Heresy & Heroes

I wanted to bring you guys up to speed on a project I’m hoping to undertake in the new year that I want to really test me and to provide some variety to what I use in terms of paints and techniques. A year of the Mortifactors’ colour scheme has got me hankering for variety and I think i’ve found a great way to get that. The project stems from my love of one particular box (which I’ve worked with twice in the last year) and my desire to really push myself. So, what’s in the box?

The box! The Box!!

Well, in many ways this is one of the most mundane, archetypal boxes that you can buy from GW – The Space Marine Tactical Squad. But as dull as that sounds, I maintain that this is a great kit. There are so many options, so many spares and so many weapons, that it gives you the chance to create a truly unique squad. Or, as I’m hoping with this one, a unique set of 10 sergeants…

What’s The Plan, Stan?

I want to create 10 Space Marine sergeants from the ten miniatures in this box, holding a variety of weapons and in various poses. I’m only allowed to use the bits in this box, and a few spares from my bits collection (though I’m going to try and keep this to a minimum). Each sergeant is going to be from a 10th Founding chapter (hence the name) that I’ve invented as this gives me the freedom to really branch out creatively. It’s late enough that the old heraldry of the Legions has subsided/already been used up (or at least a fair bit has), and there’s not much detail about this founding in the existing 40k fluff. This will be my playground for this project.

I’ve already picked out 10 names of these chapters, and they range from those very much inspired by GW’s existing chapters and ideas, to things that I’ve dreamt up more in isolation. Here’s the list (subject to minor tweaks of course):

• Jade Tigers (White Scars Successor Chapter)

• Blood Hawks (Blood Angels Successor Chapter)

• Praetorian Consuls (Ultramarines Successor Chapter)

• Barbarians (Unknown)

• Cavaliers (Unknown)

• Dire Knights (Dark Angels Successor Chapter)

• Fire Sabres (Unknown)

• Conquerors (Unknown)

• Desert Spectres (Unknown)

• Iron Princes (Iron Hands Successor Chapter)

I’ve already started dreaming up a bit of fluff for them (of course) and that list should give me plenty of space. I want to try painting techniques I’ve never worked with, trying to render materials and patterns and freehand work in GW paints that are completely new to me. This is a case of showing what can be done with this box, and what I’m capable of as a painter. I even want to base each one seperately and distinctly too. And all of this isn’t because I don’t love my Mortifactors (well, ‘love’ might be a strong word here) and they’ll continue alongside my other projects but this does definitely give me a chance to change things up colour-wise.

What’s The Agenda, Brenda?

One each month. A single tactical sergeant each month should be something I can accomplish, and I might potentially speed up at the end of the project depending on how well I’m getting on. You see, this idea was inspired by my trip to October’s Golden Demon in a way. I wanted to work on something that could be a showpiece project but rather than going big and stumping up for FW Titan (one day…), I wanted to take the most basic, archetypal kit around and work with that. If I can’t make something special from something so simple, what chance do I have of doing it with something huge? That’s not to say that I won’t be working on something huge this year (probably will be at some point), but this is about doing the most i can with one of the most basic mainstay units in the range.

And if it all goes super well, I’ll make some sort of display for them and throw them into the Open Competition at Golden Demon 2015. If it doesn’t, then we shall never speak of this project again.

So what do you think? A good use of my time in 2015? Comments and ideas below please!