WIP: Roboute Guilliman #1

Roboute Guilliman - the kit and all of its components

As I've mentioned before, when I first got into the hobby, I collected Ultramarines. I had a variety of models from different ranges: early 'RTB01' space marines, push-fit models from the Warhammer 40,000 second edition boxed set and an assortment of models from an era when it was common to have metal (lead!) bodies with plastic arms, weapons and backpacks. Until recently I hadn't painted an Ultramarine for many years, but my affection for them remained. With the release of the Horus Heresy range, Games Workshop's Forge World subsidiary started releasing many of the characters from the background. Among them, more recently, was Roboute Guilliman, the primarch of the Ultramarines legion from a period some ten thousand years before that in which the Warhammer 40,000 game is set. If only for nostalgia, I had to get this model...

As primarch of the XIII legion, known as the Ultramarines, Roboute Guilliman was a peerless tactician and born leader. At his peak he ruled over five hundred worlds in the Ultima Segmentum of the Imperium in the name of the Emperor of mankind. The model that represents him is suitably regal and I'm glad to see the sculpt does justice to a character I've read about for more than twenty years. The main figure stands about twice the height of a normal space marine: suggestive of the god-like qualities of the primarchs from which the space marines themselves were derived. At £65, he's a little pricey (mainly because of the somewhat oversized base he comes with), but the model is superb and should make for a fun project to work on.

Work so far

Given that this is a special piece, I'm putting a little more time and effort into the project. I'll be using non-metallic metals (NMM), for example. This is the process of painting 'metal' areas using basic colours (browns for gold, greys for silver) instead of using metallic paints. Metallic paints work well in most cases, but they can look a little flat, especially on large areas. NMM is an advanced technique—and one I'm still relatively inexperienced at, but something I'm keen to learn. As an experiment, I'm using Vallejo paints and a wet palette* for the gold, alongside my usual Citadel Washes. For those that are interested, the recipe is as follows:

• Vallejo Game Color 153 - Heavy Brown
• Vallejo Game Color 151 - Heavy Goldbrown
• Vallejo Model Color 918 - Ivory
• Citadel Shade: Druchii Violet
• Citadel Shade: Nuln Oil
• Citadel Glaze: Lamenters Yellow

You can see an example of my work so far in the picture above. Having airbrushed the blues all over for the basecoat and zenithal shading/highlighting, I've started work on the left leg. The model is so much bigger and more detailed than most other models that I'm having to break it into manageable sections to work on. It still needs some tidying to remove a few stray brush marks and a wash pool that I spotted in the photograph, but I'm pleased with the general effect. After recess shading and edge highlighting the blue armour, I've picked out the gold work as well as the silver and bone icon on the kneepad. This is going to be a long project, and probably one I'll be dipping in and out of for some time. Wish me luck...

* A wet palette uses a piece of tissue soaked in water as the basis of the palette. The paint stays wet for longer on the palette this way and doesn't dry out before you've had chance to use it. It also makes sure that it is always thin and flows easily from the brush.