+ Third Company roll call +
+ If you're anything like me, projects can run away with you. The enthusiasm builds up, and what was intended to be a quick break turns into your main focus for a time. Depending on the space available to you, you may have had to pack away your materials, so that when you come back, you find it hard to find the thread. Alterantively, the time away from a project may have opened up a new angle you want to try. When this happens, it's good to take a little time and take stock before cracking on. +
+ This has happened with the Blood Angels. Starting as a quick way to paint up the new 'Primaris' marines from the Dark Imperium boxed set, I ended up getting carried away with conversions and turning it into a full army; which in turn snowballed into the Alien Wars project – and has ended up with me building a load of loosely-related models like my orks, squats... and a couple of other as-yet unseen bits:
+ ...anyway, back to the task at hand. Those who have a continuing import-link to the blog's corestack will know that the Blood Angels army is based on this one, from M2.1991's White Dwarf issue 139:
+ Here's the list, based on the image above and the accompanying army list. It fits into the modern game quite neatly, all things considered:
+ Headquarters +
- Captain with master-crafted auto bolt rifle, bolt pistol, frag and krak grenades
- Lieutenant with master-crafted auto bolt rifle, bolt pistol, frag and krak grenades
- Librarian with force sword, bolt pistol, frag and krak grenades]
- Chaplain with crozius arcanum, plasma pistol [absolvor bolt pistol], frag and krak grenades +unbuilt+
- Five Techmarines
- Techmarine with power axe, servo arm, bolt pistol [or Thunderfire Cannon?]
- [+4 Primaris/servitors as aspirants/crew?]
+ The HQ section is underway, with the Captain and Lieutenant built but unpainted. The Chaplain's interesting, in that the model used had a plasma pistol, but the army list had a different armament. The path I'm taking is to take my cue from the models – it's easy to get bogged down otherwise. +
+ The techmarines are a good illustration of the changes wrought by the various editions. The Rogue Trader list used for the original army stipulated a techmarine for each vehicle (with some exceptions for small ones like bikes and field guns); whereas now techmarines are more like the other characters; fielded as individuals. I'm not quite sure how I'll square that circle – a small group of techmarines and write that into the Nova Terra Interregnum period background? One techmarine and four servitors? Just one techmarine, following the image? – lots of options. +
+ The Ancient is an addition not in the original army. Normally I'd have fun free-handing the banner (and I might still do so), but it tickled me that the modern plastic banner is clearly based on the one from the 1991 army. I wanted to include him for that reason, and also because banners and flags were such an important visual part of the game at the time. +
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| Captain |
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| Lieutenant |
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| Ancient |
+ Elites +
- Medic with absolvor bolt pistol, reductor pistol, frag and krak grenades]
- Terminator Squad including one chainfist and one assault cannon
+ Aside from thinking that the apothecary (who carried the banner in the original) will probably lose his banner, to give space for the Ancient, there's not much to say here. I haven't started thinking about how I'll tackle the Terminators, though I'm already looking forward to bringing in some nods to images from the contemporary version of Space Hulk.
+ Troops +
- Tactical Squad I: 1 Intercessor sergeant and 9 Intercessors with bolt rifle, bolt pistol, frag and krak grenades
- Tactical Squad II: 1 Intercessor sergeant and 9 Intercessors with bolt rifle, bolt pistol, frag and krak grenades
+ This is a bit more like it. Squad 1 is completely built and half-painted:
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| Tactical I; first combat squad |
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| Tactical I; second combat squad |
+ Squad 2 is half complete; with the second combat squad (actually the sergeant's half, on the left-hand side of the image) in planning :
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| Tactical II; second combat squad. Annoyingly, I don't have a finished shot for these: this part-way through will have to do. |
+ I'm toying with the idea of adding red panels to the backpacks of this squad, to echo the caption text of the original army (see image above). +
+ Fast Attack +
- Assault Squad VI: 10 man assault squad with jump packs
- Land Speeder with multimelta
- Bikes (2 in original list) Bike squad
+ Not even bought. I'm waiting for Forge World to release the Land Speeder they previewed recently, as it's ideal. Assault Squad-wise, I've got a parcel of Rogue Trader-era jump packs on its way. I'm intending to use the cool Forge World outriders for the bikes. All are low-priority, as (aside from the Land Speeder), they don't even turn up in the picture. +
+ Heavy Support +
- Devastator Squad IX: 1 Intercessor sergeant and 5 Intercessors with stalker bolt rifle, bolt pistol, frag and krak grenades; 2 Intercessors with heavy bolters, bolt pistol, frag and krak grenades; 2 Intercessors with missile launchers , bolt pistol, frag and krak grenades
- Thudd Gun: Heavy Quad Launcher Battery
- Land Raider
+ Half of the Devastator squad is built:
+ The Thudd Gun is cleaned and ready to be built. Like the bikes and assault squad, the Land Raider is low priority as it's not in the picture. I think I'll probably go for the Forge World Proteus, if I can snag one cheaply second-hand. +
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| Devastator IX; First combat squad. Note the Mark VI helm on the sergeant, and the presence of holstered bolt pistols and gear as mentioned in the original caption. All very 'rivet-countery', but silly fun! |
+ Transport +
- Rhino 1
- Rhino 2
- Rhino 3
+ As with the Thudd Gun, one Rhino is cleaned and ready for assembly. I'll probably build it once I've got Tactical I complete, as it's their ride. It'll be a nice waypoint for the army. The other two can wait for the future, as they don't appear in the picture. +
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| WIP test of the foot-based Assault squad |
+ There's no great reason for the latter beyond the fact I fancy converting some, and they fit the theme well. As with the Space Hulk nods for the Terminators, I'll likely add some flourishes inspired by Advanced Space Crusade to the Scouts. +
1 comment:
Ooh, what are you going to do for the scouts? Will you use the reiver bodies with mohawk heads and puffy sleeves, or something else?
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