Leave It To Reivers (Part 5)

The new guys, ready to join their peers.

The Ultramarines Reivers are now finished.  I finished the two models from the last post as well as added the grav chutes to the three models finished way back in the early days of 40k 8th edition. 

Grav chutes added.

There's not a whole lot to tell. I will say that I painted the grav chutes on the the sprue because they are very tiny parts and this was the easiest way to paint them. After they were painted, I clipped them off, glued them to the nozzles on the backpacks.  One glued on, I touched up the unpainted areas with the highligh color (Fenrisian Grey in this case). 

The old guys get their grav chutes.

And now I have a five-man squad of fully painted Reivers. This is the scheme I came up with using a  test model a few years ago, and I am happy to say I still think it holds up. 

And finally, five do a squad make. 

I am very pleased with this unit and look forward to expanding my old Ultramarines with some more Primaris brothers as well as finishing some of their Firstborn brothers also.  (How come I always feel like I am jinxing myself with declarations like that? )

Leave it to Reivers (Part 4)

 When I finished this 3 man squad back in 2017*, I knew that one day I would probably need to expand these guys.  These were the three man snapfit kit that GW sold during 8th edition, which they pulled when 9th came out (were they too "cheap"?). When this kit was pulled the three man option went away as well. I have a squad of these guys for my Space Wolves as well, and both units need to be brought up to a five man legal minimal size limit.  I picked up a sprue of five on eBay to allow me to finish both squads (with one left over).

First up is the Ultramarines for no other reason I guess than that I'm in a blue mood.  I want to model at least one guy with a grapnel launcher and give the entire unit grav-chutes. I chose the arm option that is holding up the grapnel for the Ultramarines.

Grapnel at the ready.

And standard guy charging with a knife. Maybe this one would've be better suited as a Space Wolf but...what the heck, he'll cool regardless of chapter. 

Charging with a knife guy.

And I am serious about those grav chutes. Here they are on the two new guy's backpacks. They're a tad tricky to attach and I am not looking forward to the fight I foresee having putting them on the older miniatures.

Grav chutes 

Over the past few weeks I dabbled on these guys when I had a little free time. I used the method as shown in the Ultramarine Color Test post a few years ago. 

Amd they are almost done! 

A few more highlights on some of the non-blue areas, the eyes, some clean up and decals and they'll be done and ready to join their brothers. 

I find the grapnels, for what they are and do, to be really large. They're about as large as a grot! With the power that launcher must have behind it I am surprised it can't be alternatively used as a harpoon gun! 

*This post could be cited as an example of "threadomancy" on some of the groups I used to frequent. 

Space Wolf Primaris Reivers (Part 2)

This trio is finally done! (I know you can only see two in the top pic, but trust me here...) Moving on from Part-1 was a slow undertaking. I dabbled on them a bit while painting the Stormhawk Interceptor but it wasn't until I finished with that model that I really gave these guys the proper attention.

The Space Wolf Grey stage. 

In April I replaced my old cutting mat with a new one by The Army Painter. The pics Ibhave been taking have been more interesting however it's not a self healing mat and it's already taking damage from the brutality that I inflict on surfaces while I build models. I will likely have to replace it soon.

Also in May our dog died. I bought a miniature of a wolf that I am going to paint as a homage to her, and this pic shows what the mini looks like next to one of these guys. (More on this in a future a post).

"You're about to piss, aren't you?"

Deciding on how to paint this guy's hair was an interesting challenge. I painted in FoltArt English Mustard before giving it a Brown Ink wash.

English Mustard hair.

After that I dry brushed on Mournfang Brow, highlighted with Averland Sunrise and glazed with Agrax Earthshade.

Hair by Chapter Serfs.

 I used Averland Sunrise for the banding on the wire that's on the back of his left arm.

Decals fun time. So using the technique I talked about in Stormhawk Interceptor Part 7 however that technique was done on flat surfaces for the most part. Marine pauldrons on the other hand...*sigh* ...these things are just a pain in the ass. I had to combine that technique with my previous method using Microset. After a few complications I got the decals finished.

A few touch-ups and some grass clumps, and these guys were indeed finished.

And, despite the cloudiness, it wasn't raining for a change, so out we went for some location shots.

Scout'n about.

Against the psychic attack fungi of Unicoius Prime.

What's next for these guys? I am tempted to expand them up to a 5 man team just so I can use them in 40k games, but for now they will likely see action in games of Kill Team if at all. If that happens I will do a Part 3. But this particular trio is now finished.

Space Wolf Primaris Reivers (Part 1)

In a recent game of Kill Team I was schooled in the awesomeness that are the Primaris Reivers (well, in Kill Team anyway). So impressed was I that I bought another three-man set before heading out that day. I wasn't so eager as to buy the full 10 man box that GW sells, or the Space Wolf Kill Team five-man boxed set, but a squad of three would work out just fine for future Kill Team games. That weekend I set about assembling these models. I used a few Space Wolf bits to customize these guys, simple stuff really, nothing too advanced.

You might recall that this isn't the first time that I have painted these models. When they first came out in 2017 I painted a box of these for my Ultramarines. I was impressed with how those turned out and how easy they were to work with overall.

After some set backs, I found a few brief windows in my fleeting time to work on these guys a bit, and I got them mostly basecoated.  Hopefully I can get these models painted soon, along with their Intercessor brothers. At the time of this writing  I have actually progressed a bit beyond the pic below, as I have been dabbling with them as I work on the Stormhawk Interceptor. Hopefully I will have more pics to show you soon...

Basecoated with The Fang.

Leave it to Reivers (Part 3)

With a few hours to spare on a day off I managed to complete The Reivers.

Reivers on patrol.

They were mostly done by the end of Part 2, but decal application is always something that takes me more time than it probably should. But today, I was determined to get the decals done.  So they were and so was the final painted details and the flocking of the base.

Decals done!

 Here are some individual shots:

And here they are joined by the regular marine that I painted prior to these guys in order to test out my Ultramarines paint scheme. He looks so tiny next to these guys...

Grass added and touch-ups done.

And, like I have been doing lately when I complete a project, I like to take the models outside to get some natural lighting shots and to photo them in an environment that isn't my painting station.

Still patroling...

"Look Sarge, up there!"

So there they are, my first fully painted Primaris Marines and my most recent additions to my Ultramarines. I do plan on doing more with this army but there are a few other projects I want to complete before the new year.

Leave it to Reivers (part 2)

Here we are with the work in progress on the Reivers.

Almost there! 

And after a bit of debate I decided to paint them as Ultramarines after I completed the Ultramarine color test . I was quite pleased with that, so the following images will show me following those same steps.

Space Marine Blue base coat.

Maragge Blue layer.

Ultramarines blue layer. 

Fenrisian Grey highlights.

Fenrisian Grey highlights & dark areas basecoated black. 

Fenrisian Grey basecoat on their death masks.

Other details painted.

In the above pic I painted the metal bits, the gold skulls, the red trim on the pauldrons, and the grenades in a few different colors. And I painted a thin line of Pewter Grey along the edges of the black bits (pouches, holsters, etc.). After a correspondence with Da Masta Cheef he reminded me tbat the gun barrels needed to be drilled out (without screwing them up!).

Gun barrels drilled out. 

 Although there isn't that much more to do but a few more details and the decals, I decided to leave all that for Part 3.

Leave it to Reivers (Part 1)

When this new edition of 40k arrived last month, I was excited, but not so excited that I had to have it on launch day. Thankfully I had a look at a preview copy to see how little rules content was actually in the $60 hardcover book and decided to pass on getting just that.

The big boxed set had some cool looking models but nothing I felt I had to have. But with the arrival of Know No Fear, a half priced starter set with a smaller book, a lot of the new models and some easy to teach intro scenarios, I decided to go for it. The discounts I got at my local hobby store enabled me to get a a free box of the new Primaris Reivers as well, so I figured that was a win. They are kinda neat and, weirdly enough  I am more interested in them at the moment than I am anything else I purchased that day (although I am thinking a lot about Papa Nurgle). Now let's look at these Reivers...

Little box, big hopes.

I am always happy to see art work on a box as opposed to photos of the models. There is just something about that I appreciate more. Cracking open the box and laying out the contents we get a single blue sprue, 3 bases, decals and a booklet.

For monopose snapfit models they sure have a lot of bits! And the instructions you'll quickly realize are surprisingly vital. Althougn they are easy to comprehend and within a few minutes, give a little bit of time for flash and mold-line clean-up, and presto you got 3 completed marines. Also it is nice to FINALLY see GW produce some 32mm slotta bases. I hope they make these available seperately at some point.

The 3 Reavers assembled.

 That's three completed BIG marines I must stress. Compared to their traditional older Battle Brothers, they are freak'n huge!

Freak'n huge!

But the heads remain somewhat scaled with the older marines, which in turn makes their proportions something like refrigerators, on stilts, with helmets on top of them. Oh, and while I am thinking about their heads I have got to gush about my favorite aspect of these minis: their heads actually MOVE! How cool is that? Oddly pointless as far as the game is concerned, but neat as heck as far as models go!

"Look to the left! Look to the right!"

Ultimately, I think I like these guys even though they seem to be armed somewhat strangely for such big guys. But now I must make the ultimate choice of picking how to paint them. I have 2 Codex Chapters: Ultramarines and Celestial Lions. I am about 85% in favor of the Ultramarines at this point. We shall see in Part 2 which way I ultimately go...

"You all come back now, y'hear?" (In booming speaker-voice).