Squad Numiah WIP + The assault of the Great Devourer.

I have been steadily painting away at Squad Numiah, mostly focusing on the robes. These are coming out really well IMO and hopefully they look like thick cloth. I have also found a nice simple green scheme that is quite easy to crank out, looks dark and means all the marines are roughly the same shade. The only issue I have had is with the robed marines, as I tend to paint the robes first, and this means taking my time with painting on the green around the robes. I'm a messy painter at the best of times, so you can imagine this isn't fun for me having to go slowly :P

Getting there though!

Also, I had a game yesterday against Pootank and his Tyranids. I have a mortal fear of Nids, due to how much the big bugs tend to give me issues. However, the game was very, very close, and ended as a 10 -10 draw! I'd like to think this is due to my superior skills, but probably is due to Pootank's bad dice rolls that saw two of his three Tervigons run out of Gants in turn one to start, and only got worse from there. Was a good chance to run my list against the kind of lists that I thought might give me trouble, and for my first game I was happy. I do need to remember that I can't assault from a Scout move on turn one though...

Squad Kushial 50% complete...here comes the Sixth Company!

I've finished my first three Black Knights. I was planning to complete the rest of the unit much later on, but I enjoyed painting them so much I will be doing the other three after a little break. Of course, when I start painting the Huntsmaster I will be regretting this immensely!

I realise in my last post I said I would be using XV-88 as a leather colour. However, after using it and washing with Devlin Mud, I found it was too bright and distracted from the overall scheme. So instead, I have decided to use Scorched Brown. This is one of my favourite colours, and luckily enough has a base colour match in the new GW paints (Rhinox Hide for the record)

Pic time

So, what am I going to paint next? I was looking to paint more Ravenwing, but I have had my fill of painting black for the time being. Six bikes is more than enough for now! So, I thought I would have a crack at painting some of the Greenwing element of my army. I love painting Caliban Green, but sometimes I struggle getting a consistent shade. Hopefully I can sort this and get my models how I want them to look. Also, I have a lot of robed marines, so this will make each squad interesting as they will have a nice mix of bone and dark green colours, hopefully meaning I won't get too bored.

So...a before pic of the first unit.

Say hello to Squad Numiah. These guys are a nice distraction unit to put onto a backfield objective and provide lascannon support. All for 90 points! These guys will be Sixth Company marines. I'd like to say I chose the Sixth for fluffy reasons, but in all honesty I chose them due to the fact the kneepad marking is so easy to paint...

These hopefully won't take long, will allow me to get my robe and green colours sorted, and provide a small break until I crack into the rest of Squad Kushial. Win/win all round!

Bonus pic

This little Watcher was painted by me for a friend. For 30 mins work I'm very happy, but not as happy as she was :)

Tactica Black Knights

I want to try and start giving advice on units within the Dark Angels codex. This won't be a regular thing, but I thought it would be good to break the painting side of it, and to help people who are a little stuck on how to use units.

Disclaimer
I'm not the best player. I have a horrible W/L record. These kinds of posts are my opinion only, and should not be taken as game winning advice.

So, with that out of the way, let's get it on! And to start, I'm going to advise on one of my favourite new units from the Codex - Ravenwing Black Knights.

Ravenwing Black Knights are the elite of the Ravenwing Comapny. Clocking in at 42 points a model, they come with Skilled Rider, Hit and Run, Grim Resolve and Scouts. They are also armed with Plasma Talons and Corvus Hammers as standard.

Plasma Talons are a shorter ranged twin linked plasma gun. This on its own is a sound gun to have, but put onto a bike unit gives you a 30" range for putting plasma wounds onto a target. Getting better right? One in three bikes can swap their Talon for a Ravenwing Grenade Launcher. This little gem can fire frag and krak grenades (never a bad thing), stasis grenades (useful for making elite assualt units less deadly to attack in HTH) or rad grenades (this is my personal favourite, knocking all models uner its blast's toughness down by one. This does affect ID thresholds, meaning T4 models can be ID'd by the Talons. Use this on Obliterators or Paladins and laugh)

Corvus Hammers are a +1 strength, rending CCW. These are very useful for mopping up elite units after blasting them with Talons, or, as each RBK has 4 attacks on the charge, for shredding horde infantry. The Huntsmaster also has the option of a power weapon, which if you do choose it, should be a power lance to take advantage of your ability to choose your charges due to your maneuverability. If you get stuck in a combat, or need a little extra oomph to break that tough unit, then Hit and Run is a great option. Just remember, never , never, NEVER use it in your turn, otherwise you will be in for a world of hurt.

If you do take Black Knights, a useful choice to choose alongside them is a Darkshroud. This, combined with your Skilled Rider will give your Knights a 3+ cover save. Turbo boosting gives you a 2+! Of course this will depend on your army composition, but if you are going Ravenwing heavy you can't go far wrong with this mix.

I know it's not the most detailed overview, but hopefully it will help someone :)

Black Knight Squad Kushial WIP

Black Knights are too detailed. Honestly!

Actually now that I've done the biggest sections (Silver and White) these guys are starting to be tamed. I need to get the gold down, but having used the shoulder pad markings as testers, I have finally found that Balthasar Gold is a very nice paint, so I'm looking forward to that section. Just waiting on an order of XV-88 to  give me a base brown to use for the pouches and seat leather.

WIP pic time!

They're getting there!

Squad Arael rides to war! (Guest starring The Nerd Garage)

And done! Really happy with these guys. They're definitely better than just table top in my eyes, but I would say that. I thought painting Sergeant Arael would be a chore, but he was surprisingly easy to do. I just need to remember that when I paint, my models only tend to come together at the end, and that they always look a mess just before finishing.

Enough talk. Picture time!

 They look quite happy, and will be running around melta-ing the Fallen soon enough...


So now my first unit is complete, time to line up the next thing. Which is...

Three Ravenwing Black Knights! These guys are half of Squad Kushial, which is the elite part of my army. I've decided to paint these in two halves as this will mean I get less bored with painting the same thing six times over, and to reward myself for finishing my first unit. The second half will get painted after I complete something else significant (possibly either Sammael or my Darkshroud).

I say reward...I looked at these guys again yesterday and realised the amount of detail on the models. Gulp.

Also, I thought it was time I mentioned my gaming group. We usually play at my friend's garage, which we have christened The Nerd Garage, here in Coventry on Wednesdays. There's four of us in the group, Gandy, Pootank, Danny Kastigaunt and myself. It tends to be a bit of a 40K free for all, with Danny and Pootank running tournie lists against each other, while Gandy and myself like to kick back and play casually. Gandy is the newest gamer to our group, and has only just started playing 40K. He runs a Chaos list and is starting to get very good at working out threats and creating havoc. His janky dice rolling doesn't help either :P

Next week I will be running a Ravenwing/Greenwng list against Gandy, who's only gone and bought himself a Heldrake. It promises to be brutal and I will try to get the battle report up on here...if I don't lose too badly that is! (Edit - I found out that this won't be happening next week but the week after, so probably 27/02/2013. I'm really sorry about that, but as an apology here's a copy of the list I will be using and am currently painting towards


Sammael (Corvex) 200
6 Ravenwing Black Knights - 1 x Grenade Launcher - 252
10 tact - Plasmagun, Plasma Cannon, Rhino - 205
10 tact - Plasmagun, Plasma Cannon, Rhino - 205
5 tact - Lascannon - 90
5 devs - 3 x Missile Launcher, 1 x Lascannon - 135
3 x Ravenwing - 2 x melta, Combi-Melta, Attack Bike (Multi Melta) - 165
3 x Ravenwing - 2 x melta, Combi-Melta, Attack Bike (Multi Melta) - 165
Darkshroud - 80 pts

I will definitely do a battle report now to make up for the delay!)


Kobrakei

Squad Arael update

Getting there. I'm finding the white a chore, but that's a given. Just need to finish up Arael's white parts, then get onto the reds, then base, and then done! If only it was that easy!

Ravenwing Squad Arael...WIP

Hello all

So since my last update, I have finished off the base on my test model, and drilled a hole into the melta. He's done! Whoop!

So, next up...

The rest of the unit! Looking forward to getting stuck into these guys, especially the sergeant (Arael, if you like your guys being named. I know I do). His robe will help me decide how to do these in future, especially as the greenwing part of my army will have lots, and lots, and a few more robed marines. I will be drilling the barrels pretty much after I post this, and hopefully can have these guys done in a week or so...

First post. First of the Ravenwing.

Hello all

My name is Kobrakei and I have been playing 40K for eighteen years. I've always maintained an interest, but in the last year or so my friends have started playing again, and as such I have had new opponents and new armies to build. Speaking of which...

Dark Angels!

I've always loved the Dark Angels. Loved the three colour schemes. Loved the fluff. Hated painting Ravenwing and Deathwing. However, with the new book, I decided it was now time to throw that fear away and jump right in.

After playing with the new GW paints and washes. I found it was quite easy to make a decent looking black without much effort. And as for white, if I ever find out who invented Ceramite White I will put my mouth on their mouth!

So, with the caveat that the base is not finished, I bring you Brother Zadakael of the Ravenwing.

As I always do with a new army, I painted this guy as a tester. I reckon he took about 3 hours, which should mean a squad won't take much longer as it was mostly getting the white and black doable quickly and easily. I was worried he would be a bit monochrome, but the red breaks that up nicely.

So, twelve or so bikes to go.

Bring it on!

Kobrakei