I’ve seen many attempts at painting checks onto Space Marine shoulder pads (for Lamenters chapter models) that in my mind don’t quite look right. I’ve been asked more than a few times how I did them on my own, so here’s the mini guide I did a while back.

The problem I’ve seen people have is trying to maintain the square shape throughout, which obviously don’t fit on a curved surface. The key thing is defining the centre line and working out from there. When painting the checks, expect to repaint some. I would also point out that the Lamenters badge will cover a large area in the center of the pad, so struggling to paint checks there is a waste of time.

Start by penciling the pattern on, drawing a line down the centre of the pad. Then add two more lines dividing it in four quarters. Further divide the lines up to make eight vertical strips that all converge at the centre of the top of the pad. Finally add equally distanced horizontal lines to form your squares. Even though many of the shapes toward the top of the pad will be more triangular than square the overall finish is still more appealing to the eye than trying to make squares fit on a curved surface.

Here’s a small collection of Orks I created for a Snakebite themed army. Unfortunately the army never got past the Warboss and a Madboyz Mob, but I’m quite pleased with what I did anyway. My original Warboss was based off of the Warhammer Grimgor model, converted to be holding a huge chainsword (from the Inquisitor range) and a large plastic warboss axe. I really liked him but he was  little on the small side, so after a little planning I re-based the original warboss onto a 25mm base and demoted him to chief Nob. The new Warlord was heavily converted from a metal 40k Warboss, Gorbad Ironclaw and the Waaagh Banner Bearer, plus a huge selection of bits. You can see the finished but unpainted model at the bottom of this post. To follow this Warlord to war I started work on a Madboyz mob led by a Madboss (equipped with swanky top hat).