The Blanche Templars Chapter 1: Planning
This might take a while...
I got into warhammer somewhere during 3rd edition, and as a result, John Blanche’s iconic Black Templars painting simply is what 40k looks like to me. So when Games Workshop released a perfect miniature of the Castellan from that painting, I instantly knew what I wanted to do: remake the painting in diorama form!
There are, at a conservative estimate, several hundred distinct figures in the painting, not including vehicles. Creating the entire thing would clearly take rather more time and space than I have available. Instead, I’m going to be focussing on the rough pyramid of characters in the foreground, which comprises only 18 (for a full list, see below). These should be a good fit for a decent armies on parade board.
I want the finished product to look as close to the painting as possible, which is going to require some serious work both in terms of conversions and careful positioning. The latter is probably going to be a game of getting the various figures together and stacking up books to figure out the correct heights for them. The former is going to be rather more complex.
Thoughts on Scale
It being 1998 at the time, the marines were all clearly intended to be firstborn. That said, as with almost all artwork depicting Space Marines, their proportions are rather taller and slimmer than most firstborn models. The Castellan model is also clearly scaled to be roughly in line with primaris marines. As such, the ideal would be firstborn marines with the scale and proportions of primaris marines. That’s obviously not actually a thing, but we can get close.
To my mind there are 4 good sources for parts for this project:
The current Black Templars primaris range. Details such as weapons being chained to arms and the almost universal adoption of tabards are not present in the painting, so these will have to be restricted to obscured or unclear parts of figures. The pauldrons, however, are going to be invaluable, and I’ll probably end up using them on almost every model.
Space Marine Heroes Series 1. There are firstborn marines, but given a bit of a scale bump so they’re only slightly shorter than their primaris bretheren. Unfortunately they’re heavily monopose and often slightly annoying to get hold of.
The Horus Heresy 2.0 range. Like the space marine heroes, they’re firstborn but with a scale bump relative to the old range.
Space Marine Tactical Squad. It’s classic, it was current around the time painting was made so fits the aesthetic, the only downside is that it makes figures who are shorter and stockier than I’m going to want.
Chaos Space Marines. The new range is scaled up to be in line with primaris marines, and they have a range of armour marks. I’ll just have to cut off a lot of trim!
Roll Call
With all that established, we can start planning the figures (and giving them cute nicknames so I can keep track)! Working roughly left to right, we are going to want to build the following lads:
Brother Montgomery
Monty here looks like he’s going to built almost entirely out of either firstborn tactical squad bits or a space marine hero, which are pretty much the only places to get Mk.VII power armour. The only non-standard part as far as I can see is the backpack which seems to have an upward-facing exhaust and an external tank with a hose from the top leading to the flamer. The other conversion work is going to be swapping the gun grip since all space marine models wielding weapons 2-handed do so with the right hand on the trigger rather than the left. This is going to be a running theme for figures on this side of the painting.
Planned parts:
Firstborn Tactical Squad
Legs
arms
torso
head
backpack
flamer
Misc
Guitar string for hose?
Brother Spheniscidae
I don’t know why this guy makes me think of pingu, it’s possibly something to do with being black and white and having an expression of extreme rage…
It’s unclear from the image whether the breather has tubes on both sides, so i’ll have to see what I can find that might work for the head and modify appropriately. The torso is a bit of a mashup and it’s unclear whether the red strip is a cable or part of a cape. Thankfully the rest seems pretty standard, bolt pistol in the right hand, the left arm clearly damaged, nothing special about the backpack and the legs completely hidden so we can do pretty much whatever we want with them. I suspect the easiest way to do the chest is going to be starting with Mk.VI armour and trimming off most of the cabling so there’s just one loop coming over the shoulder. The rest of the figure can be more or less anything since the psoe and battle damage obscures pretty much all Mk-specific detail on the arms, legs, and backpack
Planned Parts:
Firstborn Tactical Squad
Bolt Pistol
Mk.VI Tactical Squad
Pretty much all of the body
Misc
Head
Brother Jeff
Jeff is going to be simple. All we can see of him is his helmet, left pauldron, left arm, and gun. He’s holding a Godwyn pattern bolter the way all space marine models hold them, and aside from the helmet there is nothing to distinguish which armour mark he’s wearing, or even how he’s posed. In other words, I can toss almost any space marine figure in that spot and everything will work out.
Planned Parts:
Firstborn Tactical Squad
Bolter
Helmet
Misc
Everything else!
Brother Ffej
He’s like Jeff, only reversed.
The design on Ffej’s breastplate looks like it’s probably an aquilla, but aside from that we can’t really say much. Almost any space marine body will do, we’ll just have to convert the arms to reverse the bolter grip.
Planned Parts:
Firstborn Tactical Squad
Bolter
Helmet
Misc
Everything else!
Brother Hieraaetus
Unlike Jeff, Hieraaetus is going to be a little complicated. The gun is held in the other hand so I’ll have to convert the arms for this one too, and then there’s the curiously undersized aquilla to create. I suspect the best approach is going to be sanding a breastplate smooth and then finding a transfer of appropriate size. The Mk.VI armour probably has the minimum of detail to remove, so we’ll probably grab that as a starting point.
Planned Parts:
Firstborn Tactical Squad
Bolter
Helmet
Mk.VI Tactical Squad
Body
Legs
Arms
Backpack
Brother Munitius
Alright, this one is going to be a bit tricky.
We can just see the knee on one of the legs. It’s not totally clear whether there’s a separate knee pad there, but there’s definitely no binding studs on the shin armour or cabling on the thighs, so I’d peg it as either Mk.IV or Mk.VI
The waist and stomach are hidden, which makes our lives easier, but the chest has something close to an X arrangement of cabling which would be consistent with a Mk.IV or Mk.V chest plate with some modifications, or a techmarine.
The Horus Heresy Mk.IV marines are still a little on the short side, so there’s probably not much to be gained by using them over the parts already available in the Space Marine Tactical Squad. In order to get the scale, we can probably use a primaris torso and upper legs as a base.
The helmet is one of the few in the painting without a skull on it, but it does have a big cybernetic eye / viewfinder which isn’t particularly common. There’s also the question of where to get a heavy bolter and a backpack with a bunch of lenses / rangefinders. I’m thinking the Space Marine Devestator Squad might have some appropriate parts.
Planned Parts
Firstborn Tactical Squad
Legs
Chest
Devestator Squad
Heavy Bolter
Helmet
Arms (need converting to reverse the grip)
Misc
Any Primaris body for scale
Guitar strings for cabling.
Lord Marshal Mordred
Okay, time for something completely unique.
There’s a pretty good primaris Black Templar marshal model available, and the pose is not a thousand miles away. We’ll use that as a base, and repose the right leg to create a more upright posture. The flappy cape and left arm will need to go, and the right arm will need repositioning. Then it’s a case of sourcing the left arm (pretty flexible since not much is visible between the poldron and power claw), backpack, and head. That last one is actualy easy - there’s a perfect match in the black templars upgrade box - it even has the aquilla stamped into the forehead!
The Power Claw and combi bolt pistol / flamer will be a bit trickier. As far as I’m aware there isn’t anything suitable out there, so they may have to be kitbashed or scratch built.
The Marshal’s legs aren’t a perfect match, the modern model has ridged armour panels where the painting’s are smooth and have a skull sculpted onto the kneepad. I quite like the look of the ridges so I’ll probably leave them in place, but I’ll definitely add the skull.
Planned Parts
Black Templars Marshal
Torso
Legs
Right Arm
Black Templars Upgrades
Head
Backpack? Not sure if there’s a good match there, I might have to see if I can get hold of one from a Castellan.
Misc
Skull for knee
Power Claw
Pistol
Guitar strings for cables.
Brother Gunter
Ah, another case where we only have to worry about swapping the gun arm. I doubt I’ll be able to find a Mk.VII helmet with a maltese cross on the forehead, so that might have to be a transfer. The only other fun thought I had is that the way the head sits low between the shoulders puts me in mind of the 2nd - 3rd edition monopose marines, although they would absolutely be too small for our purposes!
Planned Parts
Firstborn Tactical Squad:
Helmet
Bolter
Misc:
Everything Else!
Veteran Brother Ivor
Ivor just has to be different. The legs are clearly Mk.IV, the gun is a Phobos pattern rather than the more usual Godwins (and held reversed relative to the standard space marines, I’m going to get sick of converting arms!), there’s a furry loin cloth and a bunch of dangling accessories from the belt, and the chest armour has both a unique symbol and a bunch of additional pipes. He’s going to be complex.
The Space Marine tactical squad will provide the Mk.IV legs and helmet. I suspect a Mk.VI marine might be best to use as a base to give him the height since they have minimal detail on the chest that’ll need removing, so that’ll provide the main body and backpack, along with the older fashion of boltgun. There are some large-ish crosses with skulls in the black templars upgrades which might do for the chest detail. As for the loincloth and accessories, I think there’s some space wolf bits kicking around that might do the job|
Planned Parts
Mk.VI Tactical Squad
Body
Backpack
Boltgun
Firstborn Tactical Squad
Mk.IV Legs
Helmet
Black Templars Upgrades
Chest symbol
Misc
Loincloth
Charms
Sword Brother Eric
Most of the figures in the painting I can afford to be a little loose with since they mostly add to a mass of angry monochrome boys. Eric here (along with the marshal and castellan) is an exception - he stands out so if I don’t get him very close to the original the difference is going to be obvious. As such, this is likely to be one of the most conversion-heavy figures I produce.
We’ll start with a primaris intercessor. They have about the right proportions and winged skulls are the standard for their breastplates. We’ll need to trim off the gorget and add cabling to the stomach (and see if we can create the scalloped lower edge for the chest guard while we’re at it).
Even in the age of tactical rocks (tm), I don’t think there are any marines out there with a stance this heroic. That means I’ll have to reposition the legs, but I’ll already be cutting into them to remove the flanges at the top of the kneeguards.
The Tactical Squad has appropriate plasma pistol and knife wielding hands, so that at least should be simple. After that it should be a (relatively) simple manner of adding some cabling to the gun, and trimming down a tilt shield to serve as a belt buckle.
Planned Parts
Primaris Intercessors
Body
Legs
Arms
Backpack
Tilt Shield (for belt)
Firstborn Tactical Squad
Plasma Pistol
Knife
Helmet
Misc
Purity Seels
Skull on a spike
-
Brother Trinitus
Ah, it’s so nice to be back on simple ground after Eric. Trinitus here should be a nice easy job. We can use primaris parts almost everywhere except for the helmet, and there’s no proof he isn’t wearing a tabard. As such, I think we can do a simple headswap on a primaris crusader!
Planned Parts
Firstborn Tactical Squad
Helmet
Primaris Crusader Squad
Everything else!
Brother Calvaria
The basics will be very quick for this one. The legs are classic Mk.VI, so we can use one of the horus heresy kits for pretty much the entire figure, while swapping out the bolter and helmet. The tricky part is going to be the belt buckle and breastplate. The only perfect match I could find for the chest is Brother Toriad, a figure who was part of the space marine heroes range but only in Japan (and also part of the space marine adventures board game). He’s not exactly easy to get hold of, and in either case the way he’s been sculpted means that extracting the chest would pretty much render the rest of the model useless. However, there’s a close match in the space marine devastators box (and I’ll need a few other bits from them for other models). The skull in that case has crossed bones behind it, but those can be easily trimmed away. For the belt buckle, I’ll have to see about scultping or trimming down a larger skull!
Planned parts:
Mk.VI Tactical Squad
Body
Legs
Arms
Backpack
Firstborn Tactical Squad
Helmet
Bolter
Devestator Squad
Chest armour
Misc
Skulls
Purity Seals
Brother Bane
Like Calvaria, Bane could be based motly on a Mk.VI figure. However, while I suspect the chest is supposed to be seen as another breastplate, it looks to me like a black robe with the cross on the front. Since I want to add some more robes where I can, we could instead use the body of a Primaris Sword Bretheren (with some modification to the gorget and no cape) and use Mk.VI parts to create the extreme case of Tactical Rock (and groin strain).
The tricky bit is going to be finding an appropriate head, since I can’t think of anywhere with that asymetrical mask arrangement…
Planned Parts
Black Templars Sword Bretheren
Body
Backpack
Primaris Intercessors
Arms
Firstborn Tactical Squad
BoltGun
Mk.VI Tactical Squad
Legs
Misc:
Head
Ex-Brother Somnus
Okay so he’s mostly going to be basing material, but he’ll be fun to build nonetheless. I’ll hack him together out of whatever bits are left over after everything else!
Castellan Securis
GW have done all of the work for me!
Terminator Sergeant Oswald
I really like the current terminator captain model, so we’ll probably use that as a base. He’s already got the winged skull on the breastplate, and weapon options that match the storm bolter / sword combo. He also has an option for a tabard that’ll bring him into line with the Marshal and Castellan (and hopefully compensate for the lack of white up top). I’ll probably repurpose some gravis pouldrons rather than trim the flanges off the top of the ones the captain comes with. I don’t think there’s a perfect match fo the head in that kit, so I’ll have to source that from somewhere else.
Planned Parts
Captain in Terminator Armour
Pretty much everything.
Magos Indicia
I’m not totally sure whether this guy is supposed to be a techpriest or a chapter serf, the red robes and cabling indicate the former, but the low-tech banner, accompanying apparently unaugmented friends, and the presence of a similar group elsewhere in the image who are clad in black indicates the latter. I’ll probably hedge my bets and avoid anything overtly mechanicus.
Planned Parts
Inquisitorial Agents Mystic
Body
Head
Arms (if I can manage to reposition them appropriately)
Adepta Sororitas Icon Bearer
Arms (if necessary)
Misc
Cables
Purity seals
Banner
Honorable Mentions
The 17 characters above are probably going to be more than enough, however there are some additional characters I wouldn’t mind adding to the project, either to provide some variety or simply because I like the look of them.
Brothers Curlus (top left), Laryan (center), and Mort (right, wielding the flamer).
These are the most likely to make it into the project proper as I think they may be necessary to balance the composition. They should all be relatively easy to hack together out of standard parts, with the exception of the breastplates. Curlus can be mostly primaris, but his breastplate has a strange arrangement of vertical lines which I’ll probably have to create from scratch. Laryan’s central skull should be relatively easy, but Mort’s bizarre headless aquilla is a bit more challenging. I think the closest match is probably the primaris crusaders who have a winged shield .
Bonus points for the curiously squat marine between Laryan and Mort who could just be in terminator armour given that his head is level with his pauldron. Double points for the Cthulhu monks.
Terminator Brother Orthas
I really shouldn’t include this one, he’s so far back in the image that if I’m including him I really should include a bunch of others as well, he’s barely noticable, and 95% of him is hidden by the Castellan. But, I really like terminators, so I’m probably going to put him in.
With so much of his body obscured, I can use pretty much any terminator to fit the bill. And I have been looking for an excuse to paint one of the new Dark Angels Deathwing terminators…
Brother Albinus
Is he a veteran? The last living Black Templars Librarian? A particularly aggressive Apothecary? Some sort of inverse goth? Entirely unclear, but I think he looks cool and I almost never paint white so if there are appropriate bits kicking around I’ll probably put something together. The same goes for the red-clad figure above him who I’m guessing is a techmarine taking time off from mechanical tinkering to wave a flag.
