“The Black Templars Are A Loyalist Second Founding Space Marine Chapter…”

“…Derived from the Imperial Fists' gene-seed and their primarch, Rogal Dorn.”

These 6mm scale plastic models of ten space marines used to be produced by “Games Workshop” as part of their now long out of production (OOP) “Epic” range, and were predominantly found whilst I was busy mooching through my original box of “Space Marines” from 1991. However, I’m pretty sure the ‘beaky’ marine sculpts were actually acquired second-hand, as they were already primed on the sprue with a thick, black paint and were part of the game’s first edition, which was released a couple of years earlier than the version I bought.

These figures’ perplexing undercoat also meant that I would struggle to re-paint the diminutive Adeptus Astartes in any other Chapter colours if I didn’t want their already somewhat soft detail to worsen. So as a result I decided to make them all Black Templars and just ‘pick out’ their shoulder-pads and bolters, rather than risk anything else which would add an extra layer or two to the models.

"Their origin can be traced back to the Imperial Fists' defence of Terra during the Horus Heresy."

I was though unhappy at the thought of my ten-man unit simply comprising of Corvus armoured warriors, so rummaged around until I had found a few (updated) sculpts wearing Mark VII armour. I’d actually previously painted these figures as Ultramarines, but felt the unimpressive thirty year plus paint-jobs could easily be expunged by the self-same heavily watered-down prime of “Citadel” Abaddon Black which I gave their ‘beaky’ brethren.

Once dry, all the space marines’ shoulder-pads were treated to a double-coat of watered-down “Vallejo” White and Pale Grey, whilst their bolters were given a combination of “Vallejo” Gunmetal and “Citadel” Nuln Oil. I did actually attempt to apply some “Citadel” Abaddon Black to the shoulder-pad ridges of the Aquila armoured Adeptus Astartes. Sadly though, my skill with a paint-brush to successfully achieve such straight lines was distinctly lacking, so I soon settled upon the entire shoulder-pad simply being a single colour, and just dry-brushed them all with (more) “Vallejo” White after applying the Pale Grey.

"Warlord Games" WIPs - Four Royalist Pikemen primed in "Vallejo" Heavy Red

Stepping well away from my latest science-fiction based entry into the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, I have assembled and primed four 28mm plastic Pikemen by “Warlord Games” for a project I plan to patiently pursue throughout the entirety of next year – if not, beyond. I have always wanted to be able to play a large, mass-scaled historical battle, yet despite dabbling in Napoleonic armies at various scales over the decades, have never managed to get anywhere close to the breath-taking numbers required for such a feat.

Having recently reread the “Pike & Shotte” English Civil War expansion “To Kill A King” though, I’m hoping a change of war theatre and century might just make such a project a possibility. Working on the principle of having two opposing forces solely consisting of a Pike unit, two Musketeer units and a troop of cavalry by this time next year, I aim to finish just a handful of figures a month, and have duly started on a quartet of Pikemen for the King’s Lifeguard…