Alasdair - February/March - Ultramarines

It’s been a real March for Macragge this time around! Last time, all I had to show for the month was a single test model, but I’ve managed to get quite a bit done for this post. More on that later. All this has mostly been prompted by me and Luke setting the date for the first game of the slow grow on the 1st April. I’ve been treating it like a tournament deadline, which has really pushed me to get things done. I’m well on track to get the first 750pts painted for it, which includes over half of the infantry total I need to do. From here onwards it will mostly be bigger stuff, including six Sicarans by the time I’m done…

Speaking of the first game, this will be Zone Mortalis. We wanted to start here as A) it encourages us to paint the small stuff and B) it’s a fun way to play the game. The narrative will be an Ultramarines raid on one of the space stations guarding the entrance to the Artemesium Strait: the station of Kleos. Yes, all the narrative references will be classical Greek. How the battle goes will inform how the narrative grows as we play.

Anyway, onto the miniatures. Firstly, I will show my two finished Tactical Squads, arrayed in Porter-style war triangles.

The fact that I haven’t given any of my Sergeants any additional equipment presented a bit of a painting challenge for me. I wanted them to stand out, which I normally do with fancy swords and fists, but in this case I only had painting and modelling. I’ve been doing 1-2 pieces of freehand on each Sergeant, which is a painting area I wanted to work on this year anyway. It’s nothing complex (just some yellow and blue squares), but I’m happy with how it turned out!

In addition, I have also completed one squad of five Tactical Support marines. Again, really happy with the freehand. I feel that between that and the shoulder pads, it’s absolutely no mystery who the squad leader is. I’ve made pretty extensive use of the Forge World head upgrade sets. Such a nice kit, really adds a lot of variety into your units. My rule for this army is no repeated bare heads.

Finally, here’s the Praetor of the force. I’ve never attempted lightning effect on a power sword before and I’m chuffed at how it looks. Again, another of my goals this year was to get better at painting swords, which I feel I can say I have. I’ve found that I am really enjoying the 2nd edition aesthetic in these miniatures, I’m leaning into it much more than I thought I would be. My introduction to the hobby was actually the 2nd edition Ultramarine codex in a charity shop, so this makes for a nice tribute. I’d love to show eleven year old me this army.

That’s all from me this month, see you next time around!

Luke - February/March - White Scars

If only all months were like this!

February flew by for me, but I got a lot of needed work done for the force. Since last month my goals have undergone a shift of what I wanted to achieve, but I’m confident that they changed for the better and have set me in a good place moving into March and for the Horus Heresy Weekender event in April.

So let’s check in on my to-do list I left myself at the end of last month’s article.

Bases.  This one deserves a checkmark of accomplishment. I've finalized the basing scheme for my army, at least for the time being. I can confidently say that I'm 85% satisfied with the outcome, and I've also crafted bases for the entire initial infantry batch, plus a few jetbike bases to see how well it scaled up from 32mm to 60mm bases.

Stormseer and the remaining Tactical Marines. A big cross against these unfortunately, neither unit have been worked on at all this month, but not for a lack of a suitably White Scars cause!

Jetbikes! This month, I've chosen to focus on the fundamental strength of a White Scars Legion — Sky-Hunter Squadrons, Three units of five (for now) which form the core or of their formidable arsenal. I've opted to outfit two squads with Volkite Culverins, while assigning the third squadron the potent firepower of Multi-Meltas. 

There are a few details to finish on all these squads in the coming month(s), but I'm happy enough with them, that the plan is to start playing games this month.

Vehicles stand as the last integral element in my initial planned list, and they represent the final models that require painting for the event I will be attending in April. Two Rhino transports and Two Legion Predators equipped with magna-melta cannons.

Admittedly all four vehicles were built for me by a friend from my local club, the Leicester Phat Cats. If you happen to be in the Leicestershire/Midlands area and fancy a game, they're a great group! Building vehicles happens to be my least favourite aspect of this hobby, and having someone else spend the time building certain units for me allows me to focus on other units in the project, and to jump straight into painting them when I get them back.

With that, we're nearly concluding this month's article—a significant one marked by the near completion of several units. This progress has positioned me well as I head into March, ensuring that my force will be somewhat prepared for the GFTW event in April.

I did want to address one last point, a matter I brought up at the beginning of the year in the inaugural article. In that piece, I outlined a set of goals I aimed to achieve in my hobby endeavours for the year, specifically with regard to this army.

·        - Paint and finish the models I have before progressing to the next unit/project

Clearly, I haven't been staying true to this particular point thus far. However, this deviation can be attributed to the time demands imposed by my initial scheduled event. Following the event in April and the completion of the initial phase of my army, adhering to this point will become an unwavering priority.

The initial 1500 points of the army were planned—I had a clear roadmap for what to purchase, build, and paint. However, beyond this milestone, it becomes a realm of uncertainty. While I have some ideas about the direction I'd like to take, in line with another one of my goals, I intend to engage in some games first. The plan is to organically add units based on those experiences, allowing the army to evolve naturally.

Thank you for taking the time to read, as it’s been a longer piece this month. Catch you in April! 

Alasdair - Month 2 - Ultramarines

Month two has actually seen some paint get onto a miniature, but more on that later. First of all I wanted to spend a bit of time discussing my approach to painting this army. As I mentioned previously, my style of painting has become increasingly focused on painting single miniatures or small war bands to the highest standard I can. Whilst this is great for my development, it has seen me increasingly become disheartened by the idea of painting a whole army.

I am a big believer in speaking to people with experience when attempting a new approach, so as such I turned to Dan Porter and Alex Morris, two players local to Leicester who very much focus on painting impactful armies. I’ll throw to their advice:

Dan Porter

I always say I’d never win a best miniature painting competition but I might just win a best painted army award. That’s because I’ve always tried to paint armies rather than models. What do I mean by that though? Simply put, I paint things with the view that it’s the impact of the overall army I’m going for rather than each individual model being a masterpiece. 

There’s many things to consider when approaching a project like this but the basics are simple. You’re aiming for a consistency; a repeatable set of steps and processes that produce the same quality of output each time. This requires a bit of planning and preparation of course but I like to apply the Rule of Five so  a core five colour palette across a whole army and five techniques to master for the project. As an example from my Iron Warriors these would be:

The main armour colour, the black, the yellow, lenses and leather for the colour palette and hazard stripes, oil streaking, plasma glow, pigment bases and pin washing for my techniques.

The key benefit for nailing these things down is that it stops you thinking about each model you’re going to paint. Instead you start approaching it as “painting the black on this squad” or “making the bases for my infantry units”.

Alex Morris

The key to painting my armies quickly is finding a method that I’m happy with and is easy to replicate. I knew I wanted to paint my Ultramarines to be dark and dirty, due to fighting on Calth.

I was inspired by a technique I saw online and used a combination of a dry brushing and stippling to achieve the look. The results are a striking contrast between the highlights and shadows. This technique isn’t the neatest but the small individual mistakes are largely unseen when the army is set up together. I enhanced this technique on the characters and elite units, as well as spending more time on the details, to allow them to stand out from the crowd.

This army is never going to win any awards for painting but its something I’m happy with and i was able to complete it in a short time period.

Overall, I think I can take three key points from their advice:

1. Focus on the visual impact of twenty models, not one
2. Find something that is easy to replicate each time
3. Limit the number of techniques and colours across a whole army

With these things in mind, I have completed my first test model. Overall, I’m fairly happy with it. I think I can probably make the highlight colour on the blue a little brighter, but there aren’t any major issues. I had previously ended up with some very Night Lord looking models after working on the blue, but now have got it to a place I am happy with. Once I am happy with the method I will post a bit of a how-to guide.

I’d love to get the two tactical squads and two support squads (thirty models overall) done for the next blog post, but we’ll see optimistic that is!

Bit of fluff for the end

On a final note, I’ve started to sketch out the lore for the Artemesium Strait. The battle between the Scars and Ultramarines will be set in a rare stable corridor out at the very edge of the Ruinstorm that engulfs Macragge, the aforementioned strait. The traitorous White Scars have been sent to guard two space stations that sit either side of the strait, battle stations Kleos and Timae. Eager to exploit the potential weakness, a small task force of Ultramarines have been sent to try to take control. As for their fate? You’ll be finding out over the next year!

Luke - Month 2 - White Scars

Already one month down, huh? And I believe things are progressing quite smoothly!

Let's recap January. As mentioned in my previous post, I painted a test model! I wanted to ensure I was completely satisfied with it, adhering to the hobby guidelines I outlined in my last post, and I was! So I have pushed through and all but finished the first squad of ten marines, and made significant progress on the second squad as well.

The final task remaining for these initial ten is to apply the metallic finishes after their final varnish, a relatively swift task. However, the current source of my most significant challenges lies in how to do the bases. I’ve been back and forth with myself on how to approach this - should the bases adopt a grey, red-themed, or desert aesthetic? Should they be kept plain, adorned with clutter, or built up?

I've decided to allocate a few days at the start of February to resolve this matter, focusing on basing the first squad before returning to the painting of the remaining units.

The plan for the remainder of February is to complete the first squad of Sky Hunters, finalize all twenty Tactical Marines, and potentially make progress on the Stormseer.

Alasdair and I have agreed to commit to approximately 750 points per quarter for this blog. Therefore, my target for fully painted models by April includes the below list. 

• Centurion w/ Scimitar Jetbike, Power Glaive, Cyber Hawk
• (Stormseer)
• 10 Tactical Marines
• 10 Tactical Marines
• 3 Skyhunters w/ Volkite Culverins
• 3 Skyhunters w/ Volkite Culverins
• 3 Skyhunters w/ Multi Melta

That being said as mentioned in my last post I have signed up for an event with this army which is also in April. My aspiration is that by then, my quarterly 750 points will resemble more of a 1500-point force. I won't guarantee they'll all be 100% finished, but I aim for them to be event-worthy at the very least. 

So that wraps up this month! I look forward to updating you all in March and am hopeful about meeting the commitments I've outlined in this post.

So, what's all this then?

Hello all and welcome to this, the first post of The Battle of the Artemesium Strait. Inspired by the slow grow projects of our good friends in the Phosphex Party, myself (Alasdair McMillan) and my buddy Luke Britton started talking last year about doing something of our own. We’ll introduce our reasons for the undertaking the slow grow a bit later, but in quick summary: Luke wanted some impetus to finish a hobby project that had been on his desk for many moons and I wanted to get the army I had in my head onto the table.

Hence, the slow grow was born. We wanted to create a narrative for the slow grow to bring it together, and therefore we will set this in the Artemesium Strait, a setting that so far is just a name. Just like our armies, the setting itself will grow and define itself as we go. It’s not that we came up with a name and haven’t really thought it through more than that. Honest.

I will be the staunch Loyalist bringing a force of Ultramarines and Luke will fill the role of traitor with some Traitor (boo!) White Scars. Each of us will be completing a 3,000pt army over the course of 2024, which makes for roughly 750pts a quarter. As we go along, we’ll play some games against each other with custom scenarios that Luke will design around the evolving narrative. The idea is to try and capture the vibe of the Tale of Gamers series in White Dwarf, a series that I adore.

I’ll now hand the floor to Luke to introduce himself and set his goals for the project.

Luke, King of the Brittons

Embarking on the fourth iteration of my V Legion force, the White Scars ride once more! With the release of 2nd Edition 30k, I opted to part ways with my previous White Scars army, with the plan to build the force anew, incorporating as many of the latest plastic kits as possible.

Regrettably, hobby progress took a backseat in 2023. Without an army and underestimating the time required to get a force back up to scratch after the last iteration was entirely painted during the Covid era.

But now, in 2024, I find myself engaged in this slow-grow project, I have a looming event deadline but most importantly a plan!

I've established an initial 1500 point list that serves as my foundation for this project. Additionally, I have outlined a set of goals below that I intend to achieve over the course of the year as part of this endeavour.

Look at Luke, finishing test models like he owns the place.

1. Ensure that each model is painted to a level that I’m happy with.
2. Paint and finish the models I have before progressing to the next unit/project.
3. Play games frequently at set point levels to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the army. Use this knowledge to make informed adjustments and additions as needed.

I've noticed a significant improvement in my painting skills since my last White Scars force, and I'm eager to push myself further with this new army. The goal is to paint each unit to a standard that genuinely satisfies me, avoiding the temptation to rush them onto the gaming table.

By establishing an initial army list, I hope to maintain focus and ensure the completion of units before getting sidetracked by other projects. This strategic approach should allow me to steadily progress and fully appreciate the artistic journey of painting my White Scars army.

Playing more games is the final piece of the puzzle, and admittedly, it's an area where I've struggled in the past. However, as I gradually assemble and paint more units for my force, I anticipate that my eagerness to hit the tabletop will naturally increase. By setting and achieving goals for completing units in my slow grow project, I aim to not only refine my painting skills but also build a force that beckons to be tested in battle. The expanding collection should, hopefully, inspire me to overcome my previous hesitations and dive more into the gaming aspect of this hobby.

In the weeks to come, I'll be delving into discussions about the inspiration driving my project, exploring the lore that fuels my passion for the scars, sharing insights into my painting process, and unveiling the details of my initial list. However, for now, I'm excited to present a test model I've completed for the army. Stay tuned for a painting update towards the end of the month as I progress further in this endeavour.

Hai Chogoris! Ordu Gamana Jaghatai!

Alasdair, Muck of the Millans

That’s great Luke, give my best to Chamberlain.

For me, this project is a chance to get finished an army that I have had in my head for a couple of years now. I love Sicarans, like, a lot. I think they are far and away the best looking tank in the range, and all of the variants are just great. 10/10 model. Back in the mists of Heresy V1, I came up with a list that was an exercise in fitting as many of them in as possible. I got to 5. When Heresy V2 came out and I revised the list, I got to 6.

I bought 5 of the Sicarans and gave them to the hobby wunderkind Keith Vasey to build a few years ago, and honestly they have sat languishing in my hobby cases since then. Not even seen a battlefield once. It’s all very sad. When I started talking to Luke about this they became the obvious foil to his Scars. Especially with all the lovely new models for Heresy that are around now.

My goals for the project are as follows:

1. Find an ‘army level’ quality of painting that is distinct from my highest quality painting
2. Learn to enjoy painting a full army of something again
3. Stay engaged with a Warhammer friend even though I have moved away

I like to think that I am a decent painter. I’m not a great painter by any stretch, but I paint to a pretty good standard. For me, the hobby is mostly about painting and it’s what I enjoy the most. However, it also means that any army I paint tends to be enormously time intensive and to be honest, not noticeably different from anyone else’s at the scale you see them on the table. So, for me, the first goal is about being able to find a rhythm with painting an army that means I can churn out models quickly.

The last 30k model I finished for an army... nearly two years ago.

Linked to this, is learning to enjoy painting an army again. I blame lockdown for starting this. During the pandemic, I ended up painting exclusively one off models or warbands for no real gaming purpose, just for the joy of painting them. They started off as ‘palette-cleansers’ between army projects and soon became the only thing I painted. The idea of painting 50+ similar models in the same colour became very unattractive when I could instead paint these 6 cool looking elves from Underworlds. Or this Beast guy from Necromunda. I want to recapture the joy of finishing an army project and getting it on the table.

Finally, I recently moved up to Scotland and away from Leicester, leaving behind the hobby community I have been a part of for the last 15+ years. Of course, Warhammer is a social hobby and I have been able to find a new community up here (shoutout Edinburgh & Lothian Gamers), but I also want to maintain contact with my old community down south. This is a good way to do this with at least one of them.

That's all folks...

So, that’s all from both of us. We’ve given a brief introduction of who we are, why we’re doing this and what the format of this will be. We’ll each be doing one post a month, so something will come out once every two weeks. Our next article will be all Luke and be coming at the start of February. Thanks for reading our first post and I hope you’ll join us for the journey!