Blood Angel sergeants and Luna Wolves project

Hail brothers!

Blog Wars is officially over for another year so I hear (looking forward to seeing the write ups and pics on various Blogs). Sadly I was unable to attend this year due to the plethora of exams I am facing this coming week and the one after. It looks though as if next year I should be able to attend both blog wars should they fall in the same time-frame as usual.

So, between revision I’ve been keeping myself sane with the odd spot of painting or modelling. The Blood Ravens have once again been banished to the box (although I’m happy with the progress I made with them) and now two new projects sit upon the desk:

Blood Angels

Although my Blood Angels army is painted to a tabletop standard for the most part, only about a third of the models are painted to a high standard. As the army (some 160+ models) is my largest, it becomes a bit overwhelming to know where to start. When I stare at the army on the shelves in my office though, the first models I see are the sergeants leading each of the squads. I therefore decided to get all of them down from the shelves and leave them on the painting desk until such time that they were all finished, variant arms as well. 

So some of these models are finished to a greater extent than others. Some have been used extensively in the past, such as the 1^st/2^nd tactical squad sergeants and the 7^th/8^th assault squad sergeants, all of which are staples in my builds. Others, such as the relatively new sergeant (GD ltd captain) and the sergeants of the other squads in the battle company rarely see the tabletop, and thus are less painted that the rest. In addition, there has been a bit of swapping around with the sergeants lately to accommodate the new GD captain model and also there is some magnetising that needs to be done for those models with variable loadouts. 

Anyway, there is still a fair way to go with them and so I’ll just pop some pics on here to illustrate where we are with them. Almost all are conversions to some extent and I hope to have them all done by the new year.

The 1st Sergeant has been replaced with the GD captain model who is currently being basecoated.

3rd Sergeant (right) is actually from my sternguard but is now a tactical sergeant in progress. The 4th Sergeant is an old Battle for Macragge sergeant with a magnetised right arm, hair added and some modifications in progress to the waist.

 

One of these sergeants is an old devastator Sergeant from my original collection who still remains timeless. The other is a modified AoBR Sergeant with a turned BA head and magnetised right arm.

Both the assault sergeants have dual magnetised arms as there are such variable loadouts for them and the new power weapon rules have made me want to experiment with different types. The non-JP equipped sarge has a magnetised JP as does his squad but I more often than not run a 5-man squad in a razorback with a priest.

One of the devastator sergeants is a SM veteran model with the devastator sergeant signum backpack and magnetised gun loadout. The other is yet another AoBR sergeant conversion but this time with a helmeted head facing the other way and a signum also. (plus obligatory servo skull)

The vanguard sergeant is still early stage and has a metal helmet from the old BAHG set. He has magnetised arms for variable loadout. The sternguard Sergeant is my old 1st squad model who has seen a lot of action. He was originally a homage to the very model who has now replaced him as 1st sergeant, so I figured it seemed only right that he retains first sergeant honours/colours but is now 1st company rather than 5th. He'll see less tabletop action this way but maybe it will encourage me to use sternguard more.

Both these terminator sergeants are nearly finished and are magnetised to the bases for use in space hulk.

Finally, the sanguinary guard sergeant, scout sergeant (with BA head, the left arm had a power sword conversion and has gotten lost somewhere for the moment) and the honour guard champion who also has a jump pack loadout option.

Luna Wolves:

Now, this is a project that has been on hold for a long time. I first set about creating a Luna Wolves army after reading the opening trilogy of the Horus Heresy series. The idea was for it to be Loken and his 10^th company around the time of the Ullanor campaign, so before he was inducted into the mournival. The sheer amount of conversion work required delayed the project to quite an extent, that was until Forgeworld produced their first pre-heresy kits a couple of years back. I invested in one of each kit using some models to add flavour to other armies. It still appeared the bulk of the army would be converted ‘false gods’ marines though (i.e. from the cover art to false gods) as this was the look I wanted.

So the army took on some shape. I had all the models I needed and a reasonable chaos space marine counts as ruleset to use them with. However other things took precedent and they spent more and more time just sitting in the box. Recently, however, a couple of things have led to them being unboxed once more. GW released the new paints earlier this year and ulthuan grey is precisely the colour I wanted to paint them with, making life a lot easier. Most importantly, Horus Heresy: Betryal was released, and so now there is a full ruleset for the Luna Wolves and Loken.

With these things in mind I have released the wolves from their box once more and am hoping to get everything cast and converted by January so that the wolves will be all ready to spray and paint. I already have all the parts I need (save for Loken himself – my conversion has been relegated to a Consul as I believe FW are releasing Loken in the near future) and some resin cityscape bases and so just need to put the effort in. Furthermore, if it’s allowed I’m hoping they may be due to make an appearance at Blog Wars 5 next year.

Here are some pics of the production line. I may reread the opening trilogy after exams/over Christmas just to flame the enthusiasm somewhat. I get the feeling that the new year may bring some Dark Angel love which may be a minor distraction from the cause but other than that I have high hopes these guys will be featuring on the Blog regularly in the coming months.

 

The current project box, with those ready to spray on the top rows, those needing accesories in the middle and those needing something greenstuff adding to them (such as a head) on the bottom, though most of those parts are already cast and just need a trim. 

The other half of the box, with all the MKI Rhinos ready for repairs and spraying (plus a predator) and all the parts/bases for the infantry. I really must invest in an airbrush one day.

Some of the chaps nearing completion.

The centrepiece of the army is the contemptor - gotta love that Kheres assault cannon!

Half complete rhino with some battle damage/wear to break up the monotone scheme, which has actually come out a bit blue due to painting over adeptus battlegrey rather than ceramite white as with the infantry. I also need to work on the freehand Legion symbol more as the crescent doesn't come up high enough to look quite right.