News: WIP Blood Angels Vanguard

It's been a long time since my last post and I've certainly been busy. That Blood Angels second wave sure was exciting for the few models that it amounted to, but it really got the hobby juices flowing. Here's a look at a few of the things I've been working on.

   With so much being worked on, I haven't been able to get anything done worth showing so all I can do for now is show off some work in progress guys. Current projects are ranging from Stormravens, Dreadnoughts, Vanguard, and my own pet projects, a Biker Command Squad for my Kor'sarro Khan conversion.

   We'll start with the cool guys. They started with a discussion about Vanguard Veterans. It roamed from how to make them durable to how to best equip them for maximum effect. This inevitably led to Lightning Claws and Storm Shields. As most of you know, it is ridiculous, expensive, and supremely powerful. Something that I would never build for myself, my Void Ravens don't have the resources to expend on such venerable wargear for so many Battle Brothers in a single squad. That, and I hate overspending on any one squad. I'm just stingy.

   So it was that my friend and client commissioned me to assemble said squad. Nothing short of 700 points of awesome. I'll be honest, if I didn't already have my Raven Guard based army which is my favourite army both in fluff and play, I would most certainly be playing Blood Angels. I would be kitbashing everything from the Death Company and Sanguinary Guard boxes with Tactical and Assault squads. The bitz are amazing, look amazing, and end up with amazing poses. I couldn't resist building these guys with the added benefit of not having to figure out how to fit them into an army, even if I pretended to resist.

   The biggest problem was getting hold of plastic Storm Shields. Even more so since both Storm Shields and the only codex Lightning Claw (Captain kit) attach to the left side. Really need some codex right side Lightning Claws that aren't in annoying poses. The trick I used was, I would first cut the hand out of the Storm Shield, filing away as much as I had to, leaving only the parts where the handle used to attach. Next I took a plastic arm holding a grenade, cut the top and bottom off of the grenade and cut the knuckles off the hand so that the Storm Shield fits snugly against the hand. This makes the grenade appear to be the handle of the Storm Shield.

   I really appreciate how neatly the Death Company jump packs fit together. Such a huge improvement over the old jump packs. There's just so many awesome bitz to be used to make so many unique and custom Blood Angels. The aesthetic artificers of the space marines deserve such detailed armour. I would gladly make a dozen different captain models with the Blood Angels bitz, if only anyone would ever play them. Although Vanguard are cool enough on their own.

   I have to admit, using the same Lightning Claw repeatedly is not fun. The way it's sculpted doesn't allow the pauldron to fit on nicely. It's also in such a position that it's not easy to make the body movement match it with any high degree of success. It took a great deal of imposing my will upon them to make any semblance of a decent pose. Thankfully the glorious decorations of the Blood Angel models helps distract the viewer's attention away from the Lightning Claws. Adding a Thunder Hammer marine helps too; can't leave the armoury without a way to deal with tanks and dreads after all.

   So there you have it, the first six of ten Vanguard Veterans of the Blood Angels First Company. Now for some sneak peaks of what I've been working on as well. Some of it's mine, some of it's not, but all of it is my artifice. After a game of Deathwatch over the weekend I'm still thinking like a Techmarine. Enjoy the sneak peeks and don't forget to leave your comments, questions, concerns, flames or feedback.
 
Signing off,

Cursed13