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IMPERIAL NAVY - MARAUDER BOMBERS
All of the aircraft here are from Forge World’s Epic range and
are a little larger than the metal variants from Fanatic,
however the colour scheme works equally as well with either
range. When I began considering what flyer formations I wanted
to include in my Imperial forces, I gave some though to how they
had been portrayed in the background of the Armageddon War.
Having suffered such heavy losses I suspected that a lot of the
squadrons that operated during the conflict would be assembled
from the survivors of other squadrons and may even show
different markings initially. As I would be using Forge World
models it made sense to use the Imperial Armour hardback book
for reference pictures. One squadron in particular stood out,
that being the 2424th Squadron, which operated at
Armageddon and would make a good starting point for my initial
formations. The two Marauder Bombers shown here and Marauder
Destroyer were mounted on brass rod as described in my previous
article and painted in a two tone Space Wolf Grey and Kommando
Khaki. As Khaki is a difficult colour to paint over a black
primer and I didn’t want to use a white primer as it would be
too bright, I painted the Maruaders using the following steps.
Firstly I undercoated the models black as normal. I then lightly
sprayed both the underside and top with Space Wolf Grey, as this
would be the colour I wanted to show on the bottom half of the
Marauders. The reason for also spraying the top half is that the
lighter grey gave a clean base for the Kommando Khaki without
being too light. Watered down Khaki was then painted over the
top and sides of the aircraft leaving a thin line of grey along
the bottom edge. Once dry I then applied an ink wash over the
khaki that consisted of 20% Brown Ink, 20% Flesh Tint Ink, 10%
Kommando Khaki and 50% water. Note: The inks used in this
instance were artist acrylics so don’t worry if you don't have a
flesh tint ink, Flesh Wash will work equally well as a
substitute.
After
the ink wash had dried I then lightly dry brushed all of the khaki surfaces
with neat Kommando Khaki before adding Bleached Bone to the palette to create
the lighter striping shown on the wings. For the detailing I painted a thick
vertical stripe from the front of the tail down either side as shown in the
Imperial Armour artwork over which the squadron number was added. The guns and
engines were painted with either a mix of brazen brass, black and boltgun
metal before receiving a black ink wash. Other details such as the cockpit
glass and Imperial icons were painted in midnight blue and skull white
respectively. Once finished the marauders were given a quick coat of matt
spray varnish and stuck onto their respective flying bases.
To further expand the squadron I added a single Marauder Destroyer variant,
which I painted in the same scheme to create a campaign squadron of three
aircraft. Note: If you are picking forces for a game using the Tournament
Steel Legion lists then the Marauder Destroyer will need to 'Count As' a
regular Marauder Bomber and a maximum of two aircraft will be permitted per
squadron. As this formation is destined for a Campaign Game, there are no such
problems adding in the third aircraft.
Over the coming weeks I will be covering more Imperial Navy Squadrons, as well
as looking at alternative ways in which you can base your flyers.
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