Shadow Force Dragomir - A Raven Guard Army

[Natanael]

I think the rhino looks great. As you said, the name-plate could have been silver, but it works well this was also.

 

I vote Dreadnought, I think. But the Sternguard would be cool... well... You pick :confused:

 

- Natanael

[Olis]

This is quite far above regular tabletop-quality painting - the silver may not be your best but it is still pretty good. :D

[blackbabyjesus]

Loving that rhino, I know from bitter (black templars) experience how hard it can be to get black to look black but defined on a big model like that and you've pulled it off flawlessly. The combination of chapter symbol and tactical marking is pretty neat too, I may have to 'borrow' that idea for some of my Red Scorpion transports!

[Race Bannon]

See, the tank almost provides proff behind my suggestion for the bike: black Black BLACK.

 

With a little white .. like on the shoulder pad.

[FatMan]

Good looking solid army with a lot of character. I enjoy them very much!

 

Laters

[SCC]

Thanks for the kind words guys, as I've said I'm pretty happy with the speed/quality balance at the moment and I'm looking forward to actually fielding a full army in the not too distant future :tu:

 

See, the tank almost provides proff behind my suggestion for the bike: black Black BLACK.

 

With a little white .. like on the shoulder pad.

Yeah, I think you're right Race, the next bike will be all black with a touch or two of white :)

[SCC]

Small update for tonight:

Battle Brother Arron:

I forgot to put his squad number on the Tac marking :)

Arron uses some of the new GK legs and power pack, FW Mk.VI torso, shoulder pad and arms, FW bolter and the rest is plastics. Standard paint job but pretty happy with the finished result, the GK parts haven't fundamentally altered the balance of the mini, he still looks nice and RG'ish but they do give just a little more variety for the army. Some of the GK legs are nice in particular and extra backpack variation is always welcome.

The scroll on the leg reads 'XIX' - a reference to the RG's position as the 19th Legion, the GK 'WARRIOR' inscription isn't specifically RG but it certainly fits with the life of a Space Marine...

As an aside, I've chosen the Venerable Dreadnought as the next keystone project...

[Brother Nihm]

He looks good,

Now go paint your Ven. Dread. *whip crack* :angry:

[Race Bannon]

GRrr ... that looks good. So let's see - new shopping list: GK box, more FW bolters.

 

Right. Ramen night for another month :angry:

 

(not really)

[Olis]

I wouldn't have noticed that was a GK backpack unless you had said, SCC. Now I've had a closer look it's nice to have some variation on the standard backpacks. I wonder what other bits from the GK you'll use next... ;)

[Chapter Master Ignis Domus]

Curse you for your skill! I hate you forever! Grr....

 

Excellent job on both. The highlights on the rhino are quite nice, as they break up the black, but don't stand out. Good use of the backpack, too.

 

Great choice on the dread, that should be very nice.

[Vulkan454]

Great work as usual. I'm using the GK legs as well because I think they add some variation to models.

Keep up the great work.

 

Vulkan

[SCC]

Thanks for the kind words folks, as a reward here's the first WIP of Venerable Brother Pallas:

As you can (sort of) see, following the issues with the bike I've gone black, black, black for the Dreadnought. Still plenty of work to do but I'm pretty happy with how he's coming along so far. Probably the only change I've made is to remove the gem from the wreath, that'll be replaced with a Greif lens once everything else is finished.

[commander alexander]

You've got some exceptional looking Raven Guard. Your black looks really good. Have you done a tutorial?

 

*Edit* Saw the recipe on pg. 8.

Edited May 9, 2011 by commander alexander

[GooseDaMoose]

Oooh are you gonna have a raven perched on Brother Pallas? That would be very cool, if you know what I mean :)

[Brother Nihm]

Shiny! (Firefly reference).

That is some great basework painting, did you use weathering power on the pipe parts?

[SCC]

Oooh are you gonna have a raven perched on Brother Pallas? That would be very cool, if you know what I mean :)

Oh, I know what you mean...but I don't think I'll have a perched raven, maybe one of the DE razorwings in flight, maybe.

 

@Cdr Alexander: Hope you found the tutorial helpful :)

 

@Nihm: Browncoats forever!

 

Thanks, I've been struggling with the balance of the bases for the whole army but with this one and Dragomir's I think I'm finally getting closer to the right balance of detail and grimdark griminess.

 

I'm using MiG weathering powders for this guy, I've been using them for all but the first few bases and I'm slowly coming to grips with them. The pipes are black undercoat a Vallejo Air Colour Black (Metallic) topcoat with VAC Gun (Metallic) highlights. Then they get a heavy MiG Light Rust powdering followed by a wet Standard Rust covering on the areas most prone to rust. I let the wet coat dry then dip a clean brush in water and clean off most of the rust leaving behind a patina of rust. The whole base also has a Light Industrial Dirt powdering over the top, including the pipes to finish it off.

 

For my own benefit as much as anyone else's the tarnished, weathered gold around the sculptures on the broken wall at the fore of the base is:

• Black undercoat
  
• Dark Flesh
  
• Tin Bitz
  
• Shining Gold - highlights
  
• Burnished Gold - very, very fine highlights
  
• Devlan Mud wash - 3 heavy washes
  
• Thraka Green Wash - 2 heavy washes in recesses and the battered bits
  

[commander alexander]

I did find it helpful, and easy enough to follow :) . The only thing is I try to stay with Citadel paints, as there the only ones that people use on them, and that I have access to.

[GooseDaMoose]

Oooh are you gonna have a raven perched on Brother Pallas? That would be very cool, if you know what I mean ;)

Oh, I know what you mean...but I don't think I'll have a perched raven, maybe one of the DE razorwings in flight, maybe.

 

Dude, you gotta, it's too good to not do! :P

[Olis]

You could always try using Coteaz's eagle, maybe converting it...

 

Good stuff, btw. ;)

[Vulkan454]

Dread looks good so far and the basing is amazing. Mind if I nab that heavy Bolter on the last page? I just think because it's so portable it would fit my raptors very well.

 

Vulkan

[Messanger of Death]

@ SCC - Couldn't find the answer in the pdf or in this thread. But what dull cote did you use. Was it Testors Dullcote spray by any chance?

 

Messanger

[SCC]

I did find it helpful, and easy enough to follow :) . The only thing is I try to stay with Citadel paints, as there the only ones that people use on them, and that I have access to.

Most of the Vallejo colours I've used have a GW equivalent, I just prefer the dropper bottles and consistency of Vallejo. Let me know if you need a hand finding matching colours and I'll do an addendum for the tutorial listing just GW paints :P

 

@GooseDaMoose/Olisredan: I'd use the Empire general raven if I was going to do it I think...

 

Vulkan454: By all means use the HB idea, it's not like it's patented or anything ;)

 

@Messanger of Death: Yes, it's Testors Dull Cote that I use, for a dead flat finish it's the best in the business for my money B)

[Dosjetka]

Let me know if you need a hand finding matching colours and I'll do an addendum for the tutorial listing just GW paints ^_^

That would actually really help me, as I'm struggling to find equivalents to your non-GW paints.

 

Cheers,

 

Ludovic

[SCC]

OK, here goes, I've offered an alternative for the non-Citadel (i.e. GW) paints on the list below. I've left the Foundation paints in as you should be able to obtain them at any GW stockist the same as the regular paints, plus they're hard to match without mixing form the regular line:

 

Black

 

Citadel Chaos Black

Citadel Badab Black Wash

Citadel Black Wash

Citadel Foundation Adeptus Battle Grey

 

White

 

Citadel Foundation Astronomicon Grey

Vallejo Pale Grey Wash - 10 parts glaze medium (or water) to 1 part Codex Grey

Reaper Dragon White - replace with Skull White

 

Yellow

 

Citadel Foundation Calthan Brown

Citadel Foundation Tausept Ochre

Citadel Foundation Iyanden Darksun

Vallejo Game Colour Gold Yellow - replace with Golden Yellow

Vallejo Game Colour Sunblast Yellow - replace with Sunburst Yellow

Vallejo Model Colour 915 Deep yellow - Replace with Bad Moon Yellow

 

Green

 

Citadel Foundation Orkhide Shade

Vallejo Game Colour Dark Green - replace with Dark Angel Green

Citadel Snot Green

Citadel Scorpion Green

 

Basing

Citadel Foundation Charadon Granite

Citadel Foundation Khemri Brown

MiG Weathering Powder Industrial City Dirt - replace with Kommando Khaki drybrush

Citadel Foundation Dheneb Stone

MiG Weathering Powder Standard Rust - replace with very light Macharius Solar Orange drybrush

 

Custom Colours

 

Raven Guard Black: 4 parts Chaos Black, 1 part Adeptus Battle Grey should do the trick here. Add a little extra ABG or a drop of black ink to the colour to get the exact shade you want - lighter if you're going to wash your highlights at any stage, maybe just a little extra black if you aren't, that's a matter of taste. Note you can also add a touch of dark green or blue here if you want, the original Vallejo German Grey has a touch of green to it like many German colours, but blue could be used if you want a richer tone to the RGB too.

 

Gunmetal Blue: 6 parts Boltgun Metal, 2 parts Asurmen Blue Wash, 1 part Badab Black Wash - make sure to mix this one well (or shake it if you make a pot) to make sure the wash and paint mix thoroughly.