Dreadnought drop pod, power swords and more BA progress

Wow, its been a month since my last update- apologies to anyone thats been looking for an update- things have been very busy at home and whilst I've had a lot of time painting I've barely been on the computer at all.

With only 17 days left before Cancon i'm in overdrive trying to get the Blood Angels up to a certain level of completion. I've resigned myself to the fact that they wont 100% done- they'll most likely still have unfinished bolt pistols and chainswords, and some chest and shoulderpad details wont be completed. However, I should quite happily get all the red armour plating painted and basically highlighted. I have finished the helmets on all the Assault Marines, included their eyes- I will go back and re-line a few bits later, but they will suffice. Terminators will get some love really son, and the Attack Bikes after that. Wont be winning any awards with them in this state, but I'll have them all completed and detailed in time for Wintercon (June) without too much hassle.




All the yellow helmets done- they really stand out now


The Stormraven is getting moved along quite well- all the 90 degree edges and gaps between panels have been shaded with several coats of Carroburg Crimson, and i've started on highlights on the sharpest edges, the whole vehicle is really starting to 'pop'. I also built an overlay to go on the Raven's base, which is made from MDF and has been carved with a dremel and small cutting wheel to look like ruins just like the rest of the army's resin bases, it looks fairly convincing.




MDF is still the greatest IMHO...


I decided that my Assault Sergeants should stand out a bit, and to this end I've swapped out the one guy with a Power Axe to have a Power Sword instead. I've then painted up a scheme on all three swords that is a stylised reflective look, going from deep dark blue up to white, through 6 colours and thinning the paint as much as possible. It can take a fair bit to get right, and a lot of time is spent going back and fixing up the transitions to make them as smooth as possible.

On a gaming note, I've been doing some research concerning what Psychic discipline to roll for with my 2x Librarians- we roll for this before our first game and our opponent signs off on it, and this is what they use for the whole tournament. I was originally using Biomancy, for the potent offensive capabilities it gave, however I now believe that Divination to be the best for a Librarian, who should be used to buff an attached unit. Even if you roll for things you dont want you can fall back to the primaris power of Prescience, which provides for re-rolls to hit (shooting and cc) which really helps boost the power of an assault unit. Moreso than any other discipline these ones will keep your men alive and killing better for longer.

I'm also thinking that my Librarian in Terminator Armour will only selectively answer or issue challenges, as his axe-wielding capabilities are massively overshadowed by the 5 Thunder Hammers in the squad he's attached to- in addition he's going to be my Warlord, and will therefore have a 1VP price on his head, which I dont wish to squander. So, he'll skulk at the back of the pack for most engagements, unless circumstances are in his favour. Still working out how best to use the Terminators, I'm even thinking that I could Deep-strike them in on turn two in the vicinity of the Furioso's Drop Pod, to form a ridiculously resilient CC strongpoint.

Speaking of, here's the modified drop pod for my Furioso. Didnt want to splash out for the FW Dread Pod, so I've modified this standard troop carrying one to have a removable fin section (fluff wise- explosive bolts blow it out on landing when the doors drop) and Adiel comes lumbering out. I also magnetised the gun mount in the roof to allow me to still use the stormbolter or missile pod, and they can still articulate up and down. If one takes the liberty of assuming that the gun and its mount retract into the roof of the pod then the Dreadnought fits in quite easily!! This conversion turned out better than I expected.



Fits easily :) 



Magnets are mounted top and bottom for maximum hold.



Magnetised gun mount. Used a drill press on high speed and
 lots of care to make this fit without blowing out the sides. 



Recessed magnets with lightly filed-down outer edges. Snaps into place really solid.

Thats enough for today- got loads more work to do!

Cheers,
Tempest

 

BA: Characters update + Baneblade

More Red Fury

Some more progress on the Librarian in Terminator Armour, he's now rocking a cool 'flamed lightning' effect on his axe blade, and i've coloured in his face and done some simple colour/wash work on his tabard and purity seals. 



Face looks awesome for just a colour, wash and retouch!! 



Sang Priests... going to run with bare heads I've decided. Still loads to do, but the flesh tones have turned out great. Its nothing more than the now out of production 'Tallarn Flesh' foundation paint, a wash of Devlan Mud and then a retouch of Tallarn. Will go with some lighter highlights at a later point, but its more than table-top standard at this point.

Enter the Baneblade!!

I also decided to finally pull my finger out and get my Baneblade finished/ moved forwards. This is a tank which was previously painted in a **horrid** Mechrite Red base colour, of which small bits can still be seen- im cleaning these up at the moment.

Base is the now (sadly) superceded Charadon Granite- luckily my pot of it is still nice and useable. The base colour for the camo stripes are Zandri Dust (Base) and then I used umm... I cant rememeber? Its the one thats almost Bleached bone, but a few shades darker... this was used in the middle of the stripes to make the scheme 'pop'. All the camo was done with a GW tank brush, drybrushing lazily while watching some TV.

And cos I was bored I thought i'd try some blue tones and white reflecty stuff on the searchlight, I think it worked out okay. Next up is all the metal on the gun barrels, on the tracks, etc, and I'm going to do some gold trim as well- ie  silver with sepia washes, for that 'battleworn' look.