Star Phantoms

[Ithmaril]

Hey folks,

having quite a lot vanilla Marine stuff left from a PH project I'm currently selling, I took the time to paint one of the unconverted Sergeants in my currently favourite Marine scheme- BoLS' very own Star Phantoms from the Badab War Codex. Just for fun. I enjoyed it quite a lot (more than I thought), although I'm not sure what to do with the base.



Now I actually have the urge and materials to go on, although I don't have exactly the time for another project, and didn't want to turn back to 40k so soon. But the urge is there. I could imagine doing a small strike force, maybe to play it, maybe to sell it off... and so on. Really, I don't know yet, but they're fun.

So... What do you think? Would you like to see more of these? Any ideas for chapter-specific elements to include? Or the base? How would you imagine a typical Star Phantom army? Talk to me, people. Every kind of feedback is very much welcome at this stage.

Cheers,
Ith

[Horus Aximand]

Looks good, Ithmaril (remember me?)

the paiunting is up to your usual standards, and I simply think that it would just look perfect with a desert/wastes base, just something to break up the greys and blues of the model.

[Ithmaril]

Of course I remember you, thanks for the input. I actually had exactly the same thought about the bases, but I'm still hesitating. It depends on what I'll make out of this whole thing- If it's bound to become a gaming army of mine, there's no desert table in any of the stores I play in. If they become pieces for ebay or display, it doesn't matter... and so on. But, yeah, That cold greys and blues definitly need some contrast.

Okay, I see, the BoLS Lounge is a difficult battleground, and I need more than one mere Sergeant to impress anyone in here. Stay tuned for more tryout stuff I'm currently cooking up.

[Powerslave]

Very nice - and clean. I like how you did the skin, well done. The blue is also nicely done, gives an impression of a shine. If I can suggest something - I think the exhaust / ventillation tubes / pipes on the powerpack should be metallic, that would give you more variety on the miniature.

I think the sword and the grenade can use a bit more highlighting / depth though.

Overall, very good job, I like it!

PS - you should base them with a contrasting scheme to make the mini stand out more (as it was suggested by Ithmaril)

[Ithmaril]

Hey Powerslave, thanks for taking the time to answer. I'll keep the metallic exhaust idea in the back of my head, it would be easy enough to try. There's of course a "but" to it, and I'll explain it below. By the way, I'm Ithmaril, the guy who suggested the desert bases was Horus Aximand.

Okay, so, I officially entered Phase 2. While Phase 1 is usually "paint something and check if it's fun and looks cool", this was about "paint a small assembly line, check if it's still fun, and how it can be pulled off faster." So, it's 3 more Macragge Marines, including a simple Melta conversion.



Note that I leaned slightly towards army painting by giving up some quality in favor of speed- I think they still deliver.

Now, the thing about Powerslaves suggestion to add complexity by making the exhausts metallic: As soon as I saw that helmets, I wanted to have them more complex than simple blue, by making parts of them grey and metal, and giving the models subtle red glowing eyes. And I think that it's enough to give the scheme some more depth without using metallics on non-functional components as a third heraldy colour- but I'm still very open towards suggestions.

Next step will be the bases, and also something more unusual, so stay tuned. By the way, now, I haven't forgotten about the chapter logo, but I'm waiting with that until I decide how much of them are gonna cross my painting table. Small amouts? Freehand. Army? Buy decal sheets to print the BoLS ones.

[Aldramelech]

I like..... Very nice, business like looking marines. Maybe a very subtle shade on the inside of the white lining on the shoulder pads?

[Bigred]

Bravo! Star Phantoms, and great looking ones as well.

The basing will be a challenge, but with the fluff of tricksy nocturnal urban fighting, perhaps something brooding and urban.

The trick will be to not just go with the standard grey urban stuff we see everywhere, but something with some contrast. Perhaps Badab as a reddish-brownish rusted out fortress world, with a tad of mud...

I also can't wait to see your take on Androcles...

[Emperorsmercy]

Very nice, especially the skulls on the back of the exhaust. I'm not sure about the helmet though... something about them seem a little bt out ofplace, im not sure if Im making sense, but it might be the gray, which weirdly only looks odd there. I should probably stop before i ramble on too much.

[Kanaellars]

I just have to say.... if you got rid of the blue and added some yellow, that shade of gray would make some BEATUTFUL Space Wolves.

Truely beautiful.

How do you get that grey?

[Ithmaril]

Thanks a lot, guys, I really appreciate the input.

Aldramelech: I've considered doinmg something like that too, because the further you get away from the minis, the more they look like "glowing white trims on black/grey". Let's see what I can do. Glad you like.

Bigred: Thanks for taking the time to stop by- yes, I was torn between something urban ruin-ish and a desert kind of environment (for contrast) myself, because in a way, standard grey urban ruins would make sense with the Phantoms blending in nicely, being mostly grey. But it would make the models quite boring to look at, and I really don't want that. So a dusty, muddy, rusty kind of approach with ruins and desert-like dust could be the way to go.

Emperorsmercy: Thanks for the input, but I'm fine with the colour combination on the helmets- maybe some more top-oriented pictures will help, at the moment all pics are made from ground level.

Kanaellars: It's white primer, 2 layers of thinned-down codex grey, carefully applied badab black wash (with emphasis on not allowing it to form puddles of black on flat surfaces), and a little bit devlan mud in places for a more weathered look. If you want to take the time after that, you can add subtle edge highlighting with pure codex grey again. It's quite simple, really. I'm glad you like, thanks for commenting.