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Ok everybody I think its time to finally start a proper army...

Ive decided to go with the Blood Ravens as they are the army that got me interested in the painting and modeling aspect of the hobby. (I only played DoW untill about a year ago)
I recently won the Big Winter Competition on Youtube (LINK) and won 100 GBP worth of GW materials.

I will put this money towards finally creating an army to speak off, instead of randomly painting characters for the fun of it... (although I learned a lot and gained a great deal of experience from it)

Im thinking of playing them according to the Blood Angel codex, as i understand its better then the regular space marine codex when it comes to assault marines etc. and you dont have to take a Death Company anymore (if I understood correctly, I dont really play the game so I know little about it)

Anyway, my first problem is what to get for that 100 GBP...
Ive never made an army list so if anyone has any advice it will be greatly appreciated! (are scouts really any good?? I hate how they look and i hate to paint them)

Second, I want to make some character conversions.
Tarkus, Thadeus and Avitus are pretty easy... their heads are pretty much standard for some kits and some extra bits/detail are easily glued or sculpted on. Even the Force Commander can be made pretty easy (Emperors Champion maybe?) but the real problem starts with Diomedes and his Honor Guard and Chapter Master Gabriel Angelos. Ive seen some conversions which im gonna base him off they they look pretty hard to pull off properly... LINK

I already figured out how i wanted to paint them.
For the reds (stolen from FtW and adapted a bit):
1. Basecoat the red areas with Vallejo Heavy Red (extra opaque).
I decided to start with the red as well with this guy since it covered more of the model. This means I would have to finish the other areas carefully. If I'd gone the other way, I could have done all the metals, bone and black portions quick at first but would have had to work with the red areas carefully.
2. Go over the Heavy Red with Vallejo Gory Red and then clean up the work with black.
The Gory Red is a bit darker and cooler than the Heavy Red is and really gives them that dark feeling in the end.
3. boltgun metal over the metal areas.
4. Now wash the whole thing with GW Badab Black or Devlan Mud. The black wash will at least be applied to the metal parts.
5. Add Vallejo Bone White edge highlights. This will look funny but it will become clear after the next step.
6. Wash the highlights with Baal Red. This will blend the Bone White to the red and it will look really nice and reflective!

for the bone:
1. Cathan Brown basecoat
2. Thinned layer of Vallejo Bone White (might require multiple layers)
3. Wash the edges and crevices of the armor with Gryphonne Sepia (might require multiple layers)
4. Highlight with Vallejo Off White

for the black:
1. 50/50 mix of Chaos Black and Adaptus Battlegrey (I know, I know, I still have the old paints, leave me alone )
2. Badab Black wash
3. Hightlight with Codex Grey (same rules apply as step one)

Power weapons, purity seals, eye lenses, gems will be green:
Dont know the color scheme yet... But it will be green.

I dont know how quickly this blog will really come off the ground since I dont know what kits to get, but I hope it will get a nice discussion started with some followers.

Progress reports will also be posted on my YouTube channel, in which i will show a lot of other stuff as well.
http://www.youtube.com/user/FearGFX

*Edit*

ok ive decided what to get!

im getting the space marine battleforce an a terminator squad.

i understood that squad layout can be quite critical, so i really need some help on that!!

Cool, looking forward to seeing some pics!

ill post pics and vids as soon as i get the package!!
ill try to enter a model into the low lands painting competiton (the netherlands and flander) and im using one of the masters of the chapter for that... if i finish it in time ill post a pic for that 2

Nice! I like the Blood Ravens after Dawn of War, I am even thinking about doing an army myself some day.

dawn of war was my first warhammer experience, so i kind of owe it to them

Allright! Update time!!!

I got a couple of WIP shots from models im using to test my color scheme (yes im using 2 characters for that i know, you)
I got some inspiration from SONS of ORAR's WIP thread and decided to kind of use his dirty look on the bone parts of my models. (you will see on the emperors champion) Ive also decided to lighten the bone colors on my Blood Ravens with a glaze of Vallejo Off White.

OK picture time, i know you guys have been waiting!

I love the shield on the champion, to colour is looking really good, any chance you could brighten the pictures, the detail is quite diffilcult to see.

Young Logan

Young_Logan wrote:I love the shield on the champion, to colour is looking really good, any chance you could brighten the pictures, the detail is quite diffilcult to see.

Young Logan

if you click on them you can enlarge them up to MEGA scale

camera decided to only take blurry pictures, so sorry about that, but its a update shot of my emperors champion. re-painted the sword, added a tad more yellow to the green to make it stand out more, added gold in the inscription although i have to clean it up again, and i painted the green wax of the purity seals and some of the gems, still needs some work though, if i finish it on saterday i can still enter it in the dutch painting competition. omg and i still need to build a base for it.

Nice work keeping them bone/cream and red, sometimes it can be very tempting to keep working cream up to white, but pale bone is SUCH a gorgeous colour with red it can really work.

The blue details really pop with the scheme too. Great job.

Are you printing out the decals yourself or using FW's sheet?

WOOT my project log is now listed on the homepage!!!!

Ifalna wrote:Nice work keeping them bone/cream and red, sometimes it can be very tempting to keep working cream up to white, but pale bone is SUCH a gorgeous colour with red it can really work.

The blue details really pop with the scheme too. Great job.

Thanks! what do you think of my current cream/bone color? to light already? and the blue im using for cloth and cords is actually old citadel shadow grey, which if you break down that color has some purple in it. which if i remember correctly is a complementary color to the red.

AresX8 wrote:Are you printing out the decals yourself or using FW's sheet?

i decided to go with the forgeworld decals, as if i wanted to buy the transfer paper myself the shipping alone would make it just as expensive, and i would still have to figure out the sizes.

Yeah that is true, the scaling is definitely something I don't want to get wrong. How does the decal sheet fare compared to the sheets that GW provides? Is it thinner or just as thick?

AresX8 wrote:Yeah that is true, the scaling is definitely something I don't want to get wrong. How does the decal sheet fare compared to the sheets that GW provides? Is it thinner or just as thick?

in my little experience with decals i would say they are about as thick, but im also using decal softeners just in case

DijnsK wrote:WOOT my project log is now listed on the homepage!!!!

\o/

DijnsK wrote:Thanks! what do you think of my current cream/bone color? to light already? and the blue im using for cloth and cords is actually old citadel shadow grey, which if you break down that color has some purple in it. which if i remember correctly is a complementary color to the red.

Is this a bit closer to how it looks in real life? I'm going by the background being white card stock? If so, I think the cream is pretty perfect as it is I wouldn't bring it up any higher, unless you want to do a very pale edge highlight or something like that.

Shadow grey is an awesome colour alright, the slight tinge to it makes it have so many uses. I sometimes use it under white when I start highlighting and it is gorgeous.

Ifalna wrote:

Is this a bit closer to how it looks in real life? I'm going by the background being white card stock? If so, I think the cream is pretty perfect as it is I wouldn't bring it up any higher, unless you want to do a very pale edge highlight or something like that.
Shadow grey is an awesome colour alright, the slight tinge to it makes it have so many uses. I sometimes use it under white when I start highlighting and it is gorgeous.

its about twice the size now but it does show the details and colors better...

yeah the background is white... im currently working on a photobox with a greyish background.
thanks for the positive reactions. i cant wait to receive the rest of my army so that i can get started!

Alright i confess, i didnt paint much last couple of days... but i did get my hands on a Forgeworld librarian and i made a base and a custom pose for a regular space marine. BTW im still waiting on my Battleforce

OK now for the pictures!

Okay i was wondering about something. Im about to start painting on a librarian i had laying around, and i wanted him to look like Jonah Orion from Dawn of War II. (its not the libby shown in the post above, its the metal libby with staff and book)

The thing is the color. I know librarians are usually painted ultra marine blue up to enchanted blue, but when i look at Jonah's armor its much darker, almost like shadow gray.

Ofc its my army and i should do what i want or what i think is best but i appreciate some input from people viewing my blog

So what do you guys think? and can i get the best results with this color?

Some pictures of Jonah to show what i mean:

Looking great keep up the work !

The Codex Astartes dictates that all Librarians be painted blue regardless of chapter, however the Lexicanum says that this practice is starting to become ignored.

I'd say choose which scheme you prefer better. I'm considering stripping and re-painting my Libby to a scheme closer to Blood Ravens as I don't like the blue as much as I used to.

Well shadow grey can be seen as blue. and I think this is something to make him unique

This is an excellent thread. I'm starting a Blood Ravens army as well. I only have the codex, a Command Squad, and a lot of ambition. I'll be starting out slowly, as my budget is somewhat limited, yet I will still make an advancement every month. Your colour scheme seems really solid, and that has been my biggest ponderance since I decided to build up an army. My first experience with 40K was not DoW, but my first affair with 40K certainly was DoW II. I love the BR colour scheme, their organizational tendencies, and the intelligence gathering elements of their chapter. I won't be hijacking your thread, as I will be starting my own of course. But to the OP, I would just like to extend my thanks.

VICTORY OVER DEATH.

I've started a Blood Ravens army a while ago and even made few random characters, yet, switched my attention for some other stuff... I hope, one day I'll finish what I've started.
Anyway, you're doing great so far! Keep it up!

@ From Cyrus to Sirius
Hehe well feel free to discuss colors and idea's here. i heard my battleforce and terminators will be shipped on monday, so i hope to get them like friday or something.

@ ishkatar
HOLY i have a celeb in my thread!! your blood ravens have been and still are a great inspiration to me... so are all your other characters!
your conversions are amazing. i love gunter, with the minigun. im thinking of making something similar as a avitus model!
on the subject of conversions, im thinking of making a gabriel angelos conversion, do you have any pointers??

Oh, wow... I'm greatly flattered to hear it, mate! Thank you!


Anyway... Isn't Avitus a more suitable character to carry around a big f'n gun? Though he was stated as a traitor in Retribution for some wierd reason... Sure, he was an angrypants, but traitor? Pffft!

As for Gabriel, my plans for Angelos-inspired miniature were based on this:


Not exactly a conversion from this particular model, but I wanted to build something very similar, since I love it's heroic pose, suitable for a seasoned veteran and a true leader. Of course, Gabriel should have a huge Thunder Hammer, an eagle on his shoulderpad and a cloak (simply because every great leader should have a cloak). And without a gun in his left hand.


Well, just my thoughts.

ishkatar wrote:
Anyway... Isn't Avitus a more suitable character to carry around a big f'n gun? Though he was stated as a traitor in Retribution for some wierd reason... Sure, he was an angrypants, but traitor? Pffft!

yeah it kind of depended on who was corrupted the most at that certain point in the campaign, but sometimes it also was completely random. about giving the minigun to avitus, yeah your right, i mixed them up

ishkatar wrote:
As for Gabriel, my plans for Angelos-inspired miniature were based on this:


Not exactly a conversion from this particular model, but I wanted to build something very similar, since I love it's heroic pose, suitable for a seasoned veteran and a true leader. Of course, Gabriel should have a huge Thunder Hammer, an eagle on his shoulderpad and a cloak (simply because every great leader should have a cloak). And without a gun in his left hand.

Well, just my thoughts.

i have that particular model, and i recently got into reposing legs a bit, so ill start working off that, as for the hammer, i think i need a hammer from the grey knights kit and rebuild the hammerhead to look like godsplitter. and i have to sculpt some bionics onto his face since angelos almost died at the end of retribution.

now for some pictures!



Automatically Appended Next Post:
*EDIT*
i heard my battleforce and termies are in the mail. i hope they arrive early, which will be friday, or maybe saterday, depending on how long customs will want to play with them :S

Nice use of the emperors champion.
The WIP kneeling marine is quite cool too.

Keep it up!

@ Enzephalon
thanks for the comment! ill be receiving a whole lot of marines at the end of this week so then this blog will really lift off the ground!

Great to hear that. I'm looking forward to that.