Looking back on 25 years of hobbying with Space Marines
As with many other wargamers, Warhammer have had a huge impact on my hobby. During my 25 years of painting toy soldiers Space Marines have been a constant.
But let’s start from the beginning - in 1998.
A squad from the Blood Angels second company search for hostile life forms. Primus Tergum, subtropical zone, 3453999.M41.
998.M02
I was introduced to the hobby of wargaming in 1998 when I was 11 years old. My younger brother received a Warhammer Fantasy paint set for his birthday. He was a bit too young and wasn’t interested (and still isn’t) but I was instantly hooked (and still is). The same year the third edition of Warhammer 40 000 was released. This was the edition that introduced the now familiar concept of ”grim dark”. Along this new edition came updated multi-part plastic Space Marines. Plastic Space Marines had been around since 1987 but the ones released in 1998 were something quite different. Details were crisp, there were a choice of parts and weapons and you could somewhat pose the miniatures. Young me was pretty impressed with this. Inspired by artwork and images of miniatures in codices and issues of White Dwarf I started painting.
At first I dabbled a little here and there. Just assembling the miniature was a monumental task (to be fair it is pretty hard to line up the arms with the boltgun…). I didn’t know what a primer was, not to mention ”two thin coats”. There were guides in some places but they were either too rudimentary or too advanced (’Eavy Metal Masterclass anyone?).
Anyway, I ended up with this:
Yes I signed it, doesn’t everyone do that?
My very first ever completed miniature. A Blood Angels Space Marine. One of ten miniatures from the box.
I don’t remember what happened to the rest.
25 years later
Some months ago Games Workshop announced the retirement of a lot of Space Marine kits, a few of which were introduced around the same time I started this hobby. The Space Marines I grew up with are now known as Firstborn and look like wide legged Squats next to the more modern Primaris. The latest iteration of a Space Marine Tactical Squad is from 2014 I believe but many parts of it are indistinguishable from the 1998 kit. It’s probably just a matter of time before this kit will be retired too.
As there is a time for everything it’s probably for the best.
But I'm not someone who doesn't want to wallow in a little nostalgia. While browsing Swedish Ebay, Tradera, I stumbled upon a box of those 1998 Space Marines (although in a 2002 box, but the content is the same).
I couldn’t help myself. and a couple of days later this arrived.
There were actually just nine marines in the box so I had to supplement it with a purchase from Ebay. Still turned out a lot cheaper than what these things can sell for. For some reason these marines are a lot harder to find than many other kits it seems.
By the blood of Sanguinius!
So the plan was simply to paint up a squad of Blood Angels that would make 11 year old me proud and present day 37 year old me teary-eyed of nostalgia.
Why Blood Angels then? I’m not really sure actually, might have been because they were featured in White Dwarf or a hobby brochure, or because Blood Red was one of the paints I owned. Either way I chose the Sons of Sanguinius as my chapter (or rather marine as I probably only painted the one. I moved on to Crimson Fists later).
There are a lot of incredibly talented miniature painters out there to be inspired by and many of them seem to be as weak for nostalgia as I am. Darren Latham, renowned miniature designer and painter, ran a 90’s marine challenge last year and painted up this Ultramarine. There is also the very talented Ben Soini, better known as Whiskeandwizards on Instagram, who is a master of the 90’s Games Workshop colour palette. The aptly named goblingreen2021 also produces some amazing 90’s colours on old and new marines.
I don’t really have the skill to paint anything close to the examples above so I decided to do something a little more modern. One of my favourite YouTube-channels for painting is Cult of Paint and especially Henry Steele’s army painting-guides. These are very straightforward and the techniques are not too advanced, it always feels like I learned something new when watching them. A common technique Henry uses is pre-shading and Space Marines are excellent subjects for this kind of painting style. Basically what you do is highlight your model using an airbrush in black and white and then add several thin coats of a transparent colour. The large curved surfaces of the Space Marine are perfect for letting your airbrush do most of the work here. Blood Angels are extra good for this as they are completely red so we don’t need to bother with sub-assemblies or masking. I only kept the Bolter separate so it would be easier to access the chest eagles. This isn’t a guide to pre-shading so if you would like to know more I recommend you check out Cult of Paints guide on Youtube.
First thwe pre-shade, then the two contrast paints and finally a gloss varnish and the panel line. After this strong single colour chapters like the Blood Angels are about 90 percent done.
After basecoating the model with a black primer I used Tamiya XF1 Black as a base, thinned out XF2 White and added highlights, probably eight or nine layers to get it smooth and bright. I then thinned Blood Angels contrast paint a little and airbrushed three or four layers all over the model. To smooth out some of the midtones and add some saturation in the shadows I thinned and airbrushed Flesh Tearers contrast paint into the shadows of the model.
Once the paint was dry I gloss varnished all the models to protect the paint job but mostly to lower the surface tension in preparation for the next step. To create some more definition on the model I used Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color. It’s basically a ready made oil wash that’s used to pick out the panels on model airplanes. Luckily for us there’s a lot of panels on Space Marines too so I just go round the model dipping the little brush in the recesses and let the panel liner flow.
When the paint was dry I went over the whole miniature filling in the black details like the boltgun, some parts on the backpack, the eagle on the chest, the arm folds and so on with Vallejo Model Colour Black. I didn’t paint the shoulder pad trim black because I don’t think that is as nice as when it is completely red. But I did fill in the sergeants shoulder pads with black as per the 2nd edition Codex Angels of Death. I then painted all metallic parts, so parts of the boltgun, the face grill, exhausts on the backpack and so on, with Vallejo Metal Colour Exhaust Manifold. The muzzle of the flamethrower was painted with Scale75 Decayed Metal. I then created some definition around the metal parts by using the Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color.
I wanted another type of black for the chest eagle and green is a good contrast for red plus I really like Incubi Darkness by Games Workshop. The Incubi Darkness was mixed three to one with black to darken it down just a little bit more and was then used as a highlight for the eagle. I then added Vallejo Model Air Aged White for the next highlight. The boltgun was edge highlighted with Vallejo Model Air Dark Sea Grey, once done the sharpest edges and corners were picked out in Sea Grey. Any gold parts, there’s a few on the sergeants, were painted with Scale75 Necro Gold and then I just used the panelliner again to create some definition. Any purity seals were basecoated with Barak-Nar Burgundy from Games Workshop to break up the red a bit. This was washed with Nuln Oil, also from Games Workshop, and highlighted with Barak-Nar. Games Workshop Rakarth Flesh was added to the Barak-Nar for a further highlight. Rakarth Flesh was used for the parchment of the purity seal, washed Seraphim Sepia and highlighted again with Rakarth. A flat white was added to Rakarth Flesh for further highlights.
There’s a few leather parts on the miniatures, these were basecoated with Games Workshop Mournfang Brown, washed with Nuln Oil, highlighted with Mournfang again and then a final highlight with Skrag Brown. To bind these colours a bit more I wash the leather parts with Seraphim Sepia. To keep the little tint of green that was added to the chest eagle going I based the eye lenses with Incubi Darkness, highlighted with Kabalite Green and then Sybarite Green. If you are bold you can add a final small dot of white in the corner of the eye.
Teary-eyed with nostalgia
After some matt varnish and basing I ended up with these. I can’t speak for 11 year old me but present me is really happy with them. I actually think these 25 year old sculpts hold up pretty good. Sure they can’t really compete in detail, crispness or animation with the modern Primaris marines but they still embody that iconic Space Marine-look. Perhaps even more than their more modern variant.
Here’s how I made this diorama of two dueling samurais inside a glass jar for my fathers birthday.