blue armor. Not much variations noted though compared to a white basecoat.

Here's Vaeran again with most of the colors painted on. He's a Veteran from the first Tyrannic War. The Genestealer trophy on his backpack represents this as its now mostly bone, the flesh and coloring now long faded over time. Newer members of the Vanguard Veterans have trophies that appear 'fresher'. This means that the Genestealer trophy head would still have the respective colors of their Hive Fleet on them.

Side view of Sgt Vaeran. He wields the trusty bolt pistol. I may add his damaged helmet on the base later on.

Back view. For the skull, I painted different segments on the surface to make it look like real bone, which has different plates linked to each other.

I modelled him with the power axe. It used to be a power weapon in-game before 6th Edition hit. I think Sgts benefit from power weapons more against foes that are slower in Initiative. If armed with a power fist, the strength is a great bonus, but with the new challenge rules, he may not get to swing it...

I guess I'll have to get a few games in to see how it does.

And on that note, I wish all my friends, family and readers a joyous weekend and Happy CNY!

Ultramarines Captain (WIP)

I'm finally getting some rest after work weekend. I broke out the Marneus Calgar and Honor Guard box set. Got the Finecast one and decided to use the Champion mini to represent Captain Mikael Fabian of the Ultramarines 3rd Company.

Some earlier WIP work here. I had decided to go with the Power Fist and Storm Bolter as this will be my Counts As Pedro Kantor.

This is my progress so far. Got most of the shades and base colors on. Am beginning on the highlighting stage. He's really got a lot of bling!

I have also given his Storm Bolter a fancy name Eagle's Fury. Its my counts as Dorn's Arrow ;)

Nothing unique about the power fist, but I decided to call it the Fist of Prandium, in honor of the world with the same name lost during the Tyranid attack. You can sorta see the two glowing gems on the fist in the 2nd pic. Fluff wise, the gems are taken from the irradiated ore from the depths of Prandium. The Power Fist is actually modified lightning claw.

Another side view. That Storm Bolter sure is chunky. I'm also thinking of adding a small Termagant head at the base hehe!

Just to add, I think Pedro Kantor can be great in 6th Ed as well. He makes Sternguard scoring and complements by giving friendly units around him an additional attack. He's a really good force multiplier for his points cost. Placing him in a Tactical or Sternguard squad is the best protection. With the Powerfist, he'll swing last, and might not survive the challenge from high initiative and/or high strength monstrous creatures.

Other Stuff

Besides Marneus Calgar and the Banner Bearer, there are also two excellent minis in the box set. They are the Honor Guards wielding the Axes of Ultramar with super cool winged helmets. Am thinking they could easily represent another Ultramarine hero or a Sarge with lots of Xenos purging experience.

Hope to have a game soon with me gaming buddies. Its been too long man!!

And on that note, I wish everyone a great weekend.