Sanguinary Guard Take Two: Part Deux

Just a quick blog update with a couple of work in progress shots of my new attempt at a Sanguinary Guard force. He still needs a bit of work, namely on the banner and a few details, but it gives the basic idea for the colour scheme, less bling more wing.

Bling Wing: Take Two.

If you've read back on my blog a bit you'll see that i've attempted a Blingwing - also known as a Sanguinary Guard army - before, getting quite far along with the army. But i have to admit their look just didn't quite work. I don't think i achieved the best i could with the force, so they were quietly put up for sale on Ebay and that was that. Or so i thought.

I've recently been away from the hobby, as you may have guessed from the huge number of updates to this blog, and i've not had the chance to play anywhere near as much as i would like. This is a combination of depression, ill parent and upcoming legal fight to get access to my daughter, so understandably little painted soldiers were not that high on my list of priorities.

But under the advice of medical experts, i'm pushing to return to both painting and gaming. This has left me with a few choices. Currently i've been using a Daemon army to play both Fantasy and 40k, largely because half the time there is no one to play Fantasy against.

But i've also got a budding Beastman army that i'd like to try. Which means i needed a small 40k army i could take as well in case there was no one for my Warherd to kill. And so the search was on.

I considered Grey Knights again, but the changes made to their background coupled with just how (un)popular they are these days i would have been one Draigowing amongst many. So they were out.

Space Wolves were next for consideration, a Loganwing army is small but perfectly formed. But the Wolves of Fenris have never quite grabbed me. Perhaps it was being on the receiving end of one too many beat downs when i started in 2nd Edition.

So with those two options out, i started looking further afield. Imperial Guard, Orks and 'Nids were all out of the question, too hordey. Chaos was a possibility, but given the rumours circulating there was a risk i'd end up with an unusable force once the new Codex hit.

Necrons were tempting. That Triach Stalker is just too lovely a model for words and i will own one eventually just for the pleasure of painting it. But again their background has taken a turn for the terrible with their most recent 'dex and its the fluff that gives me inspiration.

So a long story short, coupled with much head scratching and pondering i returned to the Blood Angels, my first true army and my favourite chapter by far.

Could i paint them better this time?

We shall see. At the moment i've picked up a Finecast Dante (all present and correct with no Aero bubbles) and two boxes of the Sanguinary Guard. I learnt much from the last batch, namely don't stick the wings and jump packs on prior to painting (too many crevices).

The debate now, as i glue my hands together and possibly some miniatures too, is whether to go gold again or go red. I've always been a traditionalist when it comes to the Blood Angels - if they ain't got a black shoulder pad trim, they ain't Blood Angels - so having regular Marines apeing Dante's blingbling look did niggle at me. I'm considering going for a classic Honour Guard scheme, red with Gold Helmets, this time around.

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As a small bonus i'm also going to briefly review some of the new paints. I grabbed the Red Glaze, Red Foundation and Snow Texture Citadel paints and gave them a whirl on some Daemons.

The new red foundation is slightly lighter than the old Mechrite Red, but does seem to cover even better. The red glaze is also pretty good, enhancing the Blood Red i applied it over and really making the red pop.

The texture paint though, i am iffy about. Firstly thanks to the bits of whatever in it, you get bugger all paint in a pot. The texture is a bit sparse once you start painting with it and it just doesn't quite work. So far i can't see myself buying more to use on bases when the old methods work better.

Perhaps i'm using it wrong though. If anyone is still reading this blog (cue tumbleweed) please drop a comment if you have found a use for the new textures.

Until next time, i remain

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-pope.

Shiny Happy People

I've taken a break from painting dark green the last few days, instead focusing some attention on the newer elements of my Blood Angels army- the Sanguinary Guard and Death Company.
When these kits were first released earlier this year i naturally grabbed a couple of boxes of each, initially planning on simply expanding my existing Blood Angels/Drinkers i've decided to take an alternate approach.

The Sanguinary Guard will join Dante in a "Dantewing" or "Blingwing" army. With a relative handful of models, only around 20 or so for a 1500 point list, i hope to get it finished quite quickly.
The Death Company will form an army organised around Astaroth and represent his travels gathering Black Rage sufferers from amongst the successor chapters and leading them to their heroic doom. As i collect the remainder of the two forces, i'll be combining both to make up the points when i go to the veterans night at GW Liverpool this thursday. During my last visit my Grey Knights suffered a rather brutal pounding from a Tau force, something i hope to avenge with my Blood Angels.
Given the small number of models i also hope to have everything i've collected thus far painted so that i'm not taking to the field with silver and grey forces. Which leaves me with six Death Company to make a start on, and ten or so Sanguinary Guard to finish the details on. Not an impossible task, but still a bit tough for me to pull off since i paint at the speed of an arthritic snail.

Mephiston has also snuck into the force, which i know can be seen as poor form given his more powerful than average stats and abilities. At the moment though he's simply there to make up the numbers. He'll eventually be replaced by the Sanguinor for the Blingwing, and Astaroth and a Chaplain for the Death Company force.

This re-organisation of the two forces is mostly an attempt to prevent myself on spending a small fortune on a new Dark Eldar army.
With every picture i see of them, it's getting harder and harder to resist rushing out and spending my last penny on them. Thats why ive avoided liverpool this weekend, because had i been present at the Codex's release this saturday, i know i would have succumbed to my urges. I also made the mistake of listening to the round table discussion GW put out for the DE, which left me even more desperate to buy them.
Normally i'd just give in, but i really think it would be doing a disservice to such brilliant sculpts to buy a bunch and leave them grey and sitting on my shelf. I also don't think i have the finances to rapidly purchase a horde army, which again would lead to them being shelf bound for the forseeable future.

Must. Remain. Strong.

In other news i am strongly considering selling my Grey Knights. I've a 2000 point force, consisting of 30 powered armoured GK, organised into 3 squads with Psycannons and Incinerators, a land raider, stern and two dreadnoughts. I've become somewhat soured on the army after realising just how out of date they are, it's only the beauty of the sculpts that keep them in my collection. That and i just know the second i sell them, GW will announce the imminent release of a new codex and spangly new range. Something to think about i guess.

Anyhow comments and criticisms welcome as always, and i am certainly always on the look out for new tips on painting metallics given the armies i collect.