6th Squad, 4th Company

 Tactical Squad Zanthor 

Fascinated by the idea that the transfer sheet labels are ACTUALLY TRANSFERS THEMSELVES! I added the transfers to the apocalypse bases which involved quite a bit of decal bending trickery.

Marching into formation along side their battle brothers in the 4th Company of the Dark Angels, Squad Zanthor is ready to join the fray.  This squad was painted in my overexaggerated 2nd edition style and serve the twin goals of being my first two months submission in the WH40K 2nd edition army challenge, as well as the now third tactical squad to join my growing 4th company of the Dark Angels in all their fully painted glory.  Follow along after the jump for pictures of all the angles of my most recent project finish and some self serving reflections on my first year of blogging...

Veteran Sergeant Zanthor's sword features my first try at hazard stripes and it fulfilled all my RT era teenage dreams of what a chainsword should like.

In the late 90's when I really starting painting and playing third edition frequently, GW would sell a "Warhammer 40,000 Paint Set" that I think was a spiritual successor to the Space Marine Paint set of old.  Along with nine paints and a starter brush you would also get a random assortment of five of the 2nd edition monopose marines, maybe because even seven years after the premier of 2nd edition they still had thousands of these guys piled up in the warehouse. So obviously I have owned these marines for a very long time, however when I first bought them and in the years since I have always disregarded them in favor of the newer, shinier multi-pose space marine models.  

This unit was made the sixth squad in part because as proud as I may be of what I accomplished with their simple details, I still want them standing in the back ranks of any future 4th Company group photos.

The 2nd edition challenge has progressed my hobby skills in a lot of ways, and the joy of painting these single pose marines is another way the challenge has opened my eyes to something I wouldn't have experienced otherwise.  Although six of the ten members of the squad had identical poses, they are loaded with detail compared to other plastic miniatures of the time.  Holster, pouches, scabbard, knife, small skulls on each helmet, and crisp lines on the chest eagles made these marines really come to life as I painted them.  When Dr TV first announced the challenge I included these marines as perfunctory list fillers instead of hunting for their metal compatriots on Ebay.  However as I painted this squad through August and September I really enjoyed catching all the details and working on my blending skills in the large flat armor panels to get that vibrant 2nd edition look to them.  

The second combat squad features the only marines in this unit that were not included in the 2nd edition box set but are from the same era.  When I was buying marines with special weapons for my DA army in the early heydey of 3rd edition, my only option was the peg warmer blister - Marine with Melta-gun or Marine with Plasma-gun - still on the shelves from their release in 2nd edition.  As you can see above they were definitely sculpted to fit right in with the plastic marines form the box set or their equivalent pewter comrades from the same era, Space Marines in Mk VII armor first released in the Imperial Space Marine Strike Force Box which I will have to talk about in more detail someday.  One of those marines would come in the blister with your special weapon marine and you can see that mini in the picture below, he is the gentleman armed with the combat knife and bolter.  

This combat squad also includes a green stuff banner I made on a lark over a year ago because I had activated too much of the putty for what I was using it for and needed a way to use up the excess.  At the time I literally thought, "I have far too many of these 2nd edition banner poles and I'll never use them for anything".  So I tried as best as I could to make a slightly curved rectangular shape but I don't know a whole lot about the intricacies of green stuff beyond gap filling so as you can see my attempt at banner with roundel came out a little asymmetrical.  At the time I was unsatisfied with how the large lump of definitely not banner thin putty came out so I put it aside thinking it might ride in my bit box forever.  

Fast forward to last month and as I was looking for banner pole options for this squad since every ten marine squad back in 2nd had two banners, I realized that the banner backpack I had used for the green stuff was one of the specific push to fit backpacks made for the plastic 2nd edition marines.  I started throwing paint on it, afraid of how it was going to look but I was pleasantly surprised to find that with a sufficiently decent paint job it actually looked pretty good.  At least from the front, from the sides and back it's genesis as a large mound of putty was very obvious.  However since Space Marines never retreat how many people are ever going to see the back of my marines anyway?  

There were just enough classic backpacks left to equip this squad in a period appropriate fashion, although some are not the push to fit version that would have come with these minis originally.

When I started this blog last year I had never fully completed painting any of my miniatures in 30 odd years of gaming, collecting, and painting - with painting being the lowest priority on that list for many years.  In the last year I've finished three tactical squads, an HQ unit and two dreadnoughts for my primary wargaming love, the Dark Angels, plus several side projects and opposing forces along the way.  In the most positive light, I find it interesting that the fact that I never fully finished painting my models for so many years has now given me a unique and unexpected advantage.  It has allowed me to reorganize my models from many years of collecting into unit configurations that fit period or narrative themes and then paint them to a level that I could have never achieved when I first bought them.  

Blending, decals, varnish, drilling, pinning, paper banners, freehand work, and green stuff were all things I had read about for years but never really tried before this last year of blogging and getting involved in challenges with other parts of the gaming community.  After the end of NOVA 2019 I had so much hobby energy leftover from that very positive experience that painting and playing were not expending all the energy between them.  So presciently following the advice of Dave Taylor and Uncle Atom before I had read or saw them, I started this blog as a way to participate in Dreadtober 2019 and give an outlet to all the hobby thoughts and projects I got into after my first real gaming convention experience in my now 30 years of engaging with the hobby.  Thanks to all who have read along and I really appreciate all those who have commented, here's to another year of hobby progress and long winded posts about said progress :-)  Happy Halloween and stay safe out there!

Arrayed on the field of battle under ominous skies.