On today’s blog post I share my tiny tanks and troops. The new Legions Imperialis box set features Legiones Astartes (Space Marines) and Solar Auxilia (Imperial Guard equivalent). This game is set during the Horus Heresy so because it’s one big civil war the forces are all the same on both sides. So you can take this box and make one big army or a Legiones Astartes army vs Solar Auxilia or even two armies with a mix of both factions. For me, I wanted an Iron Warriors force.
The reason I choose Iron Warriors was purely for the gag below. When I started painting the models, I didn’t like it. I’m a painter and I enjoy painting models and blending colours, and painting details. These are way too small to paint and enjoy, I just didn’t get it. It doesn’t help that I don’t find Marines vs Marines very exciting either and the no matter how many chances I give it I just can’t get into the Horus Heresy.
It wasn’t until I started to form detachments and a small force started to grow I found the enjoyment, its army building! We’ve all wanted a full company of Marines, or maybe you’ve wanted an army all embarked in drop pods, Legions Imperialis makes these ideas an easy reality.
In the space of a week I’d painted up a handful of models. In 40k terms this would be an entire army but in Legions Imperialis all I’ve managed to do is start a few detachments, they’re not even the correct number of models yet, for example I need to paint another 2 Contemptors before I I have legal sized Legion Dreadnought Talon detachment.
Painting my Iron Warriors is pretty simple, until you get to the hazard stripes. The troop bases are best painted on the sprue, where as the tanks and dreadnoughts can be assembled and painted. I started with a black undercoat and then airbrushed them with Leadbelcher. They’re so small you can undercoat by brush pretty quickly, probably quicker than the time it takes to set the airbrush up and then clean it afterwards.
I wouldn’t say I’m 100% on board with epic scale yet, but I’m warming to it. I am getting flashbacks of when I played epic in the 90s though (Blood Angels if you’re wondering). Next step is to finish off all the detachments I’ve started and add some Rhino transports.
If you head down to your Games Workshop this month (December 2023) the free model of the month is an epic scale Rhino APC tank.
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The minis look great. I painted Iron Warriors too for LI and the black stripes over yellow were a nightmare. I used a fine marker and that was OK, but not very good.
The marker is a good idea. I found mine got better the more I did it. It’s just practice, mine aren’t perfect but they’re fine for such a small scale.
So good! look at the detail you have managed to get on these small models. Fantastic work mate.