One of the things I've been trying to achieve with the new paints is staying relatively consistent with my existing Blood Raven forces. This has two problems - firstly the paints are different, so that's been tricky, and secondly most of my Blood Raven basic infantry were painted a while back and I've (hopefully) improved since then. So rather than production line my new Tacticals, I pulled out one and just did him, so I have a baseline model for comparison. I am rather pleased with him.
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He's also useful as reference figure for the colour and marking choices I've been using across the board, as it seems everyone has their own take on the Blood Raven scheme and this is mine. It's a warmer red than some, taking its cue from the Dawn of War games, and I've discarded any notion of different coloured shoulder trims because despite what the Codex Astartes say, I think its a stupid idea. I've stuck with Black for the chest ornamentation except for Veteran or 1st Company Troops who get Gold, and kept the skulls as , well, skull coloured, wherever they appear. The only other source of debate on markings seems to be the use of Roman numerals vs Arabic ones for squad, company of vehicle markings, and here I've gone for Roman numerals for Company markings and Arabic for squad or vehicle numbers, and just kept that consistent across my force. I'm sure somewhere there is written "the correct" way but I like this way regardless.
I've moved over to painting the vents on the backpack as metal, like this:
Inspired by a friend's "screw it, I'm just going to try it and see how it turns out" attitude to banners, I cursed my own cowardice and went back to by Company Banner Bearer to redo it. Thats a definite improvement and marks my first attempt at an Imperial Eagle in free hand. Or at least, the first attempt I'm willing to show anyone..
He's also useful as reference figure for the colour and marking choices I've been using across the board, as it seems everyone has their own take on the Blood Raven scheme and this is mine. It's a warmer red than some, taking its cue from the Dawn of War games, and I've discarded any notion of different coloured shoulder trims because despite what the Codex Astartes say, I think its a stupid idea. I've stuck with Black for the chest ornamentation except for Veteran or 1st Company Troops who get Gold, and kept the skulls as , well, skull coloured, wherever they appear. The only other source of debate on markings seems to be the use of Roman numerals vs Arabic ones for squad, company of vehicle markings, and here I've gone for Roman numerals for Company markings and Arabic for squad or vehicle numbers, and just kept that consistent across my force. I'm sure somewhere there is written "the correct" way but I like this way regardless.
I've moved over to painting the vents on the backpack as metal, like this:
It seems to be all the rage at the moment, or at least I've suddenly started noticing it, and now I've tried it it makes a huge difference to the look of the backpack. Really like it, keeping it forever!
Finally, this:
Inspired by a friend's "screw it, I'm just going to try it and see how it turns out" attitude to banners, I cursed my own cowardice and went back to by Company Banner Bearer to redo it. Thats a definite improvement and marks my first attempt at an Imperial Eagle in free hand. Or at least, the first attempt I'm willing to show anyone..
Nice. Better quality than I'm capable of anyway, but then I'm sure I've not been at it as long. I really like how your banner turned out, gives me some ideas for my own, as I'll be making an honor guard squad soon enough and will need to get one painted up.
ReplyDeleteI personally went with a darker red, as a way to differentiate my army more from any possible Blood Angels armies I come across, though my approach to other ornamentation is similar. Black trim on every normal marine, though my chest decorations are bone, and right kneepads on models that have them are black, as per the GW example paint job...I'm not sure if it's on their website anymore, I found it originally last year.
Veterans get gold shoulder trim and chest decoration, as well as bone white helmets, and my captains/HQs get the bling treatment as per DoW1, with straight gold chestplates and gauntlets.
Structurally I have a few more variations though, as I'm going with a 'shortly post-DoW2 Retribution view of the army, where numbers are down and much of what's left are the best fighters in the chapter, so I have a few white helmeted veterans dispersed in my tactical squads, and differentiate my actual Sternguard marines with a bone white section on the backpacks.
Anyway, I like what you've done, hope to see more.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v187/OtaconPSK/Warhammer/
i've left white helmets and gold trim as a pure "1st company" thing (which i know isn't technically right but is a nice differentiator) so the vets in my command squad still have all-red armour. I never thought of doing the knee pads, actually; i've used them for company numbers on my terminators and for company colours on a librarian and apocathary, but they're just plain on my Tacs...
ReplyDeleteah, I found the GW one I was talking about. No idea when they did this one, but it's what I generally tried to follow when I did my paint scheme. It doesn't help that even the official sources aren't consistent on the Chapter's color scheme. GW's sample mini has bone white chest ornamentation. Their Index Astartes illustration has black, though that's actually a Blood Ravens emblem. DoW2 they're gold. Company and squad type indicators are muddled too too. DoW1 had the codex adherent Tactical arrows, Dev blasts, etc. DoW2 just had a IV for the fourth company. They don't even keep the Blood Ravens emblem entirely consistant. I see you used the Forge World sheet too, but you can see the free hand one on their sample mini is somewhat different, and then it changes slightly again in the Space Marine video game.
ReplyDeleteBasically you can really follow whichever source you want and not be wrong, as far as I'm concerned, because they've not been consistant about it themselves.
http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1860596_Blood_RavenXL.jpg
ah yes I have seen that, although oddly my brain has never registered the black kneepad.
ReplyDeleteI would suspect that (from a fluff perspective) the markings change gradually over time anyway, as chapters and companies develop their own traditions on campaign. The colour schemes overall "feel" is what matters, not the minutae. also what looks "cool" is better than whats written in some book somewhere ;-)
yeah the forgeworld transfers were a great investment, i feel - my freehand isn't great and having a consistent emblem on all scales really helps the force feel coherent.
I love that banner so much. It is awesome.
ReplyDeleteWe seriously need to get our armies onto a table together. :)
well i''ve got a fairly coherent (if not totally painted!) 1250pt Marine force and would be certainly up for a game. Even if i would be Landraider'd to death ;-)
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