I picked up this Sicarius model as part of a store closing sale almost a year ago. It’s the last of the Ultramarines HQs in my collection. I decided to do him up in 5th company colors, to fit in with the rest of my Ultramarines.
Cato Sicarius
This is the Finecast version, and I expect it to be the last fully Finecast model I do. The gold detailing on the breastplate sheered off from the main body in places. I didn’t do too much to fix it — let’s call it battle damage.
The sunburst pattern under the skull on the shoulder pad turned out a little weird. Maybe keeping it all gold or all silver would have been a better choice.
Backlog keeps on shrinking. Next up is a Techmarine that’s been sitting unloved for far too long.
My backlog is starting to clear up. This Tactical squad is the third I’ve painted up in the modern era, and the first of the new kit released with the 6th edition codex. It offers a nice mix of bits.
I went with sculpted shoulder pads. The tactical arrows are from Custom Minis on Shapeways. I went with the “frosted ultra detail” material, which is a little more expensive but supposedly has finer detailing. They’re nice, although you can still vaguely see the crosshatching from where the 3d printer did its thing. I sanded down the raised surfaces a bit, and it’s not very visible on the base.
The Ultramarines shoulder pads are from Games Workshop. They’re a little less nice. There’s a bit of pitting in the resin pieces, but still workable. They’re also a little smaller than current shoulder pads, although it isn’t really noticeable on the completed models.
Tactical Marines (sergeant group)
I used a couple of spare bits from the Sternguard set (mostly used on the Deathwatch squad) to spice up the unit, like the sergeant’s legs. I also magnetized his guns and left arm, so I can swap out weapons at my leisure.
Tactical Marines (second group)
The grav gun is of course magnetized as well, and the full set of specials is ready to go.
Tactical Marines (heavy group)
I like to leave the arms off while painting, so that I can easily paint underneath. There are four sets of arm pairs in this kit, which need to match up. I needed to keep track of which one goes with which throughout painting. I hot-glued them to toothpicks for airbrushing, which is my standard practice, and put different widths of tape as little flags on each toothpick to indicate the pairings.
I only noticed after I had carefully tracked them throughout the painting process, and was starting to assemble, that they all have matching details between the two arms. So you can pretty easily pick up any two arms and see if they go together.
Just a few more to go before my backlog is complete! Then I can let myself buy more models.
Things are heating up in the Inquisition War. The High Lords of Terra have started dispatching assassins to remove the heretical inquisitors.
This is one of the models that I’ve had lying around, unpainted, since the 2nd edition days. When the new dataslate came out, I knew I needed to get her battle-ready.
Callidus Assassin
In the first outing, she took out the retinue, but died before removing the last wound on the inquisitor in terminator armour. She faired better in the second game, removing a squad of Arbites which had been hastily recruited, before getting to the Inquisitor and retinue hiding in a building (netting 5 victory points – Slay the Warlord, the bonus Assassin point, plus a 3 on a D3 maelstrom card). Her primary job complete, she went to the roof and eliminated the company command squad stationed there. Unfortunately, I misplaced her for Linebreaker at end of game, resulting in a tied match.
I based this model in the same way as my Deathwatch, so it fits in with the Ultramarines, but can also stand alone with another army if needed.
Next up is Mr. Graves, a big man with a stick. You can tell he’s classy because he wears spats.
Mr Graves
I splattered some blood on his front. Don’t mess with a man whose fist is larger than his head. I like the effect up close, but from a little farther away it’s either invisible or just looks dirty.
Mr Graves (detail)
Somebody’s skull is having a bad day.
With this model, I’ve painted all my Malifaux models, except for the Nightmare Whiskey Golem (which I’ll wait until I have more Gremlins to play him with). I don’t let myself buy too far ahead of what I can paint, so I have to finish some 40k before getting any more. I’m thinking of getting the Lilith box next. That’ll get me Terror Tots for some cheap scheme runners, plus expand into a second master.
