Dark Vengeance Tactical Squad

If you follow me on Twitter you will know that recently I was lucky enough to win a copy of the Dark Vengeance set. Here are the first models I painted from the set, a Dark Angel tactical squad. I batch painted these models following an ‘ Ask ‘Eavy Metal’ article from White Dwarf 369 (it’s actually a guide for Disciples of Caliban but the colours are more or less the same).

I wanted to put the ‘dark’ into Dark Angels avoid the ‘Christmas tree’ colour palette that you often see used for the chapter. To that end I only made very limited use of red and cream on the models in order to keep the overall look darker. For this reason I painted the tactical markings in black rather than red or white (both of which I tried but looked too bright). I’m aiming for a high tabletop standard with these as they will be for playing and not just for display. At the moment I consider them finished but I may go back and add some 5th company markings and squad numbers once I have some more of the set painted.

As you may have noticed, sergeant Raphael is missing from the photo. I batch painted him along with the rest of the squad but, because of the extra details not present on the other models, I put him to one side after painting the green armour and will finish him at a later date.

Apostate preacher of Nurgle – finished

I’ve finished my apostate preacher of Nurgle from Forge World. As I mention in an earlier post, I experimented with glazes on this model. The green cloth was glazed with Liche Purple in the recesses in order to help define the shading and to ensure that the green worked with the purple robes tonally. I also used Seraphim Sepia glazes on the green to put back some of the warmth that was lost through highlighting. Similarly the flesh was glazed with reds and purples to help tie the different areas of the model together and to provide an unhealthy and suitably Nurgley appearance to the skin. The metal areas also had glazes of brown, green and turquoise applied randomly in order to give a tarnished feel and introduce a little interest to the metal.

All of the glazes were made by mixing Citadel paints or washes/shades with Lahmian Medium which gives great control over the glaze. The idea is to use an almost transparent glaze and to build up the colour with several applications rather than one heavy one.

The scenic base was also great fun to do and I think it really adds to the mood of the piece by giving the character a setting and complementing the final look of the model. This was made from a jar lid (in this case from a M&S spice jar which make great bases for 28mm models) following the same method as I used for my ork. Of course, I had to add the obligatory Nurgling. This guy is one of the old Trish Morrison designed Nurglings from the ’90s which I think are still among the best. They are such brilliant, characterful little models which combine just the right amount of comedy and menace.

As always I’d love to hear what you think.

All the best,

Andy.

Nurgle preacher – scenic base

My apostate preacher is now nearly finished. However, I’m going to hold off showing him until he is completed so as not to spoil the finished effect. Also, I don’t think that a work in progress shot at this stage would give you anything that the finished model won’t. Instead here is the scenic base I constructed for him.

The preacher has taken me longer to paint than anticipated. The reason for this is that I was lucky enough to win a copy of Dark Vengeance in a competition on Twitter and I ended up getting sidetracked and painting up some Dark Angels which I hope to show you in the near future.

Stay tuned,

Andy.

Apostate preacher of Nurgle – continued

A quick work-in-progress shot of the Nurgle preacher. I’m experimenting with glazes and glaze medium on the skin and metallic areas but I’ll do a more detailed write-up when the model is finished.

Apostate preacher of Nurgle

A quick preview of my next project, one of Forge World’s apostate preachers of Nurgle from their chaos Renegades range. I’ve had this model for ages but never got round to painting him. This should keep me busy over the weekend.

Imperial fleet finished

The other day I showed off my finished Imperial cruisers. With the addition of a couple of escort squadrons I now have a finished fleet. I have enough models to field roughly 1,200 points but I plan on slowly adding more ships to my collection in the future.

For those of you wondering what the marks are for on the base, these are in-game aids. The game mechanics of Battlefleet Gothic hinge around the relative positions of ships to one another (moving away, abeam, closing etc) which alter the effectiveness of firepower. The marks should make it easier to tell which arc a ship is in at a glance.

My newly-painted escorts:

The Cobras are white simply to add a bit of variety to the force. They were inspired by the Earth Force ships from Babylon 5 (possibly my favourite TV show of all time). They were airbrushed Fenrisian Grey over a white undercoat before being drybrushed Ceramite White. I’m not normally a fan of drybrushing, preferring layered highlights, but I think the technique works really well on Battlefleet Gothic models and brings out the sculpted details nicely. The basecoat of Fenrisian Grey helps tie them in with the rest of the fleet as this is the final highlight colour on the blue ships. Subtle things like this can make an army look really unified even when individual units are painted in different colour schemes.

The whole fleet assembled and ready for action in the Gothic Sector:

Finally, here is a bit of BFG related humour which I think will appeal to all fans of the 40k universe:

Link

Thanks to Gus for Tweeting me this. I also encourage you to check out his BFG models over on Epic Addiction.

Have a great weekend,

Andy.