“Check yourself before you wreck yourself”
– Ice Cube, ancient Terran poet
Wow, my last blog entry is from 2017! Do people still read blogs these days? Or does it really matter at all? I decided to return here since I think blogging still has something to offer for us.
Army building
Gaming has not played a big role in my hobby in recent years. I have played a few skirmish games using small warbands but that’s all and I feel that is a real shame. Last summer I met some of my Sleet brothers in Mordheim gaming event in Helsinki. Lassi joined us and we had a good chat about how cool it would be to build an army and actually start playing some 40k together. I Became interested but the whole idea about painting several dozen miniatures still terrified me. The final push towards starting an army came when I saw the first of these in late 2019. What an absolutely brilliant way to paint Space Marines. I was blown away. This was it! I had dreamed about army of Ultramarines for many years but I had never gotten the blue Chapter color to look right in my head. Metallic blue, that was the answer!
Sons of Ultramar
Fortunately Migs was kind enough to share his BA recipes and I was able to begin my journey. I decided to build a force based around Primaris Astartes. Miniature wise I wanted to make the army too look like they were really combat-ready, so no overly gothic stuff like skulls or candles sticking out. I Also wanted to draw inspiration from ancient Roma so definitely nobility over brutality with these guys!
Metallic Blue Astartes
This has been quite a journey so far. Really getting into airbrushing, learning how to use all these technical paints, learning how to use pigments. So many new things I haven’t done before. I’m still learning the best way to present my vision for Ultramarines but getting there slowly.
Squad Verus
This was my first squad for the army and it served me as a studying ground for the techniques. Many things there that I would now do differently but this is the way these things go. I wanted the squad to have strong Legion Theme so I used many bits from the 30k range (helmets, shoulder plates and, some minor details)
Squad Remus
This squad was painted as veteran marines so Codex white markings were added to complement the blue. I also used darker metallics to emphasize veteran status. The miniatures have bionics and lots of normal space Marine parts from many different kits. With the experience I had gained from painting the previous squad I think these guys came out much better.
Future plans
I now have the core of the army painted. To make them Battle Ready I need to start painting some characters, so a Captain and a Librarian for sure. I would love to ad Dreadnought or perhaps a Repulsor Executioner that I have traded from Lassi…
IRON SLEET 
These looks great! The metallics really stand out.
I’m in the same boat as yourself – after a long break from gaming, I returned to actively playing anything this past year, and only within the past few weeks I’ve returned to blogging to see if there’s any meat left on that bone. I’ve shifted focus over to a grimdark-minded Dungeons & Dragons more than anything GW related, but I still have a few Inq28 things that will be making an appearance here and there.
At the very least (especially in the current world situation), blogging can be a motivator to stay engaged. It’s probably due for a comeback anyway, right?
Looking forward to seeing more from you.
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Totally agree with you. Blogs still have something to offer. It can’t be all about square images on Instagram 😉
Got to check your blog now!
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Social media is easier for people to post fast simple stuff that doesn’t warrant a blog length post (like that is super long!). It’s terrible for any proper curation and finding things from the past. Blogs are a great way to organize thoughts and watch projects unfold. It’s a pity there was been a lot of abandonment of the platform. It feels like blogs can create a fairly strong community if it’s given a chance….definitely time for a blog-enaissance.
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Totally agree with you here. Well made blogs can be super helpful for other hobbyists. Good stuff can easily be found even if the posts are several years old.
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Yes, it matters Mikko!!
This highly personal collection oozes passion (again!) and is absolutely gorgeous. It makes me incredibly happy to see it, finally, up on Sleet. What an absolute treat!
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Thanks brother! It really feels good to finally return here ❤
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Yeah blogging is still very much “a thing” in 2020. I think there’s a narrative that people nowadays are too lazy to read or write anything of substance and prefer the “empty calories” of just scrolling through their social media feed but personally I’m not convinced. Of course there have been a number of well known bloggers which have stopped producing content in recent years but that was always the case – there will always be a degree of attrition as people leave the hobby or stop writing blogs – but new blogs spring up to replace them. Instagram is often said to have become the predominant way of hobbyists sharing their creations now, and that may be true up to a point, but there remains such a large number of people who don’t like that format, who distrust the growing influence of facebook and its affiliates or who prefer content with a bit more depth and substance, and the greater sense of community and shared inspiration that comes with blogging.
Those Ultramarines are really something, that metallic blue, the richness of the gold, the crispness of the white – just fabulous stuff! I’m going to go out on a limb here and say these are amongst the best painted Ultramarines I’ve ever seen – it really goes to show that the “poster boys” don’t have to be dull or samey. Great to see you back in action and looking forward to seeing what else you come up with!
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I have to agree with you, I personally fell into that IG-psychosis for many years, until I started to see things more clearly. I still do Instagram but this is about finding balance with my output. Maybe I won’t be posting here that often but when I do, It should be well thought out and with curated content.
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I think blogs are still the best format to really articulate a vision… each post is like a magazine article rather than the short form photo heavy alternatives. I’d much prefer to sit down and read a long article than scroll through endless ‘Ooooh’ photos on face-gram (or whatever else the kids are doing these days).
Anyway, great to see what you’ve been up to mate, those Ultras are pretty damn sweet! Also great to hear about the history & thought process behind the project 😁👍
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Thanks, I too think blog posts as magazine articles. This really is a good alternative to fast-paced social media content. It feels good to come back and here positive comments about it!
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Fantastic work Mikko!
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So happy about this. All right of this. You blogging. You painting such and amazing vision of ultramarines. Finding inspiration in my Blood Angels. And eventually getting our Angels of Death together around some Spikey 🌵.
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