Warhammer 30K Test Figure: Tactical Ultramarine

If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you'll be aware that I'm not a GW fanboy. Sure, I have a Lizardman army for Warhammer Fantasy, and I sure enjoy some of the "specialist games" from those British Vampires at GW...and yes, I love Middle-earth, so I have too many of their LOTR figures. But really. I drew the line at 40K. Never played it, never wanted to play it. Stupid, unbalanced game. Way too expensive. Blood-sucking army book sales strategy.

And just while I was getting comfortable with my anti-GW smugness and gleefully looked forward to that abominable company's inevitable demise...they went and did this:

A specialist game (in the vein of the excellent Space Hulk) set in the Horus Heresy 30K universe. Screw you, GW, and your infernal stratagems to get my money!

This is essentially a box designed to counter all the hate I have against GW. It is packed full of beautifully sculpted 30K Space Marines and Terminators...at a so-reasonable cost of about $3 per figure. A tight little game system, perfect for small scenario play.

I couldn't help myself.

I was proud to say that I'd never painted a Space Marine. That is, until now. I'm all in. The Shame.

So, before starting into the nearly 40 figures of the boxed set, I decided to try a test figure to see if I could match the GW painting style.

The GW "style" is very different from the way I normally paint. It produces a distinctive "caricature" of a figure, as opposed to the more "naturalistic" style I usually go for. So, I watched a few YouTube videos and tried my hand at bold coloration, black-lining and strong specular highlights.

After a few attempts on this test figure, I think I have most of the techniques down, and believe I have something that approaches the GW house style.

I've been frantically gluing together squads of marines, or "tactical legionnaires" as they are called in this set. Now I've started into some squad painting, and have decided that 5-at-a-time will be the way I'm going to tackle this box.

Starting with the Ultramarines.

'Til next time.