Ben's Blood Drinkers - Wildcard Month

For the last official month of the challenge, I decided to make the army a bit less generic with a couple of special characters, another Medic (I decided the Blood Drinkers would need a lot of apothecaries to, ahem, administer 'necessary supplies'), and finally a Librarian.

First, to accompany the1st Company veterans I painted earlier, chapter heroes Sergeant Clovis and Apothecary Corbulax:

Secondly, here accompanying the 5th Company Devastators and Captain I painted earlier, an additional Apothecary and Librarian:

Clovis bears a fragment of the Shroud of Sanguinius contained within a stasis field generator - when it is deactivated, it sends the nearby sons of Sanguinius into a battle frenzy.  In background he's based on Veteran Sergeant Cleutin, who never recieved an official model.  The model is a converted Dark Angels Standard Bearer with a backpack from a Techmarine and a Servitor:

Corbulax is unconverted from Apothecary Corbulo (apart from drilling out the goblet and filling it with a PVA/paint mixture which is not visible from the pics:

The librarian is also unconverted, apart from a little greenstuff to open the pistol arm out:

The medic received an extra saw arm on the backpack, donated from a Chaos miniature:

Army list wise, this comes to 477 pts

Cleutin: 102 pts

Corbulo: 163 pts

Apothecary: 40 pts

Epistolary, Force Staff: 172 pts

Ben's Blood Drinkers - HQ Month

A quick post this month as we're on holiday at the end of it.  In May, I painted two key members of the of the Blood Drinkers 5th Company HQ: the Battle Standard Bearer and Captain.

The Standard Bearer is a 2nd Ed model with a banner modified from the 5th Company design in the Ultramarines codex.  This was to continue with the idea that the Blood Drinkers stick more closely to the Guilleman's Codex Astartes than other Blood Angels successors.  I now see there are a couple of bits I missed or need to tidy up but I couldn't have a post without a banner...

The Captain is a later model, but one that so perfectly fits the art on the 2nd Ed box cover that's inspiring my project this year I felt I had to use it.

These two add 176 points to the army total:

Ben's Blood Drinkers Space Marines - Rank and File Month 4

This month, I painted two five-man combat squads: the 5th Company 8th squad, an Assault Squad with Jump Packs plus a Chaplain to lead them, and the 1st Company 3rd Squad, a Veteran Squad with additional Rhino.

The first squad I painted were the veterans.  They are led by Veteran Sergeant Eidolan (using the lovely Veteran Captain with Bionic Leg miniature) and have a mixture of armour marks.  The battle brother in Mk4 armour I also gave an older backpack which I thought fitted well.

Their Rhino was another rescue job with 3d-printed Ram and Hatches, bike Bolters and WWII stowage.  I wrapped a tow chain around the Ram partly in homage to a RT picture I remember and partly to cover where the printing didn't come out quite right.

The assault Marines I found oddly hard work, having to paint the models without their jump packs to start with until their transfers had been applied, then attach them and finish the highlights.  I haven't quite done them to the standard of my other models so they may get revisited later if I have chance to add further details.  I tried to make the armour look battered like they had been in a good scrap.

They include a Veteran (using the Sergeant with Power Fist miniature) and a battle brother converted from the Sergeant with Grenade for a variety of posing.  They are led by a chaplain with a later edition Jump Pack from my bits box.  He is so bloodthirsty he has some dripping from his mouth.

Both squads are pointed using the combat squad rules that came out in White Dwarf, and the total for April comes to 487 pts:

Ben's Blood Drinkers Space Marines - Rank and File Month 3

This month sees my Blood Drinkers 5th Company receive reinforcement from the 1st Company - so not so much rank and file as highly elite, given that 11 models cost a whopping 849 points!

Whole intact squads are somewhat expensive, so they are pieced and patched together from various damaged and incomplete lots, including the plastic Terminator Squad which I think came out with a second edition of Space Hulk - I'm not a massive fan of the whole models, but they provided some useful parts to combine to produce whole suits.

First, squad Galin, the second Terminator Squad of the 1st Company who are close-combat specialists.  The sergeant is based on a Deathwing Sergeant's body, with RT arms donated by my friend.  I bent the Storm Shield arm to cover his front, partly to pose it more naturally, but mainly to cover the detail that had been roughly hacked off the model in a former life.  Two of the Lightning Claws use the plastic Terminator bodies to allow for a little twisting at the waist.  One set of Lightning Claws was liberated of its shoulder pads in a former life, so I mounted them on plastic arms giving them a slightly different pose to the rest of the squad.  Whole metal banner poles seem to be particularly hard to come by so this plastic terminator one was mounted with greenstuff and topped off with a later component from my bits box - unfortunate, but I couldn't justify the expense of an era-appropriate icon.  And lastly, the Heavy Flamer model once was a Wolf Guard, but he seems to fit in OK.

I considered the classic hazard stripes for the power fists but in the end I  felt there was enough contrasting colour with the helmets and skulls all over the place.  (And also I chickened out when I was quite happy with the base colours I'd laid down and didn't want to paint over it with something that might come out worse...)

Second, Squad Calibur, the fifth Terminator Squad, laying down some heavy supporting fire before charging in to chop things up with their chainfists.  I seem to remember the Assault Cannon being the heavy weapon of choice in 2nd Ed, but the Emperor provided me with a Cyclone Launcher - who was I to argue, and the silhouette is pretty cool.  Plastic Terminators again came in handy to replace the Sergeant's missing Power Sword and banner pole (fortunately the banner itself hides the socket that I 'sculpted' from greenstuff).

They are led by Chaplain Grimaldox who is there to provide some spiritual reinforcement and keep these valued veterans firmly away from the path of the Black Rage.  He was a late addition to the force when I decided it needed a character in Terminator Armour to lead it; I didn't think he needed any converting so he is exactly as he was straight out of the paint stripper.  I've slightly modified the half-and-half colour scheme I've been using for my specialists to take into account that Terminators carry the chapter badge on their right shoulder pad, so I made his right half black (the specialist colour for Chaplains) apart from the red shoulder pad, and vice versa - I'm pleased with the effect:

All in all time-consuming to paint but an intimidating presence on the battlefield.  They also complete and surpass my first objective which was to put together a force roughly equivalent to that in the first ever 2nd Ed battle report (Tacticals, Devastators, Terminators, Rhino and Dreadnought).  Next month I plan to go back to the 5th Company (or maybe even draft in some reserves from the 8th Company) for some much-needed mobility and paint some Assault Marines!

Andrea's Space Elves - Month 2, Leader month: the Avatar(s) of Khaine

 Hi OWACERs,

here is my leader for the Leader month: the Avatar of Khaine!

It is the first time I paint this incarnation of the Avatar, having already painted the NewHammer one, and I never used in the battle. Honestly, I wasn't a fan of the model but after this month I can say it is really funny to paint. Unfortunately the model was a little ruined in some details, especially the gems, so it was not completely satisfactory but I liked the exercise of blending the colours to give the fiery aspect. Overall, I am happy with the result.

Well, short after finishing I though that this was the good moment to slap some paints on another model. If the 2nd edition Avatar looks badass, and the 9th edition one looks like the overgrown brother, there is another one that is so much badass-looking that he could sell chunks of badassery at the fish market: the Rogue Trader incarnation!

We say, in Italy, that in the little barrel there is the best wine. Well, I think this is exactly the case!

So, know I have (except for the side track of ForgeWorld ones) all official Avatars, that could help me start an old project: EvolHammer, or how miniature design changed over time (one day I will publish a blog on this). So, I can't keep myself and I have show you the series (Parental Advisory, heresy inside: NewHammer models will appear):

Someone says "scale creep"? The son, the father and the grandfather

And so, for the sake of army points painted, here we have:

The Avatar of Khaine (Leader)........... 300 pts

Well, thank you for looking and see you the next March!

ciao, Andrea 

Ben's Blood Drinkers Space Marines - OWAC IX - Rank and File Month 2

This month, I painted some Devastators, a Techmarine, and my favourite, a Furioso Dreadnought (weighing in at a mighty 290g - so heavy I had to pop this guy on the kitchen scales just to see).  Each have had to have some kind of repairs due to the battle scars they have picked up in their long campaigns, but there's something quite satisfying about restoring these guys to their rightful glory.

The Devastators, from the 5th Company 10th Squad, are armed with tank-busting lascannons and missile launchers.  They have standard Codex markings, using shoulder pad symbols to show they are a devastator squad rather than helmet colour like the Blood Angels, their parent Chapter.  I'm painting my sergeants with blue helmets because red would not stand out.  The sergeant had lost his head so I had to add a new one culled from Warriors of The Imperium plastic set.  I've also snuck in another converted Long Fang for variety, clipping off some of the Space Wolf icons and covering them over with green stuff purity seals.

Unfortunately I've not been able to give banners to the veterans leading the second combat squads, as they did in 2nd Ed, because the backpacks with banner poles are so hard to come by.  However, I've tried to follow the RT/early 2nd edition paint jobs where the heavy weapons are brightly coloured and decorated with flames and checks.

The Dreadnought had lost his banner pole, so I had to replace that with some brass rod and the top from a Dark Angels banner - I carefully scraped away the sword the angel was holding and suggested a grail with some greenstuff.

Finally, I had to include a Techmarine because he is mandatory for the force to include any vehicles.  He had lost his handheld thingummy, so I replaced that with Mephiston's pistol from my bits box - it will be a Master Crafted Plasma Pistol that can fire every turn.  I've continued with the half-and-half colour scheme I intend to use for my characters, half the brownish orange red of the Chapter, half a contrasting more pinkish red of the mechanicum.

Altogether, this came to 751 points:

Ben's Blood Drinkers Space Marines - OWAC IX - Rank and File Month 1

Time flies eh?  I started this year's challenge, painting the Blood Drinkers 5th Company, appropriately with the 1st Tactical Squad and their attendant Rhino, managed to squeeze in a couple of pieces of terrain(a 3D-print designed by Doctor Spork, not scratch built I'm afraid), and all of a sudden it's the end of the month.

My aim was to combine some of the brightness of 2nd edition Space Marines with some Rogue Trader inspired features and some of the markings from John Blanch art.  I used a few new techniques to help things along.  After priming with dark red all over and bright red from above, I used a wash of contrast paint mixed with medium and brown wash to establish the brownish red scheme.  I used a makeup sponge to quickly apply the mid tone and first highlight, and contrast paint to start off the yellow markings, which made the aquilas much easier to paint than I remember.  After finishing the main colours I used a coarser sponge to apply chipping damage.  

I spent a bit of time cutting and repositioning arms to get a variety of poses.  The marine armed with heavy bolter is a Long Fang with some of the Space Wolves detail clipped off, he has a really nice advancing pose I think goes well with a Tactical Squad.

The Rhino started off in an extremely battered state.  I used aluminium tubing to repair the exhaust pipes, WWII tank stowage to replace the missing storage box and cover over badly battered areas of hull, restored the boltguns with those from a bike, and used my son's 3d-printer to replace the roof hatch and dozer blade.  The smoke launchers I unfortunately had to replace with later edition spares.  The paint scheme is mostly 2nd Edition, but with placement of markings somewhat inspired by rogue trader Rhinos.  I may come back to it and apply some more rust and weathering but for now I'm happy enough.

For a bit of variety I painted a Medic in a half and half scheme; I plan to paint all the character models this way.

This came to a total of 431 points:

Lastly, here is my offering, a Kev Adams night Goblin:

Ben's Blood Drinkers Space Marines - OWAC IX - Intro post

For my fourth run at the OWAC I've finally built up enough impetus to attempt a long-held ambition - completing a Space Marine army for 2nd Edition 40K.  I've had a few goes at a Space Marine army in the past, but never finished off an army I was satisfied with.  I took quite a while deciding what chapter to paint as I wanted it to meet quite a few criteria.  It would need to:

• Tie in to some inspiring oldhammer art - probably Space Marines covered in checks and flames by John Blanche
• Contrast with my blue and yellow Alaitoc Eldar from OWAC VII - so not Ultramarines (blue) or Blood Angels (yellow helmets on assault marines)
• Be a bit brighter than the Relictors (dark grey) and Dark Angels (dark green) I've painted before
• Have chapter symbols I could use transfers for - I've never been satisfied with my attempts at hand painting
• Ideally, be a bit different to other armies I've seen before

I therefore decided to paint Blood Drinkers, taking inspiration from the 40K 2nd Edition box art.  Blood Drinkers are described in the Angels of Death Codex as having markings similar to Ultramarines, meaning the 5th company with its black shoulder pad trims would resemble the space marines in the art, and red/black will be bright and contrast nicely with blue/yellow.  I managed to buy some black goblet transfers for the chapter badge online, and could use my stash of generic space marine transfers for the rest of the heraldry.  

I test painted a couple of models to try to decide whether to paint them bright red in the style of the 2nd edition codex, or darker in the style of the original Rogue Trader illustration of Space Marine chapters, and to try out the Rogue Trader yellow stripe on the helmets. I'm still trying to decide!

 

Test painted models

Should I go for brighter red...

Or browner red?  What about the yellow helmet stripe?

Whichever I choose, there will be flames!

Blood Drinkers have been described as having achieved a measure of control over the black rage that affects the Blood Angels and their other successor chapters.  I thought the army would therefore need plenty of Apothecaries and Chaplains to inspire and monitor their brethren.  I decided to collect a diverse, mobile force with plenty of bikes and vehicles rather than an all-out assault army, to give me a variety of units to paint.  

I've tried to keep it all second edition, with a couple of notable exceptions.  As with my Eldar I've used larger bases than the originals - I think they look better and with modern base sizes I can more easily use them in games across editions.  One or two bits and pieces, as few as I could manage, are from later editions - either where I had the parts missing from purchases in my bits box, or where later awesome models were sculpted in the style of the art in a way that no conversion I could do would match (notably the Blood Angels captain).  

I spent ages drilling all the barrels and trying to get the arms, weapons and shoulder-pads all fitting and coherently posed.  I now think the reason I could never get this to work properly as a thirteen-year-old is that they don't actually fit well at all, and need a fair bit of reposing and filling with greenstuff to work.  I did some minor sculpting and conversion to fix broken or chapter-specific parts.  I had my son 3D-print me a few vehicle parts, and I plan to try to press-mould a couple more missing bits.  The result of all this is I've assembled far too many models - around 5,000 points, with a few more characters, scouts and marines to call up once I can find the time, and all the required arms...

To tackle this I therefore decided I had to split it into manageable separate forces.  The first would be a flexible core based on the opening 2nd edition battle report in WD166.  This comes to 1500 points (once I swap the HQ Captain for a cheaper Medic), more or less covers the minimum requirements for an OWAC season if I don't manage to get any further, and, if it was good enough for Andy Chambers it's good enough for me.  I'm now thoroughly looking forward to putting primer to metal!