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

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Well done.

[Pearson73]

Very nice work.

[brother_b]

You're in progress models, with pre shading/highlighting, is almost a perfect tutorial for how to highlight. I would love to see one of your pre-shade models up close. Do you think the same basecoat and pre-shade would work with other colors? Let's say purple, green, blue?

 

I'm going to review the whole thread, maybe you already have. Anyway, I love this army.

[Morticon]

The colour and cleanness of these are unreal.  

Absolutely best BA i've seen in ages.  Exactly the colour I love. 

I'm amazed at how you work up from a completely different colour base. 

[neonmole]

Hi guys,

 

Thank you so much for the kind words, I know it’s a cliche, but it really means a lot. It’s so motivating sharing and getting your thoughts & suggestions.

 

Not a big update today, but I did finish the first squad last night, so I thought I would share.

 

I’ll probably stop posting these incremental updates, don’t want to spam the forum ;) But I’ll certainly make sure to post the full units as I complete them!

 

Finishing the first squad feels like milestone.

 

 

Look out for an update with the second unit on Sunday hopefully!

[Blindhamster]

I really like the subtle weathering, very nice!

[Kaese]

Those are so cool!

 

It’s really difficult to think of any ways to improve these to a next level. There is quite much contrast on the red armor, so the edge highlights are maybe a bit too subtle. So maybe stronger edge highlights around lighter areas to match the contrast could do the trick.

Edited July 2, 2018 by Kaese

[keeblerartillery]

Man, I love this forum. Please don't stop posting the incremental updates. I love the focused pics for the smaller units

[Mr Yellow]

That red is looking excellent!

[Charlo]

Subtle weathering and guide to your bases please!

[SGK]

Absolutely gorgeous work, just  one question do Primaris BA not Invert the shoulder pads for their Brother sergeants?

[neonmole]

Absolutely gorgeous work, just  one question do Primaris BA not Invert the shoulder pads for their Brother sergeants?

 

Hi there! The answer I believe is yes - assuming that you mean that the recess of the shoulder should be black?

 

I will actually be doing this for half of the Intercessor Sgts. I like the aesthetic of an Astartes squad being 10 man, even if as we see in game they often operate as smaller units (ala combat squads). 

 

With that in mind, for every 2x5 Intercessors, I will be painting them as if they are one squad, but operating independently. For Sergeants this means that one of the two 5 man units will have a true Vet Sgt - black shoulders, complete with gold helmet, and the other squad will have a Squad Leader (what you see above), with the black trim to indicate his position. In game terms they are identical, its just for fluff, and aesthetic reasons If I recall correctly, back in the old days (think 2nd Ed Angels of Death codex, this squad organisation was canonical, and for a 10 man unit you would have a Sgt, and a Squad Leader. 

 

Simply a fun little fluff thing (for imagination and narrative of the army) that lets me mix up the aesthetic a little bit between squads and make it less copy paste, and a bit more interesting to look at!

 

 

 

Subtle weathering and guide to your bases please!

 

Both of these things are very easy to do.

 

1. Subtle weathering. This is literally a 5 min step that is done with a small paint brush, and two colours (rhinox hide, and vallejo metal colour dark alluminium).

Step 1 - choose an edge where you imagine wear would occur and paint a broken, irregular edge highlight with rhinox hide.

Step 2 - paint a smaller irregular edge highlight with the metal, inside the rhinox hide so as to leave a little showing around the edges. The key here is less is more (both in terms of size of chips, and number of locations), it literally is just an edge highlight, but with less of a clean line. 

 

2. Bases. 

Step 1 - create the base using cork, and random bits of plastic terrain - anything will do that you think would look cool

Step 2 - paint mechanicus standard grey (i use the spray)

Step 3 - drybrush celestra grey

Step 4 - pick out any details, e.g. metal parts, and roughly wash those parts 

Step 5 - apply pigments of your choice - I use 3, a dark brown, reddy brown rush colour, and a light earth colour. apply these to taste, its impossible really to give more guidance than that. One of the cool parts of this is its hard to do wrong, since its supposed to look natural and random. You need to just experiment here. 

Step 6 - use a pipette to drop white spirit on the whole of the base. This will draw the pigments into the recesses, and we use white spirit because it will then completely evaporate. The use of a pipette to drop it on means that you wont disturb the placement of the pigments like a brush would. 

-you can now add, or remove pigments to taste once the white spirit is dry, play around with them using a brush etc. until you are happy with it-

Step 7 - use a pipette to drop a "pigment fixer solution" (many companies make these), which will secure the pigments in place. Again, we use a pipette rather than a brush (or airbrush) to avoid disturbing the pigments).

Done! 

 

Honestly, this sounds complicated but its really easy.

I hope that is helpful! 

Edited July 5, 2018 by neonmole

[SGK]

Ah cool thanks, I am not really up on all the primaris stuff. Have you thought of trying a banner for the Sarge? Or would that be veteran sargeant?

[Semirhagge]

 

Wanted to show my take on your Mehpy idea. Full credit goes to you for the idea. Thank you so much, I would never have thought to do this before. Will post updates as my greenstuff skills is shoddy at best and paint may fix alot of that. 

[neonmole]

Very cool Semirhagge!

 

Great to see your take! He looks awesome! Cool to see you incorporating the original Dracula hood and sword!

 

I think I am actually going to do a version 2.0 of my Mephiston to match my newer Primaris models, so I might need to borrow some of your ideas!

 

Thanks for sharing mate, and glad I was able to help! :)

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Primaris Chaplain's body does make Mephiston look intimidating as hell, but I miss the "flayed corpse" look his old armor gave him. I also noted his force sword is now a two-handed weapon, thanks to you grafting its blade to the Chaplain's crozius handle. May I suggest using a chain to link the pistol (at the base of its grip) and Mephiston's arm (the chain's other end encircling his shoulder), to minimize the chance he'd lose the pistol while wielding the sword with both hands?

[neonmole]

Hey guys!

Some of you mentioned you are enjoying the incremental updates so I guess I will continue posting them - since it keeps me engaged too!

 

Here is the second squad in progress, and more importantly you can see the first veteran sgt WIP! he’s missing his head right now, since it’s gold it’s a lot easier to paint separately - will complete him (and the squad) at the weekend and update then!

 

 

 

I think the sword turned out really well, nothing too special, but I think the bright metallic works great in contrast with the darker tones. I flirted with the idea of doing a “power weapon” effect (blue or green) but I decided it didn’t quite gel with the grittier look that I am going for. This was done using the Vallejo Metal Color range (as are all my metallics on this project) and I have to say, they are simply the best metallics out there!

 

Cheers

[Charlo]

Semirhagge that Meph is awesome, love the use of the top of the classic model.

 

Love the sword too neonmole!

[Kaese]

This is definitely the best looking primaris squad I’ve seen. All tho colours work flawlessly together and the quality on the details is excellent.

 

I agree with the sword. It is difficult to think how a power sword effect could make it look anything better than it is now.

[Semirhagge]

Just a quick update, hate to feel like i am highjacking your thread but just wanted to show how much just a base coat added to the model. Again thanks for the idea. I may start a painting thread of my own now that I am painting semi regularly again. Definitly no where near as talented as you, That primaris squad is probably some of the best I've seen, and i know a guy 25 years in the hobby. Awesome Job.

[Closet Skeleton]

 

With that in mind, for every 2x5 Intercessors, I will be painting them as if they are one squad, but operating independently. For Sergeants this means that one of the two 5 man units will have a true Vet Sgt - black shoulders, complete with gold helmet, and the other squad will have a Squad Leader (what you see above), with the black trim to indicate his position. In game terms they are identical, its just for fluff, and aesthetic reasons If I recall correctly, back in the old days (think 2nd Ed Angels of Death codex, this squad organisation was canonical, and for a 10 man unit you would have a Sgt, and a Squad Leader. 

 

I use the 2nd ed style squad leaders in my Angels Encarmine battle company and regularly check back on the Angels of Death codex for my heraldry, 2nd ed squad leaders had full sergeant shoulder pads along with red back banners (sergeants banners were black). Black trim was just for all Blood Angels and the red trim/black pad for sergeants and squad leaders was a reversed form.

 

1st ed squad leaders had regular marine shoulder pads along with red back banners.

 

I kind of assume that all the colour schemes are canonical, just not concurrent.

Edited July 12, 2018 by Closet Skeleton

[neonmole]

Looks awesome! No worries on the “thread hijacking”, quite the contrary, I love that you were inspired by my idea and have shared your own awesome twist! I mean, the community and sharing these things is really what it’s all about!

[neonmole]

Quick update!

 

Finished the vet sgt just now, really happy with how he turned out! Took a bunch of strips/attempts to get the gold helmet right, very happy with the result tho.

 

 

And a group shot so far! (Leading his boys into glorious combat on a strange wooden planet...)

 

 

Cheers!

[Charlo]

[Jolemai]

 

+1