GrimDark Blood Angels Blog 24/09/19 *new warlord conversion*

[neonmole]

Hi guys,

I am a long time 40k enthusiast of about 20 years, but have been on hobby hiatus for about the last 10. I have recently fallen in love with the hobby again, and my enthusiasm has only intensified with 8th edition coming!

Getting back into the hobby I have decided to embark on building a new army; after much deliberation I have settled on the blood angels, which I have always thought were cool.

A couple of principles of my Blood Angels project :

- Grim Dark! I love that side of 40k and want to capture it with my models. Dark, sinister, menaxing is the look I want.
- Angels of Death. I'm not a fan of the current blood angels "pretty boy" aesthetic (hate the unhelmeted boyband hairstyles...), old school angels of death vibes for me!

So here are my first models!

First Tac Squad

http://i.imgur.com/ixiYbqO.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Vde1aV0.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/sDps0ZW.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Q7R8YZR.jpg

(I'm not sure if fluff wise the vet seargents rock the gold helmets, but mine will because I think it looks awesome!)
(Updated photos, with new makeshift light box... thing. Hopefully they are better quality!)

I hope you like them guys, I am super happy so far. Next on the agenda is a rhino so the boys have some wheels! Following that I think I will try a dreadnought, both because it will be fun to paint, and also because they look great in the new rules!

I'll try and update this as often as possible, but I am not a swift painter so progress might be ponderous!

Finally, a massive shout out to my man Luther over at the Mighty Brush blog (who I think posts here). His models were a massive inspiration, and guidance invaluable. Thankyou!

Thanks for any comments, means a lot!
Cheers
Joe

Edited September 24, 2019 by neonmole

[Venerable Jazzman]

Welcome back to the BA! Really nice models, love that red.

[Brother Dallo]

Those are some lovely looking Bangles. 

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Dallo

[Xenith]

Haha, I was going to say the dark, blended shading is Lutheresque.

 

Welcome to the forum, and looking forward to see more!

 

One thing: Drill those gun barrels!

[Code 187]

Colours work really well and suit the grimdark theme perfectly IMO. Nice work. As Xenith said they would look better with barrels drilled though.

[neonmole]

Thanks for the kind words guys! Its obviously a great active community you guys have here with so many responses! Looking forward to contributing more :)

 

I have just updated the original post with some (hopefully) better pictures of the full squad. I didn't have a very good light option yesterday evening when I took them, let me know if you feel the new ones are better.

 

Re - drilling boltguns. I did think about it, but I guess it got lost in the back of my mind in favour of pressing on. I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to do it retroactively? Just have to be super careful and accurate so as not to mess up the finish on the paint job. I am super anal about getting a smooth finish, bumps of any kind really hit an OCD nerve for me!

 

Thanks,

Joe 

[Venerable Jazzman]

...

Just have to be super careful and accurate so as not to mess up the finish on the paint job. I am super anal about getting a smooth finish, bumps of any kind really hit an OCD nerve for me!

in that case, I'd be tempted just to drill a little dent into the end of the barrel and pop a blob of black paint in there.

 

or just ignore us, they're your BA - rumours that models with barrels drilled hit more often than models without have never been scientifically tested ;)

[Boudan]

Love them! May I ask your gold recipe/technique

[Slothysaur]

That captions gold helmet is stunning and looks like the kind of gold I've been trying, and failing, to pull off on my models.

[Damon Nightman]

Awesome stuff! Looking forward to seeing more!

[terminatorAM]

Great color and shadows on these guys, definitely grim-dark! Welcome back!

[neonmole]

Thanks for the comments guys! Great to have a little validation on the first models, let's me know I'm not mad and going in at least (vaguely) the right direction!

 

I'll do some research regarding drilling... I am prone to diving headfirst into stuff like that and bungling it, slow and steady!

 

I saw a couple question about the gold. It is actually not very hard, as follows is the "recipe";

 

(Stage 2&3, the base, I would do with an airbrush if it is a piece that is easily painted independently, e.g the head of the sarg, or a sanguinary guard etc. For the chest eagles or details this is easily applied with a normal brush! As such I'm sure you could get a good result on bigger pieces without an airbrush if you are careful)

 

1 - Prime (I use Vallejo German red)

2 - Balthazar gold base

3 - Retributor armour (reasonably heavy coverage)

4 - Agrax earthshade

 

- attach piece to rest of model if painting separately -

 

5 - Spray gloss the whole model (I use an airbursh)

6 - Nuln oil gloss all over (including the gold)

7 - spray with lahmian medium (through airbursh to dull gloss)

8 - highlight with retributive armour

9 - highlight with Stormhost silver (just corners, edges etc, use thin paint so that the gold shows through!)

 

It sounds pretty exhausting... but it's not that bad, a lot of it is part of the process of painting the overall model (gloss, nuln, lahmian) so it doesn't feel quite as arduous as it might appear!!

 

As with all things, very thin paints and even smooth coats is the key!

 

Hope that is helpful?

[9x19 Parabellum]

I will also agree your models look very nice.   You have a very "neat" painting style. The only other thing I'd add is that it seems you've missed some of the detail relief work on the models (scrolls and stuff not painted).  Or am I seeing things?

[neonmole]

Hey Rocmistro. Thanks for the compliment! I get very very hung up on details and small imperfections, which is probably where the "neatness" comes from. To be honest I wish I was more flexible with this as it prevents me from doing cool stuff like weathering. I love it on other people's stuff but when I do it on my own I just don't like it... probably because it is by nature "imperfect". To be honest I am probably a little OCD in that respect!

 

I think I need to be bit brave with this on my vehicles. I feel like they really benefit from weathering.

 

You might think some details are unpainted because I chose to do stuff like the scrolls black (dark grey). I like to keep the scheme very simple :) That said, I probably have missed a couple of details!

 

Cheers

[9x19 Parabellum]

I'm the same way with weathering.  It needs to be done very carefully and perfectly or else it just looks a messy/sloppy paintjob.  I can't achieve it, myself.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job so far.

[neonmole]

*Deleted due to photo bucket issues* 

 

*Rhino pics below!*

Edited July 17, 2017 by neonmole

[neonmole]

Hey everyone,

 

So I finally finished up the Rhino, and took some better pics of it to share with you guys.

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/grvfYa6.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/9AscNs7.jpg

 

Im pretty please with the Rhino, let me know your thoughts!

 

 

On a side note. I am in a bit of a state about these new Primaris marines. My logical brain is telling me that they will inevitably be the new standard of marine a couple of years from now, and I am fortunate to be early on in this enough to just get on the band wagon early.

 

On the flip side... I really like the current BA models.. Plus, it will (likely) be a long time til the specific chapter lines are filled out to the degree BA are now. I am not joking when I say that the nipple armour is one of the reasons I chose BA. Haha.

 

I imagine other people are grappling with this issue too.. Just venting my hobby stress!

 

Cheers

Joe

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 17, 2017 by neonmole

[terminatorAM]

Awesome Rhino! My favorite aspect of your painting style is the contrast you create with the shadows. Out of curiosity, do you use a lot of masking when you airbrush to achieve that sharp definition?

 

 

I also feel your pain when it comes to the Primaris Marines. I want to keep painting the models I have now, but know they'll be outdated by the time I finish my whole army. I like the look of the new models, but not sure how they will look next to my current guys. I'll probably end up waiting until I see more from that range (especially the dreadnought and vehicles) before making a decision if I want them as party of my army or as a separate force.

 

At least "hobby stress" is much better than real world stress :)

[neonmole]

Cheers mate.

 

I do not mask at all on the infantry models, on the rhino I did but not much. I didn't actually use tape or anything, I just held a stiff piece of card / paper (I used an old transfer sheet) to create the harsher lines - on the frontal armour above the windows for example. Very easy, didn't take very long at all!

 

Re: the Primaris marines. I have made peace with the whole thing. Someone posted something in the big BA 8th ed thread that really spoke to me. Something to the effect of; the only pressure to change what you are doing or not enjoy what you were doing is from yourself. (apologies to whoevers wisdom I just butchered..).

 

Ultimately I chose to create a BA army based on the awesome fluff and models we know and.... that hasn't changed... at all! Those models I was drawn to are still fantastic, the stories are still awesome, and whatever the naysayers say, BA are an institution - the will be around a long long time. Plus - what could be more Grim Dark than a beat down army of desperate BA heroes fighting for survival & the emperors salvation in the shadows of the Dark Imperium!

 

As such - I am going to ignore Primaris and make a badass BA army of OG marines! Maybe in the road I will add Primaris dudes into the mix, but right now I'm good.

 

Cheers

Joe

[Grazcruzk]

Beautiful work on the tacticals and rhino! The gold helm is really nice, are you planning on doing golden sanguinary guard or artificer armour down the road? 

[neonmole]

Absolutely!

 

One of the things I had in mind when I embarked on this was a full command squad of nipple armour & gold helms (I have a stash of the torso components!), and a badass commander in full gold artificer armour!

 

Before that though, over the weekend I assembled a squad of assault termies. I have always loved termies, and they look pretty good in the new rules! I must say also, the BA assault term kit is really great, very nice models!

 

Hopefully I will get one (or more!) of those boys painted up this week!

Edited May 22, 2017 by neonmole

[Replica]

Wow! Spectacular! 

 

Love deep red BAs like this, really looking forward to seeing more!

[neonmole]

*Deleted due to photo bucket issues*

 

*You can find full pics of the termies on page 2!*

 

Edited July 17, 2017 by neonmole

[9x19 Parabellum]

I like it.  I seem to get very random results when I attempt power weapon "blue-glow" affects, and I don't have a standardized method yet that works for me. The blending on the LC is very nice.

 

I still think all your wings need a little highlight. Even a touch of eshin grey along each edge would do wonders.