SHOWCASE: Blood Angels assault marine

Warhammer 40,000: Blood Angels assault marine

It's been a while since I've looked at my Blood Angels. Some readers will know that I started a tactical squad at the beginning of the year. I still have four of the ten left to finish, but I have managed to get a sanguinary priest and Baal predator painted since. This model is a test piece for an assault squad to go with them. It's also the first Blood Angel I've painted with an airbrush—something I'll consider for future models as it sped up the process a little.

SHOWCASE: Blood Angels Baal predator

Warhammer 40,000: Blood Angels Baal predator

It's finished! My new (and very small) Blood Angels force can now call upon some serious mobile firepower when they go to war in the far future. For various reasons, this has taken longer than I originally expected, but I'm glad to see it finished.

WIP: Blood Angels tactical squad (60%)

Blood Angels tactical marine in mark VI armour

Just a quick one today. April was a difficult month for various non-hobby related reasons. The bank holiday weekend offered a welcome opportunity to immerse myself into my painting again. On a whim, I cast a glance over the remaining members of my Blood Angels tactical squad, who have been left alone for a while now since I finished the first half at the beginning of March. I'd like to get the ball rolling on them again soon and, inspired by that, I decided to add this guy to the others. All in all he took a little over an afternoon, with a little finishing off the next day. Ordinarily I'd have batch painted him with the others, but after finishing nothing at all in April, I felt like bagging a quick win early in the month. There will be more to follow soon.

WIP: Blood Angels Baal predator (assembled)

Blood Angels Baal predator... now fully assembled

This is my last work in progress post for my Baal predator. The last thing I have to do on it is apply the battle damage. In the image above, you can see it looking all clean and tidy, just as it might have been when it rolled out of the factory on whatever forge world the Blood Angels commission their tanks to be built. Naturally being exposed to years of warfare on countless planets isn't going to help keep a machine like this in such pristine condition. The next time you see it, it will look a little different. Watch this space...

WIP: Blood Angels Baal predator (now with sponsons)

It's starting to look more like a tank!

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted an update on my Blood Angels Baal predator. Any normal painter would have finished it, and probably half a dozen other things by then. Alas, not me... but I am close. The picture above shows how this model looked after another brief session on it at the weekend. By the time you read this, there's a slim possibility that I'll have had another evening on it and it'll be a bit closer. I did say slim, didn't I?

WIP: Blood Angels Baal predator (metals)

Moving on from my last post, I've now done the metal work on the main hull of my tank. This is a simple but time-consuming part that involves going around the whole tank and picking out the metal areas. I use three colours (Leadbelcher, Nuln Oil and Runefang Steel, the latter applied sparingly as a highlight).

WIP: Blood Angels Baal predator (highlights)

Just another short update today. Progress on the predator is slow for various reasons, some of which I'll cover in future posts. That said, however, I have managed to go round and do the highlights for the red on the main hull. After tidying up the initial basecoat, post-shading, I highlighted with Wild Rider Red first with a very light dry-brush technique. I did this to give it a slightly rough look. The tank will be weathered before it's finished, which should blend this in really well. The last highlight was Ungor Flesh, as with the other models in the 'army' so far. This was applied sparingly to the highest edges. Afterwards, I applied a glaze of Bloodletter to the whole tank. I admit I wasn't thrilled with the result of this stage, but that was entirely my fault. The blend worked, but there were a lot of brush marks left on the flat panels. Some of them I was able to buff out with a large, dry brush (not dry-brushing but an actual dry brush). Hopefully they won't be too obvious in the finished piece. More on that soon...

WIP: Blood Angels Baal predator (shading)

Due to a number of non-hobby-related issues, progress is slow, even by my standards. Needless to say when I have had time to look at it, painting has been extremely therapeutic. Anyway, onto the update proper... The bulk of the shading is now done on the Baal predator. This has involved 'black lining' all of the panels. It's a bit of a misnomer in this case as I haven't used black, but the principal is the same: that it entails painting a darker colour (thinned down) directly into the recesses and, for the most part at least, leaving the rest as is. In this case that colour is a shade, specifically Agrax Earthshade, so it didn't need thinning. If anything it needed a couple of coats in some cases. Next up I'll be doing a little tidying with Mepheston Red before I start the highlights... time permitting...

WIP: Blood Angels Baal predator undercoat and basecoat

Black undercoat

My Baal predator has finally seen some paint, but alas has yet to be touched by a brush. Having done the bulk of the assembly work earlier in the week, I've since brought out the spray cans to get it undercoated and basecoated. This is the first model I have used a spray basecoat on, so I'm interested to see how that will work out. I'm hopeful that it will save some time and, if so, I'll use it more often in future where there's an appropriate colour available. Regardless of what colour a model eventually gets painted, however, the most important step remains the undercoat. This helps the other layers of paint stick to the model and provides a solid surface to paint onto.

WIP: Blood Angels Baal predator assembly

Main chasis

I apologise in advance for this: I won't be including pictures of the sponsons and main turret until a little later in the project. Due to the nature of the components and the way I plan on painting it, they're all in so many bits that to get them all photographed at each stage would be a huge chore. As such I'll focus on the main chasis, where the bulk of the work will be anyway. Once the sub-assemblies are put together, I'll start including them in the updates.

WIP: Blood Angels Baal predator

Blood Angels Baal predator (still boxed)

Just a quick heads-up post to get the ball rolling this week (or maybe to get the Baal rolling*). With my Blood Angels army now up to a dizzying six models, I thought I'd throw a tank into the mix to flesh it out a bit. The Baal predator is a variant of the standard space marine predator specific to the Blood Angels and I'm treating it as a reward for the work I've put in on the rest of the 'army' so far. I'll be honest: I have no idea how long this will take. I've painted a number of tanks in my twenty-plus years in the hobby, but by the standards of other models, they're few and far between. More updates soon!

* Because puns based on the name of the Blood Angels' home world are always fun...

SHOWCASE: Blood Angels sanguinary priest

Warhammer 40,000: Blood Angels sanguinary priest

Today my fledgling Blood Angels force gains another recruit in the form of this sanguinary priest. After several updates in the last few weeks, he's finally done! I know it's not perfect, but I'm quite pleased with how this model has turned out. I spent a little longer on it than I did on the regular rank and file space marines in the tactical squad I'm working on, and hopefully that shows in the finished piece.

WIP: Blood Angels sanguinary priest (head)

Blood Angels sanguinary priest... his head anyway

I'll be honest: I did very little painting this weekend. In fact, Friday evening was the last time I had a brush in my hand. I'm pleased with the results, shown above, though. This is the head for the sanguinary priest project I'm working on at the moment. The sculpt on the face is really nice and is worth the extra effort when it comes to painting. If I get more time in the evenings this week, I hope to get more done on the body it'll sit on. It would be nice to have this model finished to sit alongside the tactical squad I've been bombarding you with in recent weeks.

WIP: Blood Angels tacitcal squad (the first half)

Blood Angels tactical squad... or half of one

I'm starting the week with a shot of my tactical squad as it currently stands. Apologies for the frequent updates on this one. It's all I've been working on to get it done, but normal erratic service can now resume. With the first five space marines painted, I'm halfway there. In game terms, tactical squads can have five to ten models. This squad isn't technically 'game legal' in that it lacks a sergeant and already has both its heavy weapon (heavy flamer) and special weapon (plasma gun) quotas filled—something I don't belive you're supposed to do until you have a full squad of ten. Nevertheless, I'm proud of the work on it so far and look forward to finishing it.

WIP: Blood Angels tactical squad (milking it now)

Blood Angels: the next three

So, I had another unexpected evening in my study, the results of which are shown above. These three space marines are more or less finished. If there is anything left to do on them, it's just some minor tidying up. For the most part they're done. I have another (with a heavy flamer) that is at the same stage. The only reason he isn't pictured is that he doesn't have a head. Because the face is exposed, I'm painting that separately and it's not finished yet. I haven't had cause to paint flesh on my batch painting sessions yet, but I have a few parts to do for various projects now so I'll do them all together. That should be done before the week is out and then I'll be halfway through my tactical squad.

WIP: Blood Angels tactical squad (yes... again)

Tactical marine with plasma gun (still in progress)

Yes, this is a 'clutching at straws' update, and possibly the last this week, given the amount I (don't) have to report. Nevertheless, I did have an evening to work on the first half of my tactical squad again and the results are demonstrated above. Of the four I'm working on (see my previous post), this one is the best example of my progress. This marine is a stage or two ahead of the others (in that I've highlighted the blacks and the gems on this one) but the other three are close behind. This one is almost finished, actually. I have some tidying to do here and there before I paint the squad marking on the right shoulder pad and finish the base, then he'll be done. I've considered doing some object source lighting from the glow on the plasma gun too, but it was late when I was working on it last night and alas such fineries will have to wait.

Once I've finished the first half of this squad, I plan to treat myself (and any regular readers) with something else for a little variety... I just haven't decided what yet.

WIP: Blood Angels tactical squad (first half progress)

Blood Angels tacitcal marines (one with a heavy flamer)

You may remember from one of my earlier updates that I planned to split my Blood Angels tactical squad into smaller groups while I paint them. I've started to do that now. At the moment, I'm painting four space marines together in a mini production line (painting the armour on each, then the metal, then the black areas...). With the test model finished, this will mean I'll be halfway through the squad when they're done, which is a good milestone. I've made two deliberate choices with this batch: firstly that I'm doing all the weapons I haven't already finished (the heavy flamer and plasma gun) and secondly that I'm leaving some of the models I've been looking forward to for the later batches as a kind of mini-reward...

WIP: Blood Angels sanguinary priest update

Back to the sanguinary priest and progress is continuing. The armour needs some tidying up to make the blend between highlights and shading a little more subtle, but it's getting there. (This photograph isn't great.) The robes are mostly done too now. These are a different shade of red to the armour (visible on the shoulder pad) to make a clear distinction between armour and fabric. I'm pleased with the effect. That leaves me free to work on the rest of the model.

WIP: Blood Angels tactical squad (shading)

Work continues on the tactical squad. The two models above are the first (after the finished test piece) to get the recess shading treatment. By the time you read this* I should have done more work on the others. The plan remains to paint them up in batches of two or three at a time so I don't get too bored of painting the same details over and over again before I can move on but I'll get as many of these early stages as I can bear done across the whole squad early on. It's good to have a production line going, but there's always a risk that tedium will get the better of me and I don't want the quality to suffer.

* I tend to write several posts in advance and schedule them over the course of the week, so these models were actually shaded last Tuesday evening.

WIP: Blood Angels sanguinary priest, armour update

Another quick update today (I'm making a habit of these). This time it's on the sanguinary priest for my Blood Angels. In my previous post, I mentioned that I'd be attempting something a little different with the white armour. I've now started work on that. It's a long way from finished yet, but I've made a start on the basecoat layers and the intial shading. I still have more shades to add to the deepest recesses before I can start work on the highlights to bring it up to the level I want it. It's a little messy at the moment, but that won't be an issue long term. The armour is the largest area of the model, hence why I'm starting there. I can tidy up the rest later. You'll also note I've painted the shoulder pad red. This is simply a time-saving move on my part as I'll be using the same shading on that part as I still have to do on the rest. I'm working on this alongside my Blood Angels tactical squad, so hopefully I'll have more updates soon.