I wasn’t in the mood to prime minis today (I did some test priming, which I’ve detailed in a post for tomorrow), so I picked another unit to build: Squad Dolos, my first Primaris Space Marines — the cool-as-hell Primaris Infiltrators (paid link).
Gotta start with the sergeant! Although unlike Squad Karios, the first squad I built for my Blood Angels army, these dudes have many, many fewer unique elements to them. That makes it harder to flavor the squad based on the sergeant, but I’m sticking to my guns anyway.
After my first two (drawing-his-pistol guy is such a cool pose!) I stood them up next to two members of Squad Karios for a quick size comparison. Space Marines are massive compared to an average human . . . and Primaris Space Marines make them look small.
(It was while I was working on my third one that I realized the chest-grenades come in right- and left-side variations, and I’d already done one wrong. Now it’s two!)
I want zero exact duplicate figures in my army, and ideally zero near-duplicates as well — so this kit is a bit of a challenge, since it includes two sets of identical twins and the Infiltrators are almost mono-pose figures.
Compared to the Space Marines I built last week, and even setting aside that the level of uniqueness in that kit is higher than in a standard Adeptus Astartes kit, these Infiltrators are much more rigid: no waist rotation, entire torso is one piece; each torso matches exactly one pair of legs; legs locked into position; only five sets of different legs (2x of each set); identical weapons; etc. You do get 10 pieces of “waist bling,” 2x each of five designs, and of course I’m limiting myself unnecessarily by using only the helmeted heads (which are all identical, save that I used the comms guy’s head for the sergeant).
For the two dudes above, I really had to stretch the limit of how far the arms on the one on the left would go in order to make his posture emphatically different than his twin. That said, the poses are quite dynamic, I dig the pouches and holsters and other doodads, and the special ones are rad — the sergeant cradling his Bolt Carbine, the guy reaching for his sidearm, the comms guy. They’re good-looking minis overall, I just miss the blinged-out variations in my Tactical Squad.
I built the other set of identical twins, far right and third from the right, and squeezed as much individuality out of them as I could: different Bolt Carbine angle, head position, bling style and location, and presence/absence of grenades on the chest. I’ll add a bit more variation when I base them (skulls, tufts, etc.).
I’m pretty bleary-eyed after doing six of these in a row, so it’s time to call it a night.