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

[neonmole]

These models of yours are truly great! I've never thought of making naginata-like glaives. Pure awesomness! 

One thing that strikes me is the very silver look of those blades. For me this makes them a little flat-looking. I would definitely be putting more darker tones to them. Also in line with the "grimdark" look of which I'm a great fan myself.

 

Thanks dude! In those pics you are right, they are very uniformly bright. In person it fades to a very bright silver, but I think the transition isn't very well represented in the photos! Thankyou for the kind words and constructive criticism!

 

 

So the briefest of updates. As much to document my own progress and keep up the energy! 

 

This has even an epic weekend of painting effort.. The 15 assault marines are now about 75% done I would say, excluding the yellow heads (which I have yet to figure out a technique for... Its going to be tight, but I think I am going to make it. Fortunately I have booked the two days before I fly off work to finish up anything. (clearly I know myself as I anticipated this might happen!

 

Hope you like them so far. Ill share updates further in the week, and hopefully have the finished units ready next Sunday!

 

 

 

Im pretty satisfied with how the plasma coil effect turned out. This was a bit of an unknown for me as this is the first time I have done one - and there are 9 in the squad! Looks pretty good I think.

 

 

 

 

As far as gaming goes, I have a game vs Nids tomorrow evening. Wish me luck!

Cheers.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I like the darker red you use on the models.

[Spagunk]

<comment deleted> I actually just found them after looking online and looking through my old stuff. Disregard.

Edited February 26, 2018 by Spagunk

[dread05]

I've been thinking for a while to pick up some scouts, but, as others have said, the heads look terrible. How difficult was it to swap the heads? Did you have to cut any parts of the head (the curved bottoms in particular) before fitting them to the scout models?

[9x19 Parabellum]

I've been thinking for a while to pick up some scouts, but, as others have said, the heads look terrible. How difficult was it to swap the heads? Did you have to cut any parts of the head (the curved bottoms in particular) before fitting them to the scout models?

Yes, I put regular space marine heads on them and they look great. You do have to do a little cutting of the roundish bottom part, depending on which way you want to orient the head. When I get home tonight I'll see if I can post some pictures.

Ooh! Brain revelation. It's not Blood Angels but I did my Raven Guard the same way:

[Majkhel]

Those are looking great Prabellum.
I feel that in general SM heads need to have a little knife work done on the bases to sit lower on the scouts shoulders (not as low as those horrible original heads though). But the resulting effect is waaaaay better.

[neonmole]

So... The day has come. 

Today I finished my No Retreat army (hey, its only 9pm the night before my flight!), and thus I suppose conclude the first chapter of the GrimDark Blood Angels. Its almost a year since I started this army, and it feels like I've come a long way! 

 

I thought I would share the final parts of the army, and how it looks before we fly (on wings of fire of course...) to war tomorrow!

 

Captain Thundersmash. 

 

 

Captian 2:

 

 

The Heroes of Baal Stand Tall!

 

 

Assault Squad 1:

 

 

Assault Squad 2:

 

 

Assault Squad 3:

 

 

The Whole Thing (Over 2 shots as I couldn't get it in one!)

 

 

 

 

 

So.. I hope you like them guys, its been a long road. But overall, I am really proud of what I have achieved thus far here, and completing this (initial) chapter of the army feels like a real milestone. I think I might take a little break from red at this point (its been a lot of red) but this will not be the end of the GrimDark Blood Angels!

 

I will try and take some pictures in Gibraltar, and do a write up of my experiences when I return! 

 

Thanks for all the support getting here!

To war...

[Paladin777]

Those. Are. Beautiful.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The army is well painted and assembled. Does CAPT Thundersmash have a jump pack, or are the wings mere decorations?

[SydonianDragoon404]

Absolutely spectacular.

[Majkhel]

Beautiful! Love the poses on the assault squads particularly. You made them look alive and full of speed. Great, clean paint job as well.

[synthaside]

Oh, i can tell you from playing against this army... That captain has a jump pack ...  and knows what he's doing with it he managed a first turn charge deep strike long range off against my Cawl ;-)  On the battlefield, I'm not sure who's the scarier him or Mephi.

Joe's photography with his iPhone camera does not do his painting enough justice in person this army is jaw-dropping.

Edited March 8, 2018 by synthaside

[Kaese]

I really like the looks on that red armor. Makes the units stand out from the typical blood angels color scheme. Excellent job!

 

Is that meph the one converted in the B&Z HQ section? Looks great.

[brother_b]

I love these. How much airbrushing did you do on the troops? Did you do it all on subassemblies? Did you preshade like your tanks?

 

I'll have to go back and check earlier posts if you answered already.

Edited March 9, 2018 by brother_b

[Jønke]

Best of luck to you in Gibreltar. They will all be honored to get crushed by such a fine looking army!

[Xenith]

Beautiful assault marines. I think the tanks could stand to be a little lighter and still retain their grimdark.

[Charlo]

Quality as always.

[neonmole]

Hi Guys,

 

So, I'm back from No Retreat! Its taken a little longer to get to writing this than I would have liked, but I was super busy with work as soon as I returned.

 

Overall - what an incredible event these guys put on. Really the best of all aspects of the Hobby. Honestly I wouldn't even really describe it as a tournament (though there is of course a tournament), its more than that, it really is a hobby retreat if you like, 40 likeminded guys on a hobby focused getaway.

 

But - the games! 

 

I played a friendly game vs. Admech on the Friday afternoon, after a morning at the pub in town with some of the guys. Here are some pics and a summary! 

 

Friendly Game - AdMech 

 

Sygies VIII (-1 to hit over 12")

- Tech Priest

- Engineer

- Several units of screening Skitaari

- 4 Combat Robots (used the infiltrate stratagem)

- Shooty Robots

- 5 Dragoons (used the infiltrate stratagem)

- 2 Onagers with Neutron Laser

 

Here are a couple of shots of the first turn(s)

 

 

 

So to give a short summary.

 

I was able to deal with his two assault elements, the combat bots, and the dragoons. Once I had done this, it was my game to lose as I dealt with his screening and backfield units. Key points:

- Captain Smash & Mephiston double teamed the Dragoons, killing most of them on the charge

- Predators wore down the combat bots unit who failed their first turn charge (I screened them out with the scouts)

- Sanguinary Guard were able to get a first turn DoA charge on a screening Skitaari unit, and consolidate into the shooty bots, meaning they didn't get much done in the first couple turns

 

In the end, it resulted in a win for me in all categories, so good start! But I left the game feeling like I might have spent all my good luck too early!!

 

Heres the end of the game:

 

 

 

Game 1 - Night Lords

 

- Terminator Chaos Lord

- Jump Pack Chaos Lord

- Chaos Sorcerer

- 3 units of CSM 

- 3 units of Raptors with 3 Melta each

- 2 Helldrakes

- 2 Maulerfiends

- Land Raider

 

Deployment:

 

 

So... I seized! 

 

This resulted in a tough game for the Night Lords, as I was able to kill both Helldrakes on my first turn with Killshot, and do a bit of damage to the Land Raider. Beyond this, it was a really fun game, with my ASM dulling with his Raptor across the board, and my armour fighting against his Maulerfiends!

 

There was also an extremely cinematic duel between Captain Smash, and his Terminator Lord! Smash Dealt him 7 wounds on the Charge... He made 6/7 4+ saves!! In return he brought my captain to 1 wound! On the next turn, I had my own round of great saves, and managed to kill him in return. Epic battle!

 

In the end, my first turn was too much to come back from, and I ended up winning a max points victory. 

 

Heres the end of the game:

 

 

(this was such a cool board... in fact, they are all such cool boards!)

 

Game 2 - Dark Eldar.

 

(not 100% clear on this... don't know DE very well)

- Haemonculus

- Archon

- 2 20 man warrior blogs (used deep strike)

- Bunch of Venoms with warriors

- 3(?) Ravagers

- Flyer

- Scourge 

- 3 units of mandrakes (deep striking)

 

Here is the deployment:

 

 

Basically, I went first. Killshot did its thing... On my first turn I brought down the flyer and (I think) one of the Ravagers. From here though it was a very back and forth battle, Mark was a very good, and very experienced player who obviously knew how to play from a bad spot to get the most out of the game from an event perspective. I really enjoyed this one.

 

In the end, I actually managed to Table him though... just. Literally the last swing of the game (from my SG) killed his last model. In this event, tabling results in a max point victory. As such, I go into game 3 on max tournament points! So far so good right?... 

 

I guess I forgot to take a post game pic for this one.

 

 

Thats it for now guys! I will probably write a summary of the last 3 games this evening / tomorrow. Time pending :)

 

Thanks! 

 

Ps. To any of my opponents reading this, you were all epic, and meeting everyone was by far the highlight of this event!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Congratulations on your victories over enemies of the Imperium.

[Slothysaur]

Wow that game 1 board is incredible! Your models still outshine that table, super impressive.

[Charlo]

Beautiful armies and beautiful boards. Looks awesome dude and your army certainly makes a presence on them!

[neonmole]

Wow, so first - it would appear that the second half of my tournament report never posted! I definitely wrote it... But its not here! Maybe I forgot to hit "post"?! 

 

Either way, I guess I will have to re-write it for you guys!

 

This however is not the reason I am checking in! I have been unable to escape the grip of the red thirst... Its more Blood Angels for me! However, I want to mix it up, so I am embarking on a totally fresh project! - a 100% Primaris strike force! With this new project, I see it as an opportunity to change up some of the things that I was doing previously, that I thought I could do better, but never did for the sake of consistency. A couple that spring to mind are bases, gold, eyes, gems... weathering.

 

Anyways, I have a test model to share with you guys! I did a sergeant as I wanted to test out my new gold recipe! And I have to say, Im really pleased with there results!

 

I hope you like him. First of many - Grim Dark Blood Angels: The Next Generation!

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers for your C&C! 

[Majkhel]

Beautiful! I love the eyes especially, but gold also turned out superbly. That's a job VERY well done!

Edited April 16, 2018 by Majkhel

[marine7312000]

Looks pretty darn good. What is the gold recipe?

[Charlo]

Beautiful.