Epic Space Marines part 10. - Ultramarines part 6. The whole shebang!

It's been a while and I know you missed them but here's the last of my Epic Ultramarine photos, though couriously I didn't take one with them all in one shot, still there's plenty to drool over if your and Epic fanboy.

   

Assault squad on the left, loving the white shoulder pads on the tac squad in the second row.

Termies, Chaplain and Medic hold the centre [no doubt backed up by the big guns of the Vindicators].

Robots and Whirlwinds support the right flank.

Robots, Predators, Bikes and Mole Mortars support the left flank.

Cheers for sticking with it. Still some unpainted titans left to come when I get round to photgraphing them.

Epic Space Marines part 9. - Ultramarines part 5. Odds and Sods

Nearly at the end of my Smurfs coverage and these are a little interesting because of the odd lead (PB in the Periodic Table) Epic miniatures. First up my Ultramarine Terminators. They look so cool in squads of 5 but I was missing one so co-opted a lead Space Marine with Power Fist, he's nearly the same size and actually looks like some form of Terminator Captain.

Mole Mortars, another useful little cheap artillery unit. In this case the lead figures are massive, surely the largest Space Marines in existence! Look at the size of the fella compared to the standard plastic marine.

Here's an unfinished Devastator squad. Again I used accent colours on backpacks and weapons to differentiate the units. These were obviously the red label [gold and silver being the alternates] I really dig the white missile launchers. Humbrol Matt Whit Acrylic had gorgeous flat opacity and it was really easy to apply. I also had quite a few technical drawing pens at the time so you can see the yellow shoulder pads have all been outlined in Black, something I'd try more often for different things in the future.

Thanks for sticking with this 'Epic' Ultramarine memory lane, there's one more post with some group shots of everything to come and then I'll pick up on my remaining unfinished Titans and that'll probably be the end of my Epic journey.

Epic Space Marines part 8. - Ultramarines part 4. Dreads and robots

Epic Ultramarine Dreadnoughts. Not a whole lot to say except the two Dreads with banners managed to do something spectacular in a battle to warrant such displays. I think one in particular took out my mate Chris's Eldar Avatar in one game. So they got the banners and some of the IG decals which look kinda cool if not totally Codex in today's gaming circles.

Just a little shift in focus to pick up on the back dread.

Robots, I loved robots in Epic because you got them on both the Space Marine and Imperial Guard Sprues so you could field quite a lot in your army if you'd bought both box sets, which I had. |I think they had specific 'programs' to follow but they weren't quite as restrictive as you'd imagine and if you paired them with the dreads for a little versatility all your bases were covered.

Epic Space Marines part 7. - Ultramarines part 3. Armoured support

More from my Epic Ultramarines, a selection of amoured support. First up some original Predators, I actually attempted the same effect with my large scale Dark Angels - a ruddy great orange turret! Unfortunately I can't find it anyhwere, so I currently have a 40k Predator chassis, with the las-cannon sponsons but no turret!

Original Whirlwinds, based on the DIY tutorial that was in White Dwarf. I made two full scale Whirlwind Turrets at the time, I've still got them and they're detachable so may wellfeature in my reborn Dark Angels force.

Lastly, Vindicators. These are the Mk 2 design from Epic. I have some of the original Mk 1's based on the DIY tutorial that was in White Dwarf but these were the ones I got fully painted, decalled and varnished. Maybe the decals are a bit Imperial Guard now but I still like the idea that these models have markings on top, so they can be seen clearly by Titans and Gunships overhead. It really brings a sense of scale.

Epic Space Marines part 6. - Ultramarines part 2. Thunderhawks

Here's my Thunderhawks. G.O.D. I loved Thunderhawks in Epic. They were the single best unit for Space Marines, shortly followed by Land Raiders and then Tarantulas [in my book]. Realistically there was no way the amount of stands suggested could fit inside one but they were the best delivery unit.

Drop pods were ridiculous, you put a stack of card drop pod markers on a blast template, balanced it on a ruler, then tipped the template, where a marker landed you replaced it with a pod. If it landed off-table or on terrain I think it was destroyed and even if it did land units on First Fire orders got to 'snap fire' at the incoming pods and blow them up before landing - useless!

Better to have one of these babies swoop in from anywhere, blast hell out of everything with it's rockets and cannon and then carry on being a thorn in your opponents side for the remainder of the game.

As you can see there's a squad of three for some Tactical Units and a personal transport, I think this was for a Chaplain, or an Inquisitor, whatever I felt was the best option at the time. Two coloured decals were used to get the winged Ultramarine Skull.

Not so sure how I feel the new version of the Thunderhawk shapes up against these, design-wise, then again these aren't exactly iconic [or even aerodynamic] but I've always liked them nontheless.

Actually, just spotted they look more like the new Stormraven with underslung wings than a Thunderhawk...

Epic Space Marines part 5. - Ultramarines part 1. Land Raiders

Here we go with the first of quite a few eked out posts on my Epic Ultramarines. First a 10 man squad of Land Raiders. Somehow I can't imagine the current version of the Land Raider looking quite so iconic in Epic scale. The paint style is overly exagerated, much like my firend Jay's Ultramarines from around that time. I removed the tiny door viewports so I could have a flat surface to add the number decals. Each unit of three with a separate identifying colour, white, yellow, green and black for the command tank.

More coming up!