MBA++Blood Angels 5th Company - into the Leviathan's maw

[Majkhel]

WIP updates:

Practically finished ATV before midnight:

Added some scratch marks. I don't usually do this, but this time i felt the power of Snguinius witihin me and boi I like the results! Really made the flat surfaces much more interesting. Will probably come back to it with another level of highlight to the edges and also the scratches.

The black wings were a last-minute addition and I'm not entirely convinced with them even though I adjusted them a bit to make them more angelic and less... well Revenwing ;)
Just noticed I missed the only purity seal... Aaaaaaanyway, decided the ATV will come from a reserve Company as I'm not sure I will be buying 2 more and don't want to hamper my 5th Company build. Additional markings on the right side to be decided later.


Next up - the Techmarine WIP:

I had a real fun building the base for him:

Because I added the little box and because of the rhino door's ladder, I had to paint the whole door plate and most of his legs before I placing the guy on the base as it would be hard to manoeuvre around the legs.
In his final colours, Techmarine should be noticeably darker than than the rest of my army as I will not be bringing his larger plate surfaces to the usual Evil Sunz Scarlet level. We'll see how he goes, but so far I'm having a good time working on him :)

Last up, the base for the Big Boi:

With the way Leviathan is assembled and all the ways one can pose him, he has to be build from ground up, meaning the setting of the feet is very important. From the beginning I wanted my Leviathan to crush something and recently I got hold of a cheap Genestealers group from Space Hulk. With one of them being a little damaged, he made a perfect choice for the poor victim. This will be a slow work with aim to get him built and posed for the next ETL.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Great job on the ATV! A Tyranid combat form being crushed underfoot, is a most inspiring base decoration for a Dreadnought.

[Spyros]

The Techmarine looks dope!

[Xenith]

Three Laser Guns beats your Rock, Paper and Scissors, Genestealer Cultist! Pew Pew!

[Majkhel]

Thanks for the compliments guys!

 

 

Three Laser Guns beats your Rock, Paper and Scissors, Genestealer Cultist! Pew Pew!

Could have always modelled 'the finger' version I guess
Seriously though, the released Primaris Techmarine miniature looks to have no correlation with the HB and at the same time it shoots a side-arm. I wanted something else for my guy and wanted him to clearly direct his HB.

That particular hand comes from the Incursors/Infiltrators box and is strange to say the least (have you tried making this sign with your hand? Not easy). I understand it is in line with the tacti-cool look GW is clumsily trying to implement across the SM range. BUT it is strange enough to warrant a special gesture that triggers something. For example: a 3-round burst from the neuro-linked HB in a given direction.

The hand is supposed to be a little strange and work with the techno-secretive aura I imagine surrounds Techmarines as adepts to the Mechanicum's secret knowledge. 

Edited November 6, 2020 by Majkhel

[Xenith]

Haha, yea, I can imagine him muttering the sacred chant of "three shots hitting on 2's" as he directs the MIU

[Majkhel]

Ha ha, took me a while to get the connection that HB are currently a 3-shot weapon :D
All the better as my Techmarine is now ready to rumble:

Named him - Malatesta

Kept his hue dark and more maroon compared to my other Angels. I also gave him a yellow eye-lense to differentiate him even more. I probably overdid it a little with the glow spill, but this was the first time with yellow glows for me.
The biggest pain was sourcing the Mechanicum icon and in the end, I ended up applying a mechanicum knight icon and painting over it with black. Another knight decal is a yellow triangle on his leg, with which I want to represent Malatesta's apprenticeship in one of the great forges of Mars.

I'm really happy with how he came out :)
Cheers!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Beautiful work on the Techmarine.

[SnorriSnorrison]

Excellent work so far, Majkhel. The buggy looks a lot less like a go-kart and more like it's all-terrain! Well, at least "slightly inconvenient terrain". :P

Great work on the techmarine conversion. Good knowing you don't have to shell out 30-something Euros to use the Techmarine model. :)

[Majkhel]

Thanks mate! I'm really happy you like them :)

 

Great work on the techmarine conversion. Good knowing you don't have to shell out 30-something Euros to use the Techmarine model.

To be honest, I did bought the Firestrike turret kit that provided the torso and backpack, so it kinda evens out :P Still, I did managed to make my bits-box smaller by a few bits, and that is good thing.

[Warhead01]

The ATV looks very goon in red. You've almost sold me on buying one!
Love your Techmarine too. 

[Majkhel]

A little-big update: 6 Tacticals and 6 Devastators.
A TT-standard paintjob+bases+decals to complete and unify some of my older projects or second-hand purchases.

All got 5th Company markings although I will not count them towards Company numbers as I still want to include a full Heavy Intercessors squad and that will leave me with only 4 seats to fill. So these will act as spares or different weapon options (especially the Devastators) in case I want to field a different army composition. That is, when I get to play again :P

Still this is a nice chunk of the Pile of Shame infantry done.

[Shaezus]

Looking forward to seeing how you do your heavy intercessors!

[Majkhel]

Me too :D

[Xenith]

 

 

All got 5th Company markings although I will not count them towards Company numbers as I still want to include a full Heavy Intercessors squad and that will leave me with only 4 seats to fill. 

 

That's what the other 9 companies are for  Or squad 11 - 20 if you're that way inclined...

[Majkhel]

 

That's what the other 9 companies are for  Or squad 11 - 20 if you're that way inclined...

Well, yeah... but I still consider those more like swaps, than anything else so looks are more important.

For once, I have long since cured myself from the idea of magnetising Devastators and my original Dev squad is all-plasma, which was a decision based purely on weapon choice's cost - higher points, higher ETL score :P. 

Also for those recent guys to fill a squad, they would need a Sergeant I don't have atm. Perhaps when I get to building my remaining Grav Amps and MM.

 

And regarding squads 11-20, if you are fielding Primaris in your company, than you will eventually have to go above 10 squads, as many of their units cap at 6 and some even at 3 (Outriders) so you will never be able to fill a Codex Company using only 10 squads. My Company is already having 12 squads and I will potentially create one more 3-man squad out of something.

[Father Mapple]

"which was a decision based purely on weapon choice's cost - higher points, higher ETL score"

 

You are a true BA sub-forum battle brother.

 

The models are looking really good. I appreciate the tech marine a lot and it's amazing what you did with the various parts.

[Majkhel]

Thank you kindly, that is a high praise! I'll continue to do my best to live up it :)
And ! I'm really glad you like the Techmarine, I admit I'm pretty proud of him :)

[Majkhel]

Update: I've been working on my Sanguinary Guards recently. The biggest part was painting another 3 guys, bringing me up to 7 completed:

Light is a bit harsh and red came out a bit flat and washes are practically invisible, but it will do for now.
I'd say this is a basic scheme. I could have done more on the blingy stuff and colour each and every blood droplet, but didn't found enough motivation to do it at this time

I still have like 9-10 built and ready to paint (wings separate for now), but I want to save some for the ETL next year. In the meantime, I've been working hard magnetising them. Each one got a scenic base with a magnet to secure them in the boxes. I have 4 Fists-wielding guys that will be able to switch to swords (provided I get another sword) . Also I want to be able to exchange Angelus Boltguns for different pistols on several of each melee options. So far I have 3 Fusion pistols and 2 plasmas with potential to kit-bash a few more.
Of the current 3, sword-guy and axe-guy on the left are both able to switch to fusion pistols.


EDIT: a group shot of the squad so far

Edited November 29, 2020 by Majkhel

[Majkhel]

Sooooo another models incoming to supply my Pile of Shame Potential makes me really anxious to complete something and calls of the Indomitus box' contents are predominant.
The thing I would most like to do, is the Bladeguard Ancient. I don't really need that particular piece in my army, but it irks that he is a part of the box and how much I dislike the original BGA concept. I've been trying to formalise my own idea of him starting from the Lieutenant or Captain perhaps, but I also have an already partly used Chaplain body, that gave away it's crozius-arm for the Chaplain on Bike conversion.
As I'm fresh from all the SG manliness and with some recent successes using the green stuff, I decided to try my luck with this little kitbash:

I'm not really certain what will come out of it. Perhaps a BGA, perhaps something else.
For BGA, I still need to devise a Banner. I have one spare SG-one, but I also have other, more exotic onesl. We'll see.

Cheers!

Edited November 30, 2020 by Majkhel

[Majkhel]

I've been on the roll with this project and decided to make it an Ancient after all.
<...warning, photo spam and rambling incoming. If not interested, first picture is enough ;) ...>

Here is the concepts so far:


As for the design decisions and challenges, the most important one was the banner to be used. I had several options available apart from the already mentioned Saguinary Guard standard

- BA terminators - an obvious choice for the BGA, him being part of the 1st Company. However I already have this banner on a Terminator Ancient. Also - loom the choice made a few lines below...
- Bretonnia banner (Knights of the Realm?) - an interesting choice, because it's not a typical SM banner. But it seemed a tad small. Also I didn't have any idea for a freehand.
- last one is I think one of the Beastmen banners - that one was really tempting as a base for a tattered, battle-worn banner, but would require lots of effort to make it more 'civilised'. Would also need to be a bit longer. And obviously a good free-hand would be needed, for which I did not have an idea. Would probably make an awesome Flesh Eaters banner...

In the end, I went back to the Codex, where I saw that all ancients now have the same kind of Standard/aura. This in turn reminded me that I do not have a Primaris Ancient yet aaaaand that Sanguinary Ancient just got much less appealing. That pushed me towards the idea of a single figure that could be used botha as BGA and regular Ancient, depending on the need. For a more generic feel, the Sanguinary Guard standard felt the most appropriate and here is the result:

That particular piece was lacking the top, so it got a substitute - more generic and less related to Archangels. Secondly, I wanted to make it longer to look well next to a Primaris-sized mini. Enter the tip of a Custodes' Guardian Spear. it has the added benefit of looking as if it could be used as a melee weapon to stab something :D
Lastly a properly positioned, extended arm was needed that would compensate for the longer banner shaft and position of the holding hand which is modelled into the banner. That came from the common pistol arm from the BA Primaris upgrade kit. I do not have any pictures of the arm and hand, but it's an easy enough connection, which I will later additionally smooth-out with GS. Fortunately the original holding hand is pretty well hidden in the banner's folds, so it doesn't really matter that it's in fact a left hand.

Choosing a proper head is another decision to make. I'm mnetionning it because while I was trying to match one, I came to the realisation that I made the torso too thin. When any head was attached, the sculpted breast plate was almost in line with the nose while looking from the side. Fortunately my GS filling was not yet fully cured, so I was able to widen the gap, which I later on filled with miliput, to make it tougher.
Here is a picture showing how much additional space was needed to make it look right (originally the neck pieces were joined)

I will be sculpting the collar further once it cures obviously.

You can see a rifle on the pictures, because left arm got magnetised to accommodate for different weapon options that are available for BGA and regular Primaris Ancient.
So after all that tinkering, here is the pretty much final version of the build. Ggreyed photos for showing how well (or not) the GS/Miliput blends into the overall shape:

And back (I removed the book as it's a cool piece I will gladly use one day on some Librarian or sth.)

More GS work to follow once current miliput layer cures completely.
I'm already working on the base in the background. It will have a raised area for the Ancient to stand on, as elongated banner pole got just a bit too long :P

Cheers! :)

[Xenith]

Great looking conversion, cant wait to see it done!

[Xenith]

Though the more I look at it...that pose is just too damn heroic, with the gun. Can you magnetise the right arm so you can switch between the banner and like, a raised sword or something? That model deserves more tabletime. I'm getting serious these vibes from him:

 

 

Although that guy does have a banner...

[Majkhel]

Hmmmmmmmm....
Magnetising the right arm is definitely doable. I'm not particularly fond of the idea of magnetising everything, but on the other hand, he will be quite tall with the banner (almost 3.25"/over 8cm high). It might be reasonable to be able to remove the banner for transport and I can always add a sword arm to make him a Captain/Lieutenant I guess. Base size is to big for a Company Champion.

Thanks for bringing this fantastic picture, it's definitely one of the best! I would love to one day recreate the scene. At least the Blood Angels part of it.

[Alcyon]

I think that's one of the best uses of the left arm holding the auto bolt rifle that I've seen. I like it a lot more than the pistol tbh. Unfortunately he can only have a normal Bolt Rifle as far as I can tell from Battlescribe.

Edited December 1, 2020 by Alcyon