Topic: Artcore's Army Diary - Ultramarines

[Sheepz]

Yeah, both are WIP. No ultramarine blue yet, no details. For this army I didn't paint the bolter casings but for the Sternguard I think I will. Not sure how though. I want their bolters to look special because of their ammo; maybe I could try black bolters with gold ammo?

I don't think golden ammo lends itself to the army, to be honest. Ammo is functional, never decorative. I think black or deep red bolter casings, with the rest in that awesome gunmetal colour you've got, as a personal taste. You can tell they're Sternguard all-ready with the robes and ornamental pads and stuff. Try to customize your bolters a bit more, if you think they're running out of uniqueness. Not every bolter has to follow the one on Sternguard model #2, but try other things. Maybe a bolter with two barrels, one on top of the other? Or a bolter with just the drum magazine. Or a Chaos bolter (iconography filed off) that has the draped ammo coming off it? Or just targetters? Or the BT bolters that are chained to the Marines arms.

If you're thinking of putting combi weapons in there as well, you shouldn't have too much work to do. I really advise against golden guns, though.

[Raktra (So long, I guess)]

Anyone who knows me will tell you I have a profound hatred of blue... But dammit your army is gorgeous Artcore. Brilliant quality in a short space of time. I only wish I had your dedication.

[Artcore]

I don't think golden ammo lends itself to the army, to be honest. Ammo is functional, never decorative. I think black or deep red bolter casings, with the rest in that awesome gunmetal colour you've got

Yes, that's a good idea. I'll go for metal with deep red casings. Thanks.

Anyone who knows me will tell you I have a profound hatred of blue... But dammit your army is gorgeous Artcore. Brilliant quality in a short space of time. I only wish I had your dedication.

Thanks a lot Raktra. You see a lot of young kids with badly painted Ultra's out there; just because that's the color on the box 

Dedication is key yes. Still I wish I had more of it for all the other stuff 

[Sheepz]

Almost two weeks with no update, Artcore. The people demand Space Marines. The people demand progress!

On a more serious note, it'd be good to see how those Sternguard of yours are coming along. They're very unique, and even with the special ordered bits I think you've achieved a good standard of model, easily recognizeable for what it is, and with less of the cost than the metals. Am I right?

[Artcore]

Almost two weeks with no update, Artcore. The people demand Space Marines. The people demand progress!

LOL 

Nice to hear you're looking forward to my progress Sheepz! I'm a bit busy composing and rehearsing music at the moment.

But I still paint a bit at the end of the day. I almost finished my 2nd Drop Pod with 'battle damage' and I worked a bit on the 1st Sternguard. Today I felt a sudden urge to play a list with 3 Drop Pods and finished Sternguard Veterans in Robes So I'll try to work on them this weekend and I'll try to post pics.

On a more serious note, it'd be good to see how those Sternguard of yours are coming along. They're very unique, and even with the special ordered bits I think you've achieved a good standard of model, easily recognizeable for what it is, and with less of the cost than the metals. Am I right?

Thanks. Don't know how the costs are precisely but I guess they come out the same as the metal ones money wise. The main advantages for me are that they're going to be unique and heavily customized, and I can give them the weapons I want them to bring to the battlefield.

Hope to show some progress soon.

BTW: I repainted the bolter, instead of gold I've used deep red and it works much better. Thanks for the advice!

[Artcore]

Okay this is gonna be a big update 

Joe Marine; almost finished.


I've never really painted power weapons like they're special or anything. So I gave it a try:

And applied to a Terminator Sergeant:


Then the Sternguards. These guys take me ages to assemble; diving very deep into the bits box and all left over sprues to use all nice parts I have

This dude has a combi-melta and some pouches for the special ammo:



And this is the Sergeant with Power Fist and Bolt Gun. The head is from Captain Sicarius:



And I need some help; I want to replace the banner's skull by one of these symbols:

Any advice on which to use?

WIP Sternguard #1 with red Bolter casing:


And a 'group shot' of the Sternguard Squad so far:


And I (almost) finished my 2nd Drop Pod. I did this one in about 9 days I think 


Also received the 3rd Pod by mail, so now I have three of them! 


Pedro 'Ultra' Kantor with Sicarius' very cool banner:

[Sheepz]

First off, its about time.

Great work as usual, Artcore. Have you adopted the same basing method for all your Marines? I thought it was just the Sternguard but Joe Marine makes me think again.

Also, powersword looks good. What helped me out was this http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=6438 from Heresy Online, but you need to modify it to suit your colours and stuff. Just thought I'd throw it out there.

Digging the combi-melta dude. He looks really heroic and Ultramariney with his swept back hair and iconography.

Good use of the head on that Sergeant, ties it back into the rest of your army nicely. You want them looking elite, but not too different. The Greek/Roman style helmet brings it together.

I like the red on the bolter. Really think you should drill your barrels, though . Maybe, if you're stuck for bolter inspiration beyond the targetters and drum magazines, you could finely do some irregular lines in white paint on the large empty parts of the casing for writing - scriptures and litanies and other Marine stuff. Just a thought, which might not even look right. I'm just thinking about the model that's painted. He lost the DA iconography and its now looking a bit flat. Not bad, really, but its a thought.

On the banner, if you can separate the U symbol from its backing, it'd look better than set into that square of plastic, I reckon. Mounting them will be tricky. I'd take a very small pin vice to it - check the width of the drill bit against the metal you're gonna insert - and decapitate the skull. Drill straight down into the pole, and then up into the icon you select (not very deep, mind). I manage to pin my DA swords (from the Ravenwing and Veteran sprue - the big swords) into the hands of Tactical Marines using this method. You just have to be careful with it.

And having typed all that, I realized you're only asking for an opinion of which to use . If you can hollow out the Ultramarine symbol from that blocky background its set in (personal preference), then I'd go with that. Otherwise I'd go with the eagle. I think the blocky square thing detracts from the symbol otherwise.

[Artcore]

Sorry for not updating for months but I didn't paint or play anything these months.

So now the work is done the urge to paint is slowly growing back Just finished the Joe Marine so I wanted to show you some proof I'm still alive:


I'm also busy to paint the first 4 DA Sternguards; hope to show some progress soon.

Cheers!
Artcore

[Sheepz]

Good result with your music, mate. I'd be very pleased with that.

Glad to know you're not dead, and I'm very much looking forward to those Sternguard conversions you've done. Another army group shot would be great, just to get a feel from where you're at. I remember the first time you started posting pictures of your army, and its come on phenominally since then.

Cheers!

[Artcore]

Thanks for the nice words Sheepz

So here are some pictures of the Sternguard as they are right now WIP:





And I started painting the Junkyard Deffdread:


And look what my brother gave me on my graduation party: an Ironclad Dreadnought!!!

[Artcore]

Hey guys, here's a post just to let you know I'm alive again. My appetite for the hobby was away for some time and then I went 3 months to Central America for some serious backpacking That was an awesome trip 

Back on topic. Last weekend I played my first game in 6 months and it wasn't bad. Was playing against a nice game buddy who plays Tau; the most annoying army ever  My dice were very out of shape (failed so many power and terminator armor saves) but the game was very nice and ended in a draw. I killed all his troops and blocked his objective with my destroyable Landraider but then he contested my objective.

But it got me back into the painting and the forum. In the game I used my unpainted Ironclad for the first time, replacing my normal MM/HF dread, in a Drop Pod. AV13 is awesome! So I started modeling him (FW Ultra symbols on banner and some other spots) and started painting:

[Raktra (So long, I guess)]

I have my Blood Angels in the same cabinet

Good to see you're back, and still painting the only blue anything that I can stand to look at.

[Artcore]

I have my Blood Angels in the same cabinet

IKEA rules the world... 

Good to see you're back, and still painting the only blue anything that I can stand to look at.

Yeah, blue it is. In the meanwhile I was starting a High Elf army; I painted half of the WHF starter box. But it wasn't blue enough for me But serious, don't know if I'll paint much more Marines or do the Elves seriously.

[Artcore]

Hi there 
This week I did some painting again! Yes, I've finished my Ironclad Dreadnought. And finally I've finished the first 4 Sternguards In Dresses. These guys have been on my painting table so long...

But first the file cabinet for my mini's:




The thing was full pretty quickly. Guess I have more mini's than I thought.


So here's the Ironclad:








And the 4 Sternguards from my big conversion project:














Hope you like 'em!

[Sheepz]

Hell yeah.

Good to see you back again again. The Sternguard are looking awesome. Your army remains the only Ultramarine Army that I actually enjoy looking at.

[*Striker*]

Apparently I'm "forbidden" to view these pictures, is anyone else getting this did i just try viewing at a bad time and hit a technical glitch?

[Algavinn of the Many Paths]

You're forbidden because you just aren't pretty enough :p  I'm not forbidden, however they are indeed not showing up for me either.

[Artcore]

Oops! Sorry, I sort of stopped the pics folder from being public. Now it should work fine...

[crazedsoldier07]

i think very clean painting, maybe just a few highlights on the blue and youll be golden

[Artcore]

Hi here's a quick update on my progress on my ever expanding Ultramarines force.

I've got another Rhino/Razorback which I'm starting to paint:


And I really wanna finish these badass Terminators. They're almost done, just need to hightlight the blue and some other stuff:


And I started painting the next 3 Sternguard Vets:


And, as a side project, I'm painting some Elves: