Blood Angels Army - WiP

So, greetings everyone!

It's been a while since the last time I posted in the forum, but I'm back. =)
I finally got the good luck of luring some friends into the hobby, and we started buying an Assault on black reach wh40k set. I've called dibs on the Marines since I'm really atracted to Blood angels.

I can say.. that after more than a DACADE of waiting to play a game such as Mordheim/fantasy/wh40k, I FINALLY go the chance to actually PLAY.. this has been a huge accomplishment for me.. oh my god... I can't believe it! xD haha.. (yeah, lack of gamming clubs, players, no wh40k stores around, etc..)

Anyhow, enough of boring chatter, here's my stuff




I primed the tactical squad with a very light gray (almost white) then blood red, devlan mud right after, then blood red again with some blazing orange hightlights.. prety straight forward..



The bases are already texturized with pva glue and sand, and some little aquarium pebbles..











And my final result of my tactical squad, not awesome, but not bad at all, If you compare this paint job to my Mordheim figures I posted some years a go, I think you will notice a huge difference ( https://boringmordheimforum.forumieren.com/t3591-pirexian-s-warbands )... I think xO.. I followerd lots of tutorials over the years so when it came down to actually painting again, I knew the basic procedures.. (now it's all about practice to get better)

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Also, my Terminators done!

I painted my first power swords ever xO.. didn't like 'em that much.. but I didn't have citadel or vallejo paints for them... I had to use some other brand that really sucks... it's like ultra opaque.. so yeah.. oh well.. they aren't that bad tough.. i guess...

Here's the power swords:


And the Terminators:






I'm kind of happy with the dreadnaught.. though the pictures don't help much.. the highlights were done alot better than the Terminators' (the Orange along the edges of the armour) but the pictures show the orange as a "pink-red" weird..

I also made an atempt of weathering at the base of the feet, it kind of looks ok.. anyhow, here it is.













I am a very happy person right now, hell Finally got to play a few games already.. and I loved the game in itself.. now I'm screwed 'cuz I'm completely hooked up... hehe... Now I only need to finish painting the Captain.. but I'm already thinking on expanding this small starting force =)

Good job, they look great.
The weathering and exhaust smoke on the Dread is very nice, in fact the Dread is very well done all over!

Congratulations on getting some games in as well, i really want to have a crack at 40k and have been toying with the idea of getting AoBR, but i have no one that will play it sadly.

Can you tell me what you liked about the 40k system?

Well, you've beaten me, I've not played a wargame in over 12 years...

A great looking army there, especially that dread' - it turned out very well indeed!

Well, so far I think the system is prety solid, a bit complicated but after 4 or 5 games you start to get the hang of it and go smootly (specially since they are not that many units in this starting set) you get to know the special rules, weapon and unit stats, etc.

Now... since AOBR gives you two really small armies pointwise (like 590 points for the marines and like 450+ Orkz) you kind of get the feel that is a bit unbalanced, you highly relay on luck and you don't really have many variable strategies.. you kind of know exactly what thing each of your units should be doing and what should each of them be aiming for..

So, in our personal experience we found out that the ork side is a lot less "forgiving" of mistakes than the space marine side (in my case, blood angels) they are lower in points... and if that's not enough If you negate their charge, they are totally screwed... especially if they get assaulted by the terminators.. they are prety much done (and these are just the very BASIC terminator squad), I mean.. In my last game.. the terminator squad alone was able to destroy 10 boyz, 3 deffcopptas.. and were able to finally charge the warboss and the nobs tering them down also.. (I had 2 terminators left alive after all of that happened..)

So.. 10 boyz, 3 deffcoptas, 5 nobz and a warboss killed 3 terminators (in different assaults of course..)
Of course, the Orkz' strenghts relies on actually CHARGING on assault.. and I kind of denied this to my oponent every time (I think I only got charged once, by the warboss and the nobs, and still managed to stay "healty" enough to finish them off).. So it seamed a bit broken.. but thats just because the low point value of both armies.. it seams WH40k is made to play 1000 - 2000 point battles after all to make the game actually balanced.

I guess in higher point value games (1500 - 2000) the the options available would be alot more diversified that in this small scale starting set..

Also, my buddy and I met this guy last week, who plays wh40k (super rare in our area), he's not a new player like us, and he has Tau and Eldar.. of course he totally destroyed us both and raped our corpses .. hehehe! xD

I played against his Tau and managed to survive until turn 6 or 7.. something like that.. if the game would've ended on turn 6 I would've win.. but it kept on and on.. and his Crisis suits eventually wore me up.. of course i made a more than a few mistakes.. but learned a few valuable things there, it was fun as hell.

And then my buddy played against our new friend's Eldar.. he came in with psykers and tons of special units, scout moves, special rules and shit.. well my buddy got super raped... haha

So, a succesful gaming session, a lot of things died.
Doesn't matter which side.
=)

Alright people... I'm DONE with AOBR... finally xD... I was afraid of screwing up with the Captain.. so I was hesitant to paint him.. but I finally did.. and I think it turned out well in a decent tabletop level..

I kind of tryed to Fix the power sword (I completely stripped all the paint from my previous attempt).. used another brand of paints and I tryed to thin them down a bit more than the last time.. after all of that I guess it looks a bit better now.. but still haven't got the hang of painting power weapons yet... =/... anyhow here it is.





I made a bit of weathering on the cloak...




And that's if for my AoBR Blood Angels force..


Now... I already Ordered a BA battleforce, 1 box of assault marines, 1 box of death company and a Razorback to increase my Army's size.. soon I'll be back to assembling and painting =)

VERY NICELY DONE! I like your painting style & your bases turned out TERRIFIC.
I only almost played the game once, but it seemed like a decent game with a nice "horse & musket" feel to it.

Solidly painted set, good job.

Good stuff!! The AOBR-box is full of well-sculpted models, and you've painted your marines well. If you're thinking of expanding your force, it's a good idea to give each new unit a specific primary task and equip them accordingly. The box is a good start, but you'll find that you will fare better with specialised squads that carry a small surplus of weapons that can do the same job, in order to be sure to get the job done. Also, you're right about higher point games relying less dice rolling, and therefore also being more fun - I recommend 1500-2000p.

Thanks mate! I'll keep that in mind...

BTW, what would you guys recommend on Assault squads? keeping them as simple and cheap as possible? or adding some fancy plasma guns and powerfist/weapon on the sargent? In the future im planning on getting rid of the tactical squads.. so no more missle launchers to get rid of vehicles/blast templates anti-infantery... so I guess I'll be needing something to bust armored vehicles...

Also the dreadnaughts multi melta is good for that task.. but usually the dread gets destroyed easly before doing anything at all.. so I'm still deciding what to do there..

Pirexian wrote:

BTW, what would you guys recommend on Assault squads? keeping them as simple and cheap as possible? or adding some fancy plasma guns and powerfist/weapon on the sargent? In the future im planning on getting rid of the tactical squads.. so no more missle launchers to get rid of vehicles/blast templates anti-infantery... so I guess I'll be needing something to bust armored vehicles...

Assault squads do well with a sergeant with power fist, against enemies with good armour, against 5+ or worse, ordinary power weapons are better.

Pirexian wrote:

Also the dreadnaughts multi melta is good for that task.. but usually the dread gets destroyed easly before doing anything at all.. so I'm still deciding what to do there..

If you wanna go tank hunting, the key is either meltas or lascannons, and you need more than one! Tactical squads of five men with one meltagun might be good, but just one melta is not sure to get the job done. I'm not sure of the BA foc and their weapon options. I'll check it out and give you some advice tomorrorw...

Your boys look great!! Well above tabletop standard. I'd be verry proud to show them off if they were mine.

Perhaps you should invest in some Chapter specific units.
Baal preditor.
Furioso dred.
I hear the sanguinary guards ( gold armour winged jump packs ) are a bit of a beast.
And get a nice character to lead the that can bring some pain to the enemy ( mephisto springs to mind )

I have an army ( assembled and primed of the newish guys) based around a combined arms tactic with a tac squad supported by bolter armed scouts. A devistator squad supported by sniper scouts and an assault squad supported by pistol/chainsword scouts. A pred, 2 dredds and 2 five man sternguard squads ( with the plan on getting them in dropships). They'll be crimson fists so if led by Pedor thats 8 scoring units.
Bear in mind that I haven't played since RT rules and I'm quite sure that when/if they ever get painted I'll need a new codex and rulebook.... still....I like 40K and even tho I only dream of playing it's fun to collect and assemble.

Good luck to you, I'm looking forward to seeing more.

So, I've checked the army book, and this is what I suggest:

You need lots of troops, since 5th ed 40K is mostly about scoring units. Regular tactical squads are nice because if you keep them small they can have razorbacks as dedicated transports, and the razorback can have a twinlinked lascannon - great for popping any kind of tanks or armoured vehicles. I would go for two of these combos. Remember that the squad can not be bigger than six men, if paired with a razorback.

Assault squads are the signature units of BA. Take three ten man squads, some with 2x flamers if you wanna go infantry hunting, some with 2x meltagun for popping tanks. Assault squads are great in close combat. If you face enemies with high armour save you might wanna give your sergeant a power fist, otherwise go with a regular power weapon.

The sixth troops unit could be Death company. These guys are expensive, but they are downright nasty to meet. If you equip them with bolt pistol and chainsword, and get the assault, they will deliver 4 S5 (furious charge!) attacks each, throw in the occational hand flamer and the opposition will be roasted and sliced. Add to that the feel no pain rule and you have a killer unit.

As pointed out by smokezombie, the Baal Predator is nice. A fast tank with a nasty weapon. I would go for the flamestorm cannon, but if you're nifty with magnets or the like, you could switch to the assault cannon when necessary.

Sanguinary guards are nice, but expensive. They have their place in a bigger force, but concentrate on troops first.

The bike squad is another interesting Fast unit. For 120 points you can get three bikes, with two meltagun wielding bikers, and a sergeant with a combi melta. That's a mobile tank popper for you. Kind of a onetrick pony though.

Last, do not forget the Stormraven gunship. Not my favourite model (kind of ugly and bulky), but ruleswise it's pure win. A fast skimmer with loads of weapons, and the Power of the machine spirit special rule that allows shooting at two different targets - and the base cost is 200 points! I would switch the twinlinked heavy bolters for twinlinked multimelta for anti-tank, but keep the twinlinked assault cannon for infantry killing. You also get four S8 AP1 missiles, and all around AV12. It's a no-brainer - the real question is how many to get...

I hope these ramblings is of good use to you. Good luck in your gaming, and keep your painting on this good level - you'll have a fine force!

EDIT:
Don't forget Devastators! Four BS4 Missile launcher (or other heavy weapon, but the ML is arguably the best priced and most versatile) wielding marines, that can have a razorback as ded. transport! Good stuff! Don't let them start in the razorback, though, unless you really don't have any good spots to place them, and need to drive them somewhere.

Thank you folks for your comments, you help a lot! =)

So, I bought a few things... I'm already assembling a Drop pod and a Predator.. I think I'll finish with the drop pod first, since I want to magnetize the Predator and I can't fully glue everything together just yet, the magnets haven't been shipped yet, so I have to wait on that =(

I have a box of assault marines too waiting.. since I want to give them 2x meltas.. and the box only gives me plasma guns.. maybe on the death company box I can get the meltas I want for them.. so I'm putting the assault guys on hold until everything arrives...

To recap, I currently have:
- x1 Captain.
- x1 Tactical squad.
- x1 Terminator squad.
- x1 Dreadnaught.
- x1 Drop pod (not finished)
- x1 Predator (not finished)
- x1 assault marines (5 models, unassembled)

Aditionally I ordered:
- x1 BA battle force (rhino, 5 assault marines, 10 tactical, 5 death company)
- x2 boxes of assault marines.
- x1 box of death company.
- x1 Mephiston.
- x2 Sanguinary Priest.

Soon my army will look more "blood angel'ish"
My idea is to have:

BLOOD ANGELS: 1800pts.
HQ
Mephiston: 250pts.

Elites
1.- Sanguinary priest w/ jumpack: 75pts.
2.- Sanguinary priest w/ jumpack: 75pts.
3.- Terminators: 200pts.

Troops
1.- Tactical squad(190) + rhino(50): 240pts.
2.- Assault squad 2x meltagun/ sgt. w/ power fist: 235pts.
3.- Assault squad 2x meltagun/sgt. w/ power fist: 235pts.
4.- Death company(10) x2 hand flamers(220) + Drop pod w/ death wind launcher = 275pts.

Heavy
1.- Dreadnought: 105pts.
2.- Predator: autocannon, x2 heavy bolters, hunter killer missile: 110pts.
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Of course, thats the stuff that I'll have ready soon once the shipping arrives.. but in the future I would replaces the tactical squad, for another assault squad.. and the regular dreadnaught will have to go away.. instead I would bring another Predator tank..

Also the death company is way too expensive, so I would use it some times just for fun.. It usually would be replaced by a Baal Predator or something along those lines.. or even a fourth assault marine squad..

The regular AOBR terminators also need to go away.. I would replace them for assault terminators on a land raider... but that's for the future... For now, what I bought will take me to the 1800 points, and I'll be happy with that for a while =)

Alright, so I've been working on the drop pod, for different reasons, first I wanted to test some red spray paint I got from the hardware store.. nothing special here, It's close to a Mechrite red tone, but in the end it turned out too glossy.. still is not that bad... I probably can get rid of the glossyness by aplying coats of blood red and devlan mud, depending on the drop pod's final result I might use it for my other vehicles (just a rhino and a predator tank)

Here's what I have done so far:

It's not glued together yet.. actually I had to scrap off some of the spray paint to make it fit right..






I'm happy the way the center radar screen came out.




Wires and screen done too.


Pretty much, I have the center inner piece done, Now I'll be working on the center reactor along with the mounted missile laucher. =)

Nicely done! Taking care of the details like those really gives the piece something extra - well done. Drop pods are super nice for putting your troops where they need to be, good luck using it!

Now some little progress I was able to make today.
First I coated the radar screen with some transparent nail polish to give it a glossy finish, kind of emulating glass, it turned out Ok I think, also added some copper tone on the metals to give it some contrast. Also I finished the missile turret/turbine reactor, painted some red/orange highlights on the inner floor (in part to see if I could get rid of the glossyness of the spray primer, and it worked fine) And I applied some devlan mud wash over the metalics on the doors/ramps to make 'em a bit dirty. And finally I started painting the yellow/black hazard stripes. I went for a tausept ochre, then devlan mud wash on top, then a thinner coat of tausept ochre, and finally a highlight of yellow over the top edges.







The yellow looks a bit too bright on the pictures, In real it does look a lot more opaque.
I might have all the hazard stripes done for tomorrow and maybe I'll glue it all together too, who knows.

Edit: oh yeah, and I still have to cover up all the brush stroke mistakes I made everywhere xD!

I think you've got quite a high painting standard! Well done! The warning stripes came out well, and the orange high lights will look great on the table!

Assembly of plastic kits of that magnitude is one of those things that I'm really poor at; ergo, I'm VERY IMPRESSED with how nicely your piece is coming along, AND with all the lovely details your painting is bringing out. Keep up the FINE WORK!

Thank you Deafnala & Folketsfiende =)

And finally, the drop pod is ready to roll... or should I say.. "ready to drop"...

...get it?

...to drop.. cuz' it's a Drop---Pod... it drops stuff down... it was a joke... errr... yeah...

... anyways.. here's some pictures :3...











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I'm quite happy the way it ended up, now I just have to wait a week or so and my shipment will arrive.. I got to get ready to assamble and paint 2 assault squads, 1 tactical, 2 priests, mephiston, a rhino, and a death company squad... also finish magnetazing my predator... lots of stuff coming up.

I'll keep you guys updated, cheers!
=)

That is a BEAUTY...whether you're into 40K or, like moi, not, that can be appreciated as a FINE piece of craftsmanship/artistry. The shadowing is TERRIFIC! VERY WELL DONE!

Thanks a lot Deaf =)
It means a lot comming from an awesome painter like you ^3^

Nice work. The drop pod looks awesome. The way you weathered/blackened it really works and brings it to life ( and the radar!!! super awesome!! ) . I have one and found it to be a b#%*h to put together, especially the restaints... sadly mine has seen no paint.. ( plenty of dust tho )

Pirexian wrote:

Thank you Deafnala & Folketsfiende =)

And finally, the drop pod is ready to roll... or should I say.. "ready to drop"...

...get it?

...to drop.. cuz' it's a Drop---Pod... it drops stuff down... it was a joke... errr... yeah...

I'm quite happy the way it ended up, now I just have to wait a week or so and my shipment will arrive.. I got to get ready to assamble and paint 2 assault squads, 1 tactical, 2 priests, mephiston, a rhino, and a death company squad... also finish magnetazing my predator... lots of stuff coming up.

I have to agree with the others - that's a beauty. The weathering works very well, it looks very natural, and your attention to detail has paid off. If your work on the coming units will be of the same standard you will have a very good looking force.

Thank you mate =)

Indeed that's the idea.. I kind of used my AoBR force to experiment with washes and highlights and learn what I could before the big boys came into play.. now I kind of have the hang of it (i hope, its a lot harder to make detail on small models than in dreadnaughts and vehicles like the Dropod) but the main idea is right there..

I will try to make a kind of dirty/dark red force.. using the same technique I used on the drop pod.. Blood red, then working it down with a devlan mud wash, then black washes to work down darker reds even more.. then bring it all up again with some gradients with thin several coats of blood red, leaving most of the darker areas showing, only showing pure blood red zones in the places where the light would hit the model, and some subtle orange highlights on the edges of the armor in the end.. Sounds good in theory, but we'll see how it comes out.. hopefuly everything would turn out ok.. I'll surely will try tough

Edit: As a side note, I've been watching some pictures on the internet of assault squads and jump packs.. I really dig the idea to paint the jump packs thrusters lighted up, so I'll be incurtioning into some new technique next too =)..

Also I didn't really liked my power swords.. I might try to simplify my next ones.. making just a simple gradient from white/light blue to a darker tone of blue.. just a plain gradient.. it does look OK and it's not as hard as what I tried before on my termi sargent and captain

Wish me luck!

It finally arrived... after more than a month of waiting ¬¬...
Time to get some assembly done!...



Mephi, 2 priests, 20 assault marines, 10 tactical, 10 DC a rhino and magnets xO...