Black Templars: Kill Team (IV)

This miniature is the last one (for now) for my Black Templars Kill Team.

He is a Librarian, so he can be field as a Commander of type Librarian in Kill Team.

As some of you may know, the Black Templars chapter do not have Librarians, but I really wanted to paint one, and also, I remembered that little fact when I had him already prepared and primed! So, I went through the lore of the Templars and found out that they do not have good relationships with most of other chapters, save for the successors of the Imperial Fists. Among those, probably the Crimson Fists are the ones with best relationship.

Therefore, I sat down and decided that my Crusader Kill Team got the task to help / retrieve a Librarian from the Crimson Fists Chapter that had uncover critical intel, and help him get safe back to his Chapter. That way, I can easily have him in my games as an ally.

The paint scheme is very different as you can see, since the Crimson Fists adhere to the Codex, and therefore the Librarians are clad in blue. I also did not want to add excessive weathering like the Black Templars have, so I decided to add some scratches on the armour, a little bit more than a few scratches on the leather cloth and some dust on the feet. He clearly stands out next to his Crusader colleagues, which is exactly what I wanted to have.

I tried using a decal for the shoulder pad but it was bending at weird angles so in the end, I was forced to freehand it. I am satisfied with the end result, there is a close-up below.

Painted in 2021

The whole gang

Black Templars: Kill Team (III)

Today I bring a small kitbash I did based on Lieutenant Calsius. As you can see from the pic below, the miniature is an Ultramarine. I needed to remove all of those seals and add a few other bits to make it closer to the crusader style of the Black Templars.

In Kill Team, I can use him as a Commander, either a Captain or a Lieutenant. In the Black Templars lore, he is a Veteran, part of the Sword Brethren. And that is why I painted the rims of the shoulder pads red.

The painting method is the same as what I did for the rest of the Kill Team, so there is nothing to mention.

Painted in 2021

Black Templars: Kill Team (II)

A while ago I showed here the very first miniatures of my Primaris-only Kill Team from the Black Templars Chapter.

After having painted the whole box of Blood Bowl I continue plowing through my pile of shame and next in line is the Kill Team.

Today I am sharing the Reavers. After the amount of time I spent on the Blood Bowl team, I was very happy to paint these guys fast and without worrying too much about details since I was looking for a grimdark Blanchitsu style with is not "beautiful and clean" but rather dirty and weathered.

Here is a quick overview of the painting recipe.

• The armour is painted by applying with dark grey some rough lights, then glazing everything with black. The crosses and details like handwriting are done after the glazing but before the weathering.
• Metals are painted TMM and then Nuln Oil on top.
• Leather is painted in various shades of brown starting from dark brown chocolate and adding dents and chips to simulate wear and tear.
• Shoulder plates and any other white details are painted with light grey, then details are done freehand, after that Agrax to weather it and some glazes of other colours to make it more rich, like oxide, yellow and orange and browns.
• Armour details: oxide (orange mixed with brown) glazing is applied between armour plates. Finally with medium grey some edge highlight is applied.
• The bases are like the ones from Walking Dead, with Astrogranite technical paint, some light grey drybrush, then some dark wash and finally some pigments that also cover partially the feet.

I am quite satisfied with how they turned out and the next one is already on the painting table!

Painted in 2021

Black Templars Kill Team (I)

Back when I started to play Kill Team I decided I wanted to have a Space Marine Kill Team as spare one. In case someone wants to play and does not own a team. It is an easy to play and learn if you keep it to the basic so it's an overall good choice.

I wanted them to be Primaris only, mostly because I had never painted one, but I was not sure which Chapter to choose from.

I started to browse Instagram for inspiration and I almost decided on Salamanders until I found the amazing work of k03rnl. That is when I decided to build a Black Templars team.

Just look at his posts to understand what I mean :)

As for the painting, I chose to follow the Grimdark Blanchitsu style. I have tried my best to replicate the style used by k03rnl. Rather than super crisp details and edge highlights, the focus is on the grim atmosphere and the right choice of colours. See some examples of what I mean here, here and here.

It is very interesting to paint with this set of techniques and I had a blast painting these three marines, it is also pretty fast to be honest, something I was not expecting at all.

I did some minor conversions here and there to add a little bit more of character to them. I used the tentacle tool from GreenStuffWorld which is great for conversions. As for the bases, I wanted to try my best at creating a ruined base without too many details and just some old newspapers or posters lying around. I followed the technique described in this article, which made me go into a shop to buy cigarette rolling paper for the first time in my life :)

I am happy with how the bases turned out although in some cases I applied either too much ink or too little, and the paper absorbed it. I need to get the gist of it yet. In any case, I will be using it again to add some additional atmosphere to my Walking Dead bases, some time in the far future.

I have another five marines to paint, as soon as my schedule allows for it for a total of 8-man squad.

Painted in 2021