LFP's 3rd Blood Angel army: Defense of Baal

[Lord Fancy Pants]

Hello Brothers,

 

This will be my blog about my 3rd Blood Angels army, based on the defense of Baal from Shield of Baal. The original genesis of this army actually came from the Swallow series way back in '08. In the book, Red Fury, several successor chapters helped defend Baal from Fabius Bile. I thought to myself, that would be a cool looking army! I collected some decal sheets and planned out the squads and even painted a squad of Flesh Tearers to include in my current, version 2, BA army. However, that was about as far as it got. 

 

Fast forward a few years, and I purchased a used marine army at my LGS auction. I fully planned to convert those marines into Salamanders! Hobby fatigue set in and instead, those models sat in a box.

 

Along came Shield of Baal. Once again, I thought "What a cool idea"! I pulled those used marines out and combined them with some new BA boxes and "Boom", new army. I ordered some successor pads from Pop Goes the Monkey, and built about 90% of the army. I even got a few of the squads with base colors on them. Then, as is very common for me, life got in the way and the hobby took a back seat. 

 

Now here we are, 3 years after Shield of Baal released, sitting at home with nothing but time on my hands. This thread will chronicle my efforts to get over my hobby slump and get this army done. As it turns out, this army will be a memorial to the old style of marines, as primaris is now king. In fact, BA army #4 will be a primaris. But we aren't there yet!

 

Here are the chapters I plan to do...

 

1) Blood Drinkers

2) Angels Sanquine

3) Flesh Tearers

4) Flesh Eaters

5) Blood Angels

6) Carmine Blades

7) Knights of Blood

8) Blood Swords

9) Angels Vermillion

10) "Unnamed Home Brew"

 

A few notes: I'm attempting to use a variety of red paints on this project, I'll mention on each squad post what red I used. Also, I haven't decided on bases yet. I want it to represent fighting on Baal, but red sand isn't going to cut it. I'm open to suggestions, but I'm very much undecided on how to base them.

 

Thanks for checking out this thread. 

 

*** New Updates: Solved the basing issue

Edited November 21, 2020 by Lord Fancy Pants

[Lord Fancy Pants]

Blood Drinkers:

So, this was the first squad I tackled. Couple of points here. First, I didn't strip the old models before I rebuilt and primed them. You can definately tell when you look over them. Secondly, I am incredibly out of practice! I can't line highlight, blend, control my washes, ect. It's been a long time since I painted and you can tell. But, this is just the first squad of many, so I'll improve.

Note on colors: I used P3 Khador Red as the red for this squad. Also, I'll be doing the decals soon!

Edited April 4, 2020 by Lord Fancy Pants

[Lord Fancy Pants]

Flesh Tearer:

I've updated these guys with a new scheme. I decided to use contrast, specifically, Flesh Tearers Red, for obvious reasons. I really like the contrast. It's incredible for the faces. I'll try to take a better picture, but the faces are great for 1 minute of work. These guys aren't done yet. Need details and highlights.

Edited April 12, 2020 by Lord Fancy Pants

[Lord Fancy Pants]

Knights of Blood:

Here are two possible schemes for the KoB. SIlver with red, one darker than the other. Not sure yet on where I will land with these guys.

Edited April 4, 2020 by Lord Fancy Pants

[Leonaides]

I think the darker red looks closer to what I recall was their colour scheme.

[Thoridon]

The darker red also goes with the silver better than the brighter red, to my eyes.

[Lord Fancy Pants]

Angels Sanquine:

I've got these guys about 1/2 done. Need to highlight and detail the black still. I missed some parts of the black when I based them. Need to cover up the old Ultramarine Blue!

[Father Mapple]

Still looks pretty good for half done! Love the scheme.

[Xenith]

Always nice to see some Angels Sanguine! The halves look neatly done also, some close ups would be cool for inspiration!

Edited April 13, 2020 by Xenith

[Lord Fancy Pants]

Here is how it looks so far.

Top row: Angels Sanquine and Blood Drinkers. Bottom row: Carmine Blades, Knights of Blood, Blood Swords, Angels Vermillion, Flesh Tearers, Flesh Eaters.

[Lord Fancy Pants]

I've got a close up of one of my Angels Sanguine.

Edited April 19, 2020 by Lord Fancy Pants

[Lord Fancy Pants]

I also have a Flesh Tearer basically completed. I need to redo the highlights on his chest eagle.

Edited April 19, 2020 by Lord Fancy Pants

[Majkhel]

I like your really dark Flesh Tearer. His face came out great. The hair would benefit from some highlight, but it also has a really nice tone.

[Lord Fancy Pants]

Hello everyone, it's been a while since I updated this thread. What can I say? Depression's a B****.

Anyway, I've been doing a lot of research and giving thought to the bases for this army. Since we are on Baal, the natural, red, terrain wasn't going to cut it. As many have said in other places, red on red bases is no bueno.

I reread Defense of Baal, and the Arx Angelicus is described as being cut out of a volcano, with dark stone. At first I was considering using this as my inspiration for basing.

But, I thought a straight, gloss black would have the same problems as a Red base. So, after seeing all of the cool marble bases out there, I decided to give that a shot. Here's what I ultimately settled on. Gloss Black with Gold and Red marbling.

Now to cut out circles and glue them to bases.

Hopefully I can keep this rolling and have more updates.

Thanks for looking.

LFP

[Leonaides]

Interesting colour choices - could be a bit too dark for some of the schemes but with so many mixed schemes involved you'll never get something to match them all (apart from the Holy Goblin Green) so crack on with the unified basing scheme. 

 

As for the other - our chapter is no stranger to the struggles of the mind, best of luck with your further endeavors in this.

[Lord Fancy Pants]

I decided to base a model and I think it looks okay. I might need to add some debris or a few drifts of red sand here and there. Might help break up the bases a bit more.

[Lord Fancy Pants]

I decided to paint the rims of the bases. It really has helped the Black Marble "pop".

I'm not sold on the rim color yet. I might try a few different shades to see if one really jumps out to me as the "Correct" one.

Edited November 25, 2020 by Lord Fancy Pants

[Frostbit3]

Maybe try gluing the bases to the whole sheet, and then using your knife along the base to cut them out a bit closer.

 

 

Amazing theme. Probably smarter than painting 100 of the same model. Keep it up!

[Lord Fancy Pants]

I've selected three colors to try out for the rims.

Not sure which is the winner yet. Going to let it simmer in my brain for a bit. Any thoughts?

[Majkhel]

Personally I'd choose the middle.

[Xenith]

That's tricky, can we see them on a plain white background? The brown card/wood is too similar to one of the choices. I'm not a fan of having the rim lighter than the the basing material, it looks a little odd, perhaps? I think it's how deep and glossy the black surface is. Maybe a little astrogranite debris on top could work to make it 3D, and represent damage to the fortress monastery? Then grey rims would be perfect. 

 

Also, consider a 30mm hole punch to make sure you get perfect circles!

[Lord Fancy Pants]

Here they are on white.

I've got several ideas for making the bases more "3D'. Rubble, some drifts of red sand, ichor, tyranid limbs. All of those would fit the background and break up the gloss black a bit more.

@Xenith Thanks for the suggestion. I just ordered something from Amazon!

[Majkhel]

So now I would lean towards grey.
While the brown complements the red armour better, you will be having multiple armour colour schemes and grey (or black) is working is consistently working with the base's surface and any black or gun-metal parts of the model.

[Lord Fancy Pants]

Yes, I think I’m leaning grey as well. It does enough to separate itself from the black without becoming “bright”. I feel like the other two distract too much from the base, rather than simply accenting the black. Thanks gentlemen, appreciate the input.