Ultramarines You Say?! Bah!!

Welcome to another edition of Chaos Corner. We interrupt your usual Chaos tidings and tidbits in order to bring you an announcement. The notice comes from none other than a blessed (if also a stick in the mud) Robute Guilliman himself... Yes folks, its true. This posting is all about Ultramarines rather than my usual Chaos.

Like many of you I'm sure, I couldn't resist getting that new fangled Dark Imperium box when it was released early summer 2017. I knew I'd use the Plague stuff (duh), and I do have Ultramarines (that, I admit, I let my friend Brian use). Plus the rule book--- I would have been crazy not to get it.

So, with all the fancy Primaris stuff, I decided to go full bore and do Robute Guilliman too! Again- in for a penny, in for a pound as they say. So yes, I bought the triumvirate set to get him. I will be painting the other two models just for fun at some point in between projects (a bit of a palette cleanser).

Whearas Magnus looks friggin huge, Guilliman is much smaller, though still much bigger than the Primaris Marines. Now, that is about right. I am glad to see Mortarion is somewhere in between- bigger than Guilliman because of the power of Chaos, but not out of all proportion like Magnus.

That aside, this model was fun to put together until I got to the weapon arms- for some reason, they gave me a hard time. Indeed, look closely you'll see I put the flamer on backwards. I justify it by saying he must be really close to his own men so he doesn't want to use it, rather let his sword do the work. Hey why the hell not right?

I do like how he came out. The burnished gold contrasting nicely with his dark blue armor. I am particularly proud of the sword. The gradual buildup of flame colors, from red to orange to yellow- again, another contrast to the rest of the model. I find that the eye is drawn to that or the gold eagle on the top of his backpack.

I also have two stories about my Robute- one funny one dramatic (game wise). First, my friend Brian and I were going to a local tournament and he hoped Guilliman would be finished, so I worked hard to get him done, and I made it just in time. I arrived at the tourney first and paid for myself and Brian (this is important). At the tourney, the store does a best painted contest in between rounds. So Brian entered Guilliman.  As it turns out, he was voted the favorite.  Brian (honest to a fault) then explains that I painted it and not him. Suddenly the store erupted with jeers saying I cheated by having two entries. The fact that I technically paid for two entries wouldn't have swayed anyone. I swear us hobbyists can be crazy sometimes. I didn't get the prize, because I would have been lynched by everyone if I had, it seems. The store owner, knowing it was silly, gave me a free drink in compensation.

The second Guilliman story is game related. My friend Nick and I were playing a game and he asked to borrow Guilliman (so we could play a bigger game). Using Open War cards, the mission involved 2 objectives in each deployment zone. I got the middle of the table as my deployment zone. Great LOL. Anyway, Khorne versus Ultramarines, as nature intended. It was a great match up, though Kharn got killed like a bitch- after he rolled 4 1s, killing a bunch of bezerkers. At any rate, the game was heading to a draw, but Nick had Guilliman advancing to my objective. In the way was a forgefiend and 3 Helbrutes. He just got by the imperial statue and got shot down by massed daemon engine firepower. Then to add insult to injury, he failed his come back to life save. We ended the game as neither could get to the others objective. But it was a heck of an ending.

In addition to Robute Guilliman, I also did some Primaris from the Dark Imperium box. I must say I really like the models. Compared to Imperial Guard, this is how big they should be. It does make the average Marine look small though not too bad.

The models are big enough to be very easy to paint, while also looking good. The two Lieutenants are very dynamically posed, looking badass. I did the red streak on the helm to note his rank.

The Hellbalsters are a bit of overkill I think- that's a ton of firepower in that squad, and it makes non Lascannon Devastators useless, but the models look just fine. I didn't go overboard with squad markings or anything- just the Ultra shoulderpad and a few other things. The effect is very clean (in contrast to the Plague Marines in the box).

Well, that's it for new. Tune in next time for what will be a much more Chaotic posting here at the Chaos Corner.

Until Next time...