Nerdmarines: squad and a half finished!

Fourteen tactical marines, combined with my original test marine, make up my two Troop choices for my first 500 points:

Oh, what a harsh mistress is unnatural light! Apparently several times during the painting of these I forgot how to apply paint to miniatures, but some tidying up later and they're at an acceptable tabletop standard. Some freehand tactical marks on the shoulder pads and the hazard striping on the sergeants chainsword add a little pizzazz to the units, especially when viewed from a slight distance! 

Well, I say freehand, a soft pencil and some ingenuity (and a steady hand with a tape measure) can help form a guideline in these situations:

Finishing these brings the tally to:

36 vs 35 = 1

Who would have thought, it's actually back into the positive! Plus, I've got a dreadnaught, razorback and librarian to paint yet for the first planned 500 points, although I might see if I can churn out a single figure for fun next time I have a couple of hours free before I start on them! I may even stick up a poll to see what I should paint as a break, so watch this space...

In other news, technically these miniatures were actually finished last week, but only had static grass applied and were posted today, as the wife and I were in Germany for the weekend:

(This is Germany. You can tell by the lack of fence by the railway)

What, you want a more obviously German picture? Fine:

Ah, sweet Deutschland, land of things being clearly labelled, how I miss you already...

Next time we'll have to go for longer than a long weekend though! It was odd being in a country when they won the World Cup though, how many Englishmen get to say that?

Edit the day after to add a picture if forgot about:

In Germany they have wargames magazines with freebies on!