+ inload: Blood Angels Chaplain +

+ Blood Angels Chaplain +

Though workers of iniquity may consume my eyes and waste my flesh,
Though sinful agency weary my body and spoil my works,
I remain faithful to the ideals of my Lord,
Still I shall rely on my Lord to direct and guide me,
And though I die, I shall die knowing neither defeat, despair nor dereliction of duty
Great Angels! In his name! Sanguinius!

The Dirige Conspectu of the Blood Angels; known as the Lament of the Lost.


+ Well, here's the last one: every figure in the Blood Angels army is built, so it's just down to painting now. +
 

+ Inspiration +


+ David Gallagher's artwork of Blood Angels fighting genestealers inspired my Captain Tycho [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], and it includes this interesting character, too – a silver-armoured Chaplain. In terms of miniatures and paint schemes, Chaplains have always been black, so he's a very distinctive figure that stands out beautifully against both the red of the line troops and the black of the Death Company. +

+ Part of the joy of exploring the Nova Terra Interregnum is that it's largely uncharted. Who's to say that – for whatever reason – Blood Angels Chaplains weren't routinely silver at this time? It's a perfect excuse to try something new out, and so I built the following miniature. +


+ The cape is from the Dark Angels Master Lazarus figure. Regular inloaders will remember that I used the front on the Apothecary [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]; I never like cool pieces to go to waste. It's attached to an easy-build marine, which demonstrates it's not about throwing money at a problem, but about finding the right pieces. +

+ The rest of the build is relatively straightforward. A period backpack fits nicely in the project. +


+ The weapons were picked to evoke the artwork – the boltgun is an Umbra pattern one (the modern take on the 2nd ed. boltgun). The only modification I've made here was to slightly shorten the barrel to better match the artwork. The crozius is a thunder hammer haft from the Mark III marine set, with a banner top from the Command squad on top. I've added a tiny ruby blood drop below the skull. The scale's slightly off the artwork, but the principle elements are thus still there. +

+ The head's the obvious big difference. I started with a head from the Sanguinary Guard kit and trimmed down the top of the head and 'brow' of the helmet, before sculpting the skull on top. The eye lenses and grille of the original helm was left in place to give fine detail. The latter part works as a hint of teeth; and – I hope – helps it to read as a sculpted helmet rather than a literal skull. +

+ I added a couple of purity seals and details to the belt. This area's not visible in the artwork so, as with the cape, I decided to improvise and riff off what was there. I think the cape's a good addition – he would have looked too plain without it. +

+ Theoretical +

+ Painting next, then. Left to complete from the basic army are:
  • Techmarine
  • Apothecary
  • Chaplain
  • Land Speeder.
+ I'm a bit undecided on whether to try non-metallic metal silver or metallic paints for the Chaplain. What are your thoughts? +

4 comments:

goblinpaladin said...

Metallic. Strongly emphasises his silveryness and otherness from the file. I'm imagining something like the effect Migs managed on his Blood Angels.

Gunnar Lopez said...

You should do metallic in my opinion. Maybe try out that true metal stuff on him?

Suber said...

I love your take on this one. NMM scares the hell out of me, so I cannot give advice on what to do! But whatever you do will be the right choice, you can't go wrong with this one!

RSF_Angel said...

He looks great! I'm gonna suggest metallic- I had some success using chrome paint on Ironwarriors armour/weapons as an experiment. Once you shade the chrome with washes it loses the 'mirror' finish, but it will reflect nearby colour.