Rogue Trader Crimson Fists

And now for something completely different.

Me, painting Space Marines.  Whatever next?

For reasons I don't fully understand, I have started putting together the forces to play Battle At The Farm from the original Rogue Trader Warhammer 40 000 rulebook.  I still have a lot of the original plastic Space Marines from the RTB01 box, many of them very badly painted. A dunk in Dettol stripped the paint off, and I was ready to paint.

As in the original (hideously unbalanced) scenario, the Marines are going to be the Crimson Fists.  It's certainly a chapter worth collecting, as there are only a handful left.  The battle requires fifteen ordinary marines, including one with a missile launcher, and the Chapter Master, Pedro Cantor, equipped with two bolt pistols and a power fist.  All doable from the original box set of plastics (though I believe a special Pedro Cantor model was made, he is the Chapter Master after all).  If I ever actually play the game I might reduce this to ten marines, in two squads of five, with Cantor to lead them.  I'll begin with a test mini  to see if I can do any better than I did nearly 35 years ago.

I've watched many YouTube videos showing different painting methods.  All agree that the blue needs to be darker than Ultramarines.  There is even a GW paint colour especially for the Crimson Fists, Kantor Blue, but I'm using Vallejo Model Color Prussian Dark Blue as a close enough match.

The mini was primed black (Vallejo Surface Primer, brushed on).  Once cured, I drybrushed the mini in white, paying especial attention to the upper portions, to give a zenithal effect.  

Zenithal highlights, honest (not a statue used by many pigeons)

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Then I gave the armour a heavy drybrush of VMC Prussian Dark Blue.  With the zenithal highlights this gave a good effect, but I want the armour to have more definition, so next I used Vallejo Game Color Ultramarine to edge highlight the armour.  The original style of armour is more smooth flowing; there are some sharp edges, but far fewer than on more recent Marine armour types.

Then it's on to the details.  The left hand was painted in VGC Gory Red and highlighted with VGC Bloody Red.  The boltgun was painted in VGC Gunmetal Metal, given a black wash and then an edge highlight with VGC Chainmail.  A mix of black wash and VGC Gunmetal Metal was used for the pipework on the front of the armour (not easy to see with the gun held in front, but it's there), details on the backpack and the belt. The eye lenses were VGC Livery Green.  I tried painting the studs on the left shoulder pad in VGC Glacier Blue, but it looked scrappy, so I repainted them in black and then dotted in the studs with the Glacier Blue, which was better, but the model itself isn't great with the studs; I can see why later armour models lost this feature.

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Once painted, I gloss varnished the marine, prior to trying to paint the various insignia.  I then painted the right shoulder pad again and decided to resort to a sheet of Space Marine decals I found.  I'm waiting for some Microsol/set to do the job properly.  I think I'll widen the red stripe on the helmet a bit too.

The final varnish was a thin coat of satin.  Basing was using Geek Gaming's Patchy Plains Base Ready mix and I added a tuft for interest.

My phone camera has given the mini a brighter look than in real life (I tried to correct it on one of the photos).  Also the edge highlighting has been partly lost, mostly in the drybrushing stage.  The zenithal highlights work better with inks, but they have had some effect, and I'll continue to do this step with the rest of the marines, probably more so.  I'll also exaggerate the edge highlights on future models.

This has been fun, mostly from a nostalgia point of view.  If I'm being honest, this is the only marine I've ever painted to completion.  Using the above method I can paint more and I'll be happy with the results.  Now all I need is some micro sol and micro set to make a good job of the transfers, and find whatever box my RTB01 missile launchers are in.

I will do another post about the Orks.