Wednesday, February 06, 2008

The Golden Horde of Jaghatai: White Scars Space Marines










White Scars Space Marines are a relatively rare Warhammer 40K army. There are two good reasons for this. First, painting white armor is extremely difficult. Getting a smooth, even coat is a chore. But then you have to trim them with red paint, and one small slip will mar that white finish. Patience is key.
The second reason is that each model tends to be expensive. To truly get the feel of the White Scars, the bulk of the army should be mounted on motorcycles. Games Workshop based the White Scars on the Mongol horde of Genghis Khan, they strike hard and fast. So right out of the gate, a would-be White Scars player is buying expensive models.


But if you really want to have good looking White Scars... you need to customize them. You have to add odd, little bits here and there to give them an Asian, tribal feel. That means more planning, and more expense as you purchase the extra parts.


 This is my still small detachment of White Scars. Two bike squadrons (one painted to be veterans), a mounted Khan, a mounted Chaplain, a five man Assault Squad with jump packs, a Chaplain with jump pack, a Land Speeder Tornado, and a Predator tank.




I have parts to do another two bike squadrons in this style, another five assault marines, and two more Land Speeders.



 The first picture is my dismounted Khan. I also have a dismounted Stormseer, or Librarian. I've been considering doing an infantry adjunct to this force too. I'm ambitious when it comes to these armies, and I always think big. I do plan on finishing what I have in my parts box.



I admit I got tired of painting all that white. So I took a break to start the next project. Now, instead of white, I'm painting the only slightly easier color yellow.





That's right, my next project is the entire Fifth Company of the Imperial Fists, equipped for a siege, and backed up by elements of the deadly First Company and the stealthy Tenth Company scouts. That's well over one hundred yellow and black Space Marines.

EDIT: The previous links to the photos were broken. These are still my White Scars Marines, but the text may not match the pictures as closely.




6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nicely done jrf. Great attention to detail. We all need a "soft" activity to balance the "hard" activity of training. I look forward to your next project.

Anonymous said...

golden horde of jagatai? khan?
sounds like the mongol empire, shortly after the death of the great kan genhis khan, who left it to his 3rd son ogédai, left part of it to chagatai (jagatai - theirs several spellings) i presume you take the namnes from before the civil war, and the break of of timur followed by his deafet of the golden horde and the founder of the mongol/persian empire of the timurids?
thats kool
james lawes

Anonymous said...

He didnt name it smart ass GW named it. he just collects it.

Anonymous said...

well done a very good doc
look forward to hearing more from u in the future

Anonymous said...

Nice army, im a scars player myself, i have a company ofinfantryand a company of bikers/speeders and i only collected them because of the historical basis. but that guy who put the big post needs to get out more. Or less.

Anonymous said...

looks very cool. I'm going for a dirtier look myself but i think that assault marine idea is stolen.