Our resident hedonistic prince of perversion Paul steps up and shows off his nicely painted 3rd legion

How long have you been working on Fulgrim’s finest?

Around 3 years I think all told. I began my systematic Warhammer re-inauguration with Tyranids as I had a few models lying about from the 90s but quickly bored of the endless samey models, as a painter first and foremost, this was killing me from the inside. So I went for Chaos Space Marines, as there’s loads of scope to personalize them, as they sure as fuck don’t follow the Codex Astartes. Plus I’m a twisted blackened bitter bastard at heart, so it seemed a natural choice to go for the veterans of the long war.

What was it that attracted you to the legion? The colour scheme, their traits & quest for perfection, or was it their sordid and perverted pastimes?

Initially I was going for Thousand Sons, as the current Emperor’s Children were shit, and I’ve always had a soft spot for Magnus’ legion, the look, feel, background and the characters, even before i began reading the Horus Heresy. Then something whispered in my ear, “Noise Marines”. The iconic model from the late 80s with the leopard print and guitar styled sonic blaster was one of THE models for me as a kid, I used to pore over that pic from ‘Eavy Metal for hours, mind shredded at the intricacy of the paint job. Which in turn opened up the possibility of doing the Emperor’s Children as a full traitor legion. Having spent most of my early 20s listening to power electronics and noise, the kind of venues that purvey such aural atrocities bring to mind La Fenice, mid Maraviglia. Horrific coruscating layers of analog noise, wall to wall exposed flesh spikes and latex*, gracefully lit with seizure inducing strobes, it was fate really wasn’t it?

*I used to rock up in jeans and a t-shirt giving zero fucks for the avoidance of doubt

Following those first few models, I’ve become more attached to the legion on so many levels when viewed through the pages of the Horus Heresy and what went before. The grand tragedy of the 3rd legion, striving for perfection in an imperfect world even before they found Fulgrim on Chemos. The massive geneseed loss, the decimation of the legion, and the Laer blade to cap it all off. They never stood a chance did they? I don’t think any other legions’ fall from grace was as fittingly poetic, bar arguably the aforementioned Thousand Sons.

Can you talk us through each of your units and key character models, and give us an overview of why you chose them?

Fulgrim, I cant really use this model per se in 40k as Fulgrim himself, GW have stoically shafted chaos players for years by refusing to deal with the daemon Primarchs. However, having not been keen on the model on release, I decided to give it a go as a challenge more than anything. I’ve not been that enamored with the Forge World paint jobs on several primarchs, so I thought I’d have a go myself. I can proxy him as a HQ choice or a Daemon Prince on his scenic base though.

Sorceror. Not really fitting in with the fluff but I needed a cheap HQ for certain lists. This guy filled the slot nicely with his X-Box staff, and he can be pretty handy on the tabletop.

Dark Apostle. This guy’s in there as I love the model, reminded me so much of Erebus before his model for released. So much movement and detail with the scrolls and crozius. It really was a pleasure to paint, and will remain the only non legion model in my army, this guy being from the Word Bearers to keep with the fluff.

Noise Marines. These were a pain to track down, I managed to get 4 of the original models, which is enough for a squad with a converted sergeant using the backpack from one of the 90s Noise Marines as a doom siren. The models themselves were an absolute joy to paint; no rules, just go to town and see what happens. I did however attempt my own version of the classic Noise Marine. I failed, but you get the general idea when you look at it.

Lucius the Eternal. This fucker is an awesome character in both 30k and 40k, he’s absolutely loathsome, but in a way is a perfect example of why the legion fell, when arrogance replaces confidence in one’s martial ability. He’s a good HQ but pricey, but the model was good fun to paint, which is the main thrust for me in all this, if you’ll pardon the pun. I’ll likely replace him though with the 30k model when Forge World release it.

Sonic Dreadnought. This is one of the Forge World dreads, and dreads they are and shall remain. This was my first foray in to Forge World territory and I spent a fair amount of time on it, finishing it up just before Games Day 2013. If I did it now, I’d do it totally differently, but then everything’s clear with 20/20 hindsight.

Terminators. As with the Noise Marines, these are reclaimed classic models, this time, 80s Terminators. The sergeant was one of the first models to flip my lid, in the ‘Eavy Metal painting guide I reminisced about here. I didn’t want tusks and spikes, that’s not what I’m going for with this army. These guys fit the bill perfectly, just traitor legionaires in terminator armour.

Vehicles. I have a Predator, Vindicator and a Storm Talon. The Talon still needs sealing and weathering and represents a Heldrake on the table top. I’m not into daemon engines, I don’t like them, and they don’t fit with the theme of my army, so given the Talon does, I’ll use it for the time being. The Vindicator and the Predator are both weathered up, 2nd and 3rd attempts respectively. There are also two Rhinos, one I did first that’s rubbish, and one that I did more recently that’s alright.

Troops, 15 standard troops, they were the first I did so they don’t look as good as some bits.The Champion’s stood up well though, he’s cool and pretty handy in close combat.

Can you talk us through your approach to painting these guys?

Legion colors. Nothing more nothing less. The purples vary slightly, as like Adam said in his article, you develop your skills as you paint more, but it’s still purple, bar the noise marines. I’m not into mixing it up, different Chaos warbands, all that, it makes my skin crawl. Despite this being Chaos, I like order within it. If I’m doing Emperor’s children, that’s what I’m doing. So thematically the army would be set perhaps just after the assault on Terra, when they’re still a traitor legion with maybe the odd customisaiton to their armour, but they’re still recognizable as the 3rd legion.

Practically, I did a short article on the techniques I use to get the purple here.

Do you have any tips for the less gifted amongst us who struggle with achieving acceptable results? I notice you’ve really got into weathering your tanks.

Having played a lot of games against opponents with unpainted, or worse, un-built models, acceptable to me is a neat base coat and based, that’s it. If you can get your units up to that stage and you’re happy with the results, then that’s enough for me.

If you want to try more advanced techniques, then just allow yourself time to try them out, get to grips with them, and don’t get frustrated if they don’t work first time. They WILL work for you eventually. Get the best brushes you can afford, and most of all, enjoy yourself. Don’t force yourself to paint something you’re not feeling just to get it done, its a waste of your time and paint. Flip to something you really want to paint and work on that for a while, keep things fresh, you’ll see your skills leap forward that way.

As far as the weathering of tanks goes, I’ve always liked tanks, I mean, who doesn’t? and with the availability of bigger vehicles these days via Forge World, it seemed like a good time to try out painting on a larger scale. When I actually took the time to see how Forge World paint and weather their vehicles, I felt absolutely out of my depth but stuck with it and did some solid research on the different techniques and their results before jumping in (Shout out to Charlie at this point for so much guidance). My first effort wasn’t that good at all, and so, I pressed on, developing those skills through repetition and I’m now beginning to achieve results that are slightly closer to what you see online.

How long have you been involved in the hobby? Is this the first full army you’ve painted?

I’ve been in to it all a fair while, I lost myself to it around 89/90 right up until about 93/94, then, after playing Space Marine, it dawned on me that I’d missed it, and so I threw myself back in to it wholesale, books, models, Forge World, the lot.

This will be the second full army for playing. I was always a single figure guy as a kid, but I did have a Titan Legion painted up from the 90s which went to a kid in France via Ebay. I do have an unpainted Imperial Guard army which is 2014’s labour of love, despite the codex being completely ruined more than likely come April.

Do you have anything on in the background whilst you paint like music, an audio book, or maybe a film? if so, does the background chatter help you stay focused, or do you prefer to get in the zone?

That’s a really good question. I began again by painting in silence, then after yourself and a few other lodge members mentioned they painted with music on I thought I’d give it a go with some thematically appropriate material. After that I’ve graduated to podcasts. I like the Independent Characters ‘casts for the main part so long as there’s a subject I’m interested in, the recent Forge World one was a real eye opener. I also enjoy the After Ullanor podcasts despite, on paper, not liking any of it. Awful intro music, weird presenter dynamic, over long, but I still enjoy listening to peoples take on the the Heresy, and whatever you think of him, you cant knock Greg Dann’s knowledge of the universe as a whole. I tend to struggle with doing two things at once, but the background chatter of a podcast seems to fit right while painting for the time being.

I’ll leave you with something hideous and likely what Julius Kaesoron chills out to when he’s not raising hell, the cheeky scamp.