Happy 2017! A very busy holiday season meant less time for posting, although the hobbying time didn’t decrease; in fact, more time at home and not at work meant I got a good chunk of my Crimson Fists painted. More pics to come. Also received some wonderful hobbying presents that will keep me busy for the foreseeable future, including a giant box of Marines from my wonderful fiance 🙂
Anyway, above is my work-in-progress 30k Seeker/40k Sternguard sergeant. He’s about 90% complete, and requires just some edge highlighting on the black and chapter/company markings, along with some weathering. He’s built using a mish-mash of Mark 3 and Mark 7 parts, along with the bare head from the Ultramarines upgrade sprue. I normally shy away from painting bare heads, preferring the realism/aesthetics of Marine helmets, but lately I’ve been experimenting with using more of them and the results have worked out great.
The trick, I’ve found, is to keep things simple. The above results were made using a Cadian Fleshtone base, an all-over wash of Reikland Fleshshade, then highlights using Cadian Fleshtone again. I tended to overdo highlights on fleshtones in the past, so I deliberately kept them to a minimum with this mini.
The sergeant also illustrates something I’ve been doing to all my Crimson Fists sergeants – giving them personalized heraldry via a backpack icon, then repeating that heraldry on their chestpiece and on the shoulder roundel. For this particular model, I found enough bits to add scrollwork heraldry on his backpack icon and chestpiece – I’ll be freehanding some scrollwork around the skull on the roundel to finish off the model. I find it does a nice job of adding some character and history to the model, because we all know that lets them roll better on the table 🙂
threeup 
Great use of parts there – and excellent color on top of it!
He really looks the part of a grizzled Crimson Fists veteran. I’ve been using the plastic Mk.3 in a similar way to add some fun character to models, alongside heavy weapons troops who seem best suited to its heavier design Particularly for Raven Guard.
Still struggling to find a good use for the helmets though.
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Thanks for reading and for the kind words, Kyle!
I agree, I like the look of Mk.3 on models that deserve to have them – Breachers and Veteran troopers spring to mind. I built my 40k Raven Guard primarily out of Mk.4 and Mk.6, though, as I read somewhere in the fluff that Mk.3 isn’t very stealthy.
I like the resemblance of the Mk.3 helmets to knights’ helms – I think they’d look great on Assault marines. They’d look great on vehicle crew, too!
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Oh it’s definitely less stealthy!
From what I recall it exchanges stealth for the thicker armor plating, which is what made it preferred by the more ‘brawler’ Legions like the Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors. So you’re right on the money. I thought it fit well for the less experienced Raven Guard troops assigned to Devastator duties. Give the ‘rookies’ that loud gear!
Good point on the Mk. 3 helmets. Might look great on bikers as well.
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Curious, where did you get that backpack icon though? Is it a 30k set piece?
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Hi Alex,
The backpack icon is from the Space Marine command squad boxed set… I believe. Could be wrong as I found it randomly in my bitz box, but I seem to recall that bit (or something similar) coming from the command squad box.
Thanks for reading!
dizzy
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