What's on the table: TACTICALS!

In a couple of previous posts, you might have glimpsed, them, well, here they are now, dominating my table:

As part of a Grande Planne to get some use out of Tacticals again, I've started work on 2 squads of Tactical Marines. All these models are a few years old and have been gathering dust on my shelves since I discovered the joys of Blood Angel Assault Marines in Razorbacks, which is to say, a hell of a long time. The marines with heavy weapons on the right have been waiting to be fielded in some way since I constructed them. I think of it as one of the perks of having an old collection, really. When I want to assemble a new unit, sometimes, just sometimes, I can reach into my reservoir of neglected plastic and pull out goodies. Like E K Tycho.

Anyway, here's a stage by stage breakdown of what I'm doing with them.


Stage 1: Spraying. All these models were assembled years ago and forgotten in favour of their trendier brethren, the Assault Marines. I put them together when I was new to the hobby, and many were half painted. I have since refined my technique, so a sprayed coat of Mephiston Red for everybody!

Stage 2: Fortunately, I acquired a few bottles of Blood Red before it went out of production, just in case. I've always been drawn to how bright it looks on the battlefield. So, all my Blood Angels go forth armoured in Blood Red. With Mephiston Red as a base, a couple of thin coats of Blood Red will suffice.

Stage 3: This is probably the biggest leap in my skills since I first started. I used to shade all the lines on power armour by drawing into them with a technical pen. These days, I find I get better, cleaner results with a brush loaded with Devlan Mud or Agrax Earthshade. This is probably the most horribly tedious stage of the lot.

That's as far as I'll cover for the moment. I'll do the remaining stages later. In the meantime, here're a couple of models of particular significance to me.

This sergeant here is possibly the 2nd model I constructed, back before the Blood Angels got their 5th edition codex.

He's the designated leader of the very first squad of Tactical Marines I ever painted, and a year or two ago, I had decided I wanted to repaint him. That was way back when I was still using the Citadel Spray Gun. I sprayed him, drew in the lines with the technical pen, and promptly forgot about him.

In March 2012, I got myself a can of Army Painter Pure Red and gave Tacticals a shot again.

Not bad, now that I look at it, so I decided to leave him. I think I might want to shade him again.

And this little dude here is a member of that first Tactical Squad I mentioned earlier.

Hell, I don't even remember how I painted him. I think I might have conceivably painted his red the hard way, i.e. coat after coat of Blood Red on a black undercoat; an absurdly tedious process. I think the squad aged rather well. In any case, the squad kind of has some sentimental value to me, so I'm not touching their paint job. I'll just give the sarge an upgrade, and leave it at that.