Raven Guard Dreadnought - Horus Heresy

Here is the Raven Guard Dreadnought I decided to do as a cheap option for the project.

It is simply the Dreadnought from Assualt on Black Reach on a nice Blasted Wetlands base. Not a competitive option but thats not what the Campaign project is about. The Raven Guard had to rely on Dreadnoughts for heavy support with their vehicles destroyed during the drop. I may build a couple arm options for the Dreadnought as well.

I have added some lichen and flock to the base and those of my marines as they were very dark and had little difference to the Raven Guard armour - Thanks for pointing it out James. The scenic effects break it up nicely now. Next is the Mark IV apothecary I got from Pete a couple weeks ago, if anyone needs medical assistance its the Raven Guard after the massacre.

With the release of the Recon marines from FW I will be making an order where I will get the Raven Guard transfer sheet as well. Then I can add the Legion symbols to the Dread and the Tactical marines I already have. Other suitable units for the fluff would be a couple heavy weapon and Assualt squads. With the Raven Guard not getting specific rules until the third book I'll just have to make some generic safe choices in the meantime.

Horus Heresy Raven Guard

Here are some pics of my first Raven Guard Legion tactical squad for the Horus Heresy project.

Just have to get some Raven Guard transfers from FW and have some more water effects on the way to fill the bases a bit more. I will have to do a little work on the veteran sergeants base too as I had completed him before I got the blasted wetland bases.

As I will be painting Cody's Ultramarines as well throughout the project, the difference in armour patterns and colour schemes will mix it up nicely. Talking to him about what he plans to include in his 'Calth' force also means there won't be too much duplication in the units so I'll get to paint a variety.

What I intend to take for my overall Raven Guard force is dependant on what little information is provided in Raven's Flight and Deliverance Lost. As I want my force to comprise of the Raven Guard struggling for the 98 days on Isstvan V I won't be including the Raven Guard Raptor initiates yet. In Raven's Flight the Raven Guard engage with and armoured detatchment of Iron Warriors. When Corax issues the orders to his remaining forces it mentions tactical companies, bike units and assault squads. Once the fighting begins the Raven Guard attack with a lot of Missile Launcher and Lascannon fire as well. I can expand these units a little with the specifics in the FW Legion list and I may also include a Dreadnought or two as they are mentioned in Deliverance Lost, seems plausible they may have had one or two left after the initial massacre.

Painting - Horus Heresy WIP & Dark Angel Terminator

So I'm working on not one Horus Heresy force for Tale of X Gamers but two!

With my own Mark IV Raven Guard in the works I also have Cody's Mark III Ultramarines on the painting tray.

First off my Raven Guard have had a base of Adeptus battlegrey with 3 washes of Nuln Oil to create a dull matt black finish. Highlighting, battle damage and some weathering have followed with a freehand Legion symbol to finish the painting off. The Raven Guard will all be based on the Secret Weapon line of blasted wetlands bases, suits the image in my head of the Raven Guard on the run from the Traitor Legions.

Cody saw a marine I painted in the new Thunderhawk blue and liked that it was a little different from the standard look of the Ultramarines. I have yet to add Legion symbols and unit markings but this is a good example of what the initial unit should look like, not all will have the gold face plated though. The gold is from a balthasar gold base, layered with auric gold then washes and highlighting to final effect. Cody has some Urban ruin bases coming so his forces will be scouring the ruins of Calth and other Ultramar worlds fighting Word Bearers and World Eater forces.

Finally I have finished a Terminator from Dark Vengeance, I really like these models and the new Dark Angel codex so once the Horus Heresy units are complete I'll do some more work on them. Not being a fan of the traditional dark green or bone white I took inspiration from the cover of the HH book Fallen Angels. The battered metal look with worn gold trim and personal script will be the look for this force. Also a neutral enough scheme if I want to mix and match with the Blood Angel codex giving me options for the Angelic marine army. This Terminator is on a Secret Weapon ruined temple base.

I'll post more pictures once the units are complete

Black Marines and Dark Marines?

With a busy Christmas over workwise and my wife having taken over use of the xbox and the new games 'we' got, its time to get focused back on some hobby projects.

I received my little box o goodness from Forge World today containing the 10 sets of mark IV armour and a pack of Umbra pattern bolters. Now these are of course for the Horus Heresy project and should be destined to be Raven Guard in the process of having the crap kicked out of them by Traitor forces, who I might add seem all the rage with other participants of the project... poor outnumbered loyalists...

Well in addition to this we have the new Dark Angel codex being released in less than a fortnight and fingers crossed, it has some competitive punch from Mr Skaven/Ogre Kingdom Vetock. Now I know some other vocal NZ gamers do not like the new DA range but I frakkin love it. The look is similar to what I was working towards with Cody's Grey Knights with personal heraldry and extra details on the armour. The new DA kits can take this to another level of gothic 'space knight' imagery.

I have the very nice DA models from Dark Vengeance and have used them in the narrative campaign but now I have some little choices to make. I would have prefered to paint the Dark Angels in a preheresy colour scheme as I dont like the traditional dark green at all. However as I was going to play Raven Guard for 30k I dont want to be working on 2 black marine armies. Looking at successor chapters I like the Guardians of the Convenant the most, however I will darken the metal armour considerably similar the Grey Knights I have already worked on.

So do I paint my DA as Guardians of the Convenant and stay with ninja Raven Guard for Horus Heresy or roll it all into one and have a combined pre heresy Dark Angel force good for both systems? I do think they can both function fine as seperate armies and the Raven Guard can always be a vanilla marine army for 40k.

Horus Heresy - Raven Guard Sergeant complete

Here is my first Raven Guard HH miniature completed as of last night.

I've done a freehand Raven Guard symbol on the kneepad, heavy weathering on the cloak and added a dusty look to the lower parts of the armour, a half green field on the shoulder to designate tactical squad and some wear on the Lightning Claw blades.

Did what I could to make what could be a very boring colour scheme to paint a bit more interesting. If I add the same simple weathering and damage to the rest of the tactical squad when I work on them, it should work well. Small additions like equipment pouches and grenades should break it up too.

Horus Heresy - Raven Guard serg WIP

Quick post updating my HH progress.

So before I get to play with any real Forge World models I've been working on this chap with the intention of using him as my sergeant. Pics just quick ones with the phone, I'll post better quality pics when completed.

Using the model from the previous post, I found a single MKIV head from the old Black Templar sprue(should have molded copies before I took to it with a knife for damage - doh!), lightning claw and a BT pistol.

The dirty black look is from an adeptus battlegrey base with multiple black and earthshade washes giving plenty of drying time between. Highlights are a combination of thunderhawk blue, fortress grey and stormvermin fur. I still have more work to do on the lightning claw and have only base coated the cloak in thunderhawk blue. I plan on weathering this marine heavily as they are on the run from traitor forces following the Dropsite Massacre.

HH Raven Guard - pre planning

Nice to see people jumping on board the Horus Heresy project with enthusiasm over at Fields of Blood. Welcome to 40K or should I say 30K for a few gamers including Sam at Hashuts Right Hand and John at Stumpy Heaven.

Looking at what my initial purchases from Forge World will be, has brought me to the following.
1 X Legion MKIV Maximus armour
1 X MKIV Maximus Armour
1 X Umbra Pattern Bolters

This will give me 10 marines in the appropriate armour for the Dropsite Massacre on Isstvan V. The Ravenguard primarily used the MKIV armour as they were outfitted later in the Great Crusade than some other Legions.

Once we move past the initial confrontations I will use a lot of MKVI Corvus pattern bodies as per Deliverance Lost. This wont be too bad on the wallet as they are a bit more abundant in the common plastic box sets.

Rummaging through my plentiful bits box of Marines stuff I found 3 of the 4 Marine characters from the Masters of the Chapter box set. This one in particular seems to have the appropriate armour so I thought I would do minor kitbashing and use him as the Sergeant in artificer armour. I plan on changing the head and both hands. Should be able to give him a bolt pistol and lightning claw(its suits the Raven Guard) without too much trouble.

Tale of X Gamers - Horus Heresy - Raven Guard

Pete over at Fields of Blood is setting up a Horus Heresy ongoing project and campaign. This is awesome and I encourage other gamers in the area to participate.

After throwing around the idea of Blood Angels losing the plot on Signus Prime or Imperial Fists defending Terra, I'm not going to do either of them. Instead looking at the early stages of the Heresy and the Dropsite massacre on Istvaan V in particular, I'm going to work on Raven Guard(thanks for the suggestion Pete).

The initial force will be based around the survivors on the run with Corax. No Rhino transports as they will have been destroyed by the traitors, just footslogging beat up Raven Guard marines. Thinking fairly desolate dark rocky bases, model a few marines crouching or in sparse cover.

With the next HH FW book hopefully containing the Massacre stuff I will get some special rules around the Raven Guard Hit and Run tactics and assault squads.

Other future possibilities include making some of the deformed 'talons' from Deliverance Lost as well. Could even sneak in a couple Alpha Legion.