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!