A Little Something Left Behind

Remember a while back Wallshammer was in a 40k Escalation league?  And he was doing Silver Skulls Marines?  Well I decided back then, that I would show my solidarity to him (and the Imperium) by painting Marines along side him.  Only I didn't tell him, or anyone, except my friend Dan.  I was going to reveal it when he finished his league.

However, half way through the league, Wallshammer discovered his undying, malevolent, hatred for Marines, and quit the army, quit the Escalation league, and sold off all the Marines he had.  It was a bad break-up.  Needless to say, in the aftermath of this, I dropped off on painting my secret Marine project.  I had played them a couple of times with Dan, but after 'the incident', I put them in a box, and basically forgot about them until I moved.

Then as I was unpacking, I caught Walls snooping through my boxes, where he discovered them.  The cat was out of the bag.

So I thought I would show you what I got done, and maybe it would inspire me to go back to them (because you know, I don't have enough projects).

Follow me after the break to see the pics:


I decided to do Blood Ravens, as I love the Dawn of War video game series, and there were already a few Ultramarines and Dark Angels players at Wallshammer's club, so I wanted something that would set my Marines apart.  I started with a Tactical squad, that I got in a trade for some old stuff I had (I don't even remember what anymore).

And here's a close-up of the hand-drawn shoulder pads:

I also decided to to have 'squad leaders', like they had back in second edition.  These were the 'champions', for lack of a better word, of the combat squad that didn't have the Veteran Sergeant in it.  I gave these models slightly more detail to make them stand out.  Also, both the Veteran Sergeant and the Squad Leaders were to have banners.  I got a a great deal on a bunch of banners off eBay, but I never got to painting them, as they arrived shortly after 'the incident'.

These I finished to all but the basing.  I was going to finish the basing as well, but the league was moving a little faster than I could paint, so I figured I'd just do all the basing at once at the end... that never happened.  Oh well.  After that, I picked up the Marine half of an Assault on Black Reach Set for $30, and a pair of Rhinos for a Stegadon.  The Rhinos are just primed black, so I didn't show them, but here is the progress I made on the second Tactical Squad:

You can see these are only half finished.  Once I realized how far behind I was getting, I tried to move to assembly line painting, which I'm not very good at (as you by now know from my lack of progress on my White Lions).  I did a little farther ahead on the dread.  His arms are magnetized and the Autocannons are from a Bastion terrain set:

Also, more or less just for fun, I painted and converted the Captain that came in the Black Reach set.  He was to be my stand-in for a Terminator Librarian until I could get the actual model, only the army never progressed to that point.  Maybe I'll start looking for him again...

Lastly, we have the terminator squad.  Luckily I had the bits for a Cyclone Missile Launcher in my Bits Box, so I swapped the front torso for that and had a well-rounded squad.   These models are nearly complete.  Just some final highlighting and painting on the chapter symbols.  It's a shame I didn't finish them, they look great on the table.

So there you have it; my dead-in-the-water Marine project.  What do you think loyal readers?  Should I go back and finish them up?