Shadow Force Dragomir

[SCC]

Some of our older IA forum members may remember a day when I was but a young Frater struggling to put together a Brazen Claws army. Others may remember me as a slightly older moderator of this very forum, completing my Index Astartes Brazen Claws article but still struggling horribly to put together an actual army. Many of you may not remember me at all but after spending 7 years on and off with my Brazen Claws army I ended up with a grand total of 12 Marines and a Dreadnought. I'm very pleased with how they turned out but even I realised that if I were ever to actually play a game of 40K again I needed to switch armies to something quicker to paint.

After thinking long and hard about the options I plumped for the Raven Guard as they ticked most, in fact, all, of the boxes I was looking for:

• Cool fluff - check (aside from some dodgy tongue in cheek Edgar Allen Poe references in their IA, their fluff is pretty cool)
  
• Not too popular - check (though there have been a number of new RG armies springing up here in the last 6 or so months I notice)
  
• Cool models - check (aside from regular Marine plastics which are pretty cool the RG have been given some love by Forge World in the form of both the pre-Heresy armour, perfect for the RG, and the RG Sternguard upgrade kit, RG Ven Dread, Rhino/LR doors and Captain Korvydae)
  
• Codex army - check (I like Codex armies, nothing against our zanier Marine compadres, but Codex is cool enough for me)
  
• Simple to paint - check (the last and most important point, I love my Brazen Claws but it takes me forever to paint bright colours so I need something simpler and quicker and what could be quicker than black?)
  

With the army choice out of the way I ordered far too much stuff from Forge World and began the construction of my first Raven Guard Tactical Squad. And, with fewer than 8 weeks since I began to assemble my test mini - Battle Brother Galbraith - I have my first finished squad.

Tactical Squad Khalid

To get the squad done literally 50 times faster than my one and only Brazen Claw Tactical Squad I made some very deliberate choices about my aims and limits. First off, this isn't a display army, it's for play and as such it needn't be perfect. A decent looking table top army is all I need to play, it doesn't need to win awards and I don't need to use it to experiment with NMM or any other fancy techniques, I'm going to keep it nice and simple.

I also set myself a 'five hour rule'. Under this rule any mini that takes more than 5 hours to paint gets only the paint job necessary to field it after that 5 hour mark. Two minis in the squad here, Sergeant Khalid (white helmet) and Battle Brother Nebosja (auspex) hit that limit and were finished to a basic level in some areas before I moved swiftly on to the next model.

All in all though I'm pretty happy with the start I've made to this army and while I know 8 weeks still isn't that fast for a simple Tac squad it's lightning quick for me and gives me hope I can field a reasonably painted army within the next 12 months or so.

For those wanting bigger shots or different angles on individual Marines please check my blog (link in my signature), they're all there if you'd like a closer look. You'll also find info on the bitz I've used to create the squad, which range from SW plastics to Iron Hands metals to FW bitz to regular plastics.

You'll likely see a little more of me around these parts over the next few months as I work out a final army list, the fluff for my army (Shadow Force Dragomir) and hopefully as I build and paint a fieldable army...

[Bannus]

Some lovely models there, SCC - I see that your vision of the Raven Guard is similar to what I have envisioned for mine (I had been collecting bitz for the older armor from the other sources over the years). I have enough now to start putting an army together - but now I lack the time (and for other projects, too!).

 

Now Forge World has made the collecting bit a snap (all my labor has been in vain *sigh*). Still, I may get the Raven guard upgrade set for some Sternguard and to sprinkle a Command Squad (maybe).

 

How was it working with the Forge World bitz? - my personal experience with them has been just slightly short of hideous (I could get the same part twice and they would be two different sizes, poor casting, wrong parts,etc.). I have gotten the point that I only buy FW stuff from eBay - and only if it is rediculously cheap - so I won't be so upset if it has issues.

 

Great looking unit, SCC - keep up the good work. :tu: :tu:

 

P.S. How did you do your black? I love the look of it.

Edited November 2, 2010 by bannus

[SCC]

I always seem to have pretty decent luck with FW stuff Bannus. Of the 20 odd Marines plus the 10 upgrades kits (5 RG & 5 Sevrin Loth's bodyguard which are relatively easily convertible to non Red Scorpions) for this army there's maybe one full set of Mk.V armour and a couple of Mk.IV arms that will need remedial work. Likewise the RG Venerable Dreadnought and Damocles Rhino I have are both in good nick too. I am aware of the issues others have had however so I always try and order early to make sure the moulds are as decent as possible.

 

Whether that policy works or it's just luck I don't know but I've been pretty happy with the FW bitz for this army. That said resin is always a hassle to work with given the whole 'don't breathe it in' issue plus it's relative fragility at times. Still, worth the investment in the case of the RG I think, it really has made putting together an RG army so much easier :tu:

 

That Sternguard upgrade set is pretty spectacular value for those who haven't looked at it, I mean, there's enough RG specific stuff in there to spread one distinctive RG item across more than 20 Marines if they each got one piece. And even if you splurged on extra bitz on a few characters you could easily get 8 or 9 very RG models out of just that one kit, throw in a 5 pack of older armour and you're laughing your way to an RG army with virtually no conversion work that still looks distinctly RG without breaking the bank...

[Bannus]

...5 RG & 5 Sevrin Loth's bodyguard which are relatively easily convertible to non Red Scorpions... the RG Venerable Dreadnought and Damocles Rhino...

Spent a chunk'o change on them, did you? :huh:

 

 

 

Are you also using the FW decals?

 

How are they working out for you?

Edited November 2, 2010 by bannus

[chaplain mortis]

I have to say thats one of the best ravenguard squads and paintjobs i have seen!

 

really understated with the "matt" black finish and great work on getting such a unique looking squad

 

talking of which, how did you achieve such a flat finish with the black??

 

only marine which looks kinda "outta place" is the bottom left hand marine with the mk7 helmet...looks to "normal" if that makes sense? (the other marines in the squad really pop)

 

kudos to you though and has really peaked my interest, looking forward to seeing more of your squads

[SCC]

...5 RG & 5 Sevrin Loth's bodyguard which are relatively easily convertible to non Red Scorpions... the RG Venerable Dreadnought and Damocles Rhino...

Spent a chunk'o change on them, did you? :D

Shhh. My wife might hear you :ph34r:

In all honesty though I think the money was well spent, so far the variety is keeping me enthused and I've always got something cool to look forward to, even if it's just some old school armour goodness, if I have to splash out a little stay interested enough in a project to complete it then so be it...and I did just order the RG etched brass and Shadow Captain Korvydae, so if the entire FW RG range can't keep me interested then I can't imagine there's much that will and it might be time to give up on playing and stick to reading/writing about 40K ;)

As to decals I am using the FW ones and they're fan-smegging-tastic. There's loads of them for not much money, the quality is excellent, variety is good and most importantly they're thin enough that even one application of Micro-Set is enough to mould them flat to even the Mk.IV's curvy, curvy pad. If you wanted to do an RG army with straight plastics or more cheaply than going the crazy SCC-FW route I'd still recommend you splurgefor the decals, they're a life saver.

My black recipe is pretty simple:

1. Spray undercoat black
   
2. Tidy up anywhere the spray missed with Chaos Black
   
3. Broad highlights of 'RG Black' (a very, very dark grey I made from approx. 1 part VMC German Grey to 3 parts Chaos black with just a touch of Foundation Adeptus Battlegrey to tie it to the highlights).
   
4. Badab Black Wash
   
5. Fine highlight of 50/50 RG Black/ Adeptus Battlegrey
   
6. Final highlight of ABG
   
7. Black wash (only to areas that need highlights toned down)
   
8. Black ink (if it doesn't have a highlight or it's recessed I hit it with an ink/wash mix to make sure it's really, truly dead and black - the Dull Cote will kill off any shine)
   
9. Touch up
   
10. Dull Cote - this is the key to the flat black, Testor's Dull Cote just flat out murders any shine or gleam at all, giving that lovely menacing matte black.
    

If you want to simplify it I'd skip steps 3 and 5, keep it neat enough and you can get away with a straight ABG highlight that's strategically washed to tone down areas where the highlights should be less obvious whilst still leaving the mini nice and black. If you did that you could probably skip step 8 too as it's designed to bring those areas lightened too much by step 3 back to true black really.

Either way, you need Dull Cote or something that'll give a much more matte finish than any GW spray varnish I've ever used (mind you I haven't used GW varnish in years, it was always rubbish compared to Testor's...)

@Mortis: see above for how to get that matte finish, it's a combination of making sure everything that should be black is black and the Dull Cote killing any and all shine.

The 'out of place Marine' is perhaps a touch normal in that photo but he does actually have a bionic right arm, it's the IH one that melds into the bolter:

That aside, I guess some of my RG are going to look pretty 'normal' - as much as I'm aiming to field 47 distinct individual Marines the RG are a Codex chapter and Astartes wargear is Astartes wargear so some of them will look pretty standard, I think the army would be 'out of place' if they didn't.

[Bannus]

I noticed in your blog (very nice BTW) that you were having issues reversing the Raven Gard decals. Have you ever considered applying them normally and just repainting the beak to point in the opposite direction (the head is the only part keeping the image from being symmetrical)? From what you describe, this may be an easier alternative.

[SCC]

Wow.

 

Thanks for making me look like a total dimwit Bannus, that never even occurred to me :angry: :lol:

[Bannus]

Thanks for making me look like a total dimwit Bannus...

Not at all. :)

 

Actually, you were just too close to your work to see it. Sometimes you don't see the forest because of the trees. ;)

 

But in all honesty, I must thank you. Your pics have really inspired me to finally get my Raven Guard army off the ground (after years of collecting bitz) - now if I could just find the time..................

Edited November 3, 2010 by bannus

[SCC]

But in all honesty, I must thank you. Your pics have really inspired me to finally get my Raven Guard army off the ground (after years of collecting bitz).

And that right there is the highest praise a hobbyist could ask for ;)

 

I look forward to seeing your RG bannus your other Index Astartes armies are possessed of real character and I'm keen to see what you do with the RG...

[SCC]

For those who've missed my posts in the PC&A forum or blog here's the finished Tactical Squad Khalid & Dedicated Transport:

And some more shots of the Rhino:

The second Tactical Squad is also coming along nicely, the first Combat Squad is finished too:

[Bannus]

Very nice, SCC - well done!

 

I really like how your overall theme is tying the unit together.

 

One question - do you plan on adding a stormbolter to the Rhino?

[SCC]

Very nice, SCC - well done!

 

I really like how your overall theme is tying the unit together.

 

One question - do you plan on adding a stormbolter to the Rhino?

Thanks bannus, and yes, eventually I'll add a storm bolter to the Rhino. The one from this vehicle was broken beyond repair and my other Rhino kits are at the bottom of a very large pile of junk, so it'll have to wait 'til I dig one our for the next Tac squad :whistling:

[Jarl Kjaran Coldheart]

wow, those are amazing!

 

WLK

[Leonidus]

:D

 

 

 

Your rank and file marines all look like grizzled veterans. Each one has it's own character though they still look like a cohesive unit.

 

Awesome job mate!!!!!

[Crimson Fisting]

I really like your models, dude. I like that you're keeping the other colors subdued and not too bright, like how the green rims are just barely noticeable as being green and kind of just fade into the black. Much nicer than having some obnoxiously bright green.

[Captain Juan Juarez]

My only complaint is that the Rhino looks too clean.. As if it's fresh from the Forge.

[Crimson Fisting]

My only complaint is that the Rhino looks too clean.. As if it's fresh from the Forge.

Maybe they just pulled it out of the garage after the chapter serfs gave it a fresh coat of paint. :P

[Captain Juan Juarez]

My only complaint is that the Rhino looks too clean.. As if it's fresh from the Forge.

Maybe they just pulled it out of the garage after the chapter serfs gave it a fresh coat of paint. :P

 

Ah, that's purely a complaint of personal preference.

[Crimson Fisting]

My only complaint is that the Rhino looks too clean.. As if it's fresh from the Forge.

Maybe they just pulled it out of the garage after the chapter serfs gave it a fresh coat of paint. :P

 

Ah, that's purely a complaint of personal preference.

I agree with you, I too prefer my vehicles and armor to be dirty and battle-worn, but his models are very well done.

[Dark Scipio]

They look marvelous! I also like my brothers and vehicles clean and intact, like you would expect from perfect-warriors. :P

[SCC]

My lighting set up simply isn't adequate for 10 Marines but below is a full squad shot of Tactical Squad Atanas (formerly Tac Squad Rhuarc but the Sgt Rhuarc figure still isn't right, so Atanas (centre) has taken over the squad):

Actually my lighting set up isn't adequate for 5 Marines either but here's the second Combat Squad for the Second of the Fourth:

.

And here's the other half of the squad completed earlier in the year:

As usual a big thanks to all those who've given me advice and encouragement, I'd still be stuck on that ML pose if it wasn't for you guys, so thanks! :D

Also a big thanks to Sigismund Himself - the LPC was a huge part of my motivation for finishing the squad, so thanks for running the LPC again mate! :tu:

Pics for individual Marines can be found in my blog (see the link in my signature).

[SCC]

The Sevrin Loth mini which forms the basis of this mini is a lovely bit of work and I'm hoping I've done just enough to make Dragomir distinct from Sevrin without ruining the underlying coolness of the model. Obviously he's in black rather than blue and the scheme contains fewer colours over all than most Librarians which should help 'Raven-ise' him . Together with the change of base, thanks to Argos' advice, and a few FW RG bitz I think the result is a decently RG model and one that doesn't look too much like the original Loth model.

The other FW parts are the studded left pad, something I identify strongly with my RG, and the FW RG pad on the left give him a decent Raven Guard identity swap. The RG symbol on the knee, the RG backpack and the use of white rather than yellow as my primary accent colour also help tie Dragomir to the RG and more specifically to Shadow Force Dragomir.

The conversion was very simple, I used the force staff from the =][= Eisenhorn figure with the staff top removed and replaced with a 28mm scale facsimile made from two Iron Halos and a small skull. The base change was a matter of clipping off the stone under the foot on the original model and replacing it with part of the statuary taken from the Imperial Sanctum building. I had hoped to make that statue marble-esque but that proved beyond me in any reasonable sort of time frame.

One of my normal lights died the other day and I need a new bulb for it but here are the best shots I could grab of the completed Dragomir. Note that technically I still have to do the scroll/purity seals but I'm trying to make some decals for those 'cos I suck at free hand but that oughtn't detract too much:

I decided to stop tinkering at just on 11 hours for this mini, I could've kept trying to get the staff skull right, indeed the whole staff is something of a disappointment and may be replaced with the very similar one on the new GK sprues one day in the future when the army is complete. Similarly the bird skull on the right pad is a little flat and could do with some extra work but I have to keep reminding myself that this is a tabletop army.

Tabletop. Tabletop. Tabletop. That's my mantra for this army or it'll never get finished like all my others.

That said I'm extremely happy with the blue touches on Dragomir, I think the highlights are just about spot on and the colour is the one I had in mind for the Librarian elements of the mini all along. You can see the blues nicely in this shot, complemented quite well by the Terminator Honours I think:

Just ignore the staff in that shot *shudder*

Tabletop. Tabletop. Tabletop.

All up, Dragomir won't win any Golden Daemon's but he should look good at the front of SFD and should serve nicely as my first army centrepiece :blink:

[Bannus]

Very nice Librarian and kudos for doing your homework (matching the Raven Guard Libby from the IA article for color scheme).

 

I think he turned out very well overall. If I were to do anything else, I would maybe give hime a raven familiar to further seperate him from his Red Scorpion counterpart.

 

Keep up the great work, SCC.

[Validar]

Dragomir.... Dragomir....

 

*peers at signature* *peers at topic name* hmmm

 

Awesome RG, love Sevrin, will you be doing the Honour Guard aswell? And can I by any chance ask you where you got the name from? :)