Black Templars Hobby Update: Assault Intercessors

I did a few extra models to form a small squad with some options, including a Fist (relic), and an Axe, as well as a decent looking Chainsword dude which could pose as a ‘sarge’ if needed.

I’ve increased the Blanchitsu up a notch! There’s more oils, more of the beloved texturing from pigments, etc.

Here’s the whole squad.

I’m keeping this base configuration as I love how the blacks pop off of them. This base style works for most of my armies and is a nice departure from the GW ones I use on my Ultra’s :

This would be the polar opposite of my Templars; the Ultramrines feature cleaner lines, and ‘strategically’ placed minor battle damage, with bright, industrial bases.

Or my Black Legion army, which features far less ‘dust’ but is using a desert mixed base with debris. I still love this army (it did win best painted) but I believe I’ve opened a new door with the Templars ‘grimdark’ look…

Here are some bigger pics of Sargeants.

You can see I’m not being a stickler for the hyper clean look. Instead going for more of a narrative look of very weathered Crusaders who stop at nothing to get the job done!

A side shot to show weapons and leggings.

The above showcases the weapon damage a bit better from the side, as well as the pigment work. On this squad there is no air brush work. Pure dry brush, and a bit of clean up can lead to this look with practice. The weapons have a bit more depth in them thanks to extra battle damage. Shoulder pads are hand weathered, but the overall ‘gritty’ fade on them is accomplished mostly with: Contrast Paint, and pigment washes.

The final 3 ‘plain’ Intercessors.

It is no surprise to me that this is perhaps my favourite marine kit ever! The abundance of bits from my previously shown Crusader Primaris Squad AND the bits box GW sells, provides a wealth of left over bits to do easy conversions on the basic Assault Intercessor kit.

As shown above, I love how the bits give you the opportunity to make even the basic marine have a bit of a story. Some of these bits could easily represent some of the relics in the codex. They give us the opportunity to add more grit, and firey appearance to the squad.

An extreme close up.

I hate blowing my own pics up so large, but the errors are mostly invisible at regular size. This gives you a look at how I’m manually adding chip damage, and using additional oil washes and pigments, combined with the original dry brush work to give a greater sense of depth to the black marine body. Although time consuming, I think as an army it helps to make the whole army stand out.

Another very large, and revealing photo…

Up close you can see how I’m trying to trick the eye with ‘3D’ cuts and gouges on the armour. Just use a brush you trust, and a combination of colours to create a lowlight, and reflective highlight. Strategical placement makes this less work. Using volume enhancing shades adds to the illusion and gives the gashes a better platform to sit on. (Otherwise you would lose half your work if this sat on a pitch black marine).

That’s about it for this squad. A pleasure to do and add to the army as I move on to the Sword Brethren. Already the basic procedure and recipe is changing. Not just to make them look better, but to improve the timeline. Hopefully I will have that squad done soon.

Thanks for checking it out.

-prot