Badab War: Fire Angels army

[Huron]

What:

Career and kids have kept me away from the hobby for the last few years, but I'm finally putting the finishing touches on 2000 points of Fire Angels. I've always wanted to run a loyalist army from the Badab war, and this little penitent crusade is finally near the end.

 

My totally unofficial diy fluff on the chapter, with specifics on the house that goes to war against Huron, is here: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.p...howtopic=166071

 

I should also post a link to an excellent Fire Angels army-in-progress at Warseer. Brother Muninn has a different take on what a 'modern' FA looks like, I think a better approach, and he's a much better painter than I am. Definitely worth a look: http://warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=164985

 

How and Why:

I wanted an army that looked very clean and bright on the table, with a simple palette and lots of contrast. So these guys are painted up from a black undercoat, with several thinned layers (black, snakebite leather, bubonic brown, bleached bone, and then 2 thin coats of white). The red is first painted white, and then blood red on top, highlighted usually to blazing orange, or all the way up to bad moon yellow for the various 'wings' motiffs. I wanted lots of repetition of basic elements: clean white, deep black, shadowy gunmetal, pure red, and sun-bright yellow highlights, to tie the force together. All sensors are painted the same, all aguilas are painted the same, everything in the army was tied into that same simple palette.

 

I also wanted a space marine army with character; I wanted each unit to have something notable or interesting about it, except for the tactical squad which would be completely stock. So you've got the servitor creature standing in for an assault scout, the hooded scout heavy with autocannon (from 3rd edition when they could field them...), the scout sergeants with arbites helms, the techmarine and his servitor manning an attack bike, minor pose tweaks on the terminators, and of course the Ironclad with scratchbuilt arms, storm shield, etc. Just little notes of flavor to make the army feel fresh.

 

Random Notes:

I didn't want any banners, so I went with 'hood ornaments' instead. Something that GW is now doing for most of the official chapters, but back in 2001 it was still all about banners. On the ironclad the idea is that he's not just a sarcophagus, he's a walking mausoleum, with memorial statue of the departed Lord Belasco mounted on top, and the weapons Belasco used in life now up-sized for his use in undeath. You'll notice the 'crowned skull' decal repeated on bikes, greaves, armor plates--that's the FA campaign badge for the Badab War (the war against the black king, as they call it...).

 

 

The Pics:

 

Gaheris, Lord of the House (SM Captain):

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04267.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04271.jpg

 

Tactical squad (drop pod is still in progress):

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04258.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04255.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04257.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04256.jpg

 

Terminator squad:

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04261.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04262.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04264.jpg

 

Ironclad (originally built as a house-rules Siege Dread, he now fits perfectly into the 5th ed ironclad rules... happy coincidence):

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04272.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04273.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04274.jpg

 

C&C appreciated! More pics in the next post

[Huron]

(second post for pics)

 

Bike squad with attack bike, and old-style Tornado:

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04297.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04298.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04295.jpg

 

Attack bike squad (note that the techmarine 'counts as' an ordinary attack bike. I figured that techmarine + servitor pretty much equals two regular marines in terms of save, etc. Most opponents are fine with it. It's just about having fun with the models;-) :

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04303.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04308.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04306.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04304.jpg

 

Land raider (uses the rules for Sgt. Cronus, but the fluff is that they salvaged a machine spirit from an Imperial light cruiser that was taken in salvage, so it's just got a great autopilot--better than the already-great Cyclops. If this 'raider ever blows up, there will be no Cronus to leap from the wreckage.) [note: still needs decals--I'm learning how to use print-your-own transfer paper so it could take a few weeks...]

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04331.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04323.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04325.jpg

 

Biker HQ--Librarian and Chaplain:

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04316.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04313.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04318.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04322.jpg

 

Scout squads 1-3 (the servitor animal thing is a thrall for a promising young tech adept in the scout squad. He can practice with it the way a medical student practices with a cadaver to learn anatomy--'counts as' another scout in game terms):

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04279.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04283.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04286.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04290.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04294.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04280.jpg

 

I'm planning to revisit this force for the new codex, pulling the Tornado and 'shooty' terminators for a Vanguard squad and some assault terminators, and I'm going to do up a captain in artificer armor + jump pack, replacing all three HQ choices shown here for one that better fits the sort of righteous angel-y theme of the army.

 

C & C very much welcome!

[Terminal Maxocity]

I especially enjoyed your red/orange/yellow blending!

[whitebeardixon]

i gotta say i like your dudes over the other guys down at warseers. yours are all tastfully converted and you incorporated the angel/knight theme without looking like the dark angels. the other guy who are gorgeously painted could be from any space marine chapter. one huron zero other dude... ok one you a billion other guy he paint pretty good

[Fury_of_Fenris]

those guys are sick as

[Moonfish]

Very nice dude, I love the pure white tone you've managed to achieve, it looks outstanding on the land raider. Also as someone else mentioned your blending is awesome! looks very unique, well done.

[Terminatorinhell]

These guys are SICK! I love the clean whites and the old minis but the only thing that bugs me is the SM captains face, for some odd reason, not space mariney enough.

[Saevus Secutor]

Nice work, think they look great! Just got to love that old school land speeder ;)

[blackbabyjesus]

Nice work, think they look great! Just got to love that old school land speeder :D

 

Everyone loves the old landspeeder til they try to put it together... my god, it's a bad kit, the engine pods on mine used to pull themselves apart under their own weight.

[Captain Mike]

Niiiice! I thought your Captain was a woman for a sec. He looks slightly girly...

 

But pretty aweomse nonetheless. Just out of interest, how DO you paint your white, because it looks like it is over a black undercoat? :)

[Feytor]

I am very impressed! Did you use white foundation?

[c-wrex]

Is that bottom pic of the techy scout an arbites model? Great models, btw.

[Huron]

Thanks guys! Some answers:

 

I used a black foundation and worked up to pure white using thin layers of paint thinned with acrylic, like so: black>snakebite leather>bubonic brown>bleached bone>white. I DO NOT recommend it, unless you have a ton of time or are feeling penitent. It's probably not worth the extra effort, but I wanted the darkest possible shadows and black lines, and the brightest possible whites. My next army will be something dark: gray, or brown/orange, or green... something that goes on in one coat over a black undercoat and gets a wash + highlight treatment....

 

Have to agree about the captain's face. It's taken from an old Ral Partha angel head, and although it'd be a nice artificer mask, it's not really believable as a marine. I may reuse it (but as a facemask, not a face) on the jump pack/artificer captain who's taking this guy's place. Good feedback, thanks for the push to ditch it :-)

 

That old landspeeder has about a pound of brass wire holding it all together--the heavy gauge stuff too. My original plan called for three of them, but after the first I lost my appetite. New ones are SO much easier.

 

All my scout sergeants have arbites heads; think the last one has the old arbites 'sergeant' helmet. I wanted to make the sergeants distinct from the rest of the squad, and figured helmets would work. All the old timers recognize them, but to most players they just look generic/imperial.

[Hal]

Excellent work! White is a real pain to paint but you pulled it off well, especially as you undercoated them black.

 

How did you make the robot dog?

[Huron]

How did you make the robot dog?

 

After painting scout after scout I needed a break, and scratch/bashing a robot dog thrall was just the ticket;-)

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/DSC04282.jpg

 

The body and legs of the dog are from a long OOP Shadowrun miniature made by Ral Partha, part #20-514 (Corporate Guard Animals -Barghest, Basilisk & Cyberdog)

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/20-514.jpg. It's the top mini shown; the head is corny, but the body is suitably doglike and kind of gruesome--the spine is exposed on the back, legs are mechanical, etc.

 

The head is taken from a Space Wolf Iron Priest's special servo arm: http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/Bishopus_2008/20.jpg

 

Tail is from a techmarine backpack--the standard 'bundle of wires'.

 

The gun and sensors are scratch/bashed; there's a steel post drilled into the metal back of the 'dog', holding up the mess of styrene that includes a sight from a plastic landspeeder IIRC, and the stock plastic bolt pistol sanded and fitted, and with suppressor added from a plastruct bit.

 

The satchel and grenades are all from the old scout bike box set; think I ordered them through the dearly-departed bitz service years ago.

 

In the background of my army, scouts who show promise as future techmarines or apothecaries are given a 'thrall'. This is some local animal that they can play around with to learn the basics of imperial technology before they go away to space marine grad school. The scout with visor and fancy scope on his bolt pistol is the aspiring techmarine in this squad.