Lucifer216’s Archangels

[Lucifer216]

Fear us, oh enemies of man, for we are the angels of death, the blessed scions of Sanguinius and the breakers of armies

A long time ago I started painting a Blood Angels army and then for reasons that are now lost in the mists of time I stopped. Fast forward to the present day, past two huge armies (Tyranids and Mechanicus) and one course on blending & weathering from Siege Studios. On seeing the Space Marine Heroes 2 models, I knew I had to return to the Sons of Sanguinius. Despite being a massive Blood Angel fan boy – to the point where I wrote a short story about a hypothetical second siege of Terra from their point of view and roleplayed as a Blood Angel Assault Marine during a long Deathwatch RPG campaign), I haven’t had a functional army of them since the early 2000s.

Because of the inspiration from the Space Marine Hero 2 range, the arrival of the Primaris Marines (which make my old firstborn marines in power armour look less than appealing) and my love of Tactical Dreadnought Armour; I decided to focus on the Blood Angels’ 1^st Company, the Archangels.

Rather than sell on my duplicates for Space Marine Heroes 2, I opted to do weapon and head swaps on them. While the army is set in the 41^st millennium, there will be much in the way of inspiration from the strife-filled days of the Horus Heresy – expect lots of Contemptor Dreadnoughts, FW transfers – and if my nerve holds – freehand and black marble on the vehicles.

One of the quirks of resuming a project after a few years and from a time when I was just getting the hang of using an airbrush and made a questionable choice in terms of undercoat spray, is that while for the most part there haven’t been too many issues, in some cases the paint is thicker than I would like. It’s also forced me to be ruthless, taking a modelling knife to missed mould-lines on already airbrushed models. Hopefully, you’ll see a bit of a jump in quality once I move onto the Space Marine Heroes 2 models for this reason.

Please don’t shy away from constructive comments and criticism, I really want to make this army the best it can be, so any and all advice is more than welcome. After all, an army raised in the image and glory of the most noble and beautiful of all the Emperor’s sons deserves every ounce of time, skill and knowledge I can throw at it!

Part of my desire for feedback comes from the fact that I’m standing in the shadow of greatness – as part of the PCRC (Plastic Crack Rehab Clinic), I have the honour of calling both Apologist (best known for his beautiful true-scale Ultramarines and Iron Warriors) and Bob Hunk (LED master, whose Crimson Fists are incredibly popular on Instagram) my friends. As my green-stuff skills are lacking and I’d prefer not to tread on their creative toes, I have to rely on my painting alone so the paint jobs have to be top-notch. Edited December 23, 2019 by Lucifer216

[Lucifer216]

Here's a couple of close-ups from the group shot

 

Sergeant Galileo

 

Next on my to-do list is my first Blood Angels Assault Terminator squad. Here's a look at the first couple of models:

 

[Majkhel]

Good luck with your project!
You're painting lovely gems!

[SnorriSnorrison]

Great painting! I’d like to see more of your project. :)

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Terminators.

 

I noticed SGT Galileo's left arm is silver. Is he a former Deathwatch member?

[Lucifer216]

Thanks all and well spotted, Bjorn Firewalker; Galileo is indeed a former member of the Deathwatch. Here's some background I wrote about him:

 

When Galileo was considered for service in the Deathwatch due to his exemplary combat record against xenos foes and his commendable hatred of genestealers and other Tyrannic xeno-types, his commanding officers had but one reservation: his unquestioning belief in the superiority of the ways of Baal over all others.

 

Upon his honourable return to the chapter, they were surprised to find that his initial arrogance and inward-looking perspective had been erased. In its place stood a near-encyclopedic knowledge of Astartes combat doctrines and a willingness to use any means, no matter how far it might stray from Baalite orthodoxy, provided it might offer a better outcome.

 

Much to his chagrin, Galileo's counsel is not always heeded, in no small part due to his oaths that prevent him from discussing the battles in which these unconventional tactics proved effective. The cost of his silence is paid with the blood of his brothers and the guilt that gnaws at him has made him petition Captain Karlaen to grant him another tour of duty with the Deathwatch.

 

Thus far, Karlaen has refused, knowing that to grant Galileo's request would be to deprive the Blood Angels of a formidable asset and a worthy successor to the role of 1st Captain, should Karlaen fall in battle.

[Lucifer216]

And here's the first of my Contemptor Dreadnoughts, Ostinos.

 

 

The transition from demigod to half-revenant half-machine is not an easy one and Ostinos endured three abortive attempts at cyber-union with a range of dreadnoughts until the Master of the Forge reviewed his combat record. Prior to entombment, Ostinos was one of the Terminator elite, known for his fearsome prowess with a cyclone missile launcher. When one of the Blood Angels oldest and most revered Contemptor-pattern dreadnought became available, the inloads from his familiar armament helped Ostinos achieve a successful union with the machine. Since that fateful day, he has slain enemies beyond counting, while also bringing many a firefight to a quick conclusion through the use of frag missiles to blast his foes out of cover, followed up by withering volleys from his assault cannon. 

 

Other than Ostinos, I've been busy assembling and preparing the next wave of reinforcements (Three more dreadnoughts, including a Leviathan, three Land Raiders and the bulk of the remaining terminators) for undercoating. The Land Raider Kit really is showing its age, given the hours I had to spend to get the top edges of each model's sides looking flush. 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Contemptor.

[Lucifer216]

Cheers :)

 

My first Assault Terminator squad is nearing completion – here's a look at the last chap before they're all done – Brother Tyborel. 

 

 

I had a bit of time yesterday evening, but spent a huge amount of it (at least half an hour) on this one gem... 

 

What would you all like to see after the squad is done? Characters, another squad, a dreadnought or a Land Raider?

[Majkhel]

Brother Tyborel looks great! And really nice blending on the gem.
With 2 squads and 1 dreadnought done, I'd say a character would be appropriate. It's your choice though :)
 

That reminds me, that we hold a little painting challenge here in the forum - E Tenebrae Lux - usually starting around May and lasting for 3 months. Perhaps you've heard of it? With your excellent painting technique and speed, it would be great to have you on board for the blood Angels sub-forum :)

[Lucifer216]

Thank you for the kind words

 

That sounds really interesting; as I'm not painting the army for a campaign weekend, another reason to stay focused is very welcome. Will there be an announcement closer to the time about what this year's E Tenebrae Lux will involve? I've had a look at the rules for the 2016 one and it's a good job I did as I tend to do all my airbrush work in huge batches which would disqualify me if I did it ahead of time. 

Edited January 3, 2020 by Lucifer216

[Majkhel]

Will there be an announcement closer to the time about what this year's E Tenebrae Lux will involve? I've had a look at the rules for the 2016 one and it's a good job I did as I tend to do all my airbrush work in huge batches which would disqualify me if I did it ahead of time. 

Definitely!

Here is the link to our 2019 BA Outpost thread. In the first post you will find links to the main page of the event with all the rules.

In short: Models must be legal according to current codexes and at most basecoated with one color to be eligible for joining. 

 

It is possible that will be having some warm-up preparation event(s) to build up our painting options at some point as well.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on Tyborel. I admire the effort you put in his thunder hammer's lighting effects.

[Lucifer216]

Squad Castello is complete and reporting for duty

 

I have also started massively revamping Captain Karlaen. I painted him a while back but was never happy with the overall look, so I'm making a lot of small tweaks here and there. Look out for a before and after soon.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the Terminators.

[Hintzy]

Those are gorgeous. Fantastic work! I love the gems and the shading on the shield.

[Father Mapple]

The grey of the shield really works. Much better than I thought grey against red would. The unit looks great. 

[Lucifer216]

Thank you for the kind words, guys  .

 

Apologies for the radio silence, Captain Karlaen took far longer than I thought he would. But I'm finally happy with him for now. 

 

Before:

 

After:

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The thunder hammer's lighting effects look good. Excellent work.

[Lucifer216]

It's been a while — winter cold/flu hasn't helped, but I managed to get a few pieces finished over the weekend. 

 

First up are Venerables Nicodemus and Rephas — both are the plastic Contemptor from Betrayal at Calth, but I reposed Nicodemus and gave both of them some additional details from my bits box. 

 

Here's Squad Marzio — it was difficult to be inspired by them, due to the lack of detail on them compared with their Indomitus pattern counterparts, but it was nice to use some transfers for a change. I feel I should have pushed the contrast on Marzio's power sword a bit more and I might come back to it at a later date. 

 

Now that I'm at three full squads, three dreadnoughts and a character, I thought it was about time that the Archangels get their own shelf in my display cabinet — they were starting to cramp my much neglected Imperial Knights' style...

 

 

 

I've also started work on a Librarian in Terminator armour. The amount of detail on the sculpt is really impressive — I'm a couple of hours in and I've barely gotten past applying the base colours as neatly as possible. 

Edited February 11, 2020 by Lucifer216

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

Excellent painting!!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Contemptors and the Terminators. Edited February 12, 2020 by Bjorn Firewalker