Painting - Death Company Stormraven

After this model has sat on the shelf partially assembled since it's release, I thought it was high time it got painted.

With Valleycon coming up and Cody and I both using Blood Angel's it was bound to get use.  It already had the black panels and steel base coloured so I decided to go Death Company.

After edging the panels it didn't really stand out so I went to work with weathering powders.  I looked to the Blood Angel codex for freehand inspiration which ended up on the wings.

Cody included it in his list, so last weekend it got plenty of use in his five games at Valleycon in Upper Hutt, including against me!  I have another Stormraven which I have grand plans for, though it will be geared for the Inquisition.

Painting - Blood Angels - Dante & Furioso Dreadnought

I have finished a pair of important units for this weekends Maelstrom tournament.

Here we have Lord Commander Dante.  I own the actual Dante miniature in metal, but alongside the newer model range he is looking dated.  I kitbashed this version out of Sanguinary Guard and Death Company parts.

Next is the completed Furioso Dreadnought with Frag Cannon and Meltagun.  He will be riding down into battle in a Drop Pod.  As you can see I started painting freehand battle damage to his powerfist arm.  I stopped myself for now as there is plenty of work still to do on other units.  It is something I will complete in the near future.

I am getting through my eight Death Company currently.  I am trying to be disciplined and get the unit to a tabletop standard which I can later embellish when I have time.

Painting - Blood Angels - Tactical Squad

Here are a few shots of my Blood Angels.  I have built all my marines to use parts of the Blood Angel Tactical squad and Death Company sets.  All Marines in Power Armour will be on the new 32mm bases.  I must say that the new increased base size is nice to work with and makes miniatures like top heavy jump infantry far more stable on the table top.

First we have the Tactical Squad's Sergeant toting his Combi-melta.

Here he is along with the rest of the Tactical Squad and 5 man Assault Squad.

Finally we have a completed Death Company Marine.  I used soft blue greys for the edge highlighting to move away from the basic grey line work on the armies boltguns.

I want something to break up the barren dusty bases.  They are similar in colour to my Realm of Battle board so I think I will add a few skulls to various bases, maybe some sparse dead strands of grass too.

As I'm on a rare GM'ing break from Tuesday night RPGing (Aaron is running Star Wars currently)  I managed to finish assembling my Drop Pods in between important d20 rolls during the game.  They get base coated today along with the Vindicator.

Blood Angels for Maelstrom VIII

Believe it!  Blood Angels, not Eldar!  After many months/years of taunting and challenges from my fellow gamers and a certain TO I have shed my pointy ears and replaced them with pointy teeth instead.

My list for Maelstrom VIII is as follows,

Dante
Librarian, L2, Jump Pack, Veritas Vitae(Warlord)

10 Tactical Marines, Melta, Combi Melta, Heavy Flamer
Drop pod
5 Scouts, Camo Cloaks, Sniper Rifles

Command Squad, Jump Packs, 3 Storm Shields, 3 Melta
8 Death company, Jump Packs, 2 Power fists
Furioso Dreadnought, Frag Cannon, Melta
Drop Pod

5 Assault marines, 2 Melta, 2 Infernus Pistols
Drop pod

Imperial Knight Paladin

I am furiously painting the red marines so expect updates soon.

Painting - Blood Angels - Karlaen & bike

So after years of playing Eldar, I am finally branching out and have been enjoying Blood Angels.

I have thought about starting them for years but the old Codex was getting a bit dated so I held off to the new one was released.

I have played a few games with them and even though its hard not to compare them to Eldar I am liking the difference.

Here are the first if what should be many sons of Sanguinius to come.

Captain Karlaen from the Deathstorm box set.  While maybe not as good as a Sanguinary Priest or Librarian he is not a bad HQ choice.  Solid Terminator character with auto reroll reserves and +1 sieze the initiative. 

The first of several bikes.  Now that Blood Angels have access to Grav weaponary these provide a wonderful quick and cheap delivery for them.  The riders will be a mix of the new Blood Angel tactical squad and biker parts.  As grav weapons are not that plentiful on the sprues I am probably going to get a set of Volkite Chargers from FW to use as grav guns.

MIA Blood Angels - Hub campaign

Next campaign force to debut was sent in by Conan who will be playing on Saturday.

FIRST THERE WAS THE LIST.

Brother-Chaplain Tiberius (formerly Sergeant Tiberius).
- Make-shift Crozius Arcanum (really just a bloody big power-mace), Rosarius (an Iron Halo taken from the corpse of the former mission-commander and forged into a mask bearing the visage of Sanguinius) & an infernus pistol. [115 pts]

Tactical Squad 'Spada' (now in the grip of the Black Rage and practically Death Company).
- 5 Marines with bolters and close combat weapons. [100pts]

Squad Delta747 aka "McManus's Iron Weasels", "The Iron Weasels" or more commonly "those Weasel bastards..."
- Sergeant McManus, his latest 9 PDF recruits of questionable moral fibre & a rather handy flamer. [55pts]

Terminator Squad Invicta
- Sergeant Quintus & 4 Terminators with an assault cannon. [230]

Total: 500pts.

THEN THERE CAME THE FLUFF...

Several years before the current situation on Chyross IV aka "The Hub" a squad of Blood Angel marines were sent to assist with an Inquisitorial investigation. They never reported back and the Ordo Hereticus never disclosed their true purpose.
Recently reports of the rapidly escalating chaos on the planet reached a nearby Strike cruiser with sightings of black-armoured Space Marines claiming to be Blood Angels. The ship's commander ordered a swift response, despatching Terminator Squad 'Invicta' to deal with what could be brother-marines suffering from the Black Rage. They teleported to the planets surface to meet with the less-than-reliable witnesses, 'McManus's Iron Weasels' - a local PDF squad, who claimed to know the errant marines' whereabouts.

Finally tracking their objective to deep within the under-city, Squad Invictus were prepared for a bloody but brief confrontation. What they did not expect was fully-aware marines, holding on to their sanity and led by an unknown Chaplain. This 'Brother-Chaplain Tiberius' turned out to be the former sergeant of the squad, and went on to reveal that they have been fighting against the forces of Chaos - the influence of which is amplifying the effects of the Black Rage. He claimed that he had seen visions of Sanguinius, beseeching him to don the armour of a Chaplain that he might guide his battle-brothers away from madness.

Eventually convinced that the Chaplain's words were true, Squad Invictus joined forces with the remains of Squad Spada to invesitgate and combat the worshippers of Chaos. As "McManus's Iron Weasels" had a reputation for frequenting the less savoury districts of The Hub, they were ordered to assist and begrudgingly complied. Now this unlikely force, united by (somewhat) common goals ventures deeper into the bowels of a city gone mad. Who knows what horrors await them there...