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Okay. Here we go.

I'm new to miniatures in general. Played enough games of EE, AoE, SMAC, and SC to make any tactician a moment’s pause, but my experience with tabletop games has, until recently, been limited to games like Risk, Axis & Allies, and Catan. I've played one single game of 40k (2v2, in an upset which surprised all four of us since my team was completely inexperienced).

Fortunately, I'm not new to the world of 40k. When I was deployed several years ago, someone was nice enough to donate their much worn copy of the Blood Angels Omnibus to my ever growing mountain of books, and I've been hooked on the universe ever since.

I just recently moved to a new city with a very active gaming community, and made some new friends who were more than a little excited to get me into the hobby. I managed to trade off a pile of old MTG cards for all the space marines from the Dark Vengeance set, buy a bunch of paint, and now here I am.

As the title says, I'm building a custom BA army (currently operating under the name Angels Redemptus). This thread will be a journal of the physical and literary construction of this army. I'll fill in the fluff as we go, but the gist of the chapter is as follows.

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Both Mephiston and Lemartes (almost) have fallen to the Black Rage/Red Thirst and returned with their minds intact and, in doing so, have become infinitely more powerful than your standard issue Astartes. But in all the thousands of years since the curse was laid upon the chapter, these two were certainly not the first (or the last).
In the early years following the Horus Heresy, a certain Blood Angel was found by the Grey Knights, alone, on a Chaos controlled planet. This marine was discovered to have overcome the curse and, in doing so, awakened a sliver of the psychic foresight formerly attributed to Sanguinius, as well as an astonishingly resilient resistance to Chaos influences against his soul. After careful consideration and much meditation, it was determined that the mere existence of this marine was a threat to the Blood Angels, as the chapter's curse was in its infancy, and little understood. Releasing him back to his chapter could mean chaos, with marines willingly releasing themselves to the rage and thirst in the hopes of achieving the same greatness.
It was decided that the marine would remain with the Grey Knights for the time being, as his soul proved incorruptible, and his foresight useful. After many years, the marine uncovered the Inquisition's study of the Blood Angels and their curse, and it was revealed that he was not the only one of his kind (thought the others were kept by the inquisition as lab rats in the study of the Blood Angels possible corruptibility). Outraged by this discovery, the marine forsook his ties with the Grey Knights and set out to unite these risen Angels and redeem them in the eyes of the Imperium.
He formed the liberated marines into Angels Redemptus, and they have acted behind the scenes of the Imperium, both as bane of Chaos, and the sanctuary to those Angels with the purity and fortitude to make the ascension through the twin curses.

My phone is being uncooperative, so I can't get the pictures up that I was hoping for until I get to my navi. But, for your consideration, some basic marines with some basic primer and basecoat, and a touch of color. I've heard terrible things about FolkArt white paint, but I think it covered fairly well.

After spending all morning trying to figure out why my phone wouldn't work, I finally set it on the desk and just glared at it. Apparently that's all it needed, and it is now cooperating.

So here’s what I’ve got to work with, at least for now (from left to right).
5 Terminators
10 Marines
1 Chapter Master
6 scavenged Marines
3 Marine Bikers
A little pile of bits and pieces for me to do some customization with.

Cleaned up some of the detail on the heraldry where my eternally shaky hands managed to smear paint everywhere. Pushed black paint into the armor joints, and I'll dry brush silver over that to hopefully make them look less like stormtroopers. Currently on standby as the permanent roommate was sent for gray paint to make my wash several hours ago and has yet to return. No doubt on an adventure of her own.

Getting along nicely!

 thenoobbomb wrote:
Getting along nicely!

Thank you. I really have no idea what I'm doing, and only a vague idea of what I want the army to look like once it's finished, so I'm glad!

Turns out that time management is not a skill I am overly blessed with. I haven’t painted a thing. Did spend quite a bit of time glaring at my chapter master model, though. I thought he’d be the hardest to paint, but the more I look at him in all those flowy robes, the more I think he’ll be one of the easier ones.
Anyway, I figured I’d write some fluff to make up for my lack of doing stuff.
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Much like the Grey Knights, the Angels Redemptus are all minor psychers. Though they very rarely manifest anything akin to Mephiston’s power, they are all gifted with varying degrees of Sanguinious’ foresight. This power is magnified by the number of Angels in close proximity to each other. This has lead to the custom of meditating in groups, rather than individually. Even on the battlefield, the power of this group foresight forges devastating tactics, and quirky superstitious traditions. The ability to casually step out of the way of oncoming munitions has been known to unnerve the enemy to the point of breaking.
The masters of the chapter have meditated together, and have foreseen The Darkest Hour. The fall of Baal to the combined forces of Chaos and Hive Fleet Leviathan is all but unavoidable, unless the Angels Redemptus reveal themselves, and lend their arms to their cousins in these most dire of moments.
Like all sons of Sanguinious, the Angels Redemptus are born artisans. When away from the battlefield, they create masterful works in a variety of mediums. Even their weapons and armor are works of art, with even the battle damage woven into the tapestry.
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More to come! And maybe more cohesive next time...

Wow. I thought I was bad at updating this. Turns out I'm TERRIBLE at hobbying in general. Apparently the trick to getting me to paint is for the GF to go clubbing on a night when I have insomnia, and for me to get smashed with my marines in front of some really old SVU episodes. Weird formula for time management, but whatever works, right?

Last I was updating, I was in the process of trying to make a silver wash for my white marines. Since I keep thinking of making camo marines, I don't know why I'm still chasing this rabbit, but I am. I mixed some silver paint with water and a little dish soap. Old school. Fracking messy PITA, that stuff. Most of it just ran down the models and painted nice little chrome circles on my table. It did have some interesting effects, though. The models all got a decent little bit of shading and detail enhancement. Interestingly, since the paint didn't want to mix with the water well, each model got some unique road rash effects on their pristine white armor. I'm back and forth on how I feel about it. I've got a lot more detail work to do, and I think it'd be a good scheme for some blingy units (like Sanguinary Guard or something), but I may end up stripping these and pursuing the snow-camo idea I had instead.

Anyway, enjoy some pictures of my drunken escapades.

Nice neat work so far... Is the main armour going to stay white?

 Flashman wrote:
Nice neat work so far... Is the main armour going to stay white?

That was the original idea. I had thought of making my army very blingy and gilded, like Blood Angels on crack, but then I found this guy... Big H and his camo marines seen here, and I can't get them out of my head. The homeworld of these guys is supposed to be similear to Fenris, lots of forest and snow, so I've got it in my head to do a white/gray/green sponge camo pattern. I'm not sure that I can do that with all the gold and red and not make it look overly gaudy. I may make some marines with "dress" armor, like I've got going now, and do the rest in camo.

Actually, that wash turned out ok. If you're interested in trying some of that 'chipped, weathered' look, maybe do some spong weathering on the edges with a mid-grey. It's easy to do and should bring out the edges nicely (and is easier than hard-line highlights, especially with shaky hands!).

The gold looks a bit thick, or that it hasn't covered properly. A brown or black wash may help this.

 ArbitorIan wrote:
Actually, that wash turned out ok. If you're interested in trying some of that 'chipped, weathered' look, maybe do some spong weathering on the edges with a mid-grey. It's easy to do and should bring out the edges nicely (and is easier than hard-line highlights, especially with shaky hands!).

The gold looks a bit thick, or that it hasn't covered properly. A brown or black wash may help this.

I might try that. My hands shake bad no matter what I do, so any advantages I can get are appreciated. And that gold is way too thick. Aparently drunk me neither waters down my paint, nor remembers how to dry brush. Some washes may be in order to fix that bling.

So, in another thread, I was searching for some prone models because I want to build a scout/sniper unit, and I hate standing snipers. I don't care how strong you are, you're not aiming a heavy @$$ sniper rifle, while standing, and expect to hit anything smaller than a tank. So, I've been looking for prone models that could be wearing scout armor. No such luck. So, now I'm getting into the modeling business. I found these legs, which I like.

I think I can cut them above the knees and twist them outward, so they'll lay the way a sniper would. I'm thinking maybe two or three prone snipers, and two others kneeling, either as overwatch with heavy bolters or flamers, or possibly with sniper rifles themselves.
I like these heads too, as non-power armor helmets.

Now I just need to figure out torsos and arms that'll work with minor modification for the pose, and still look like scout armor. I think legal bases are going to be difficult for this. Although I see GW is changing base sizes on us so... who cares?

Those are some kool heads where did you find them? Also love what youve done so far.

They're part of the Afterlife line from Anvil Industries.

Cheers

Just got my shiny new BA Codex. Trying really hard not to drool on the pages. Some wonderful illustration in here.

I see a few things have changed, though. Time to rethink my army a bit...