Angels Sanguine Army (Progress Thus Far)

I thought that I would post some pictures of the whole army. This is everything that I currently have painted. The shots are a little wider than I would like. Nevertheless, here they are.

You can see that half the army still needs to be re-based. At any rate, I feel pretty good about how things are coming together.

Happy New Year!

Sanguinary Priests WIP: Task Complete

Here are the completed Sanguinary Priests. As before, they are accompanied by a Powerfist Sergeant and Brother Corbulo. Powerfist needed a paint job so he could take over one of my Assault Squads, and Corbulo needed to be re-based in the urban style.

Other notes concerning the progression of this Angels Sanguine army: I have modeled up the remaining 9 Assault Marines. 3 Marines are needed to round out all three of my Assault Squads. Beyond finishing these Assault Marines, not a a lot remains. I must finish re-basing the rest of the models which still have the sand bases, but I do not expect that to take much time.

I really need to spend some more time searching for a place to play the game. I have been unable to locate any of the Independent Retailers which are supposed to exist near my home. Once I can find a place and an opponent to play, I can get back to making battle reports.

 Oh by the way, I also have the backpacks and jump packs magnetized. So, I included a picture of the priests in here with their normal backpacks.

Magnetized Backpacks

Sanguinary Priests WIP

I decided to work on the Sanguinary Priests as the next project on the Angels Sanguine Descent of Angels List. I have two Sanguinary Priests in the works. I pulled Corbulo off the shelf so that I could remember how I painted him. It has been about 2 and half years since I painted him. So, I want to make sure that these two Sanaguinary Priests look like they are from the same organization as Corbulo within the Angels Sanguine Chapter.

I decided to re-base Corbulo while he is sitting on the work desk.

You will also notice a Marine with a Power Fist. He was originally part of the Honor Guard which I had modeled up under the previous codex. When I decided to start playing again under the current codex, I wanted the Honor Guard to have Meltaguns. I also wanted the Assault Squad Sgts to have Powerfists. So, I pulled this guy out of the Honor Guard and replaced him with a new Assault Squad model. He will become a Sgt for an Assault Squad.

The current Sgt of that squad, a powersword Sgt made from the AoBR Captain, seems like a good model to become the Librarian for my army. I haven't really thought about this until now. However, he would probably make a pretty good Librarian. Everyone always says that he looks too good to be a Sgt.

As always, your comments are welcome.
 

Assault Squad Meltaguns WIP: Complete . . . Sort of . . .

I have finished the Meltaguns for my Assault Squads. That is six Meltagun toting Assault Marines. Two for each of my three 10 Marine Assault Squads. Adding those two meltagunners to my already existing 5 man Assault Squads brings the total up to 7 Marines for each squad. The next project for the army is to bring the squads up to 10 by modeling and painting 9 more Assault Marines.

I have not yet painted the back packs for these Meltagun Assault Marines. Nevertheless, I can do that later. They shouldn't need them for a while in my DoA list.

 My Second Company badge was easy to paint. However, I have not freehanded the Angels Sanguine army badge in a while. As I was never very good at painting it to begin with, the results are as I expected.

I have been considering working on the Terminator Chaplain. However, I still have the two Sanguinary Priests to whip into shape.

 The force is coming together slowly but surely. I still have not located a place to play the game, but that is another matter altogether.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone out in the 40k blogosphere. We had wonderful time worshiping at the Chapel this morning. After that, I watched my daughters open all of their presents. We have had a wonderful time together as a family.

I plan to get some painting done over the next few days as I am off from work.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and may you experience the true richness of this joyous time.

Assault Squad Meltaguns WIP

 I have made a little bit of progress on my meltagunners. I ran through the usual color progression up to this point: Blood Red, Black, Sunburst (I think that is the name) Yellow followed by Baal Red Wash, Badab Black Wash, and Ogryn Flesh Wash applied respectively to the colors listed above.

I brought out a member of each of the three assault squads. I did this to help me remember the things which I painted unique to each squad. The plan is for my meltaguns to match their respective squads perfectly.

One squad has red weapon casings. Another has black weapon casings. The third has caution stripes on their chainswords and favor the combat knife in hand and bolt pistols in holsters.

I have found not having a place to play 40k to be a blessing and a curse. The curse is obvious: I do not get to play 40k. The blessing, however, was a little less obvious: I feel no pressure to rush through any of my models. I have been painting along at a comfortable speed and making progress on my efforts to re-base the army. Once I have all my Marines like I want them, I am not sure what I will do . . . buy some vehicles, I guess.

Honor Guard WIP: Completion

I finished up the Honor Guard. I pulled an Assault Marine off the sprue and whipped up the last member of the Honor Guard. As the 10 Meltaguns which I purchased arrived with the Assault Marines, I painted up four Meltaguns to attach to the previously painted members, and the Honor Guard is complete.

I have included some pictures here. I am pretty pleased with how they turned out. They have magnetized backpacks and jump packs to keep the options open.

When I took them back to the shelf to place them around Dante, his old brown base with sand stuck out like a sore thumb. As a result, I popped him off that base and whipped him up a new urban base. His glue is drying as I type.

I mentioned that I bought 10 Meltaguns. I used 4 on the Honor Guard. That leaves 6. The exact number of Meltaguns I need to fill out the 3 ten Marine Assault Squads I will be running. So, I set to work on them. They need magnets in their backs and bases.

I suppose you could say that I will be spamming Metlaguns. As always, I welcome your comments.

Terminator Assault Squad WIP: AoBR Converts Part III

I have completed the Assault Squad. One lesson that I have learned is as follows: photographing your models can assist you in finding things that you forgot to do or finish. I noticed a couple little things I need to do to complete the detailing/highlighting through looking at the pictures.

I have put some scrolling or lettering effects on the Terminators. As they are veteran Marines, I felt that the lettering would fit them well. I am pleased with how they turned out.

I have the final member of the Honor Guard prepared to begin painting. I pulled the magnets out and set him up for the backpack/jump pack. The process of magnetizing his back and the jump pack was easier than I remembered.

Last but not least, I put the Chaplain together. He is looking pretty tough. I am going to put the primer on these two before I go to bed. They will be ready to receive some paint tomorrow.

Chaplain

Honor Guard

WIP Terminator Assault Squad: AoBR Converts Part II

I have made a bit of progress with the Terminator Assault Squad. I think the models always look a bit more 'finished' when you have some paint on the bases. I have visions of the enemies of the empire meeting a horrible and torturous death at the hands of these Terminators . . . vile xenos scum ripped limb from limb.

I have a picture here of my recently arrived Assault Marines, Sanguinary Priests, and Chaplains to bolster my army. Of particular interest to me is the Chaplain in Terminator armor. Oh, I almost forgot to mention the meltaguns.

All this Terminator excitement has me thinking about deepstriking a Land Raider. I have never deployed a Land Raider via deepstrike. However, the prospect sounds very appealing to me. If for no other reason, I would like to do it because I can.

As always, I welcome your comments.

WIP Terminator Assault Squad: AoBR Converts

As I am ahead of schedule on my retooling the Angels Sanguine army to fit the current Blood Angels Codex, I decided to begin work on a Terminator Assault Squad. I had plans about a two years ago to convert a squad of Assault on Black Reach Terminators from the shooty type to the assault type. I dug around and found a packet of Terminator Lighting Claws which I had ordered from GW. I also found a Thunderhammer and Storm Shield in the bits box. A little bit of light converting, and I have what you see here. I also took this opportunity to rework the bases on this squad. I have changed them from the old sand bases to the urban bases.

I am pretty excited about getting them up to speed. I have a Chaplain in Terminator Armor coming in the GW order which I am expecting to arrive any day now. With a few adjustments to my proposed list, I can run the Terminator Assault Squad with the Chaplain attached.

There is still work to be done!

Is spam really the best build?

In the interest of better list building, let's try to answer the question: Is spam really the most competitive way to build an army? I dug up the following list on the popular forum Dakkadakka.

• HQ: Librarian with Jump Pack, Shield and Unleash Rage
• HQ: Honor Guard with 3 Meltaguns, 1 Flamer, Jump Packs
• EL: 2 Sanguinary Priests with Jump Packs 150
• TR: 10 Assault Marines, 2 Meltaguns, Power Fist
• TR: 10 Assault Marines, 2 Meltaguns, Power Fist
• TR: 10 Assault Marines, 2 Meltaguns, Power Fist
• TR: 10 Assault Marines, 2 Flamers, Lightning Claw
• TR: 10 Assault Marines, 2 Flamers, Lightning Claw
• HS: 5 Devastators, 4 Missile Launchers
• HS: 5 Devastators, 4 Missile Launchers
• HS: 5 Devastators, 4 Missile Launchers

Total: 2000

Is this list built through the matrix of Unit Purpose, Army Cohesiveness, and  Unit/Army Efficiency. Or, is this list built on the principle of 'If something is good, take 4 of them'??

I am of the opinion that this list could easily be played well on the table. However, the internet argues that this type of list is competitive and lists which have different units instead of carbon copy units (spam) is not competitive. I do not agree with that statement.

 I believe that a list built with purpose, units that work well together, and efficiency can include varied units and need not have the spam factor to be competitive. The table-top general must be able to focus on the purpose for his units/army, analyze the developing events on the battlefield, and implement his strategy towards accomplishing the mission. The cunning general can accomplish this with different and varied builds.

What do you think? Is spam the only way to go? Are these "Internet Experts" actually experts? Can the true table-top general generate continued success with lists which the internet experts do not consider optimal?

Honor Guard WIP: Part II

I give you another installment of the WIP of the Honor Guard. I have added another Marine and painted the bases. In a couple of these pics, you can see the backpacks and jump packs in the back. I have begun painting them. They are magnetized in the same manner which I used for my Assault Marines and Death Company.

Shot of the Bases

Follow this link, if you are interested in reading about my magnetizing method: http://pitchedbattle.blogspot.com/2009/08/magnetizing-backjump-packs.html

 I am getting real anxious to play a game.

Urban Bases