WIP: Blood Angels Army - Part 1: Bladeguard Veterans

And so begins army number 10.

At this point, I feel like I should be standing at a wobbly lectern in one of the small meeting rooms of a community center, stale donuts and bad coffee on a table at the back, discussing my “moment of clarity”, as others sit around me in a semicircle of hastily arranged folding chairs, solemnly nodding in empathy. 

But here we are.

If I were trying to shift blame (and I’m not) I’d pin it on three things; GW making Angron clear red part of the main line of paints, and no longer a forgeworld item, the successful Prince Duvalle model I completed in the “candy apple” metallic scheme, and this insane army featured on Warhammer Community.

Oh, and that my compulsive nature refused to let me add anything to my Deathwing that wasn’t in terminator armor. So that’s four things, I guess.

The recipe for success here is actually surprisingly simple. To keep the metallics from looking flat and lifeless, you just zenithal highlight with silver over a black prime, leaving tons of shadow. This gives the model strong value definition and defines the shapes effortlessly. Throw some Angron clear over it using an air brush and you’re 90% there.

These Bladeguard are great models. The stature, the detail. A joy to paint. I’ve left the shields off for ease of painting, but had glued the heads on when I thought I was going to paint them as Deathwing. Shame, as it would have been much easier and cleaner to paint them in gold if they were separated. I’m struggling with the eyes, as always. Losing my fine motor control, and they all look a bit wonky. But they’ll do

Decided that my fancy boys needed suitably fancy bases, so I learned how to paint faux marble. Quite happy with how these turned out. Suppose I’ll make a tutorial at some point.

Next up; the lieutenant and the shield captain.

-trip