Returning Player/Hobbyist - Blood Angels Project! [updated 18/04/20]

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**Nem333**

Hello Everyone!

I am a long time player/hobbyist who has been on a 10 year hiatus from the hobby! I have been painting/building a couple of things over the past 3 months, to try and find the thing which captures my imagination and inspires me to dive deep back into this awesome universe & game!

Having done some Tau models (my old love), and random assorted other things, I have settled in Blood Angels as my choice. This is a combination of a couple of things:

- I have never really done an Imperial army, or SM... Eventually this might become an "armies of the imperial style project", with some IG etc.
- I love the background of the Blood Angels (more so the old school Angels of Death aesthetic, rather than the new pretty boy look they have now... Hate the new boyband hair unhelmeted heads)
- I wanted to try painting red!

I really wanted to achieve a "realistic" look here. I do not like the bright red cartoony GW blood angels, rather wanted to get a really deep, dark, sinister red. GRIM DARK was the goal here!

Finally, I need to give a shout out to my man Luther Davies - I was massively inspired by his blog "The Mighty Brush", which pushed me over the edge in my choice, and was a huge influence here.

Without further ado - here are the first models that I have painted:

Test Tactical Marine (I should clarify, the first *successful* test, there were several casualties...)

The goal here was to really nail the red, which I (obviously) want to be the thing people notice!

Veteran Sergeant

Goal here was to replicate the red, make sure it is consistent, and also to nail gold sections, which I will use for sergeant heads, and for some characters/sanguinary guard (if I ever do any..)

Group Shot

Just because they look cool together! The bases were a real question mark for me, I went through a couple of iterations, but settled on what you see as I wanted something that didn't distract too much from the models, emphasised the red, and matched the "realistic" look I am aiming for.

I hope you guys like them! Progress will likely be pretty slow between real life and everything else, but I am determined to stick with this project, and will be updating this blog regularly.

I have always found doing a blog like this, and the comments/criticism to be a massive motivation for me, so many thanks to anyone who takes the time to take a look and leave some words. It really means a lot to me.

Cheers guys.
Nem

**CREEEEEEEEED**

I quite like it, even though it is very muted. I don't know if it's just the lighting but the shoulder pad of the marine gets brighter towards the corner whereas the sergeant's are a flat colour, which looks worse. Great bases, and drill the gun barrels because drilled gun barrels are cool.

**Nem333**

Thanks for the comments. The muted colour is intentional, as I said, I don't really like the more cartooney GW BA red colour. I wanted it to be really deep & rich. I think the shoulder pad colour is partly the lighting. That said it's definitely more intense in the tac marine, just a function of only having done it twice! I'll have to ensure I emphasise that more on the rest of the models!

Cheers for the bases comment - they were for sure the thing I was least certain of, but I am liking them more now & your vote gives me confidence.

**Dreadclaw69**

Really nice work. I like the more sombre tones of your Blood Angels

**Blackwing530**

Gorgeous work! Subbed for inspiration and for ideas to thieve!

**evildrcheese**

Now they're some wicked looking Blood Angels!

Subbed

EDC

**Nem333**

Thankyou guys for the kind words!

Its really great motivation to press onwards! I have another model to share with you...

Heavy Flamer Marine

I hope you guys like him. I actually struggled quite a bit with him... I don't like painting large flat areas of metallic as I find it very hard to get a perfectly smooth coat. I am a massive perfectionist when it comes to blobby paint or a rough finish so this is a bit of a problem for me.

After some back & forth I think he came out OK!

Group Shot

I like to see them all together as the project grows! Nice to see the development, and hopefully how far I will go from humble beginnings of a couple of figures!

Really thrilled with how its going so far! The plan is to finish up this tac squad (I have 2 more marines base coated and ready for detailing), and then probably do a Rhino for them. Both because they will need one, and second because I need some proof of concept as to how the colours will translate to a vehicle.

On the horizon... I think the first HQ will be a Librarian Dreadnought. Mostly because I have an awesome conversation in mind!

Until next time...

Nem

**Nem333**

Hey guys,

So I finished my first squad!

Ok so not really... the squad will be 10 man, but 5 feels like a milestone!

Check it out and see what you think!

2 New Tac Marines

I love the armour choices that come with the BA tac kit. Particularly the "knightly" helmets!

5 Man Combat Squad

Shoutout to my fiancé's hand in the last photo, sneaking in while holding up my makeshift photo booth... And also I guess to her for still wanting to marry me after I declared that I was going to buy an airbrush to start painting toys... Haha.

I hope you like them anyway. I am really proud of this project so far, small beginnings but I can't wait to see where it goes!

As always, suggestions for improvements are much appreciated, it's early days!

Cheers

**CREEEEEEEEED**

I'm jealous of your smooth reds.

**DaemonJellybaby**

All of your colours are great, the blacks are crisp while the reds blend smoothly. I really like the red, especially the diffrerence between reds on the details and the reds on the armour plates.

I feel that they could do with a different colour on some of the details though. Maybe a cream or bone colour on the tabards to break up the blacks. Possibly even a dark, pale blue. It would need to be neutral but different enough to break up the reds and black.

**Nem333**

Thanks for the kind words!

I somewhat agree about adding another colour to break up the black & red.I strongly considered it but chose not to in the end as I wanted to keep the scheme simple & scalable across all of the different unit types that I want to paint. I guess it's a fine line between keeping it simple and effective and it being too monotonous.

Another reason for not having another colour is simplest the time it would take. I am already a very slow painter and I would like doing an army to feel like a reasonably feasible task!

**Nem333**

HI Guys,

So I have made some progress, and finished my first tact squad!

Here are some pics!

I have actually tried to paint a Rhino as well in the interim, but it didn't turn out quite as I wanted so I am viewing it as a test model. Hopefully... I will have a transport for these boys that I am satisfied with soon!!

Following that, I think I will try and do a dreadnought. I have always thought dreads were really cool, and there is all the more reason with the 8th rules coming. Looks like they will be pretty awesome!

Cheers guys, I hope you like my first squad.

**CREEEEEEEEED**

Vey well done Nem, I look forwards to seeing a dread, which I am also a fan of (IMO one of the best models in the game).