All posts filed under: Mentor Legion

Ironclad Dreadnought of the Mentor Legion

Published by Joe B

So after deciding to build up my Mentor Legion last fall, I bought the Space Marine mega force, which along with the battle force and the last two starter kits worth of marines in my closet, gives me nearly enough marines to build a company.Â To round out all those foot troopers, I need some big guns and fists. This is where the wonderful Ironclad Dreadnought comes in. It may have not been my first choice for awesome marine models, but since it came along with the mega force, I might as well put him to work. On this model I also was trying out some of the weathering powders for both the model and the base. I had bought the set from Forge World as well as the Master Class book and was anxious to give it a try. They are a bit difficult to get into place, but I feel it gives a better blend when you mix the colors before setting them. The model also includes a few custom purity seals to help …

Mentor Legion Chaplain

Published by Joe B

Another HQ from the limited edition of Dark Vengeance, this is Â Oldss Knirror, Mentor Legion Chaplain. When the limited edition was announced, this was the reason I jumped on it. While I haven’t been a fan of the other Chaplains, the billowing smoke from this guy gave it another level of sinisterness! Before getting started, I planed out what areas would be the green and red for the Mentor Legion, and what would be the black and white of the Chaplain. Leaving the robes white helpedÂ breakup all the other colors. Very little was done to the model other than removal of most of the Dark Angel markings and the addition of the Mentors shoulder marking (another press mold). To do the Mentor Legion icon the whole shoulder pad details were removed and the press mold used to create the eagle head. I then took thin plastic strips to recreate the border. The edges were cleaned up with green stuff and the purity seal on the corner actually covers where I chipped a bit too …

Mentor Legion Librarian

Published by Joe B

And now for some HQ! I present Echst Ralelerin, Mentor Legion Librarian.Â The model itself is from the Dark Vengeance box with an arm swap with the weapon from the chaos terminator lord. The rest of the work involved careful removal of all the Dark Angel insignia. I really love the glaring look as he focuses at his enemies. I thought the model had a great sense of focus and power except for the pose of the original sword, it was too posed for my tastes so a more relaxed arm stretched about behind gave more focus on his spell casting hand. The maced head staff helps give more dimension to the model as well by creating an up and out line. You can also see from the picture above that I made some custom purity seals to both incorporate the new arm as well as cover the hand swap. I also made the Mentors icon a bit more interesting by covering the eye socket as well. The staff was made from a combination of pieces, …

Second Company Squad Two of the Mentor Legions

Published by Joe B

Here is my second fully finished Space Marine Tactical Squad for my Mentor Legion army. The squad is built up from my collection of grey plastic from the Assault on Black Reach, Dark Vengeance, and Tactical Squad. By combining the different kits you can make them unique and change-up the static poses from the starter kit. This squad is led by Brother-Sergeant Iani Tulrosi which is from the assault on black reach set with an arm swap to give him the power axe. This helps create a unique look from the start set and more natural than the straight up sword. I also added a thin piece of plastic to his collar to create a Mark VIII look. As with squad three, many of the squad member are from the starter sets and required hand painted legion markings. You can see below on Brother Cith Cheven’s amour the final outcome of using the transfers as a starting point. I then added yellow stripes and marking to identify them as the Second Company. Here again is …

Mentor Legion Tactical Squad Three of the Second Company

Published by Joe B

Well it’s been a while since I’ve posted but I haven’t given up on my marines.Â Here is Squad 3 of the 2nd Company Mentor Legion Tactical Squad led by Brother Sergeant Strel Jokin. The models are a mix of the Assault on Black Reach and the Tactical Squad box. To mark them out as second company the knee pads and shoulder pads I added yellow markings including personal markings and individualization. Half of this squad was done over a year ago as a test/something new to do (here). Other than finishing the remaining five squad members, I also added battle damage to the original to make them all a bit worn. The damage was mostly done with a small sponge and dark grey to creating the chipping effect. Since many of the additional troops were from the starter sets, I had to add the Mentor Legion markings by hand. I did cheat a bit though since I bought a Raptors transfer sheet from forge world (more on that in the future). After applying the decals …

Green Marines of a Different Kind – WIP Mentor Legion

Published by Joe B

Although I have been much busier as of late with grad school and health goals for the year, I am still making slow and steady progress on the MentorÂ Legionaries. As you can see i the pictures below, I have a good chuck of the army built and primed. The first up to receive paint were 15 tactical marines (I had the first 5 already done), and the librarian and the chaplain from the DarkÂ VengeanceÂ box. At this point I have the base colors, wash, and the white are now done. First up is the chaplain, I really like this model from the limited edition set and with only a few minor modifications will make a great chaplain for any other chapter. The white base was started with Zandri Dust, followed with a wash of Earthshade. The white was built back up with the dust and finally pure white. Next up is the librarian. A simple arm swap with one from the Chaos terminator lord, removal of a few of the dark angle markings, and a …

Mentor Legion Tactical Squad Finished – Part 6

Published by Joe B

Back to my Mentor Legion Tactical SquadÂ that I’m working on as a test pilot program for some loyalists. I was finally able to finish the last few details of the squad, including the base and matte varnish. I’m still playing around with some various backgrounds and picked up a pack of card stock of a couple shades of tan and gray. For this shot I used the dark gray card as the tans turned out too yellow and light. The only thing I don’t like about using the card stock is the lines, oh well. On to theÂ individualÂ shots: The Captain pointing away with his yellow power sword and Mk. VII Armor. The sensor guy with his grenade. I like how the numeral 3 came out on his shoulder pad. Standard bolter marine but with an added scope. Meltagun, note the extra targeting lenses, I always have issues hitting with meltaguns, so I figured it could only help right? And the missile launcher. I added a bit of script to the tube …

Mentor Legion Squad WIP – Part 5

Published by Joe B

Well I wasn’t able to finish the squad over the weekend, but I made some good progress. Until now I had been debating on how the Mentor Legion would show company/squad markings. They are a codex chapter but having different colored shoulder bands wouldn’t fit their look. I couldn’t find any thing scouring the interwebs so I decided on knee pads for the company color andÂ GothicÂ numbering for the squad. This squad has been placed in the 2nd Company, 3rd Tactical Squad. This guy was my first attempt at free handing the tactical arrow and it turned out terrible! So I opted for the half-cheating approach. I used the transfers from the kit for the inner white arrow and repainted the red edging and then repainted the white inner area. I used the transfers on the other tactical arrows as well with an over-paint to cover the decal. I tried using the same technique for the Gothic number 3 but the decal was way too big for the curved surface and kept bulging. After trying to …

Mentor Legion Squad WIP – Part 4

Published by Joe B

Well I was finally able to get all the white done on this small squad. I think the last two guys got a little rushed in myÂ anxiousnessÂ to get them done, but overall they seem to match up pretty well. Now with the white done there is little left to do other than details: the aquilas, purity seals, squad markings, and the bases. Hopefully I can get these done over the weekend. I also tried a couple different background for the photo shoot as white models on a white background don’t work all that well. For both of these shots I grabbed a nearbyÂ t-shirtÂ andÂ crumpledÂ it up as the backdrop. Tan backdrop: Dark brown backdrop: What do you guys think about the different backgrounds? I am also going to try out a dark, textured paper somewhat like what Massive Voodoo uses. [amazonify]B000NH42Y0[/amazonify]

Mentor Legion Squad WIP – Part 3

Published by Joe B

So the white armor is takes a while to do… After painting this guy’s base coat I realized that to take full advantage of the paint mix I needed to complete him before moving on. I think his armor looks smoother than theÂ Sargent but doesn’t show the same depth and shading. win some, lose some yeah? Anyway the steps I used to paint the white. I started with mixing 1:1:1:5 mix of graveyard earth, codex grey, skull white and water. I used this to pretty much cover everything except the recesses in the armor or where it met other colors. I then added more and more white and water and added about 6 or so layers focusing more on the ridges and ‘tops’ of the white areas. I finally used pure skull white to highlight the hard, upper edges. Here’s a shot of my messy desk area. In the background you can see some Iron Warrior Terminators awaiting finishing touches on their bases. Center back is my really basic ‘light box’ to take WIP shots …

Mentor Legion Squad WIP – Part 2

Published by Joe B

Although I was hoping to get some feedback on my first cut at my Mentor Legion Squad before continuing I decided to press on and finish the squad. As I picked up my paintbrush I realized that this was the first time I had done any painting for nearly 3 months! And man could I tell, my hands were somewhat shaky, the paint wasn’t smooth and my hands kept cramping up. After a few sessions I was able to get some good progress on the squad and regain some of the painting mojo. I almost didn’t post this next picture as it looks like a elementary school kid slapped the some paint on so that they could be played in a store… ugh. But oh well, here is some WIP shots of the squad: Here I blocked out the different colors to both get an idea of what goes where, as well as cover up all the white primer in all the little nooks withoutÂ worryingÂ about getting paint where it doesn’t belong. Colors are pretty simple: …

Another Side Project: Mentor Legion – WIP

Published by Joe B

A long while back my FLGS was doing a challenge to paint a unit from every Space Marine Chapter on the poster that GW put out a few years back. I looked into my bitz boxes and realized I had quite a few loyal space marine pieces that I needed to put a use to and decided to jump in. I wanted to chose a chapter that would be fun to paint, but require me to stretch my painting skills. With this requirements, the Mentor Legion caught my eye as they are a not-often played army (at least from what I’ve seen) and had white armor (which I heard was difficult to paint well). To further challenge my self I decided that I would minimize my use of washes on this army and work on blending and layering. I decided to start with the sergeant the squad as the test model since it is a bit more ok if he stands out slightly from the rest of the squad. I think the white armor came …