Previously on the Road to Nova…

I abandoned my commitment to Chaos in favor of Eldar, and I finished an entire Farseer I absolutely needed for NOVA. Then I worked on a Kill Team Model and finished a pair of older Iyanden models for the army. When last we left my Road to Nova (well over a month ago), I was starting work on the 2nd of 3 models I needed for my Ynnari plans, the Visarch himself.

The Slow and Uncertain Rise of the Ynnari

Credit: Alfredo Ramirez

Oh hey, I did it! I painted the thing. As daunting and detailed as the Ynnari characters seemed, I actually quite enjoyed painting up the Visarch and he went together quite quickly once I figured out my process. You can learn more about my approach and thought process in our How To Paint Everything: Visarch special.

Ok, so I finished the Visarch just a week after posting my previous Road to Nova, so I’ve had a month since then and all I had to do was paint a single model, Yvraine. Easy, right? I probably finished her around late July and have been sitting on my laurels since. Well…

We March for Macragge (Again)

Credit: Alfredo Ramirez

That’s right readers, I have switched NOVA armies yet again! I blame Aaron Dembski-Bowden and his extremely good Spear of the Emperor, which I listened to while painting the Visarch. It rekindled a fire in me to go back to painting my Ultramarines, which I fielded for Adepticon, and add some of the cool stuff I didn’t get to use back in March. So, while this may seem like a step back, it actually added very little to my painting queue while also making me feel excited about my army in a way I just wasn’t feeling. It doesn’t help that GW has decided to massively buff Space Marines just in time for NOVA (but I really didn’t know about that before making this decision, I swear).

The Victrix Guard

Credit: Alfredo Ramirez

First up on my queue were the excellent Victrix Guard that came with Marneus. I wasn’t 100% sure if I was going to field Calgar but their general-purpose killiness and ability to bodyguard any and all Space Marine characters is truly invaluable. I really like these models, though painting them was more challenging than the average Space Marine model to their construction. I guess they’ll be good practice for when I do Eliminators at some point. I go into more detail about my process in our How To Paint Everything: Ultramarines article from last month.

Marneus Calgar

Credit: Alfredo Ramirez

Ultimately, I did decide to tackle the big man next (it was this or Guilliman) and what a fun model he was! I’ll likely collaborate with famed Heraldic expert SRM on a detailed HTPE for Calgar but suffice to say that he is a chunky boy that is ultimately not that complex to paint with the right sub-assemblies. I was very glad I went with the bare head as I feel it gives him a lot more character and I really liked weathering him to fit in with the rest of my Ultramarines.

Onward for Ultramar

So what comes next? Well, I’m not 100% certain. With a new codex coming, some things are up in the air (like how much Tigurius will cost or if anything else gets adjustments like the Repulsor) so I’ll be cutting things close to the wire.

This is tentatively what I have in mind right now. The cost I’m using for Tigurius is his existing codex but presumably he will be more expensive as Primaris and given that the Repulsor Executioner went up in price (at the chassis level) it’s not impossible the vanilla Repulsor will too. So I’m giving myself some points runway and can sub in a Primaris Ancient and an extra intercessor in if needed to shore things up. Right now my painting queue is:

• Primaris Chaplain: This will be a fun one. I’m gonna take some bits from Chaplain Cassius in Deathwatch: Overkill to make a nice Ultramarine-looking Primaris Chaplain.
• Chief Librarian Tigurius: I love the new model and it makes me happy I never got around to my planned conversion. One wrinkle here is that I will be in Toronto all week August 19-23 so I won’t have Tigurius in hand until the 24th, which gives me only a few days to paint him up, but that should work.
• Odds and Ends: I got burned out on painting my Ultramarines leading into Adepticon and so there are some models that are shamefully not up to par for my standards. In particular, some of the veteran Intercessors and the Primaris Lieutenant didn’t even have all of their basecoats on and I just slapped 3 colors on them to meet painting requirements. Getting some of that stuff up to snuff is my current project and I’d like to have those all done this weekend so I can work on the Chaplain next week.

Credit: Alfredo Ramirez

So there you have it, my current painting plans and I will try to get some updates out next week and just before NOVA to see how much I got done.

In terms of gaming, I’ve chosen to drop from the Kill Team GT (since I clearly wasn’t working on those models) and instead picked up a Narrative Dayfight as well as some seminars on Sunday so I can learn to paint gooder. I am extremely pumped for NOVA and hope to see many of you there in just a few short weeks!