The Vengeance of Angels: Legion Praetor Complete 11/10/18

[Spaced Hulk]

Cheers mate!  As every First Legion commander knows, the Lion is actually allergic to Chaplains. It's kind-of his Achilles heel. They bring him out in rash acts 

[Spaced Hulk]

Barachiel, 'Knight of Woe'

Centurion of the 22nd Assault Company

Voted Successor of the Deathwing

The Dark Angels Legion

* * *

I've decided to experiment with a more subdued, Rogue-Trader-ish colour scheme with this model. My thinking is that the different schemes will reflect different aspects of the Legion. For example, the Rangdan Vets and Paladin represent the 'Glorious First', the Imperium's finest who once served as the Emperor's personal army, resplendent in their ebon and gold battle plate. Barachiel, however, is an 'Angel in Black', a Terran veteran of the Early Great Crusade, hardened by unseen wars at the fringes of the galaxy and as much a brutal killer as a knight. The last scheme I'm planning (when I eventually get round to painting them ), will be the robed elements of the army, who will represent the First as 'Honourable Knights', the influx of new recruits from Caliban with all the martial codes and traditions of their home-world's knightly orders.

At some point I'll have a go at freehanding the Legion and Deathwing symbols on the pauldrons, and probably add some chequers and/or other iconography to signify Barachiel's rank and position. However, the news from FW a while back that different coloured chequers represent different ranks has made me a bit more cautious about adding those sort of details just yet, so I may wait until the DA's black book is released.

One last point of interest (to me anyway ) is that while both Barachiel and Thelial Wyrmbane (the Paladin) are members of the Deathwing, their respective ranks are a bit contradictory. In terms of Legion organisation, Wyrmbane is the higher ranking officer (Paladin > Centurion). However, as members of the Deathwing, Barachiel is a Voted Successor to Holguin (the DW Voted Lieutenant) and therefore has authority over Wyrmbane if the Deathwing Protocol is activated. Or in other words, normally Wyrmbane is giving out the orders, but where the Deathwing is concerned, he's actually lower in the command chain than a mere Centurion. This sort of intricate command structure is one of the things I love about 30K DA, and I hope we hear more about it from FW/BL in the future.

[depthcharge12]

I love the command structure...it reminds me of modern special forces where the highest ranking NCO isn't always the man in charge, there might be lower ranking officers that have had more experience or are better leaders.

 

I like how you did him as more of a savage remnant of Terra (I plan to do some fluff on that very soon) as I feel there will be major divide between the knights of Caliban and the hardy, grim Terrans in their actions.

 

I still feel like this guy is missing something...maybe it's just the iconography as you've mentioned :) keep it up!

[Forward Assist]

Only thing he's missing is a slaughtered Night Lord at his feet!

[Brother Pheidias]

Brutal! Really great mix of bitz.

[jeremy1391]

Fantastic work! Your bits usage is superb!

[Spaced Hulk]

~ Dramatis Personae ~

Dark Angel Space Marines of the Golgothan Campaign

Legionary Jeremiel Varr

Cloud Runner Attack Squad

22nd Assault Company

The Dark Angels Legion

Like every Space Marine Legion, the Dark Angels utilised assault squads equipped with jump packs as dedicated mobile infantry units. Prior to it's deployment into the Golgothan Wastes, the 38th Expeditionary Fleet had been reinforced with the First Legion's entire 22nd Assault Company, a formation known to deploy these high speed jump troops as the spear tip for it's mechanised infantry and armour. Legionary Varr's squad, known informally within the Company as the Cloud Runners, were renowned for their tactic of high altitude insertion into enemy lines from Storm Eagle and Storm Bird transports.

A Calibanate, Varr is shown equipped with early model Mark IV plate produced by his homeworld's own forges (usually indicated by the use of yellow eye lenses). The chainmail tabard is a common armorial flourish used by many First Legion warriors, particularly those born of Terra and it's dominions, but the practice was retained by the later influx of recruits from Caliban. As a member of an assault squad, Varr carries the typical armament of a large calibre Tigris bolt pistol and a Thunder Edge pattern chainsword. This brutal and uncompromising chain blade was often favoured by Assault Marines, due to it's improved armour penetration compared to similar weapons. Of note are the faded remnants of tally markers - or kill stripes - on the chainsword's outer casing. Before the Heresy these marks were common place amongst almost every Legion, as an obvious visual record of a warrior's skill and prowess, but during the civil war their use declined, particularly amongst the loyalist forces. This may have been due to the inevitable dismay experienced by the Loyalists at fighting those they had once called brother, or may simply be a result of the extremely high casualty rate during these dark times, which rendered such record keeping meaningless.

* * *

A few late replies:

@ depthcharge12: Cheers mate Yeah, the divide between the Terrans and Calibanates is a really interesting feature of the First Legion, particularly considering later events The Centurian's scheme probably just looks a bit plain, especially compared to some of the more blinged out models I've painted previously. I actually like it because of that though, as I feel it really adds to the functional brutality of the model.

@ Forward Assist: Thanks mate! As you can probably tell, you've really sold me on the red stripe! Not sure about the dead Night Lords though, as some of the other forum members seem a tiny bit sensitive when we remind them of how Thramas turned out

@ Brother Pheidas: Cheers buddy! Brutality was exactly what I was aiming for with that model.

@ jeremy1391: Thank you! Building models is probably my favourite part of the hobby, which is why my Unpainted Legion of Shame vastly outnumbers the fortunate few who've encountered a paint brush. Trying to rectify that at the moment though!

[Legio Draconis]

Glory to the Lion, these are perfect. 

[Brother Pheidias]

Liking that assault marine alot. Maybe another slight dash of white to the eyes to make them pop?

[Spaced Hulk]

@ Legio Draconis: Thanks mate, glad you like 'em!

@ Brother Pheidias: Cheers buddy! Yeah, I still need to work on painting yellow (never really tried before to be honest). When I paint the rest of the assault squad I'll probably go back and try to improve the highlights.

Bit more painting progress today, this time on the Dreadwing Destroyer:

A few more highlights to do then he's finished except for his iconography and chapter symbol. I usually give the armour another wash of black glaze to neaten it up and make it glossy, but I'm probably going to leave that off the destroyers, as I reckon it's more appropriate for them to look a bit more battle worn.

[Brother Pheidias]

Looking extremely sharp. Menacing, really!

[BattleBrotherJohn]

Just read the whole thread.

This is an excellent army  - modelling , painting and background fluff are really great.

Look forward to seeing what you do next.

[Allart01]

Awesome stuff, brother.

You First Legion looks great!

[One-eye]

Outstanding work brother, looking forward to seeing a full squad of them.

[Forward Assist]

Sweet!

[Rangaman]

Very nice man! Are you going to add any powders to the bases? I think that would make these guys look even better than they already are!

[Spaced Hulk]

Thank you for the kind words brothers! Really appreciate all the encouragement and feedback.

@ Rangaman: I've been debating about whether or not to add weathering and/or chipping to the army. On the one hand, I do like the clean, 'Pride of the Legion' look that they currently have, as it reminds me of the scene in The Unremembered Empire when the Dark Angels arrive on Macragge in all their dark, ostentatious glory. On the other, this is a heresy army after all, and looking heavily battle worn kind of goes with the territory. At some point I'll probably get some weathering powders and do a few test models, and see which look I like the best.

One last update for the weekend, as I've finished the base colours and washes on one of the Ironclad Veterans. As usual, there are still a few highlights to do, and the large blank areas of the Mark III armour are looking like prime candidates for me to practice some free hand iconography again

[Idomeneus]

Lovely stuff. While I am generally a fan of weathering, I think in this case I would advise against it. At the moment your Angels have a gorgeous light-absorbing black going on, which I think would be destroyed by weathering. Test models would be a good idea. 

[Othniel's Blade]

These are gorgeous... and that Destroyer's helmet  . What about a middle ground for weathering, as your black armour is dang near perfect? You could do a light dusting to match the basing on the boots and greaves to show environmental wear such as marching or impact such as jump troops.

[WingCommander]

Everything in here is superb. Which is appropriate, I guess, as this thread is about nothing less than the First of the Emperor's legions!  

 

Keep it coming!

[Marshal Hadrarius]

ive been lurking, watching this thread for a while you seem to have really nailed it! models look great but the red you've picked is perfection! mind if i ask you how you do it? If youve answered that before i apologise i did look but couldnt find it!

[Spaced Hulk]

@ Idomeneus: Cheers mate! I must admit, I am really happy with the black armour and don't particularly want to cover it up, which any weathering would obviously do. It also feels quite appropriate for the First Legion to be clad in proud, gleaming, well looked after armour, unlike (for example) Death Guard, who probably wouldn't look like Death Guard at all if they were spotlessly clean.

I don't know if anybody's interested, but I was considering making a small tutorial for the black armour, as it's not only a really easy and simple technique, but I feel I'm at the stage with it now that I'm getting consistently good results for comparatively little effort. I know a lot of people have issues with painting black so I wondered if a tutorial might be useful?

@ OthnielsBlade: Thank you kindly brother! Yeah, if I do attempt any weathering it will be only be a light dusting to the lower legs to represent moving through terrain. I'm still undecided at the moment though. I might try building a Recon squad (Ordination of the Ravenwing, naturally ) in the not too distant future, and use them to test out some minor weathering.

@ WingCommander: Thank you mate, glad you like 'em! And yes, the Emperor's First Legion deserves as much attention as I can give them, which is probably why painting updates are quite slow and generally limited to one model at a time . However, I decided a while back that I'm just not very good at batch painting, even if it would be the quickest way to get a fully painted army.

@ Marshal Hadrarius: Thank you very much mate! The red isn't very exciting or involved I'm afraid. Multiple thin coats of Khorne Red, shaded with Army Painter Dark Tone and an occasional highlight of Evil Suns Scarlet. The Dark Tone has actually been a bit of a revelation for me, as it's so much better than Nuln Oil. It seems to add shade and definition without dramatically altering the base colour underneath. It's also substantially cheaper than a GW wash so I really can't recommend it enough.

Well, I try to always add some sort of content to the thread whenever I post in it, but sadly I haven't had much hobby time this week so far. However, I have just started to test build a new Consul, so even though it's very WIP, here are a couple of pics:

U

Unfortunately I'm also a bit undecided as to which sort of Consul he's actually going to be. I want the large canister on the DA torso to represent an exotic type of grenade, so at the moment I'm mulling over two options. Option one is a Siege Breaker, armed with a thunder hammer, phospex grenade and a combi-grenade launcher with stasis shells. Option two is a Dreadwing Moritat (who'll be accompanied by the Destroyers) armed with twin bolt pistols, rad grenades, a Calibanate Warblade and a Volkite Charger (for cool factor rather than any major rules advantage ).

So, as I'm undecided, I thought I'd throw it open to the forum. Any thoughts or preferences? I reserve the right for a creative veto (depending on how I can get the different poses and weapon options to look) but I will count up votes for each Consul type and it'll influence my final decision.

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: I should clarify that I'll almost certainly build both Consuls eventually, so what I'm really looking for is which of the two options you think would best suit this particular model. Cheers!

[Hrolf the Cunning]

I think that the start you've made leans more towards a siege breaker in terms of heavy armour mk and slightly embelished chest plate. I always think of moritats as a more mobile/ lighter mk as well as most of their embellishment coming from the wear and tear aspects of their caste. Either way, I'm sure you'll do it justice.

[Brother Pheidias]

Agreed, Siege Breaker makes the most sense to me in terms of posing and armour so far. A slightly arrogant feel of a sublime siege engineer surveying the enemy fortifications and deeming them inferior, bordering on useless, and less than worthy of his attention, but he will perform his duty...

Also slightly too blingy for a Moritat who I view as less fussy with ornamentation and the general state of their equipment, as long as it works ;)

[Spaced Hulk]

Thanks for the input brothers. So, a Siege Breaker it is:

I've altered his wargear a bit from my initial idea (adding some choom to the army was just too tempting ). I also wanted the thunder hammer to look like a massive, two handed version of a Ravenwing Corvus hammer (weapons which originated amongst Caliban's knightly orders).