Legio Bolter & Chainsword
Veteran Sergeant
|
|
Legio Bolter & Chainsword Veteran Sergeant
|
|
 |
The excellent Bolter & Chainsword forum held a contest in early March of 2003, asking participants to paint a single Space Marine model in the livery of the Legio Bolter & Chainsword. Much like the Deathwatch Chapter or the Grey Knights, the Legio B&C is a fighting arm of the Inquisition, assigned to the Ordo Hereticus. The color scheme called for completely black armor, red casings for the bolter and chainsword, and red helmets. The lower right greave and/or kneepad could bear a black and white checker pattern, and the lower left greave could bear the crossed bolter and chainsword logo of the Legio. |
|
 |
Much like the Deathwatch, the right shoulder pad retained the Chapter symbol of the Marine's home Chapter, while the left pad needed to be a Deathwatch pad. Unlike the Deathwatch, the pad rim and arm remained black rather than silver, while the runes of the pad needed to be either silver or bone, with a red Inquisition icon. Chest eagles had to be silver, bone, or red. Other than those guidelines, you had free reign over pose and other details, although the model was required to be armed with a boltgun and a chainsword. |
|
 |
This is my entry into that contest. I had a lot of fun with the posing and converting of the model; I was trying for a Jackie Chan-esque rebounding leap off of the wall, as if he had just run up the wall and is propelling himself off of it, perhaps leading into a backflip and tuck-and-roll to avoid incoming fire. As the LBC are Ordo Hereticus Marines, the base suggests that he is inside a Chaos temple of some sort that he and his brethren are in the middle of breaking up. It uses plasticard for the floor tiles and a chaos star from the new chaos vehicle accessory sprue, as well as a very cut-down Necromunda bulkhead as the bit of gothic wall. His beaky-style helmet (drilled out, but leaving the mating collar still attached) lies discarded on the ground; how it fits inside that collar, though, I have no idea. Scylla's collar forms the Iron Halo, and different bits from the Inquisitor line of miniatures have been added to his belt and chest. |
|
 |
The Deathwatch boltgun has had the muzzle filed down and drilled out, with a purity seal added. Conversely, the chainsword has been extended in length a little. The Black Templars pad is decorated with the top of a banner pole from the Space Marine accessory sprue, with one wing removed. |
|
 |
The gothic wall was first painted in shades of blue-grey in an attempt at "normal" (rather than sky-earth) NMM painting. Following that, several extremely thin washes of color were stippled on here and there; browns, greens, and blues, to hopefully achieve the effect of a weathered, corrupted, rusted, and just plain OLD piece of wall. After those thin tintings were dry, I re-applied some light grey-blue highlights to the top edges and high points. The black of the armor was highlighted with several mixtures of very dark blue-greys, beginning with a 50/50 Shadow Grey/Chaos Black mix. After 4 or 5 layers, the final, brightest highlights were applied with Vallejo's 157 Dark Blue Grey. |
|
 |
The NMM gold sections were painted with Vallejo Model Colour paints: 140 Flat Brown, 135 Beige Brown, 129 Light Brown, 127 Ochre Brown, 126 Goldbrown, 121 Yellow Ochre, 009 Sand Yellow, 008 Beige, 005 Ivory, and 001 White. It was then shaded with chestnut ink diluted 50% with Future mix, and then glazed with a mixture of 5 parts yellow ink to one part chestnut ink, thinned with Future mix (90% Future mix to 10% ink). The white highlights were than re-applied. The NMM silver areas were painted using only three Vallejo colors (164 Dark Bluegrey, 157 Dark Blue Grey, and 153 Pale Greyblue), mixing each together to get the midtones. Final highlights were again done in white, but sparingly. |
|
 |
The reds were also done using Vallejo paints, beginning with a basecoat of 035 Cadmium Marroon, followed by 034 Burnt Cadmium Red, and 033 Red. Edges and the filigree pattern were done with 030 Carmine Red, 029 Vermillion, and 028 Vermillion, with final highlights in Citadel Blazing Orange. The face was painted with a mixture of Citadel and Reaper flesh tones, with final highlights done in Reaper's Fair Maiden. I wanted the Marine to be pale; as a fleet-based Chapter, the Templars (and the LBC) would not get much sun, I figured, and his paleness gives him a look of age and experience. After the skin and all the equipment details were painted on the head, I applied some very thin mixed purple and red ink to the scars on his head and left eye socket, as well as where his implants submerge into the skin. If you look closely, you can see that even his tongue is painted (with Citadel Warlock Purple, mixed through to Tentacle Pink)! |
|
 |
Here you can see a somewhat better picture of the brocaded look of the chainsword casing. Alas, digital cameras don't seem to care too much for red colors, and my photo-editing software seems to distort the fine details when I reduce image size (I have no control over compression!). |
|
 |
 |
This was a great project to be a part of. I had loads of fun doing this model -- it almost (almost, mind...) made me miss painting Templars enough to do a whole new squad. The contest had a great turnout, with 45 entries! There were certainly lots of very well-converted and well-painted models. Check out all the other entries Here! The Bolter & Chainsword Forum Moderators also participated, and their 15 entries can be seen Here. |
|
Click HERE for a full-size front view.
|
|
|
|
|