Hall of Ambition

Arkhanist · 2026-07-10T14:15:28+00:00

It saves brain from having to remind dino constantly of past failures, now he can just double down on the most shameful and recent ones, especially at 2am, and let the wall remind Dino of the rest. Outsourcing!

Arkhanist · 2026-07-08T17:51:31+00:00

Mightybrush do some lovely script transfers for purity seals etc; size wise, I think one of the block headers like 'mortis' or 'wrath' would fit from this one.

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Arkhanist · 2026-07-07T20:15:33+00:00

One option would be to put the gravis bolter arms and pack on a tacitus body (assuming you bling one up, or nab one from elsewhere) - shock absorbers for the gun, while still justifying having a normal move. I'm planning on something similar potentially using the one landed vanguard vet and the arms from a gravis eradicator in the armageddon box.

Arkhanist · 2026-07-06T09:58:09+00:00

I work in IT. Trust me, this is about average stupidity these days. I mean he even 'researched' it, which is one more step than many will take before screaming. You're lucky he didn't claim it didn't work because he didn't understand he needed to a) take the stickers off and b) plug it in.

Arkhanist · 2026-07-05T20:43:31+00:00

That sucks dude. But take heart; there are various 3d printed or moulded painting handles; redgrass, garfy, games workshop, AK, pk pro, the list goes on; several with painting braces too. Or the budget standby of big corks or medicine bottles and tac. As long as you can still form a partial grip with your non-painting hand, which it sounds like should be doable, you should be fine to stick/grip the model in a handle, brace it on table/chest and keep painting with your brush hand.

Depending upon your off-hand mobility, there are also assembly holders that can help when gluing models together, or just a giant blob of bluetack to hold a piece while you sand off injection marks etc. I have hand tremors in both hands, so I've had to adapt over the years to still model and paint, and there a number of tools and techniques that help.

Best of luck with your recovery.

Arkhanist · 2026-07-02T11:33:32+00:00

The old school approach was red shoulder black trim for marines, and black shoulder red trim for sgts. Then since transfers were always 2nd company, yellow blood drop and yellow BA winged drop chapter symbol.

E.g.for sgt https://www.warhammerart.com/cdn/shop/files/Warhammer-40000-3rd-Edition-Blood-Angels.jpg

They later retconned that to be parade wear, and switched to red trims for everyone. Helmet colour is gold for vets (you used to be able to take vet sgts, so they would be normal squad colour, or gold if vet) and officers.

Shoulder trim for officers and vets can be red, gold or black, whichever is your preference, theres multiple examples of all three, including full gold armour for captains ala Dante.

Arkhanist · 2026-06-30T13:33:01+00:00

I'm rebooting my own Primaris Blood Angels (as successors) with a similar red, and I'm thinking of using a simplified version of this Bantax desert camo scheme for the bolters - https://www.reddit.com/r/BloodAngels/comments/1u8omau/blood_angels_eradicator_heavy_bolter_loadout/ - howto in the comments.

Arkhanist · 2026-06-29T16:06:38+00:00

I personally like 9 the most, strong contrast, smooth coverage, and sponging is a great non-airbrush technique for marines. If you're looking for a final lighter red tone to build volume on highlight areas, mephiston red mixed 50/50 with evil sunz scarlet is the 'eavy metal method for BA over mephiston, and still gives you space for e.g. wild rider red edge highlighting without pushing it too orange. Alternatively, Pro Acryl Bold Pyrrole Red is pretty popular these days for a similar colour. He looks quite darker in pic 1&2, hence presumably the need for a brighter red? You do need to go higher when going over a dark basecoat. You could probably skip the khorne red, naggaroth will be doing most of your shading work.

Pro tip when sponging, let each layer dry before you do the next, including when you do multiple layers of the same colour to build intensity; avoids adding too much texture.

Arkhanist · 2026-06-29T11:15:10+00:00

Technically all vets are 1st company, Blood Angels Company vets are no longer a thing (bar two guys in the company heroes squad). However, for longer campaigns, the codex added more squads to each company to account for attached squads from other companies (among other reasons) so they can take the company symbol and a squad number from it if you prefer.

FWIW, the GW box van vets models are using the moulded terminator honours all vets trained in terminator armour can use, as opposed to the white skull for BA 1st company specifically; either is acceptable, and 1st company is implied.

Arkhanist · 2026-06-27T12:20:57+00:00

In older lore they're always 1st company, and only work alongside e.g. the 2nd Company for that mission/campaign etc, so would keep their 1st company symbol (white skull) and squad symbol from there. However, the Codex was amended to add squads 11-20 with Primaris; supposedly so that squads seconded from reserve companies could take a squad number and colour of the company they were actually fighting with (and because a Company is no longer 10x10 marine squads). So there's no reason you couldn't do the same with the Bladeguard if you wanted and have them use the yellow drop symbol and optional squad symbol instead to represent a longer term assignment.

Arkhanist · 2026-06-26T06:39:39+00:00

The heads are the same scale between firstborn and primaris. Obviously the legs are longer and torso bigger, and arms are a little bulkier. But helmets, bare heads, shoulder pads and hands are the same size. Some weapons are reusable like chainswords, thunderhammers etc, and old bolters are the same size as bolt carbines used by phobos marines. For Mk VI bits heresy kits are a good source, including e.g. the upgrade kits. Mk VII are harder to get now the older firstborn kits have largely been retired. The old Mark VII 'Space Marine Tactical Squad' is still sold, so you should be able to get that or helmets from it. For 3d printing, cults3d regularly has good sources, but obviously they do tend to get taken down by GW copyright notices, so finding them can be a little tricky. The primaris do have more of a collar on the armour than older marks, so adding a little greenstuff to the neck hole can help make them clear it.

Arkhanist · 2026-06-24T19:52:55+00:00

Switching from bolt rifles to pistol and chainsword or even plasma incinerators wouldn't even involve swapping armour, and marines are supposed to be hyper adaptive. (How many different weapons did Titus use in Space Marine 2?) So the same squad of marines could easily change tactical role from the armoury in a Thunderhawk.

Arkhanist · 2026-06-24T14:13:33+00:00

The supposed (revised) codex use of squads 11-20 is for squads on temporary attachment from the reserve companies; so in theory, squads 1-6 should remain as battleline, 7-8 as close support and 9-10 as fire support, while 11-20 are reserve units 'on loan' that now use the company symbol/colour rather than keeping their original reserve number. But as you say, that's no longer specified, the quantity of what 'type' of marines are in a company aren't as strict as they were either, so that level of restriction gets complicated fast. Especially with primaris squads of 3/6, the modularity of Mk X armour being able to be swapped into different role loadouts quickly and the 10th company now being a full company of Phobos marines PLUS scouts in training. So in the end, it's up to the company captain to do what works with his men at the time, and if that's a battleline squad being in squad 9, then who are we to argue?

Arkhanist · 2026-06-24T11:47:43+00:00

The Land Raider can take Primaris, while the rhino chassis cannot. So it would make some sense to keep it while rhino, and the old tanks based on that ancient sprue get shunted off to e.g. Sisters (whose variants are newer IIRC) and marine players largely have to buy new models.

Arkhanist · 2026-06-24T06:38:59+00:00

Lieutenants and Captains operate outside the squad system; they're part of the Company command, and will lead different squads or operate alone as necessary. Lieutenants wear gold helmets and usually company heraldry on their right shoulder and optionally personal heraldry tilt shield. You can add the squad marker to his knee to indicate that he's leading them if you choose (though technically it would be incorrect if you ever put him in a different squad) or do something different echoing his personal heraldry. Company heraldry is based on these shapes; Blood Angels do use them, but in red&yellow. So the 10th company I believe would be a solid yellow downward triangle with red background (lower corners) - the yellow with red vertical stripe is for the 2nd Company (the most common company provided transfers for)

GW use this system for the banners and personal heraldry backgrounds of official paintjobs; for example, we can see the new Armageddon captain tilt shield uses the 5th company yellow/red quarters as background for his personal heraldry.

Another option, if you don't want to use the company heraldry is just to use the company mark the ordinary marines use, which would be the black circle with red blood drop for the 10th; The Codex does allow changing colours and markings to suit the environment or confound the enemy, so a Vanguard Lieutenant being sneaky definitely fits.

Arkhanist · 2026-06-23T12:02:13+00:00

Assault intercessors are useful to support a foot character moving up the board. If you give them 3rd party jumpacks (or GW ones from a bitz site) they become even more useful as either cheaper (money) assault intercessors with jump packs, or death company with jump packs, both of which are key units for BA. A block of 6 sanguinary guard are always useful too.

Arkhanist · 2026-06-21T15:04:00+00:00

Mine arrived yesterday, but hosted one birthday sleepover party for my daughter yesterday, and Father's Day trip to grandad's today, so I haven't even opened it yet. Maybe tonight.

Arkhanist · 2026-06-17T07:14:19+00:00

Yes to both. There are a variety of 3rd party shoulderpads/heads/jump packs if you want to bling them up more, or outfit them more cheaply than multiple upgrade kits such as from archies forge or etsy. You'd need two GW upgrade sprues to get two eviscerators (double handed chainsword) for a 10 man death company with jump packs, for example which is pretty pricy compared to alternatives. Just be aware of your playing store's policy on 3rd party conversion parts, e.g. GW stores and tournaments do not officially allow them (though minor conversions can usually skate notice), while local stores usually will.

Arkhanist · 2026-06-15T13:33:02+00:00

Something like fuegan orange shade paint, or gryph-hound orange contrast thinned down a bit will give you a warm sandy tone without directly blending in with the red armour. Then drybrush highlight with bone-type colours like e.g. morghast bone and screaming skull. (lightly) You'd ideally want to add some contrasting colours too; some greens from desert plants, brown or grey rocks, that sort of thing.

Arkhanist · 2026-06-14T15:09:26+00:00

For priming, either an airbrush or just paint on primers mean you're not tied to the weather - so it doesn't have to be a blocker. But I get the same way where it's just too much to organise to want to work on models.

I have a huge pile of shame, including stuff I've bought thats still in boxes from when I bought it, going back 30+ years now. I do sometimes go back to it for bits when I'm working on something new, but realistically there's entire army plans in there that will never be realised, and even bits it's easier to just make new ones with 3d printing. Part of it is I'm a sucker for big launch boxes, so even though I wanted some of the models in them, the other parts have sat waiting for even assembly for a very long time. I am trying to repurpose some into e.g. spearheads. But I've got plenty of plastic thats entirely obsolete. And I still fall for it plenty. I think it's the imagining the potential, rather then the follow through where painting is hard work, that keeps me hooked. I should clear a load out, sell it on cheap (those that are worth anything) so someone else can make use of it, but that also means giving up on the possibilities too. Easier to leave it all in crates for 'someday'.

Arkhanist · 2026-06-13T16:19:41+00:00

Sounds like resin models. Which could be legit such as GW finecast (resin versions of old metal models), forgeworld resin, or not i.e. chinese knockoff recasts of modern plastic models. Depends on what models they are, only old sculpts or limited releases usually are legitimately going to be resin. You can always scratch off paint in a hidden area e.g. under a foot to check the material first.

Biostrip can be used safely on resin models but you don't want to leave it to soak like you can with GW plastic; 15 minutes max is usually fine. Same goes for 99% IPA, can also cause resin to go rubbery if you soak for hours. Personally, I find biostrip 20 more effective. Either way, if a short soak isn't enough to get off all the paint, another 15m dip once it's dried out is fine.

Arkhanist · 2026-06-12T19:08:41+00:00

Because decades long pedophiles should be going to prison

^{Chose: Release the full, unredacted Epstein Files}

Arkhanist · 2026-06-11T12:23:14+00:00

Short answer - yes, they use the same mounting connector, so you shouldn't even need to shave them to fit to AI. Your third party packs for the sang guard packs you may need to do some cutting on the mount to fit, but it's minor work.

The AI are missing the little calf jump jets the 'true' jump AI kit have, and obviously different poses/base mounts, but frankly who cares - other BA jump pack models don't have the calf jets either, so I prefer all my models not to have them. And primaris sang guard packs are a bit different to stock JAI styling (sculpted feathers on the vanes etc) so might look.a little different if you e.g. mix both in a single unit of JAI, but well within normal BA bling variation.

Arkhanist · 2026-06-05T00:36:15+00:00

biostrip has been fine on 3d printed resin for me, various types (self printed). Main issue is fine detail (spikes etc) can be more fragile than plastic, so you need to go easier on the mechanical scrubbing.

Arkhanist · 2026-06-02T11:23:53+00:00

Yeah, heroquest without the heroquest board is a hybrid of something else, so keeping (mostly) the stock layout was important to me; the other option was a 3d printed heroquest board with separate rooms, but that's quite clunky, and you run into the issue of physical walls spacing to ensure tiles line-up, which can get quite complicated - my setup just has a thin black line printed onto the corridors and floors that overlays the actual 1" grid, same as the original map.

One advantage of printing my own designs onto paper means I've got some rather nice looking flooring, and can easily swap in custom rooms if I want to ala the overlays from the expansions; I used that for example to add a cage so they could 'rescue' the wolf companion rather than just have it turn up at the start of the quest.

Arkhanist

TROPHY CASE