The new Primaris Space Marines in the Indomitus boxed set are incredible, and we wanted to see what some top painters could do with them. We sent a box to four of our favourite artists and told them to go wild with them. Let’s have a look at what they’ve achieved!
Henry Steele
Henry: For this project I really fancied a bit of nostalgia. I remember pouring over Codex: Angels of Death for hours, trying to copy Mark Gibbons’ amazing artwork and wishing I could have a Dark Angels army. When I saw that Bladeguard Ancient model I knew I had to resurrect one of my favourite characters – Brother Bethor. So I painted him up, still proudly fighting the enemies of Mankind, although he's more the banner than the bearer now.
To go alongside him I painted the Assault Intercessors to match the scheme from Codex: Angels of Death with a quick headswap.
I'm looking forward to painting up a pure Primaris force soon for a Crusade campaign we're planning (Andy's picked the vile Necrons), and those new models scream Black Templar to me. They'd work nicely alongside some Adepta Sororitas, and maybe an Inquisitor, and maybe a couple of Imperial Knights – oh, and some Adeptus Custodes...
Sam Lenz
Sam: I've always liked the knightly look and regal color schemes of Space Marines. This set gave me a chance to lean into that in the form of the Primaris Captain. After much pontificating I settled on a black, crimson, and yellow scheme. The name is still a work in progress, but I'm thinking something along the lines of the Crimson Knights or Red Hunters. It all starts here – I thought I'd just paint one, and now I'm eyeing up an army… See you across the battlefield!
Johan Egerkrans
Johan: I painted up the Assault Intercessors as members of The Metatron Chapter – a Chapter of my own devising. You can read more about them in this article about my Deathwatch kill team. I've been waiting for Assault Intercessors for this force ever since the Primaris line was released three years ago (time flies, doesn't it?) so this release made me a happy camper indeed. There's just something so quintessentially "Warhammery" about a chainsword-wielding Space Marine.
The basic method is rather simple and would work for most color schemes. After spraying the model black and then with Grey Seer, I sponge the model with a dark brown mix (Abaddon Black and Rhinox Hide) and Grey Seer to add texture and battle damage. Then I drybrush the whole miniature with Corax White to provide highlights. After this the colour is applied with Contrast paint (in this case, a 50-50 mix of Gryph-charger Grey and Basilicanum Grey). This approach works for basically any colour scheme and, due to the Contrast paint's translucency, the drybrushed highlight is subtly visible through the basecoat. For a warmer tone just exchange Grey Seer with Wraithbone in all the steps. You can then go over the miniature and add shading and highlights as much as you like (which I've done here), but after the first steps the model is Battle Ready.
Garfy Etherington
Garfy: I own 2,500 points of painted Primaris Dark Angels, and I was so excited to see the Bladeguard Veterans – I instantly thought they’d make awesome Deathwing. I painted their armour with Wraithbone Spray, then a basecoat of Ushabti Bone, then carefully glazed Zamesi Desert shading. I used Contrast Snakebite Leather to line the armour panels and then edge highlighted with Wraithbone. One of my favourite touches is the Judiciar’s Tempormortis filled with blood – thanks to my friend Cat for that idea!
Do you feel inspired by these amazing painters? If you haven’t already, you can still secure a copy of the Indomitus box via Made to Order, featuring all of these Space Marines and more alongside a host of Necron models. Indomitus is also available in-store from Saturday – find your local shop and pick up your copy.