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Buying, Building,and Gaming with Space Marines

Submitted By: Date: December 12, 2006, 08:00:00 PM Views: 4965
Summary: Buying Units Space Marines are fun and easy to build and play with. I have been involved with this very thing for over one year. First thing to do when you want to game with Space Marines is to decide what you need. There are about two dozen unit types of which you can buy and play with so lets start with what you will need to play. In the world of Warhammer 40,000 all armies need 3 units before you can game.
These are 1 HQ and 2 Troops.  For Space Marines this can be filled out with a Character and a pair of Units known as Tactical Squads.  Now we go into what you as the hobbyist will want.  Do you want a tank that can roll around launching huge shells at units of all kinds and types?  Do you want some of the most powerful units that have the option to drop onto the battlefield from orbit?  Do you want a monstrous vehicle that can rampage across the battlefield, laying waste to all it comes in contact with?  There are many options that one has access to, but it is all decided by you and what you would think is cool.



Paints


Now that we have gone over some of the units that Space Marine Generals have access to, we will go into what you want your army to look like.  There are hundreds of different paints and millions of paint combinations to choose from.  Do you want to make one of the standard armies Games Workshop has made?  These include the Ultramarines, the Blood Angels, the Black Templars, the Space Wolves, and the Dark Angels. These are just a few of the Space Marine armies you can make. Or, do you want to make a completely different army altogether?  They could be purple with yellow polka-dots, orange with black stripes, red with gold trim, anything you want.  Games Workshop has many paint colors to choose from, but they don’t have every kind.  Craft stores, hobby stores, even guys who are having garage sales sell paint.  Two basic kinds of paint are oil based or acrylic paint.  The acrylic paint is water based and easier to clean your brushes. Another kind of paint you will need is a spray primer to prime your models for painting.



Tools


Models and paint are not the only thing you will need to buy if you want to make an army.  There are several hobby tools that you needs if you are to be a competent modeler.  Chief among these items is a sharp craft knife or a scalpel.  These will clean up excess plastic off the models with practice.  If you want to paint, you will need brushes.  It might take some time to find a kind of brush you are comfortable with.  Mixing trays are important because they will allow you to do just that, mix your paint.  Not every color in existence is produced commercially so you might need to mix colors to come up with one you want. Glue should be near the top of your list, because all models are supplied un-painted and un-assembled so you will need to build them yourself.  Two kinds of glue are needed, plastic model glue and super glue.  The plastic model glue will glue the styrene plastic parts together, while the super glue will take care of any metal parts, other kinds of plastic, or resin you will encounter.  Clippers are needed to get the parts off the sprue carefully.  Sand paper, files, and drill bits are not needed, but will help in modeling.



Building


Cleaning


Now, we will get to the point of building your army.  First thing you will need to do is take your clippers, and clip the parts off the sprue needed to build one Space Marine.  A sprue is a molded plastic tree that holds all the model parts ready for construction.  The kit will come with instructions to build them, so make sure to read them.  Once you have all the parts don’t grab that glue, yet.  You need to clean up the mold lines and flash.  Mold lines are formed where the metal or rubber mold coming together when forming the model.  It will be a raised line along the parts.  Take your craft knife, scalpel, file, or sand paper and clean it off.  Removing the mold lines and flash now, will help in the painting phase.  Flash is extra plastic that has leaked out between the two halves of the mold.  It will appear to be stretched plastic.  Be careful when removing this.  Some times you will find that some parts are deformed or not formed properly.  There is not much you can do if a part is deformed.  Either put it away, or fix it up later by painting it different.  Cleaning the model parts will take some time if you want to do it properly.  Once you have done it many times you start to get the hang of it and it becomes easier.  Just do this for every single part of the model.



Assembling


Now that you have the head, body, arms, shoulder pads, gun, and legs cleaned up, it is time to think about what you want this guy to look like.  There are many of ways to pose the models and just that many differences between models.  Try not to use glue at this point as any glue might make your pose permanent.  After you have thought about what you want your model to look like, try to dry fit it.  This includes assembling the model, to the best of your ability, to recreate the pose you want.  Use blue tac to temporarily pose your figure.  To visualize the pose, have a friend stand in the pose you want.  Once you are happy with the way it looks, you can now glue it together.  Once you are happy with your skills in cleaning and assembling, you can do other things known as conversions.  This is a special form of modeling where you can make a model with a unique look or pose.  Pose every guy to the way you want them to look.  Once you are done you will have a very unique army.



Painting


Time to get to our first painting lesson.  To paint your models it is a good idea to make sure they are clean.  They will most likely have a mold release agent on them that will prevent the paint from sticking.  Simply washing them with soap and water will clear away the residue.  Once you have washed the models, dry them.  Once they are all completely dry, take them into an open area and bring your spray primer.  Guess what you need to do now?  That’s right. Spray them.  Give them an even coat if you can.  Wait an hour or two to let the Primer dry, then you can start painting.  Here is where your color scheme comes into play.  Paint them any way you want, but try to leave the shoulder pads more or less clear of any major detail.  Just paint on the primary colors and trim.  Now you get to come up with either your own symbol for your army, or, if you are using a Games Workshop army, use the Transfer Decals.  Transfer Decals are applied by cutting out one of them, and holding it in water for about 30 seconds.  Be careful not to lose the decal in the water.  Once it is moving around on the paper card, apply it to the shoulder pad.  Try not to let any air stay underneath the decal; use a wet paint brush to push the bubbles out from underneath the decal.  Be very careful as the decals tear easily.  Once you have finished all your men to the way you want, time to work on the bases.  The bases can be decorated any way you want.  Just go wild with anything your heart desires.  Once all your models are done to your satisfaction, time to get out something known as varnish.  Varnish is used to preserve the paint on models, to seal in the decals, and to prevent the paint from chipping.  Matte varnish to be preferably, but any kind of model varnish will work.  Just a final note on metal models.  They are generally supplied complete with very few options.  Treat all metal as if it were plastic for the purposes of cleaning, painting, and priming.  Just pay extra attention to these because they often have greater detail than plastic.



Gaming


Now we get to have a game.  I can guess that you are excited about playing your first game.  There are, however, more items you need to get if you want to play a game.  The first two are a pair of books, the Warhammer 40,000 Rule Book, and the other is the Space Marine Codex.  These books explain the game of Warhammer 40,000 and the rules for the Space Marines.  Once you have these books, you will also need a lot of 6-sided dice and a ruler or other long measuring device.  Once you have all of these, time to have some fun.  Because this is most likely your first time playing, ask for advice whenever you can and read the rules often.  There are some tactics for playing Space Marines.  Your men might be some of the most powerful in the game, but they are not invincible.  Treat each man as a big investment and play accordingly.  Every move should be about causing more damage to the enemy, while taking as little damage to yourself.  Place your units where their strengths will be most useful.  Some of the characters in the Space Marine army are headed for close quarters fighting.  You will learn after many games what to avoid with your units, what to target, and what to attack aggressively.  The final word on gaming with Space Marines is to just have fun with it.  Experiment with army combinations and tricks.  Learn to use the different unit’s strengths and avoid their weaknesses.  Space Marines are a versatile army to build and play with, and one can have a lot of fun doing it.
Rating: **** by 3 members.

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