As people will be aware from some of my terrain articles, I use Warhammer paints; largely because they have a huge range, which reduces the need to mix colours, and convenience as I have a store 10 minutes drive away. Whilst purchasing paints I have often noticed the models on display and been curious about painting some myself. An old school friend is an enthusiastic modeller and said that "they go together easily and are great fun to paint".
After talking to another friend who is very into Warhammer, I decided to dip my toe into the water and bought a box of Warhammer 40,000 Space Marines, Intercessor Squad.
My first thought was "there's a lot of plastic here". The box makes 10 figures and there are lots of options, I mean lots. Not counting the bases, there were four sprues weighing about 175g. After assembly, I still had about 130g of plastic left over; this included 12 bare heads, 2 helmeted heads, 16 pauldrons and 25 arms. This surfit does go someway to explaining why the figures seem expensive on a figure per pound basis.
That said, assembly was indeed easy and the fit of pieces was excellent. I use Green Stuff to fill some of the undercuts and crevices that you get with plastic kits and to make painting easier.
I had always planned to use a camouflage paint scheme and my Warhammer friend told me that the green coloured ones were Dark Angels. The were no Dark Angel transfers in my box and, in any case, I planned to free-hand smaller units markings which I was able to discover examples on-line. The camouflage pattern is 1943 Oakleaf Pattern, Spring version. The exception is the Squad Sergeant, who should have a red helmet, and so I painted his helmet 1943 Oakleaf Pattern, Autumn version to use the orange tones.
I was very pleased with the way they turned out and they made a refreshing change from the usual stuff on my painting desk.
(https://i.imgur.com/73hOX3T.jpeg)
Those have come up really well.
Those are great - a novel idea very well executed.
Are these a fun painting project, or will they get gamed with (probably not using 40k, I guess)?
They look great. Very impressed.
(checks internet)
How much for a box???
Cracking work on those 8) !
Very cool!
Takes me back to old rogue trader days, Badab war camo
Thanks for your kind comments.
QuoteThose are great - a novel idea very well executed.
Are these a fun painting project, or will they get gamed with (probably not using 40k, I guess)?
I intend to offer my Warhammer friend a game, but he will have to produce some pared down rules. These things come with more backstory than real historical games.
QuoteThey look great. Very impressed.
(checks internet)
How much for a box???
I got mine from Wayland Games; £32 a box post free.
QuoteI intend to offer my Warhammer friend a game, but he will have to produce some pared down rules.
Try Grimdark Future: Firefight (https://www.onepagerules.com/games/grimdark-future-firefight) from One Page Rules for a rules-lite - and free - skirmish game.
Try Kill team, cracking rule set.
You can download the lite version of the rules and all the team stats from the Warhammer community website for free.
https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/downloads/kill-team/
I'd back up the recommendation for Kill team as well, it doesn't take many models (6 I think for marines) and as mentioned the rules are online.
I'll second Grimdark Future: Firefight, my son and I had some cracking games with my eclectic mix of Sci-Fi and Cyberpunk miniatures using them.
QuoteTry Kill team, cracking rule set.
I've just seen a preview of the new boxset, which is very tempting. But then I do like Necrons.
No doubt the price will put me off when it's released.
Kill Team is one of the few GW games I play.
The free online rules are OK as a starter, but well worth picking up the rules, either in one of the starter boxes or off eBay from people who split the starter boxes. The full rules contain a lot more info on the forces and give you cards and tokens too.
If you like the figures in the starter boxes they are pretty good value. But if you already have some GW figures you can probably build a gang from them. Gang size varies a bit from 5 or 6 for Marines up to about 12 for Tau or Orks.