As I mentioned yesterday, when these models were fished out of a figure case they were all mounted on 25mm rounds. Since 40mm bases are now standard for Terminators, this presented a bit of a quandary, given how much smaller these original Indomitus Pattern models are to the current range after nearly 30 years of scale creep. I took inspiration from my RTB01 model that I painted as a Mega-City Judge and rebased onto a 32mm, and, well, he looks good – so I decided to just go for it. I also thought that if I added some slate, then it would help to “fill” the bases as opposed to if I left them plain. I think they worked out quite nicely in the end.

When it came to the modelling options, I wanted to keep them really unadorned, as befits the original models – so only original parts used here. I’ve got plenty of BT terminator bits and BT bling I can glue to models, but that can go on a subsequent squad. In keeping with the whole “old school” thing, I originally planned to keep the paint scheme pretty much only to black and white. No red outside of eye lenses and such. In the end I decided to do a bit more to the models. This was based on wanting to do something small with the Sergeant’s shield along with recognition of the fact that Black Templar Terminators are “Sword Brethren”, and as with other chapters’ terminators, they’re veteran elites with a penchant for personal heraldry, and such individuality is even more of a thing in Templars forces.

Because of this, I decided to allow myself to use a limited amount of red in each marine’s chapter iconography, and also that each marine’s shoulder pad would be different. I used a mix of freehand and decals, some of which turned out to be messed up, necessitating extra time to fix them -which I could have done without.

I chose a metallic for the Crux Terminatus on these, rather than the usual bone I’ve used in the past in single Terminators. Both to differentiate the Templars further from my other models, and to give them more of their own distinct look with a kind of polished iron. Again, the Sergeant was allowed a little more colour, with a touch of brass/gold and some gemstone paints for ruby inlay to his sword and sergeant’s icon.

So here we are. Seven editions and almost 30 years on and I’ve finally completed my first Terminator Squad. Let’s hope I can improve on that workrate or I’ll be dead before I get my next squad done. At least these guys are still 100% legal in 8th!