29 November 2020

Blood of the Angel Part 4; The armory opens, by Medge

Welcome back to Blood of the Angel - a #BashtheBacklog project chronicling my progress to have a semi-competitive Blood Angels army. 

When this project started 9th Edition wasn't on anyone's radar, yet I write this post on the eve of the 9th Edition Blood Angels Codex Supplement release. 

A lot has changed over the last 12 months for the Blood Angels and until I have the new supplement in hand I have NO IDEA what to expect from the new army!

So what to do in the meantime? Well... guess it's time to catch up on old projects!
Anyone that's followed my Blood of the Angel or Bash the Backlog projects to date will know that I've painted a lot of Blood Angels infantry, but no armored support.

And that ends now! Prepare the Techmarines - the armory opens!

The Armored Fist of the Chapter

Pre-lockdown I managed to secure myself several pieces of armored support for the Lament of Angels (my Blood Angels Successor Chapter). Whilst the competitive Blood Angels lists didn't really use these heavy hitters (certainly not compared to the likes of Iron Hands or Ultramarines) I played against enough to know I really wanted some! The number of dice these things chuck out is obscene! And whilst they don't play into the usual "melee" focus the Angels have they're definitely don't lack for damage output (especially during the boring Heavy and Assault Doctrine turns!)

The first model painted up from the Armory was a easy-build Redemptor Dreadnought, picked up as part of the Warhammer; Conquest series


The easy build Dread comes with the Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon, a Redemptor Fist with heavy flamer and two Fragstorm Grenade Launchers, with no options for variation. I'm not the biggest fan of the squat, static pose the Dread has, but at £18 (cost of two issues of Conquest) I'm not going to complain too much (thats over 50% off the regular multi-part!)

I always considered Dreads to be a bit of a trap in 8th Edition - lots of potential on paper, but the -1 from moving and shooting hurt them pretty badly. The changes to vehicles in 9th will hopefully see this guy get a lot more play! (Especially if I run my successor slightly differently to the normal Blood Angels)

Up next game the first big Space Marine tank I've painted in over five years - the Repulsor.




I was blown away by the size and scale of this monster. In a past collection I've painted up some of the Forge World 30k Legion Super-heavies... it this felt more like their class the the usual Space Marine tank. Absolutely bristling with weapons, the Repulsor is definitely going to be a thorn in anyones side!

The model was pretty easy to paint - lots of hard edges made highlighting and shading nice and easy. Building from scratch made paint a lot easier too, since I could leave off the grave plates and the engine casing to make painting both the silver and red easier.

The large flat panels on the model also gave me the opportunity to paint some freehand, and I was pretty pleased with both the third company shield on the front, and the large winged tear on the right hand side.

(For anyone curious - my successor badge is essentially the Blood Angels winged teardrop, replacing the ruby blood drop with a sapphire tear drop)

As with the Redemptor Dreadnought, this kit was picked up as part of Conquest magazine. It doesn't synergise perfectly with the BA meta, at least in 8th, but was too much of a bargain to ignore (spread over 4 issues @ £9 each, the whole tank cost £36 vs the £50 total; that's a 28% saving for the full kit!!)

I'm hoping it's position as a heavy gun platform will serve it well in 9th edition, ferrying some Intercessors (or Aggressors) onto an objective and providing sold cover fire in return. Lets see!!

Finally I painted up a Repulsor Executioner; the (former) heaviest hitter in the Space Marine arsenal!




Whilst it'll likely be eclipsed in 9th Edition by the Gladiator Lancer, the Repulsor Executioner was the bane of many players in 8th Edition. Piloted by Iron Hands and Ultramarines players it was truly disgusting (and often came in pairs or threes!!!), but it sitll did plenty of work for other factions; especially those wanting some anti-tank in a Primaris only list.

Like my previous two entries, I picked up the Executioner on the cheap as a second hand model. 
Unlike my previous two entries... this meant it had some issues!
It had been fitted with Iron Hands resin doors (from Forge World), which meant I had to remove and repair the doors (something I had medium success with, as the photo's will testify to)

It also meant the grave plates were glued in place... making painting a nightmare!
Nevertheless I pushed through and managed to get a decent, tabletop finish on the model. It's not perfect, but it's not going to a competition so... meh!

I'm not sure if/ when I'll use the Executioner in the new edition. There are clearly better options for Primaris anti-tank in the Codex now, ranging from the Thunder-hammer equipped Intercessors, Multi-melta ATVs and (of course) the next-gen Predator; the Gladiator. But I'm glad to have it, and I'm sure it'll see some use in a casual game or two once we're able to game again!

Milestones

Completing these three models are they are represents a couple of Milestones for me in this project.
Firstly - it represents the completion of my Primaris Space Marine backlog, pre-indomitus.

The may seem like a bit of a weird, non-brag... even a trivial milestone, but it means that by Primaris Backlog from 8th Edition is finally completed. That's pretty huge!
Yes - I still have some (read - a lot) of Firstborn that need getting to, but they're a project in another league to the Primaris. And realistically... they may be a project I sell, drop or donate. Firstborn won't be around forever, sad as it is to say, and so maybe the models are best retired...

Secondly - these models represent the first time I've made use of Transfers for the Lament of Angels chapter.

I've got.... nearly 6000 points of Marines that still need squad and chapter markings before they're complete (that's going to be a big project...) which will require some degree of repainting (especially with characters)

But the first steps are the hardest, and by setting myself going with these units I'm primed to start revisiting older units to.

It's also the first time I've adapted a Blood Angels transfer to be the Lament of Angels, painting over the white Teardrop with blue - and I think it's turned out alright!


With that said, I think it's time to close out this post

Lockdown is playing havoc with my hobby enthusiasm, and I've found myself skipping between multiple different projects over the last few months getting stuff done. 

I can't tell you when I'll next share something on the Blood Angels, but with there Codex Supplement imminent I can't imagine it'll be too far away!
In the mean time you can head over to my Instagram to check out my regular updates, Blood Angels and otherwise! 

Thanks all - stay safe and happy hobby!

Medge

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