+ Blood Angels back on manoeuvres +
+ I'll be posting up just a squad or two, so need to work out which ones would be most suited. Any thoughts? +
Showing posts with label Blood Angels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blood Angels. Show all posts
Friday, April 19
+ inload: Third Company returns to base +
Wednesday, October 18
+ inload: Preparation for battle +
+ Midweek musings +
+ Both The Ashes of Armageddon and Some Things Are Best Left Forgotten have received updates recently – and after you've inloaded the low-down from both of those, there's a more general hobby inload here. Today we've got a few low-key musings, mostly unrelated to one another – but I hope they're interesting to you! +
+ The Ashes of Armageddon +
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| + 'Pah – What chance do the greenskins have?' + [//Famous last words+] |
+ This project, themed around the Second War for Armageddon, has kicked off rather nicely, and there are some fantastic artists involved. I'm planning to do a little painting challenge event – something simple like a single Steel Legionary or single ork. I don't want to exclude the Space Marines, however – so I'm wondering if the theme is 'non-combat' or something, to encourage people to paint up munitorum servitors, grots doing interesting stuff, or relaxing crew. Any thoughts on what would get you excited in terms of a contest? +
+++
+ Steel Legion +
+ The Steel Legion are ticking along nicely, with 11 all polished off. It's going to need more than that to hold back the hordes of Waa-Ghazgkhull, though! I'm very pleased with how these are coming out. While they're not going to win any prizes, they do look pleasingly improved over their previous incarnation. That's a bit of a relief, to be honest: I never quite know whether a scheme is going to work en-masse, and it's very disheartening to repaint a serviceable model and then find you prefer the previous scheme. +
+ It's surprising what a little detail around the face can do to bring a sculpt to life. While most of these Guardsmens' faces are obscured by the respirators, painting the goggles and picking out the eyes somehow lifts things. For the goggles, I've mainly used blue-grey, but there are some orange and green ones dotted around. This was an aesthetic choice, rather than intended to signify anything. I guess they do allow for differentiation, so could serve a functional purpose if necessary – helping to explain which ones are making shots, or saves; or perhaps picking out the comms-guy – stuff like that. +
+++
+ Pioneers +
+ Speaking of challenges, I was flattered to be asked to take part in @diceandpigment's 'Custom Chapter Challenge' on Instagram. It seemed a bit of a cop-out to just use one of my existing Chapters, like the Gatebreakers or Silver Stars, so I've painted up a completely new Chapter fuelled by last minute panic. This is Phratr Iustitian of the Pioneers:
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| + Action star posing and all + |
+ Confession time – while I'd had every intention of really getting stuck in, time ran away with me, so I had to jump in the deep end – he was built and painted in around six hours, which I think's a pretty good run! +
+ The build is simple – one of the new flamer marines from Leviathan, with a weapon, head and backpack swap. The Mark VI backpack is particularly effective, I think; it's a bit bulkier than the ones I usually use, and fits the bulk of the primaris marine. A bit of trimming to remove the neckguard, flaring kneepads and ankle stabiliser things finished him off, then it was into painting mode. +
+ Those of you who've been inloading for a while might remember Sebastian Ottavus Arcimboldo of the Scarlet Blades [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. He used a split scheme with the knees and below a different colour – an approach that I haven't seen much, and one that I thought worth re-investigating. In terms of colour, I wanted a pairing that I haven't seen much, so went for green and purple. +
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| + The Chapter badge is the astronomical sign for 'Libra' + |
+ He painted up quite smoothly, but looked a little plain, so I picked a simple strip concept, and added some vertical and horizontal stripes in the secondary purple colour. There's not any hidden meaning behind this, but it was nice to find that it's the colours of the Suffragettes. Not entirely convinced the Suffragettes would be pleased with a hyper-human representing them, but who knows? Maybe Ms. Pankhurst would be a Marine collector after all. +
+ These were then decorated with some simple pseudo-Eastern freehand, as the gren and purple combination evoked Ancient Persia, Japan, India and China. I didn't want to make it reductive or a caricature, so I've really opted for 'Space Marine' first and foremost, rather than lean too heavily into one particular real-world culture. +
+ I have no plans for the Pioneers, but it's always nice to have little forces like this in your back pocket. If you like 'em, feel free to give one a go. +
+++
+ Dawn of War +
+ No, not the computer game.
+ On the pictures of the Pioneer above, you'll spot a new background – and that's my freshly re-painted Realm of Battle Board, now in attractive 'Armageddon Wasteland'.
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| + Gridlines not intentional! + |
+ This'll be the first time the 3rd Company have played a game since – [SCRAPSHUNTERRORABORT] a 9th edition game against Lucifer216 that I've just realised I never exloaded. [I'll have to fix that sharpish!]. In that case, this will be the first time I've shown the army in battle on the blog, and what better place to take them through their paces than Armageddon, where the GW Studio version fought? +
+ The list I'm bringing is the modern version of the army shown in WD139, so there are three decades worth of progress. Inflation has definitely hit! While the original army was 1,995pts, the modern iteration, based on the Munitorum Field Manual v1.4, barely scrapes past 1,250pts. +
+ Above you can see the original, and here's the modern equivalent. I ummed and erred about whether to take them as Blood Angels or plain Adeptus Astartes, and ended up opting for the latter, on the basis that I think that's more in keeping with the Rogue Trader/2nd ed. background. +
Army rule Oath of Moment
Detachment rule Combat Doctrines
- Captain Erasmus Tycho – 80pts Artificer Armour – 10pts
- Warlord
- Epistolary Ureolo – 75pts
- Chaplain Savonarola – 70ptsThe Honour Vehement – 15pts
- Medic Sansavino (Apothecary) – 50pts
- Tactical Squad Raphael – 160pts
- Combat Squad Raphael
- Combat Squad Mephisto
- Tactical Squad Lazarus – 160pts
- Combat Squad Lazarus
- Combat Squad Cleon
- Devastator Squad Castigarius (10) – 200pts
- Combat Squad Paulo
- Combat Squad Michelino
- Terminator Squad Redemptor (5) – 190pt
- Thudd Gun (Thunderfire Cannon) – 90pts
- Techmarine Haynes Mirandola – (part of Thunderfire Cannon)
- Rhino – 75pts
- Land Speeder – 80pts
- Lieutenant – (part of the Land Speeder)
+ I'm looking forward to the game – we'll be taking inspiration for the mission from the Armageddon storyline. The Blood Angels arrived alongside the Ultramarines and Salamanders some nine months after Waa-Ghazghkull arrived. In the lore, the Space Marines manage to halt the orks and push the war into a stalemate while the Imperial Guard retrench, eventually triumphing (albeit pyrrhicly!). +
+ The missions from 2nd edition's Battle for Armageddon scenarios booklet focussed on the later war, with the Blood Angels desperately trying to hold the orks behind the river and preventing them from launching fresh assaults. For this mission, we'll be looking at the early war, and filling in some of the gaps there. After all, it's fun to take inspiration from the past, but the purpose of the setting is to give us a space to allow us to write our own fun and explore this most dystopian of settings. +
+++
Tuesday, March 7
+ inload: Blood Angel remnants +
+ Those left behind +
+ Lurking at the bottom of the box in which I store my Blood Angels army [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] are a few figures which were unfinished when I sent them off to be displayed in Warhammer World. For the most part, they're addenda to the main army – that is, they weren't amongst the models as the army appeared in White Dwarf 139 (the theme and inspiration for the force), but have some form of connection. +
+ Pictured here are four figures. The Terminator captain was never part of the army, but the model is inspired by a Rogue Trader-era figure who was part of the original Terminator box release. +
+ Beside him are two lieutenants – these were compulsory in the Rogue Trader army list, though as far as I'm aware, the GW studio army never had them... or did they? If you look closely at the list in WD139, you'll spot that the Lieutenant is present in the army list – but only ever appeared as the driver in the Land Speeder [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]; hence the egregious yellow shoulder pads. +
+ Finally we've got a standard bearer. When I reimagined the apothecary [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], I reduced the giant banner he was bearing to a back banner. While I think this was the right decision, I also think that banners are a key part of the overall aesthetic, and wanted to include a Ancient – this is the result. I had intended that he carry a large version of Captain Tycho's heraldry, as my version of the model follows the (back-bannerless) artwork. Sadly, blank banners seem to be a bit few and far between these days, so I've instead used one from the Sanguinary Guard kit, which at least is Blood Angel themed. +
+ All are at a fairly basic level. You'll notice that I've completed the bases and faces – a common way I start off, as it immediately makes things feel more interesting to me.
+++
+ Next up are the scouts. These were never shown as part of the army, but were knocking about at the same time, owing to the release of Advanced Space Crusade. I still have a quiet ambition to get that out of the garage and play that some day... And it'd be fun to use original models for it. +
+ Close-up of the faces. +
+++
+ And apropos of nothing beyond having the figures out to photograph, here are some close-ups of some others from the army. +
+++
+ The Mark of Khorne +
+ Finally, I'm very pleased to see Krautscientist return to the noosphere – go check out the ever-entertaining and inspirational Khorne's Eternal Hunt. [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+] +
+++
Tuesday, August 23
+ inload: White Dwarf 479 +
+ runcycle{trumpet blowing} +
+ inload: Blood Angels Third Company in White Dwarf +
+ What a lovely treat – my Blood Angels are making a splash in the hallowed pages of White Dwarf. Go pick up a copy to feast your eyes on some really lovely pictures of my daubings, which rather flatter the miniatures! My thanks to Dan, Richard and the rest of the White Dwarf team for their kindness, enthusiasm and encouragement. It was a treat to drive up to Nottingham to talk their ears off about the process. +
+ We started discussing this in the dark throes of the COVID lockdown, so it's been quite a while since the army has turned up here on the blog. +
+ In fact, checking back through the archivescreed, I was astonished to see that I'd started building the army way back in M2.000.017 – more than five years ago! The original inload-article is here [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. The inload there shows how projects can take new twists – in that first inload, I boldly state: 'I'm not going to be obsessive about the army composition. There'll doubtless be a few nods to old models (I'm particularly keen to have a go at updating the proto-Tycho Blood Angels Captain) and the paint scheme, but the force will be a more general homage to the Blood Angels of the time – so tying in bits from the tail end of Rogue Trader through 2nd edition; particularly the artwork.' – while by the time I'd really got stuck into them, I was making not just a specific copy of the army list, but altering the poses to better match the originals! +
+ If you'd like to read through the broader project, the [+ Insphere contentsieve +] search tool in the right column will help you out – enter 'Blood Angels' into the field, and you'll find all the previous inloads that relate to the army. In particular, here's my approach to painting the red I used [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]+
+ If you'd like to have a go yourself at reinterpreting a project that has particular value for yourself, then I'd thoroughly encourage you to do so. I think everyone has that particular model that has particular nostalgic value for them – and breaking that down and creating your own version is really enjoyable experience. What's yours? Feel free to share in the comments below, or come join me on the +Death of a Rubricist+ Facebook group. +
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Brother Engel (Narieal 4:10). The white kneepad is from the old White Dwarf illustration – simply labelled as an 'Honour Marking'. I thought this was fitting for an update of the oldest model in the army.
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Friday, November 13
+ inload: Finished Blood Angels army +
+ Mission accomplished +
+++
A hot wind blew in from the north, stirring the grasses. A great rushing sound swelled in the woodland as the strange air rushed through the trees and sent them waving; as though in silent alarm. In its midst stood a gold-armoured Space Marine, his crimson cloak likewise perturbed.
Prince Dauhavron – Erasmus Tycho; First of that Name – turned the impassive mask of his helm to face the wind. Inside, clicks and warning chimes sounded alongside vox-request tones. Ancient runes crawled across Tycho's vision, marking the on-rush of hard radiation and spiteful gamma-rays. The vox-net erupted as his men began curt reports from across the valley. To his left, he saw brother Brunellecci hurriedly donning his own helm, his skin darkening protectively under the aegis of his melanchromic organ.
Atomics. The greenskins had bombarded the city.
Though it still stood clad in autumnal finery, the woodland was already dead; its potential curdled and soured in an instant.
The gilt surface of Tycho's helm gleamed in the low, late sunshine; and the large black eye-lenses gave away nothing.
He said not a word, but dipped his head to unholster his boltgun, and began to march north.
+++
+ Retrohammer Blood Angels complete +
+ At last; here we are. The army is complete and the project at an end (well, at least this first part). The ambition was to re-create the GW studio army of 1991. The original was painted by Tim Prow, who now runs the amazing Diehard Miniatures [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]; and the list and accompanying article by Andy Chambers, who went on to work on an array of formative tabletop and computer games at GW and Blizzard. (As an aside, Andy once wrote a very encouraging hand-written reply to a hastily-cobbled together Kroot Codex that I sent in to White Dwarf – very gently suggesting that it was perhaps a little overly-enthusiastically inspired by Predator. I appreciate his tact! :)) ++ Based on the then-current Rogue Trader rules, the army was detailed in White Dwarf issue 139, along with a painting guide, and later appeared in what I believe was the first Warhammer 40,000 battle report in issue 141. +
+ The pict-capture below shows my army alongside the inspiration. I hope you'll excuse the lack of goblin green on the bases! +
+ Alongside its Eldar and Ork counterparts, the army appeared numerous times, notably in issue 166; when a battle report to showcase the release of 2nd edition Warhammer 40,000 saw Captain Tycho felled by an ork psychic blast. +
+ That period – from 1991 onwards – was when I got into the hobby, and this army was the seed for my enthusiasm. Like many, I suspect, I started building my own Blood Angels force. I've still got a couple of them – and Brother Engel [pictured below] even made a reappearance:
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| Brother Engel – one of the Space Marine Strikeforce figures |
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| Brother Engel – a conversion based on an Intercessor |
+++
+ Theoretical: Re-imagining +
+ I do like a bit of 'high-concept' in my hobby; so rather than simply swapping things out for their modern equivalents (Intercessors in place of Tactical marines, for example), I've converted the relevant figures to better match the modern scale. I've got a lot of fondness for the originals, so I wanted to make sure my figures paid homage to the classics. +
+ In essence, the idea was to create the army that Tim and Andy would have made had modern manufacturing methods been available at the time. Good design, after all, is timeless. Balancing putting my own spin on things with them being instantly recognisable was key. +
+ Space Marines +
+ The proportions of the new Primaris marines are, in my opinion, a big step up over the more stylised older models. In the past I've built large armies of Ultramarines, Iron Warriors and various other marines; all converted from Terminators, in the style that's been dubbed truescale. It's rewarding, but time-consuming; so having the opportunity to use far more standard parts opened up the converting palette nicely. +
+ This army has enabled me to experiment more than in the past – have a look to the right for the +High-access datacores+ column with links to the tutorials for converting Primaris-sized Terminators and Mark VI marines. +
+ The scale differences between Primaris and the firstborn/normal marines is marked – and has led to lots of online discussion. It's interesting to see that the same thing happened back in the 90s. The original army used both the original 'beakies' – from the RTB01 and the accompanying lead range – and the new, larger Mark VII marines. Even here the difference was marked: sufficiently so that there wasn't a mix within squads. The Devastators were all RTB01 plastics, while the Tactical squads were the newer marines. +
+ Finding a way to nod to this without introducing an odd, artificial distinction was tricky. The way I did it was to convert and mix parts on a roughly 4:1 ratio across the army; with the majority of models sticking faithfully as updates to the originals, and the remainder swapping out things like helmets or chestplate styles. Subtle stuff, but I think it makes the army as a whole work more coherently. +
+++
+ Artwork +
+ It wasn't just the models that grabbed my attention originally – the surrounding artwork and mythos of the Warhammer 40,000 universe was wonderfully grotesque, and shot through with a streak of black humour that has stuck with me. +
+ In particular, David Gallagher – who you can follow on Instagram via @david.gallagher.art – produced a fantastic piece depicting Blood Angels fighting a genestealer cult. This artwork directly inspired my version of Captain Tycho [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] – and later Chaplain Savonarola [+noosphericinloadink embedded+], pictured above. +
+ Studying the artwork closely just kept revealing more and more details, I must confess that I hadn't really paid much attention to the Chaplain and background marines as a nipper – it was only coming back to it that I even realised he was silver. I think that really demonstrates the sheer evocative depth David invested into the piece. +
+++
+ Going your own way +
+ This project could easily have been a direct duplicate; using period models rather than modern reinterpretations. I might have followed Tim Prow's painting recipes more closely – though I doubt I'd be able to match his skill! I might have decided to recreate the army in Epic scale, or perhaps tried to build a complementary force made up of the members of the Third Company who weren't present – Tactical squads 3 and 4, for example. The point is simple: There's no right way to collect or game. +
+ Whenever you start a project, I recommend that you don't fix the plan too rigidly. Leave yourself space to grow into it. This army started as a quick and less intensive way of converting 'truescale' marines; so the early Tactical Marines still have the long-barrelled bolt rifles of the Intercessors. As I progressed, I decided to invest more into what had been a bit of a side-project; until it became a very central part of my hobby. In contrast to those early marines, the later ones are as near to being copies of the originals as my skills allow. +
+ This applies to the background, too. I enjoy finding plausible explanations for apparent contradictions and ret-cons in the background. A lot of these are based on real-world developments, but it's fun to have an in-universe explanation for why Space Marines have different armour styles, or why back banners suddenly fell out of use. +
+ The silver-armoured Chaplain is one of a number of slight detours I took in producing my version of the army; both aesthetic and background-driven. As the tagline goes, Everything you have been told is a lie. I love that phrase. As well as sounding cool, it also highlights the creative freedom you have. Rather than our armies being perfect replicas of a particular moment, they're slightly nebulous possibilities based on partial data. 40k is sci-fi, but it's also heavily influenced by the Dark Ages – lost records and ignorance are critical. +
+ There is at root no definitive, final version of this fictional force; but by being creative we can still tie it together. To explain why the army is different to the current GW studio one, and polyfilla over the inevitable narrative gaps between 90s-era GW and now, I've set mine in M35; during the Nova Terra Interregnum. Hinted at but unexplored, the army thus has a definite, staked 'place' in the galaxy. +
+ Of course, it's nice not to answer all the mysteries – is this Captain Erasmus Tycho the selfsame one as in M41? Probably not; but the necessary doublethink required to explain this to yourself is perhaps the most 40k thing I could create! +
+++
+ Enough pontificating +
+ Thanks for reading this far. I'll leave you with some atmosphere shots of the army. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas – either through the +Commentary Submission Access+ portal below, on Instagram (@death_of_a_rubricist)or on the +Death of a Rubricist+ Facebook page. +
+ Thought for the day: Weigh the fist that strikes men down and salutes the battle won. +
+++
Monday, November 9
+ inload: Blood Angels Support +
+ And then it was done +
+ The Land Speeder is complete – and with that, the army as a whole is finished. Back in June 2017 [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] I wrote:
+ I'm not going to be obsessive about the army composition. There'll doubtless be a few nods to old models (I'm particularly keen to have a go at updating the proto-Tycho Blood Angels Captain) and the paint scheme, but the force will be a more general homage to the Blood Angels of the time – so tying in bits from the tail end of Rogue Trader through 2nd edition; particularly the artwork. +
+ Well, it turned out to be rather more obsessive than I'd intended; becoming a straight-up duplicate of the army! It's been three years, but I've now got a complete, re-imagined version of the Blood Angels army that inspired me. +
+ In a future inload I'll post up the finished army. I had hoped to get some good pict-captures over the weekend, but alas it was not to be. Anyway, for the moment it's the Land Speeder's time for a bit of attention. +
+++
+ Land Speeder +
+ The crew and speeder itself are painted with slightly different techniques, so while the palette is common between them, the resulting hue is subtly different. The idea behind this is that the Astartes' own armour is treated differently from the vehicle pool. I've tried to emphasise the nature of the vehicle as a piece of equipment by adding little warning symbols below hatches and above the intakes, as you can see above. +
+ As with the Rhino [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], I used a stippling technique to build texture on the Speeder. This gives an appearance evocative of WWII-era cast-iron tanks; which strikes me as pleasingly anachronous. The Marines, meanwhile, have a smoother, finer finish. +
+ Close study of the inspiration shows that the left-hand figure had a yellow hand symbol painted on his pad, and a striped leg. I didn't realise it at the time, but this is presuamably marking him out as a techmarine. As with Brother Mirandola [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], I changed the Rogue Trader-era hand symbol for the modern Opus Machina skull-in-cog. +
+ This was particularly interesting (well, in a very trainspottery way) to me because I'd wondered where all the techmarines were. The old army lists required multiple techmarines – one for each vehicle – but the painted army didn't seem to include them. Having one present on the Land Speeder makes things a lot more clear; they were mostly hidden within the vehicles, piloting them. +
+ That might also answer another question – why does the pilot have yellow shoulder pads? I had assumed that this was a simple aesthetic flourish, or perhaps a precursor to the later idea that most Land Speeders were attached from the 8th (Assault) Company, the colour of which is yellow. +
+ Looking back over the army list, it may be that this figure represents the Lieutenant – another figure that's present in the army list (a Lieutenant was compulsory during the later Rogue Trader period) but missing from the army as a physical model. +
+ That's confirmed by Andy Chambers' notes in the later battle report, where he writes that 'the Lieutenant acted as gunner on board the Land Speeder, accompanied by a single techmarine.' It's funny; I must have read that report dozens of times, but it had never clicked with me that the Speeder crew was always planned and painted up to be a Lieutenant and techmarine – it wasn't just a quick way to justify not having those models painted. I should have had more faith! +
+ I included the yellow tip on the multimelta. Not only is that a pretty iconic look for the period, but it added an important point of interest to an otherwise fairly simple model. +
+ The army badge (blue circle) is present on both crew and speeder, though it's much reduced – it was massive on the original. +
+ On the other side we can see further markings – a little bit of freehand helps to add interest to big black areas. The model is Forge World's own retrohammer reimagining of the original; and I'm pleased to see that they kept some of the large blank areas of the original. It's nice to have space and opportunity to play around with texture and freehand. +
+ A word here to say thank-you to Ilmarinen, who picked this up for me when it had a limited advanced release – sorry that it took me over two years to get it built and painted! +
+ As a little fun flourish, I painted the large scanner/screen in front of the techmarine with a detail of the battle report in WD141; simplifying things to red spots for the enemy Eldar and white for friendly forces. I should probably have added more contrast to the hills, as they're kinda lost – but then as it's just a bit of fun, it doesn't matter too much. +
+ Techmarine and quad-launcher +
+ Talking about the techmarine above reminded me that I hadn't posted a picture of the techmarine and his charge – so here you go:
+ When texturing the large 80mm base, I left a subtle space for the techmarine to slot on, which helps the two to be clearly associated. +
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