The Deathwing deploy for battle.

In what seems like no time at all, I've managed to whip through Squad Irael and get them painted. I chopped through these relatively quick as I suffered my age old issue of not thinking my painting looks any good until I get to the end. It doesn't help that I overbrushed the bone too much, leaving a small amount of details a little obscured. They don't suffer for it, but I'm not too pleased about it either. I'm also a bit meh about the Cyclone Terminator. I think it's because he doesn't have as much green on his chest emblem, meaning he doesn't seem to quite tie into the unit. I guess I sound quite negative about the whole painting of these, but I'm quite chuffed they're done. I'm especially happy about the sergeant, which has that nice leader aspect going on. They need basing, but I've painted for about 3 hours tonight in poor light, so that can wait until tomorrow!

And also, I got Belial finished! He was actually quite easy to paint, the only problem being that sometimes the paint wouldn't quite stick. I'm putting that down to the white undercoat he was based with. However, he was done over two nights, and now means my army can use Deathwing as Troops. He was also the second model in my army to get fully based with snow and scorched grass flock, and I've also done my Ravenwing Attack Squad. The rest will get done over time.

Speaking of the rest, I did a quick tally of what's been painted. So far, it comes to 1200 points give or take. That's quite a lot for me in 4 months, especially as the units have all been different colours. But I'm showing no signs of slowing down at all. I'm thinking for my next unit after the Deathwing are based, I'm going to paint  another three Ravenwing bikes to bump up the Attack Squad I already have, and at the same time paint my Darkshroud Speeder. Lots of black, but it'll give me a good unit and a painted vehicle. Then...who knows?

Deathwing WIP's and the Grand Master

I've got cracking into my Deathwing squad. At the moment they've had the bone completed, and I'm just in the process of blocking into colours prior to washing them all. I've raced ahead a little, and done the robe on my Sergeant, as I was looking forward to highlighting it, and it's come out looking really good.

You might also notice there appears to be a new Terminator on the right hand side. Well, that's my Belial, made from the Deathwing Command box. He was already painted a shade of bone, but I've redone it to match the rest of my army. I thought I'd get him done at the same time as he will be pretty much the same as the Deathwing squad to paint. Plus, then my army will have three painted Troop choices!

One thing I almost didn't put on my Terminators were the little daggers the Deathwing normally have. However, as I've used some Dark Vengeance models, I wanted the rest of the squad to tie in thematically. I'm going to paint the daggers separately and glue them on later. 

The Inner Circle appears. Black Knight progress/excuses

So, painting on the Black Knights has slowed down, mostly due to real life and spending all weekend with the Girly (that's not a complaint!). However, I didn't want to post anything without putting some photos up of things I had been working on before my new plan. With that in mind, I've decided to put up some pictures of the one type of unit I wish I could have in my 1500 pt Dark Angels list. Here come the Deathwing!

I've always loved the Deathwing. The bone colour, their secret mission, the flexibility of their units. But my favourite thing about the Deathwing is the ability to field a whole army of Terminators. Who doesn't love that? I'm hoping that I can start getting some more of these guys painted, and quietly building up a 1500 pt list, looking at 4 units of Deathwing, Belial and a Land Raider (and maybe some Deathwing Knights if I can get them in there, as they are gorgeous models).

These guys were my test models. I had seen some beautiful Deathwing in Games Workshop Coventry, and popped in one day to get some advice to how to recreate the colour from the manager, Dave. He's a great guy, and was more than happy to help me get a nice shade of bone. It's very simple to paint and has a fantastic result! Also, don't worry about the Cyclone Terminator, he's 'armless! (I'm sorry)

This is my Belial. When the models were previewed, I wasn't the biggest fan of the Finecast version. However, the Deathwing Command box gives ample opportunity to create your own. I think he looks much better here :P

These all still have to be built and painted. That's a pleasure though as I adore this kit. There's so many parts and variety that you could spend days getting your models right. The only complaint I have is that there could be extra lightning claws and/or Thunder Hammers. But it's a small gripe, and not one I should have to worry about.

The nice thing with painting all three Wings is that I can create lots of different types of armies from the one codex, all of which with their individual flavour, but not at the expenses of learning how the codex works as a whole. Also when Gandy starts running his Drakes, I can laugh as the baleflamer whiffs at my 2+ save!

The Black Knights are getting there slowly, and should be finished by next week with any luck. I've found that keeping momentum through a project can be tricky, especially when a longer than expected gap is taken. However seeing them on my painting desk is making me want to get them all done and on here.