Ultramarine

 Ok I know ultramarines should be a dark blue not eggshell blue. It's what I had in airbrush paint he still looks dangerous, sort of.

In my ever going quest to find away of painting space marines that I enjoy I started working on a couple of HQ models. Both were based and highlighted using the army painter air range then recess shaded with whatever I thought would look good. I got most of the details blocked in then decided to focus on one mini to speed the process up and get something finished. 

I can definitely see myself painting up a space marine army using this method the main thing putting me off before was all the edge highlighting. This way I keep the edges to a minimum. So what went well? The armour turned out alright and I'm really happy with how the face looks. The bad parts are the plasma pistol and it's far to glossy for my liking. I did watch a tutorial for the plasma this time but it just never turned out right. I also grudge highlighting the pistol after successfully avoiding it on the armour. As for the varnish I'll pick up some different ones from Halfords to try out I need to get some better screenwash anyway it's -8 Deg C here and the stuff I've got is already frozen.

I already have the Horus heresy box which I'm pretty sure will be painted up as the emperor's children but I still need to pick a 40k faction. My main considerations are - bikes are cool, blade guard are cool and the colour scheme needs to be just as cool. It's now time for my second favourite hobby making a list!

1 - Dark Angels - plenty of swords and a cool knight aesthetic. I'm not so keen on having different colours for death wing and raven wing but I guess that would be optional. Definitely a contender.

5 - White Scars - cool legion, lots of bikes, I know I can paint up white armour quickly. That's about it. 

6 - Space Wolves - great close combat army and I'm currently painting one up so I'll see how the colours look. I was thinking about buying some already but they really need some primaris wolf riders although that would take away from the bikers. Without updated minis I think these are out of the running. Maybe.

7 - Imperial Fists - not long ago these were a definite no but things have changed. Back in the long long ago when I was playing space crusade my brother would play the blood angels, I played the ultramarines and no one wanted the fists. Red and blue are great colours for a fighting force but yellow? Dorn seemed kind of boring during the Heresy, until he killed Alpharaus. I've got to admit that in the siege of terra books I'm becoming a fan of the fists. After reading Saturnine I'm all for them 'NOT ONE STEP BACK!' I'll need to do a test paint but these are near the top of the pack.

9 - Blood Angels - Similar to the White Scars in that everything about them is great just not for me.

10 - Iron Hands - were once top of the list because  flesh is weak. Tanks and marines that are more like angry robots than men is right up my alley. Sadly they seem to always be high up in the meta which puts me off. In the Horus heresy they always read more like a side quest. I don't think painting black armour would be fun although I did see some painted to look like oil but that my be beyond my ability. 5/10 

13 - Ultramarines - my original legion sadly now the poster boys which really puts me off. The Roman vibes are cool and I like the whole tactical aspect of them. Kind of boring in the heresy though, Robbie G also kind of boring and I don't like his mini. On the other hand Calgar is awesome. Mid level choice.

18 - Salamanders - Fire, armourers and green all cool. Vulcan is bit of a punk (in a bad way) maybe, I don't know. They look great the only thing I don't like is the black/gray skin and red eyes although I could just leave their helmets on. Some of the space marine faces are great though. Definitely a contender but I'll need to try painting green armour first.

19 - Raven Guard - sneaky black armour emos that's a pass.

I've got a few different armour colours to try out definitely leaning towards the imperial fists at the moment. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading.