2nd Company Assault Squad

Okay, so I'm a day late (and probably a dollar short). I was busy stomping the hell out of Orks in the Emperor's Name last night. But better late than never, and here are some examples of the 2nd Company assault squad I painted up. A lot of my pictures didn't turn out well, and I wanted to do some collaging but my imaging software is cantankerous.


I did the Sergeant with a combination of bits from the crusader and assault squad sprues. For the most part I used the standard assault bodies since they've got the jump pack straps but I love this particular chest with the combination of the Maltese cross and the Imperial aquilla. I was able to work the crosses into my company identification scheme, as mentioned before. In this case, 2nd company is red on the left side of the cross (and left kneepads, etc.). I also particularly liked the right shoulderpad which I was able to do the same bronze metallic effect I use on aquillas and occasionally on weapons.


As always, there has to be at least one beaky in just about every squad. I went for a slightly different weapon color scheme in this squad, using the aforementioned bronze on the guns instead of the usual red gore. I wish the second marine here photographed better; he's one of the two I used a crusade helmet on. I was saving most of them for the tactical squad so I stuck primarily with standard.

This guy's a pretty good example of the marines from several angles. As you may have noticed, all of the marines carry axes as their close-combat weapon. The ax is the trademark weapon of the Rosen Ritter, based on the use of their namesakes' weapons from the anime series Legend of Galactic Heroes. This particular ax is from the old close combat weapons sprue that dates way the hell back to 2nd Ed. or so. I really miss those, you could get an axe, chainsword, power sword, powerfist and some pistols all on one sprue. Now, there are only about 4 places to get decent plastic space marine axes. That really puts a cramp on any further assault squads I want to do, since all assault marines are required to carry axes apart from the long-planned but never acted on Black Lancer squads.

Here's the last marine just for completeness' sake. I'm still working on the last 4 marines of that close combat squad and I guess I should start taking pictures of the rest of my Crusaders. I'm also going to get some fluff up here so I have it down some place. I have no idea what the next project is going to be. The Rosen Ritter chaplain is a possibility but there's a lot of bits I need to get my hands on. And even then I'm going to have to modify whatever lightning claws I get for him since the new ones all suck.

Good news!

I managed to tear my attention away from my Dark Crusade Guard campaign long enough to take pictures of my 2nd Company assault squad. I need to do some editing and uploading but they should be up tonight or tomorrow evening.

The Immortal 3rd

As I get things in order with pictures and the like, here's a few of the marines I recently finished. They were supposed to be a third tactical squad for the Rosen Ritter 3rd company but frankly I'm bored with standard tactical marines. I had all sorts of close combat bits left over from my 2nd company assault squad (which will be next to be posted up), as well as a few spare crusade sprue bits like sheathed swords that I wanted to use. So I figured I'd just make this last tac squad into a unit of close combat specialists. I'd probably never be able to field them using WYSIWYG, but then I'm not in this for the gaming, I'm in it for the painting.

Keep in mind that not only does the camera pick out every single flaw in my technique, these are also primarily repaints of old squads that really needed the sprucing up.
First up we have the squad sergeant. This has long been a favorite mini of mine. For one, he's one of the few space marines with hair. This angle doesn't do much to show him off, but it's the only decent picture I could manage. He's straightforward enough, I think.









The first picture is a poor shot but it's the best where you can see the crusader sword I added to this marine. I did it on a whim at first so he's really the deciding factor for doing this squad as a close combat unit. The auspex is a holdover from his original pose, which is largely unchanged save for the addition of the plasma pistol.

Typically, I use red gore on Rosen Ritter weapons, but I've been playing around with some more individual variations lately. The sergeant's chainsword and this plasma pistol--ganked from the commander sprue--left almost entirely in boltgun metal.

For some reason, I really like slapping power fists on marines. This is the most recently completed and looking over the picture, I think I need to go back and do some serious touch-up work. Still, I'm pleased with the way his left kneecap turned out. In case you hadn't noticed, the left knee is where the company marking goes on all Rosen Ritter. If they don't have a kneepad I paint on a small shield in company colors. In this case, the single stripe down the middle represents 3rd company. Second, as you'll see, is half red on the left side. First would be half red on the right side, and that's as far as I've gotten in planning out company markings for the moment. I have a general idea of a scheme in mind but I need to get it down some day. Maybe if I ever make a serious effort at writing down the chapter fluff.

The last marine in this entry is a simple chainsword marine. He's another example of the use of crusader bits--since all Rosen Ritter have to serve in the Crusade companies at one time or another, some of them choose to keep the iconography when rotated back to their normal company. In these cases, though, the crusader cross is altered to bear that company's mark.


Anyway, that's all for now. I still have three or four marines in progress that will be added to this squad, so I'll get them uploaded as soon as they're done. I'll hopefully get some of the 2nd "Crusader" company up as well as some of the more codex troops from 3rd.

Bandwagon

Well, since inspiration is often synergistic, I'm taking a cue from Thorisian and starting this blog specifically for any and all work I'm doing on my Rosen Ritter space marine Chapter. Don't expect Golden Demon quality work here. I know my limitations. But this will be a dumping ground for past and present projects, provided I get off my ass and actually photograph some of my minis.