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Blood Angels Chapter project

30K views 259 replies 49 participants last post by  jaysen 
#1 · (Edited)
I've been working on painting a chapter of space marines for some time now. It's slow going but this is what I have so far. The 4th company isn't painted. 2 of the land raiders, 1 baal predator, 1 banblade, and the 3 drop pods aren't built but are patiently waiting on my table back at home. About 4 squads of 1st company are painted and I'm currently working on this.

The attached pictures are of 1. the models i have primed and am working on painting here in Afghanistan, 2. The primed 4th Company (taken months ago), and 3. The painted models that I posed for a picture (taken in April 2011).

Formation: Dante's Sanguinary Host
Commander Dante
Honour Guard (blood champion, sanguinary novitiate, 3 x honour guard w/jump pack, power weapon)
Sanguinary Guard
Sanguinary Guard (death masks, chapter banner, 3 infernus pistols, 2 plasma pistols)
Sanguinary Guard (death masks, 1 infernus pistol, 1 plasma pistol, 1 power fist)

Headquarters Company: (not a formation)
Mephiston
Corbulo
2 x Sanguinary Priests (jump packs, 1 plasma pistol, 1 infernus pistol, melta-bombs)
2 x Librarians (jump pack, 1 plasma pistol, 1 infernus pistol, force weapons, melta-bombs, sword of sanguinius, might of heroes)
Techmarine (servo harness)

Formation 1st Company:
Captain w/ jump pack, lightning claws, melta bombs
Honour Guard (Sang novitiate, 4 x veterans with jump pack, power sword)
Chaplain w/ terminator armor, meltabombs
6 x Terminator Squads (1 lightning claw squad, 1 thunder hammer squad, 4 "tactical squads, 3 Land Raider transports)
4 x Veteran Assault Squads (vanguard) (Most of these have infernus pistols or plasma pistols + power sword, power fist, or thunderhammer)

Formation 2nd Company:
Captain w/ jump pack, power sword, plasma pistol, melta bombs
Honour guard (Sang novitiate, Tech marine, 3x veterans with jump pack, power sword)
2 x Assault squad (2 melta guns, powerfist)
2 x Devastator squad (4 x plasma cannon, 4 x heavy bolter, storm bolter, two land raider crusader transports)
6 x tactical squads (3 x plasma guns, 2 x melta guns, 1 x flamer, 5 x lascannon, 1 x missile launcher, rhinos with hunter killer missiles and storm bolters)

Formation 4th Company: (unpainted)
Captain w/ combi-plasma, power sword
Honour guard (Sang novitiate, company champion, company banner, 2x melta guns, razorback transport w/ TL assault cannons)
2 x Assault squads (2 x plasma pistols, powerfist, power sword)
2 x Devastator squads (each with 1 Missile launcher, 1 multimelta, 1 plasma cannon, 1 lascannon, razorback w/ TL lascannon)
3 x Tactical squad (flamer, missile launcher, drop pod)
3 x Tactical squad (flamer, missile launcher)

Formation: 10th Scout Company:
Captain w/ combi-plasma, power sword
Honour guard (sang novitiate, 4 x veterans with power weapons (heresy and corvus armor))
5 x Scout squads (bolt pistol, combat blade, 1 sergeant with powerfist)
2 x Scout squads (sniper rifles, missile launcher)
1 x Scout squad (combat shotguns, heavy bolter)
2 x Scout squads (bolters, heavy bolters)

Formation: Ancients Assault Force
Techmarine (servo harness, power weapon, plasma pistol)
5 x Dreadnoughts (2 Assault Cannon, 2 multimelta, 1 TL lascannon, 2 missile launcher)
3 x Furioso Dreadnoughts (1 Frag Cannon, 2 Magna Grapple)
1 x Furioso Librarian (Might of Heroes, Shield of Sanguinius)

Formation: Death Company Company
Astorath
Death Company Tycho
4 x Chaplains (jump pack, melta-bombs)
4 x Death Company Dreadnoughts (2 w/ blood talons, 2 magna grapples)
30 x Death Company + Chaplain Lemartes (10 powerfists, 10 power weapons, 10 chainswords, 3 plasma pistols, 3 infernus pistols, jump packs)
30 x Death Company (8 powerfists, 10 power weapons, 10 chainswords, 2 thunder hammers, 3 plasma pistols, 3 infernus pistols, jump packs)
10 x Death Company (10 power weapons, jump packs)
10 x Death Company (bolters, power weapons, ride in a stormraven)

Extras:
3 x Baal Predators (heavy bolters, storm bolters, TL assault cannons)
2 x Predators (1 with lascannons, 1 with autocannon, heavy bolters)
2 x Land speeders (1 heavy bolter, 1 multimelta, 1 assault cannon, 1 typhoon missile launcher)
4 x Bikes (2 meltaguns)
1 x Attack Bike (multimelta)
3 x Stormravens (2 with multimelta, assault cannon, and hurrican bolters, 1 with typhoon missile launcher, TL lascannons)

Allies:
2 x Baneblades
1 x Shadowsword
1 x Warhound Titan (plasma blastgun, vulcan mega-bolter)
Imperial Guard Platoon (2 squads, plus 3 heavy weapon squads with lascannons)
 
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#3 ·
Update to blood angel project

Okay, my goal is to paint at least 5 models per week till I go home in December. So, far I'm on track with that goal. I've "finished" 10 models, my lightning claw terminator squad for 1st Company. Well, they are as finished as they will get till I get access to the rest of my paint and some basing materials. I'm seriously thinking about giving the whole army some nice, resin cast bases. I've been just using standard flat bases with green grass but it is just too plain and non-cool.
 
#4 ·
HUGE BA ARMY!!! AHHHHH! I wish i still had access to my deployment money :/ I put it into a couple CD's. DAMN IT!

Making good progress. 5 a week soounds like a good solid number. Can't wait to see everything as you progress
 
#7 ·
The real problem, aside from time and money, is that I don't think there is a list anywhere of how many vehicles the Blood Angels have. It only talks about dreadnoughts and thunderhawks. The number of transports, tanks, skimmers, bikes, and stormravens is left to the imagination of the owner. Bah!

I have created my companies from the space marine battle company template. But, since Blood Angels can take assault squads and death company as troops, I'm thinking of deviating from the template on my next company.

3rd Company
Captain: power sword, combi-melta
Honour guard: champion, company banner, novitiate priest, 2 x power sword, razorback twin-linked assault cannon + HK missile + storm bolter

3 x tactical squads (flamer, missile launcher, rhino)
4 x assault squads (2 x meltaguns, power sword, meltabomb)
2 x space marine bike squads (assault bikes with multimelta, 2 meltaguns)
1 x death company squad (5 power swords, 2 powerfists, 3 chainswords, 2 infernus pistols, jump packs)
1 x Death Company Dreadnought (blood talons, magna grapple, heavy flamer)
2 x Dreadnoughts (1 Assault Cannon, 1 Plasma Cannon, 1 Missile Launcher, 1 Magna-grapple)
 
#8 · (Edited)
There is a full list of there tanks\Ground units in the front of the codex, Hell my army is already a full non-heresy company then some.........Shame im pre-heresy so i need 1000 marines + Support for my first company to be finished D:

Also as your army is post heresy, you would only be able to have a mix of the following up to 101 models. (Page 9 Ba Codex for Veterans)

-Terminators
-Vanguards
-Sternguard
 
#13 ·
There is a full list of there tanksGround units in the front of the codex, Hell my army is already a full non-heresy company then some.........Shame im pre-heresy so i need 1000 marines + Support for my first company to be finished D:

Also as your army is post heresy, you would only be able to have a mix of the following up to 101 models. (Page 9 Ba Codex for Veterans)

-Terminators
-Vanguards
-Sternguard
You know, I really don't agree with how GW calls the pre-heresy formations "great companies." Why not just call it what it is? It all goes back to how much one person can reasonably manage on the battlefield. The longstanding idea is that a good commander can manage 3 main formations, plus 2-3 support formations, and possibly 1-2 in reserve. So, the "company" would need to be divided into basically 5-6 parts, call them "platoons", then platoons to squads. Since Space Marines are more capable and have lesser numbers, a squad is equivalent to a regular platoon, maybe. So, maybe 2 squads per team, that would give 3 main teams, plus the support and reserve units, the assault and devastor teams.

So, all that said, a company would remain about 100 Space Marines, no matter how many marines were in the main organization or "legion."

3-4 companies should form a battalion. 3-4 battalions then form either a regiment or brigade. 3-4 brigades or regiments form a division.

So, 400 Space Marines per battalion, 1200-1600 per chapter, and 3600-6400 per division. 2-3 divisions would form the legion, 7200-19200 space marines. Then, you have to add in about 3-4 servitors and support personnel for every space marine and additional personnel to pilot aircraft, crew the large ships, techmarines, apothecaries, librarians, chaplains, etc...

So, I suppose a "Great Company", such as in the Space Wolves would be the equivalent of a modern chapter. Then an Expeditionary Force or Crusade Force would probably have been comprised of a chapter or division, depending on the size of the force. Only in a few of the expeditions were there extremely large forces of space marines that comprised an entire legion. Horus' was the only one I have read of. It had almost all of the Luna Wolves, plus several companies from other Legions.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Azkaellon:

Does the codex list the number of support vehicles? Predators, Land Raiders, Land Speeders, etc? I don't have my copy with me.

Also, the formation data sheet for 1st Company has terminators, assault terminators, vanguard assault squads, sternguard squads, 1 honor guard, 1 captain, 0-1 chaplain, and 0-1 librarian. That's a possible 108. I guess the chaplain and librarian officially count as part of headquarters company. Since the Blood Angels have never been a "Index Astartes" chapter, I feel I can use some artistic license when it comes to filling out the companies. Plus, who is to say that a tactical marine can't strap on a jump pack or ride a tactical motorcycle if the need arises? Also, the chapter is probably never at exactly 1000 marines. That's the goal, but depends heavily on recruitment, casualties, "retirement", etc... One company might have a bumper crop of recruits or be reinforced for specific missions. My thought about the 1st Company honor guard is that they are the newest candidates for the veteran company, recruited from the cream of the line companies. They are brought into the honor guard to be evaluated by the Captain and his most senior sergeant, the company champion. The members of the honor guard therefore maintain the badges of their company on their right pauldron to show that they are not yet part of the 1st Company. Once they have earned the blood champion and Captains approval, they are then moved to one of the companies regular squads and given the honor of wearing the white skull badge.

Bubblematrix:

I've got 15 dreadnoughts built, but only 4-5 are painted. You can see 3 in the group picture, a red dreadnought in the center, and two death company ones on the right.

I've been thinking about building a scratch Thunderhawk or two. I've got a friend with templates for the body and wings. That's a goal for the future. First, I want to finish painting 1st and 4th Companies.

By the by, I got busy Monday and painted up 5 veteran assault marines. I know I'm supposed to do 5 a week, but these will be done in just two days, so I might do a whole squad this week. They go faster than the terminators.
 
#12 · (Edited)
I want to order some scenic bases for the models I'm working on here. I have a hard time remembering which size is for infantry and what size is for terminators. I really wish the USA would switch over to the French Metric system like the rest of the world. I looked it up on google, 25mm and 40mm.

I think I'll completely finish painting the models on the plain jane bases. Then, paint the bases to perfection. Then glue the figure to the nice base. That way, I don't have to worry about getting base paint on the feet.
 
#14 ·
I stayed up late painting this figure last night and when I finally hit the rack, I thought I'd done such a good job that I took pictures. Now, looking at the up close pictures, I think I must've been really sleepy, hehe. I'll definitely have to touch this guy up and possibly redo the entire head. I guess this just goes to show how usefull a good digital camera is to self critique your work. To fix the head, I think I'll try to detach it, strip it, then redo the whole thing before re-attaching. I'll let you know how it goes.

The back screwed up area is where the jump pack was attached. I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I completely built the model before painting. I should have waited on attaching the pack on this particular model because of the pose and the detailed pauldrons.
 
#15 ·
Okay, this Sergeant is about as far as he's going to get till I get some resin bases and learn a better way to paint faces.
 
#17 ·
Yeah, I've struggled with that myself. What's a good color? Don't want to use black, boltgun, blood red.... I also think it'll lose some of the redness when I put him on the good resin bases. They will be mostly gray and green.
 
#19 ·
I've got about 20 more of these guys to paint. I'll try some different things. For this guy, I might just do some caution stripes or kill count marks. If I repaint it and try to completely cover the red, it'll end up really thick.
 
#20 ·
Well, four weeks down and 20 space marines painted. I've started another 5 terminators last night. Just 50 to go, :eek:k:. I need to try and get a few days ahead, so when the resin bases come in I can add them without getting behind in the schedule.
 
#22 · (Edited)
I decided to go ahead and build a Terminator Librarian to help lead the main force of 60 terminators along with the terminator chaplain. I took a terminator from the new Gray Knights box for it. I love that new force staff they have. I've got a honour guard that I just started putting together last night, but still need to find a suitable captain for 1st Company. He needs to be in power armour and distinct. That's gonna be tough with so much ornamentation and specialty I've already put on the vanguard assault marines and sergeants. What would really be cool is if I could find or make a model slightly taller and bigger than the rest to be the captain. Maybe I could convert the finecast Blood Angels assault sergeant model? Maybe I could take a standard space marine and add some green stuff in the joints to make him taller, maybe some platform boots.
 
#23 ·
Quick question. I was a Ranger in the Army for 4 years. I can't even imagine having enough free time to paint a set of legs during one of my deployments. I am in no way trying to be a dick or anything, I was just curious what your MOS and branch are?
 
#24 ·
Oh, no problem. I'm not going to talk too much about what I do, but suffice to say I'm not in the trenches. I was the last two deployments, but this time I'm basically a liaison officer, and get off work most nights before 1900. So, I have from 1900-2100 or so when I hit the rack.
 
#25 ·
Ah. Gotcha. I was just curious. Your army is HUUUUGE, lol. I wish I would have got back into the 40k scene when I was enlisted, Garrison life would have went by A LOT quicker. haha. Appreciate what you do, and keep the updates comin! I love checkin this thread to see the progress you're making.
 
#26 ·
Here's some pics of the Honour Guard and Librarian. I messed around with some green stuff to fill in the cracks on the jump packs, but it didn't work well at all. These still need some work before going to paint. But, I think the poses turned out well.
 
#28 · (Edited)
For all those who have been following this PLOG, I've been taking a small break from painting. I haven't had a lot of free time in the past two weeks, and what I have had has gone into the Titan project. I do have 5 terminators primed, based in blood red, and waiting for my attention.

So, in the mean time, I thought I'd share some more photographs.
 
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