The Emperor's Creamsicles

I had a sprue of Marines from the Battle of Macragge set, but I wrecked it by buying yellow primer and thinking it would actually cover something. What an idiot I am. Anyone who has ever worked with yellow will know exactly what I mean. Anyhow, they are sitting on the floor of my friend Matt's garage, abandoned. I wrecked them.

I picked up a box of 5 cheapass Marines; the really old-style ones. I wanted to practice up a bit before I get more Macragge Marines (Matt is graciously donating his to me because he's awesome). The thing about me and Marines is... I don't have any particular attraction to them. I don't mind playing against them, but they do nothing for me as an army of my own. I looked at what my options were for a Marine "theme", painting-wise and decided I'd rather be dead than use the same old Ultramarine Blue that every kid in the world uses (or the Blood Red of Blood Angels). My decision for the paint scheme was rather easy: I just went through my box of paints and picked out the one that had been used least. Well, that's actually not entirely true; I didn't want to make Purple or Pink Marines... but the third choice, Orange, turned out to be my theme color.

And the results are below:



I had to push myself a little to finish him, as I didn't really have much inspiration in my heart to do so. This is because, as I said, I really don't have much zeal for Marines. Still, I think that he's a passable entry: Blazing Orange over a white base, watered-down Flesh Wash for the shading, Sunburst Yellow for the highlights, a touch of Boltgun Metal and Silver here and there, a gold eagle on the chest and some quick-and-dirty battle-damage on the leg and one shoulder pad... and that was it. Done. There is a touch of highlighting on him (you can see it best on the fingers of the hand holding the barrel of the bolter), because it's hard for me not to highlight, but other than that he's pretty much as-is.

A dremel was used to create a little bit of scarring on the shoulder pad, btw... and I will very likely put some transfers on the shoulders. Incidentally, I didn't bother too much with flash or casting lines; my attitude about this army is "quick and dirty", like it was with the Tyranids (though I'm very happy with how they worked out, actually). I don't want to invest the time, frankly. Call it lazy if you like, but there's some charm in having an army done in a day, and after working on the Scorpion it's a nice change in philosophy and approach.

After showing him to my friend Keith, he asked if this scheme was inspired by a photo of his dad that I'd seen. At first I laughed but, after I thought about it for a few minutes, I realized he might have something. Even the mirthless demeanor and the gun strapped to the side says "Marine", don't you think?

Anyhow... more to come soon.