Paintbrush and Superglue: 40k Combat Patrol Delivery 1

Now I've gone and done it.

Recently I've been playing some games of older 40k editions - mostly 2nd and 3rd, and really 2nd is what I think of when I think of 40k, since it's where I started with it many years ago.

This has led me to contemplate getting new models, although in the glorious modern age, I don't really know what anything is, and I didn't really have any sensible place to start.

Enter Hachette Partworks. I've bought occasional issues of their previous magazine series, and largely not done anything with them. I've always had a vague idea of doing something 40k-flavoured in 7TV, but so far that's never come to fruition.

But now, the Combat Patrol series has started, and for someone in my somewhat unique position, it actually seems like a good idea...

I've gone for the premium subscription. This means that, should I stick with it through all 90 issues, I'll end up with nine new armies (or additions to what I already have at least) based on the combat patrol sets, with a few extra add-ons to go with them, all for the entirely reasonable price of "comfortably over a grand". It is a lot of models. And some paints. And, you know, a mug.

To make this sensible, however, I'm going have to actually paint the stuff. So here the plan turns into a project, and hopefully stops short of an ordeal.

I'm intending to fully paint everything that plops onto the doormat before the next delivery arrives. Subscribers get their magazines four issues at a time (except for the first two, for reasons) so I'll have four weeks each time to get everything done. I think that's achievable, and hopefully isn't all-consuming.

The first delivery arrived three weeks ago, and here it is...

Note the exciting subscriber bonus of some clippers and a flash removal tool, which appears to basically be "some metal".

The models here were a Terminator Captain, a Winged Tyranid Prime (whatever that is) and 3 Von Ryan's Leapers, which in my "2nd to 5th edition" terms are mostly likely to be used as biomorphed warriors or a lictor brood for Apocalypse games.

The Tyranids were nice and quick to paint.

Winged Tyranid Prime

I'm helped here by having chosen a very simple paint scheme for Tyranids years ago, and painting a fairly large army in it. I've updated things very slightly here, for example by using some Army Painter speed paint for the wings, but mostly this is the same scheme as I was using in the noughties - roughly based on having the look like xenomorphs from Alien, but that never quite panned out (I suppose I should have gloss varnished them or something).

Winged Tyranid Prime, but looking the other way

I must do a comparison shot with the old stuff at some point though - these definitely look better than what I used to do!

Von Ryan's Leapers

Recipe for these, so I can figure out what I did next time...

Black undercoat, then drybrushed Vallejo German Grey, Followed by Neutral Grey. Chitinous bits are then given a further drybrush of Sky Grey, and teeth are picked out in Sky Grey. Eyes and venom sacs are speed paint Orc Flesh, and the wings on the Prime are speed paint Runic Grey over Grey Seer.

So basically, grey. Bases are Vallejo US Field Drab.

The Terminator Captain was a more complicated prospect. Ever since the Ultramarines Codex was published (29 years ago?! That can't possibly be right. Oh God.), I've like the idea of the Codex Astartes, and the ability to have a "right" set of future armoured superheroes with garish heraldry. I've had Ultramarines since 2nd edition, and even though I sold loads of them off years back, I still have a bunch of what are now apparently firstborn marines in blue.

Given my retro preference in game editions, my intention here is to use the Primaris models that come with the magazines as "normal marines" with earlier editions. But since I already have some Ultramarines, and those are much smaller models, it seemed a bit weird to paint these the same way and have different sizes in the same force.

On the other hand, should I go completely mad and end up actually playing 10th edition for real, it'd be nice to have some marines that could sensibly join the Ultramarines.

I also wanted it to be possible to freehand the chapter icons, and I wanted a single colour as the basic armour since I'm going to have a lot to do quickly.

I looked at the "other chapters" in the Ultramarines codex and pretty much settled on Aurora... and then had a look online, and was disappointed to find that these days they have quite a developed background, and I wanted a bit more of a blank slate. So I had another look.

Enter the Genesis chapter. Not only are they also a single colour, with a nice simple chapter icon, reading their background shows that their whole shtick is basically "backup Ultramarines". Works for me.

I had a handful of Primaris fellas from a previous round of partwork magazines that I never actually did anything with, so I had a go with those to figure out the scheme. I also realised that the freehand icons thing was madness, and discovered the existence of "hard transfers" so 3D printed some of those.

Genesis Intercessors, apparently

I was pretty pleased with how these came out! I went for 4th company to have the green trim for a bit more contrast.

These were mostly constrast paints over Grey Seer:

Armour - Blood Angels Red

Icons - Space Wolves Grey, drybrushed white, then details in Black Templar

Weapons - Ultramarines Blue

Gun barrels, magazines - Speed Paint Enchanted Steel

Pouches - Snakebite Leather

Chest eagles - Iyanden Yellow

Wax seals, armour joints - Black Templar

Parchment - Aggaros Dunes

Bases - Vallejo US Field Drab

Then I had a look at the Captain himself. He's a pretty colossal model, with loads of detail. He's also on a giant base with tactical Tyranid corpse to make him even more enormous.

Captain Filco Lynz in Terminator Armour

Having done the test models really helped, as it meant I could riff on the colour scheme a bit and use gold for yellow and silver for 1st company white, picking him out as an Important Dude but still fitting in with the plan for an overall army scheme.

Side view

But that's not all!

The magazines are meant to teach you to play 40k as well, so with each one there's a little scenario.

We're very early on here, so there's really nothing to say about the scenarios - they're literally just hand to hand combat, no movement or anything yet. Anyway, I took control of Captain Lynz, handed over command of the Tyranids to Kieron, and went through them...