Welcome back to my Blood of the Angel series - a #BashtheBacklog project chronicling my progress towards having a competitive Blood Angels army, and a slightly tidier hobby space!
In part one I talked more about what what drew me to the Blood Angels, my goals/ aspirations for the project, what I'd been working on and what I still had outstanding.
Since then I've been jumping between projects, trying to alternate between Blood Angels and non-Space Marine projects to keep things fresh.
How have I been getting on? Well let's get into it!
In part 1 of this project I put together a list of outstanding models I wanted to get done to complete my force, and started ticking off where I was at. You can see that again below
Primaris Chaplain - Incomplete
Slam-Captain - Incomplete
Primaris Mephiston - Incomplete
Converted Lemartes - Incomplete
Sanguinary Ancient - Incomplete
Converted Sanguinor - Incomplete
The 15 Death Company, highlighted at the top of the list, were 95% complete back in June pending a final highlight. That highlight was wrapped up pretty quickly after the post went live, so I've crossed them off this list.
After than you can see all I really had left to paint was Characters. The Blood Angels are spoiled for choice in the HQ department, with most lists containing 4-5 heavy hitting characters (with some Elite-character support).
I'm ashamed to say that I completed only one of the models in this list in the last 5 weeks! But don't click away just yet!
This last month I've focused more on my backlog than my tournament list, hammering my way through the last non-character models in my Space Marine backlog to flesh out my Chapter and provide me with some tactical flexibility.
Call me prophetic, but with the changes 9th Edition looks to be bringing in around army builds maybe all those Characters weren't such a good idea anyway!!
A touch of Character; the Prodigal Son
Of all the Characters I could have painted for my Blood Angels this month I chose to paint the one and only "Slamguinius". A staple of the tournament scene, the Captain with Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield and Jump Pack makes his way into an overwhelming number of competitive Space Marine lists. In the hands of a Blood Angels general he becomes even deadlier; the Angels Wing Relic allows him to ignore overwatch and re-roll charges, Savage Echoes and the Red Thirst enhancing his already prodigious melee might, and a host of Stratagems that allow you to buff him even further.
There are hundreds of converted models out there representing all manner of Slam Captains, and my humble iteration is shown below
I've opted for a standard conversion using Death Company legs, a Torso from the Blood Angels upgrade sprue (the non-primaris one), arms from the Sanguinary Guard kit, a head from the Death Company Kit, the Jump Pack from the Death Company Chaplain, and a Storm Shield from a very old Forge World Limited Edition Boarding Marine
The Thunder Hammer was made by trimming the blade off the one-handed Encarmine Axe, and gluing a Thunder Hammer head from the Grey Knight Strike Team kit in it's place. Once the glue had dried this head was trimmed flat with a scalpel (to remove the Grey Knight/ Inquisition iconography) and filled with liquid green stuff.
Unlike most of my forces, I've opted to paint the tabard on my Captain blue. My successor Chapter, the Lament of Angels, replace the usual ruby teardrops with a sapphire one, making blue the spot colour for the force. To highlight his seniority I chose to increase the amount of blue on my Captain.
Overall I was pretty happy with the paint scheme - it turned out well enough. The conversion itself could have been handled withe a bit more care, but as a gaming piece he looks pretty awesome (and unique too, which I'm most pleased with!).
Bashing the Backlog
After enjoying some success in cutting through backlog with my Necromunda, Warcry and Stormcast Eternals projects I tried to ride the wave though my Blood Angels, grabbing the last few Primaris Space Marines I have lying around and pushing myself to get them complete.
This was driven partly by my futile aspiration to get a handle on my hobby backlog, partly by the #StayHome/Lockdown environment we've found ourselves living in over the last 12 weeks (and the enforced plastic-buying-hiatus this caused), and partly because I was looking at how I can mold my collection of into a fluff-accurate functional Chapter and I realised a few things needed completing to get me over the line of a genuine Demi-company.
I'm not gonna lie... it's been tough. After painting 30-odd Primaris marines already the though (and action) of painting more was a challenge... and not one I rose to without complaining!
But rise I did and complete them I have! Let's check them out!
Up first were four Intercessors and a Sanguinary Ancient.
Yes you read that right - four intercessors! During part 1 I mentioned I'd painted up an extra Sergeant with a Thunder Hammer to replace a Sergeant I ready had. Well... this left me with a spare Sergeant with no squad to call his own! Fortunately I also had a set of Easy Build Intercessors sat needing someone to lead them! Easy!
The Primaris Ancient was a model I took a little more care with. As a character of some importance (at least within the narrative) I wanted to make him look a bit special, so I gave him a nice high, rocky base - perfect for lofting that banner nice and high! The Banner was also the first time I had to think about my Chapter beyond just the red and black armour colours. What was my Chapter colour? What company did this Ancient represent, and who were his squad mates? Where is his commander?
The answer to most of those questions will be coming in the following posts. For now I'll say he's the Ancient of the Third Company of the Lament of Angels Chapter, and proudly bears the Chapter Banner displaying their heraldry - a white bend sinister on a field of blue.
I did play around with some extra freehand within the banner laurels, but it looked awful so I decided to scrap it. Maybe one day...
Up next....
Last, but by no means least, I've completed six Inceptors. As with most of my backlog, these guys are all ETB kit's picked up as part of Dark Imperium or Warhammer Conquest magazine. I'm not going to lie - these guys were a struggle to paint. They're nice kits, and they certainly have one of the coolest fluff pieces of all the new primaris (because jumping from a ship in low orbit is amazing!). But like most Primaris models there's very little embellishment on them; they're just flat plastic surfaces. And theres's SO MUCH PLASTIC! The bulky jump pack almost double the surface area on the mini, making them a little tiresome to complete.
But complete them I did! And with them done I can tick off two Warhammer 40k milestones!
Paint all the miniatures from the Dark Imperium Box (three years after it's initial release and barely a month before the box is retired!! haha!) - Complete!
Paint all my non-character Primaris Infantry Marines - Complete!
With these models finished I find my Primaris collection looking pretty healthy!
5 x 5-man Intercessors (25 Battleline Marines)
5 Rievers
6 Inceptors (total of 11 Close Support Marines)
10 Hellblasters (Fire Support Marines)
A Captain, Ancient and two lieutenants (Command Squad)
That's pretty much a Demi-company right there - and that's before we consider any of the classic Marines I have!
I've still got quite a bit of Primaris Blood Angels backlog to go before I allow myself to get any more Marines, but I'm sat looking at what I have and where I'd like to invest. As always I'm torn between adding narrative elements and adding fun/ competitive gaming pieces!
Add to this the pending release of 9th Edition, and the recent release of Engine War and I'm sure I'll be wracking my brain on what army to add to in the coming months (The Knights, AdMech and Grey Knights need love too!)
Whatever happens, I'll keep the blog going so you can follow along!
Until next time, stay safe and keep hobbying!
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