The Azure Host
A Saturday spent building an Ottoman Ultramarines army
Fausto Zonaro, Conquest of Constantinople (1903) · Public domain
A quiet Saturday, a cutting mat, and a box of grey plastic. By evening it was an army.
In part one I finally bought in — sold on a hobby with no screen, no framerate, no patch notes. The dream at the end of all this is simple and stubbornly physical: paint a whole army, then sit down and challenge a real Warhammer game on an actual table, dice and all. But that’s chapters away. Today was just glue, clippers and primer — and it was deeply satisfying.
The concept landed fast: what if the Ultramarines had marched out of the Sublime Porte instead of Macragge? They wear blue and wage war by the book — so do the Janissaries. So I’m building the whole force as the Azure Host: same chapter blue, dressed in Ottoman station. The warlord is a Padişah; his honour guard are Solak and elite Janissaries; the cheap bodies up front are Azap levy. Wealth — gold, white, the brightness of the blue — falls with rank.
Where today ends: the force is built and primed, about two hours of clipping, cleaning, gluing and undercoating. No colour on them yet. So this log runs from bare grey to primer, and every recipe below is the plan — the paints I’ll reach for next time. All Citadel. Two tones means first is the base coat, second the layer.
Cut, Clean, Glue
Bare plasticIt starts on the cutting mat. Clipped off the sprue, scraped the mould lines, dry-fit, then plastic cement. Nothing glamorous — just the slow part nobody photographs, so here it is anyway. Three batches assembled and posed before a drop of paint touched them.
The Whole Host, Primed
UndercoatEveryone gets the same start. Primed the full force in one sitting so the blue would sit on a consistent ground. Build and prime together ran about two hours. This is where the army stands today — grey plastic turned uniform primer, Padişah down to the lowest Azap, all waiting for their station’s colours.
Same army, same blue. What changes by station is the metal, the white, and how bright the blue is allowed to be.
The Padişahپادشاه
HQ · Warlord — no restraintThe portrait of the whole project — here primed, awaiting his colours. He’ll get the brightest blue, real gold, and pure white feathering: everything the levy can’t afford. This is the model I’ll measure every other against, so when paint goes on I’ll take my time — base, layer, edge.
Elite Guardiansصولاق
Elite · Solak — the Sultan’s ownPrimed and ready for the brush. The honour guard will run the Padişah’s whole palette — same blue, same gold, same green — but they earn one thing he keeps for ceremony: red. A hot Mephiston/Evil Sunz scarlet will mark them as the Sultan’s chosen, a flash of blood-and-fire against all that azure.
The Azapعزب
Troops · Levy — cheap bodiesThe front rank — primed and lined up. They’ll be the fastest to paint: no gold, no pure white, no bright blue, all of it above their pay grade. They make do with a dusty drab and a plain, deep chapter blue. Contrast-paint, wash, rank up, move on. Meant to read as many, not as precious.
Blue binds them all — only the metal and the white shift with rank. That single shared note is what makes Padişah and Azap read as one host on the table.
That’s the Saturday. The marines stand built, primed and waiting. Part three is the fun part — paint goes on, station by station, and we find out if the plan survives contact with a brush. And somewhere past that, the real prize: marching the finished Azure Host onto a table and challenging a real game, face to face, dice in hand. One chapter at a time.