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So for the six years that I have been in this hobby I have kinda avoided starting up a Space Marine Army solely because everyone else seems to be doing one. But when the new Blood Angel Codex came out I was really taken with the armies fluff, (except for that bit about teaming up with the Necrons), and the fact that they strive for perfection to help combat the flaw meant that I had a huge range of conversion possibilities. Anyhow, one of my side projects for sometime has been working a bit here and there on my own Blood Angels Successor Chapter, the Angels of Mourning. I have written some fluff, and I would like to throw out that I am not a fluff buff so I hope this all falls into line with accepted history well enough.

The Angels of Mourning can trace their gene-seed to back to Sanguinius. The founding of this chapter came out of the tumultous time of the Badab War and their baptism by fire occurred during the grueling conflicts and lethal engagements that resulted as once again marine fought brother marine. Up until about 50 years prior to the Badab Conflict the Angels of Mourning called themselves battle-brothers of the Lamenters Space Marine Chapter. However growing tension inside the chapters leadership resulted in a schism in the chapter over the course of the chapters actions. As a result 1/4 of the chapter split from the Lamenters as they saw the chapter as a whole starting down the road that would lead to the decision to join the traitorous Tyrant Huron. These marines that split from the chapter and remained steadfastly loyal to the Emperor became the Angels of Mourning. For even though differences divided them, the Angels could not help to mourn the loss of the brethren. Formally recognized as a chapter just after the Badab War, the Angels of Mourning were lauded for their lightning fast assaults and superior skills in ship to ship boarding actions where the fighting was hardest and most deadly.

In the time since the Badab war the Angels of Mourning have returned to a strict adherence to the Chapter structure followed by their parent chapter, the Blood Angels, yet their chapter iconography and heraldry still contains Lamenters symbols to recognize their heritage and remember the folly of the chapter from which they split.

The Angels of Mourning are a Fleet based chapter that includes a single Battle Barge, the Weeping Lament, 4 strike cruisers, 10 Rapid strike ships, 20 Thunderhawks, and 2 thunderhawk transporters. The Angels do most of their recruiting in the from the planets previously under Lamenter control.

Their are two noticeable differences in the way that Chapter Master Gideon Mallus runs the Angels of Mourning that set them apart from the other Blood Angel successors. Like all marines that come from the gene-seed of Sanguinius they suffer from the Red Thirst and the Black Rage. In the times that a battle-brother is gripped by the rage, he is visited with visions of the Primarch being slain, vision of brother marines turning their backs on the oaths they swore, and most predominately visions of the course of things that would have come to pass had their split from the Lamenters had not weakened the rebel chapter. In that moment that battle-brother is gripped by the Black Rage and is consumed with the desire to purge heresy and treachery, but also to try and Redeem those that have been lost, to bring back into the fold those sheep that have strayed. This determination and desire become all consuming, but unlike some of the other chapters that suffer from the flaw, one who has joined the ranks of the Redeemers keeps a modicum of control, an once of sanity in the vast sea of disarray that has become the battle-brothers mind. The Redeemers are revered by their battle-brethren who see it as the mission of the Angels of Mourning to bring the light of the Emperor to all who are lost. Clad in bone white battle armor that is decorated with images of fire and death, the Redeemers are a beacon in the midst of battle, a way point for the rage of sanguinius, and those battle-brothers around them fight even harder spurned on by their zeal.

Secondly, as most chapters descended from the blood angels maintain a sanguinary guard, so do the Angels of Mourning. However, their purpose is slightly different in their duties to the chapter. Called the Deathsroud Wardens, their purpose is to remember. They maintain the chapters history, deeds, virtues and failings. They maintain the records of all the battle-brethren’s accomplishments and glories. However their most honored purpose is to be a voice for the fallen brothers of the chapter. When a battle-brother is slain in battle, the Wardens stand watch over his body for a period of 7 days, intoning rights, cleansing the body, and speaking out to the stars the deeds of the fallen hero. In battle the Wardens, or the Shrouded as commonly referred to, carry the deeds of the dead with them. Inscribed upon their purity seals and armor are the deeds of the fallen brothers of the chapter, they can be heard speaking the names of the dead as they slaughter all who come against them. In this fashion it is believed by the chapter that none of their brethren ever truly die, as their deeds and names live on battle after battle. Clad in steel colored armor, carrying mighty weapons, the Shrouded truly epitomize the angels of death.

Upon being inducted into the Deathshroud Wardens, the battle-brother is officially listed as a casaulty in the records of the chapter. He is no longer who he was, but a voice and a memory for those that have gone before.

More as I come up with it and eventually I plan on writing some fluff for the major Characters of the chapter. This page will cover the progress of my Angels of Mourning.

First up on the block is Reclusiarch Gabriel Soltan:

Reclusiarch Soltan has been with the Angels of Mourning since its founding in 909.M41 at the end of the Badab Conflict. He has since been attached to the second company of the Angels of Mourning.

During the Badab conflict Soltan lead several excursions onto vessels controlled by the renegade Executioners Chapter, winning several victories in the name of the loyalists. Soltans actions in conjunction with Captain Gideon Mallus, who was to become the first Chapter Master of the Angels, went a long way in proving to the loyalists that there segment of the Lamenters chapter had indeed remained loyal to the Imperium.

The most notable of these actions was against the Executioners during the battle on Vynaniah. The marines under Soltan's command were responsible for rebuffing the hit-and-run tactics used by the renegade chapter. The arrival of what was to become the second company of the Angels along with the arrival of the other loyalist forces was what eventually lead the victory in the system.

Since the end of the Badab Conflict Soltan has been instrumental in the developement of the chapters creed, being the strongest voice to return to the ways of their parent chapter the Blood Angels. He is second only to Reclusiarch Nareema in the Chapters Reclusiam.





I am actually intending to go back and make his arms and leg greaves the iconic white of my chapters scheme. I think that will tie him to the rest of the models a bit better.

I finished up a test marine for Tactical Squad Vestus (no fluff for them yet) and I am pretty pleased with the result:






I am going with squad numbers on the left kneepad and colored helmets to indicate squad later on down the road. I have gotten a really good jump on getting my first tactical squad done, with all the members of the squad having their red armor done, and white legs and here they are:



The last thing I have to report is that I am participating in a Painting Deathmatch, kind of a small montly painting competition, on another forum and have been challenged to complete a single Tactical Marine. As such I have been working on finishing up one of these guys just to keep things moving along and I thing that I have made some good progress on him. I give you my progress on Battle-Brother Ezekiel Korvus:





I hope to make some more progress on him tonight and I will update this log when I do. Comments and Critiques are most welcome

This is looking very nice. Well done with the white, quite brave of you to make a scheme with so much white in it.

Gorgeous scheme. moar please!

Thanks for the nice comments guys I really appreciate it!

Finished Battle-Brother Korvus this evening. I am really happy with how he came out and I think that I am going to really love the way my Angels of Mourning are going to look on the table even though it is going to take me an eon to finish them. Well here he is:






Comments and critiques most welcome!

Looks great so far. I like this contrast of the color scheme and his left shoulder pad.

The White is very bright, well done. The over all look is very good. Keep up the sterling work.

I really love your work so far. White is hard to get right on marines and you are nailing it.

Without the bolters for some reason they look like the worlds most awesome blood bowl team. I will be checking in.

What scheme are you running with for your DC and SG?

Great paintjobs man! Kind cartoony and kinda real, I love it!

Great work there mate,the white looks a lot better than how mine usually turns out.

Love the colour scheme. ESPECIALLY love the reloding guy!

These look amazing!
Wish I could paint white like that

Thanks for the kind replies everyone! I am not sure how often I am going to be updating this log but I try to get something done on these guys every so often. My main armies are Tyranids and Warhammer Dwarfs and those plus commission work really keeps me busy. That being said I really do love working with marines, both from a painting and modeling standpoint, so I will be working with them on and off.

Rabid Ferret wrote:What scheme are you running with for your DC and SG?

To answer your question:

My DC are going to be in a bone white scheme, but I intend on using a combination of DC parts and Legion of the damned models so they will be heavy on the conversion work, but I think worth it in the end. Hopefully we will see Finecast LoD soon to make my life a bit easier.

For my Sang Guard, for the Angels of Mourning they are called the Deathshroud Wardens, and they are going to in steel colored armor with cream white wings.

Love the colour scheme! It's very striking!

Great start hope to see more soon!

Looking really really good. Nice work!

Midge913 wrote:Thanks for the kind replies everyone! I am not sure how often I am going to be updating this log but I try to get something done on these guys every so often. My main armies are Tyranids and Warhammer Dwarfs and those plus commission work really keeps me busy. That being said I really do love working with marines, both from a painting and modeling standpoint, so I will be working with them on and off.

Rabid Ferret wrote:What scheme are you running with for your DC and SG?

To answer your question:

My DC are going to be in a bone white scheme, but I intend on using a combination of DC parts and Legion of the damned models so they will be heavy on the conversion work, but I think worth it in the end. Hopefully we will see Finecast LoD soon to make my life a bit easier.

For my Sang Guard, for the Angels of Mourning they are called the Deathshroud Wardens, and they are going to in steel colored armor with cream white wings.

Cool. You keeping the SG vanilla or some converting going into them? Maybe some scibor or maxmini heads?

The name is a bit too emo for me. I'd go with "Self-harming Angels" instead.

name reminds me of the Doctor Who Weeping Angels.
Make that their name and you will get hundreds of doctor who fans looking at this.
Just saying. Really love the white and wish i could paint that well.

Rabid Ferret wrote:Cool. You keeping the SG vanilla or some converting going into them? Maybe some scibor or maxmini heads?

I haven't quite decided yet, I haven't really put much more thought into the Sang Guard other than some of their fluff and the armor color. I had thought about giving them hoods, and partial robes, but I haven't fleshed it all the way out yet. They are kinda down the list as far as projects for my Angels go so I will keep thinking about it and searching for good parts for them.

Jazz is for Losers wrote:The name is a bit too emo for me. I'd go with "Self-harming Angels" instead.

The Mourning part is a tribute to their parent chapter the Lamenters. I wanted to tie all that together, and I like it.

Asherian Command wrote:name reminds me of the Doctor Who Weeping Angels.
Make that their name and you will get hundreds of doctor who fans looking at this.
Just saying. Really love the white and wish i could paint that well.

Hahaha!! Love Doctor Who! Thanks for the compliments!

I hope to get some more work done on Tactical Squad Vestus over the next couple of weeks. I will share updates when I have them.

Midge913 wrote:

Rabid Ferret wrote:Cool. You keeping the SG vanilla or some converting going into them? Maybe some scibor or maxmini heads?

I haven't quite decided yet, I haven't really put much more thought into the Sang Guard other than some of their fluff and the armor color. I had thought about giving them hoods, and partial robes, but I haven't fleshed it all the way out yet. They are kinda down the list as far as projects for my Angels go so I will keep thinking about it and searching for good parts for them.

Jazz is for Losers wrote:The name is a bit too emo for me. I'd go with "Self-harming Angels" instead.

The Mourning part is a tribute to their parent chapter the Lamenters. I wanted to tie all that together, and I like it.

Asherian Command wrote:name reminds me of the Doctor Who Weeping Angels.
Make that their name and you will get hundreds of doctor who fans looking at this.
Just saying. Really love the white and wish i could paint that well.

Hahaha!! Love Doctor Who! Thanks for the compliments!

I hope to get some more work done on Tactical Squad Vestus over the next couple of weeks. I will share updates when I have them.

If you are whoivan I suggest you name some squads after the characters from the weeping angel episodes.

Asherian Command wrote:
If you are whoivan I suggest you name some squads after the characters from the weeping angel episodes.

In that case Assault Squad Octavian and Vangaurd Veteran Sqaud Alistair are already in the works.

God those names totally fit too...

I got one of my Redeemers, or what the Angels call the Death Company, converted out of Legion of the Damned and DC parts tonight. I am not sure when I am going to start painting, but I am pretty pleased with the result of the kit bash. Let me know what you think





As I mentioned way earlier in the thread these guys are going to be painted up in a bone white color, with the fire motifs and silvers being the accent colors. Hopefully I will come back around to him fairly soon.

Awesome! Looking forward to more!

The scheme, idea and the conversion are amazing !!! Keep it up Brother!!!

lipsdapips wrote:Awsome! Looking forward to more!

Bobakos wrote:The scheme, idea and the conversion are amazing !!! Keep it up Brother!!!

Thanks guys!

So I got some basecoating and initial layering done on the Redeemer tonight. Really liking the way he is shaping up, but there is still a lot of work to do on him. I have the day off work tomorrow so hopefully I can progress him a little further along. Anyhoo, heres pics:

Nice! All those colours work very well together mate.

So I finished my Redeemer (Death Company Marine) and all in all I am really happy with how he turned out. I am not as happy with the fire in the torch on his pack, but I think that it will grow on me. Comments and critiques most welcome.

Very nice indeed, great work!

Very nice, exalted, but I agree with you on the fire in his brazier, it could do with a bit more work to make it a lot brighter and yellow-er.