Blood Ravens - CrimsonCorvidae

[CrimsonCorvidae]

A happy Sunday morning to you all!

 

I've been working on my Blood Ravens for a few weeks, and I wanted to get a few blog posts up before I start sharing it more widely. I aim to post about every 7 days with some of my progress.

 

I've recently returned to the hobby after a 3.5 year absence (Life TM), and after much deliberation I opted for the Blood Ravens. I just really like their colour scheme and background lore. I'm a researcher by trade so I appreciate their quest for lost knowledge, and their never-ending search for their origins is something you can really have fun with if you're into playing narratively.

 

What I plan to do is make a post on blogspot, and then make a TL;DR here with a link to the post.

 

Here is my first post:

 

These violent delights have violent ends...

 

This will probably irk the purists out there, but apart from always playing a Librarian I am not going to limit my army lists or collection to their representation in the computer games. My reasoning is that I've limited myself in the past and while it makes for some very individual(ish) armies, this time I just want to enjoy the hobby and build an army with units that I think are cool and fun to paint.

Here's the first purchase:
 

My goal is to construct a tabletop-ready army by the time 8th Edition comes out. I'll be back soon to post about my first painting efforts, and the technique I've chosen for painting Blood Ravens.

[CrimsonCorvidae]

The fires of the Pyrae burn strong

 

This post covered my undercoating process, and the "heatwave" that we had near the end of May here in the UK.

 

I went through the process of painting my first five marines.

 

This is the guys in the final stages. I still need to paint the guns and some of the details, but as I am trying to get ready for some table-top fun by the 17th June I will go back and add these when the army is up and running. The colours for the lenses and chest emblems are shown below.
 

My list of paints:
Armour - Khorne Red. Leaving the gaps in the plate with black. I will line highlight with Wazdakka Red.
Shoulderpads & Chest emblems - Zandri Dust, Seraphim Sepia, Ushabti Bone, Screaming Skull
Guns - These will be mainly black, with the metal painted Leadbelcher, Nuln Oil, Runefang Steel.
Lenses & Purity Seals - Caliban Green, Warpstone Glow, Moot Green.

Next time I'll post about the first vehicle for the Blood Ravens - a noble Rhino. I don't rate myself as a good vehicle painter at all, but I'm pleased with this one for a change.

Break out the Anointing Oils!

 

Here I covered the process of painting my Rhino.

 

Here is the "finished" Rhino. As with the Tactical Marines, I still need to add shading/highlights, and I've blocked off the details that I still need to paint. At least I can play with it now, and complete the details later!
 

In other news: I managed to make my pre-orders for Imperium 1 and the Dark Imperium starter set, all funded through Ebay sales of some old stuff. I shall be a happy chap on the 17th June!

They are the Defenders of Humanity

 

Today I'd like to show off the first Tactical Squad that has been made "Battle Ready" (i.e. painted sans guns and details).

 

On the main blog you can see the process of my initial attempts at quartering a power sword.

 

Now here's the full squad and their Rhino:
 

Edited June 18, 2017 by CrimsonCorvidae

[Dark Rage]

A good start, looking forward to seeing their progress.

[Lucerne]

Nice. What's a wetbrush?

[Shinespider]

Nice start. Don't let anyone get on you about what units you use - the computer games are adaptations of the universe, not transcriptions. Books, films, video games and the actual tabletop game are all different mediums and will always represent things differently.

[CrimsonCorvidae]

Nice. What's a wetbrush?

 

To be honest, I'm probably using the wrong term for it. It's just my friends and I used to call it about 10 years ago... It's when you use the same painting technique as a dry brush, but with more paint on the brush.

 

Nice start. Don't let anyone get on you about what units you use - the computer games are adaptations of the universe, not transcriptions. Books, films, video games and the actual tabletop game are all different mediums and will always represent things differently.

 

Thank you! I'm glad other people think like this :)

[CrimsonCorvidae]

Just a short post today:

 

REINFORCEMENTS HAVE ARRIVED

 

Yesterday the greatest of parcels arrived in the post. Something which I think many 40k hobbyists have also purchased over the last week:
 

DARK IMPERIUM!

They even packed in a small Primaris badge as well. Not sure what I'm going to do with it, but still pretty cool.

 

Blood Ravens Librarium

I also padded out my Librarium with one of the ancient Rogue Trader models. I was 3 years old when this guy was released (1987). I need to get a hold of a base, and pick out one of my spare backpacks to complete him. I love the fact he's carrying a book into battle with him. When I eventually get around to fleshing out some names and perhaps some background for my characters, I'm considering making this guy a newbie Lexicanum.
 

[CrimsonCorvidae]

The Bell of Lost Souls tolls for thee

 

This post was a little delayed, as my partner's mother passed away recently (she was given the Gift of Lewy Bodies Dementia by the most generous and benevolent Grandfather Nurgle). We travelled to the other end of the country for the week, for the funeral and seeing family. The Bell of Lost Souls rung out for another Hero of the Imperium lost.

Anyway, back to hobby-related things! Onward Emperor's Soldiers, and all that!

I have been busy assembling and undercoating a variety of units, but today I'm going to share some photos of my second Tactical Squad that has reached a 'playable' standard.

 

Here's a close-up of five Marines so that you can see the Dark Angels shoulders being painted as Blood Ravens. I think it works from tabletop distance, but I need some greenstuff to make it passable up close. The blood drops could probably be bigger too.
 

The Sergeant:

I've armed this squad with Grav weaponry, which I think are still pretty decent weapons in 8th:

[CrimsonCorvidae]

I've actually managed to paint a whole model. There is some more highlighting I'd like to do later, but here's my 1st Company Captain:

 

 

More pictures here, if you're inclined:

Captain of the First Company