Hi folks,
To ease myself into the 2nd Edition Army Challenge, I have repainted my old 2nd Edition Space Marine Dreadnought in the distinctive panoply of 1990's 40K. Every time instinct told me to go grim/dark, I busted out the bright red, orange and gold! I can't tell you how much this challenge is pulling at my heart strings; the nostalgia is STRONG.
The banner was printed with all the colour desaturated, allowing me to paint what I wanted over the top. I think it is within my ability to free-hand a banner like this, but I didn't really want to spend too much time on it. The gold on the sarcophagus really nails the 2nd Edition brief; I can distinctly remember deciding NOT to do it that way during 3rd edition to distance my collection from 2nd Ed. Well, I'm back now baby.
The powerfist is a plastic replacement part, as the old metal piece is corroded badly and missing the storm bolter barrels. I used to have it converted as a plasma blaster, which wasn't really allowed in the rules but my mates thought it was cool so it stayed. I typically equipped it with electro hull as well, to really double down on the storm theme.
I have told the story of this plasma cannon a few times, but it is still worth mentioning here. This was one of my first conversions. My mother had bought me a Furioso Dreadnought back when I was starting to collect Legion of the Damned. When that project went down in flames (pun intended) I soon switched to Dark Angels. I loved using dreadnought heavy plasma guns in the game, so though I would try making one. As an essentially cashless young teenager, buying a heavy plasma devastator just so I could chop it up was a bit mental. I used an old hacksaw blade with no handle to make the cut, taking about an hour. My fingers were so sore from holding the blade I remember wrapping them in a tea towel to finish it off. When it was finished and had replaced the multimelta barrel, I remember feeling a bit shocked at what I had done; it really set the tone for the rest of my hobby efforts over the next 25 years. If it ain't broke, consider cutting into parts and swapping everything.
Finally, I whipped around the rim of the base with some Warboss Green, which is a pretty good stand in for the venerable Goblin Green.
Expect quite a bit more of that in this challenge!
See you across the table,
Marc
I love the bright plasma gun! I really meshes well with the green armour and draws the eye.
ReplyDeleteI vaguely remembered that the old heavy plasma guns had a particular colour, so I looked back in my Angels of Death Codex and my eyes kind of popped :-) It runs so counter-culture to the 3rd-8th style. 9th seems to be seeing a resurgence in old school paint schemes though!
DeleteHe looks great! Everything about this miniature, the banner, and the base looks like he stepped straight out of an early 90s WD. I tried painting one this way for Dreadtober last year but mine came out in my typical "exaggerated remembrance" style that involves even more red and yellow than the source material actually had.
ReplyDeleteWhere as your beautifully bannered dreadnought above looks like it could have come straight from the first Dark Angels codex, amazing job!
Cheers mate :-) Back in the 90's I bought two Angels of Death Codexes, so that I could cut the banners out of one of them! That trick only works once though. I found this one online and printed it very lightly and desaturated of colour; that is why it is such an accurate copy. My free-hand version of this banner (on my Deathwing Dreadnought "Hawk Talon") is much brighter and uses a lighter colour for the sky.
DeleteLooking great! It totally fits in with the 2nd edition asesthetic. Who doesn't love a goblin green base?!?
ReplyDeleteCheers mate :-) Ironically, I was the only person in my gaming group in the 90's who painted the rims of bases black! It has taken me 25 years to learn the errors of my ways...
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