StormRaven Gunship

StormRaven at last! 
Fast as lightning and heavily armed . Trully Death's Chariot of destruction. Emperor show mercy to the enemies of man because I will not.
Armed with 4 Missiles with unlimited range, a selection of turret and chin mounted heavy weapons and the option of hurricane bolters, this model is what we fairly name ''GUNSHIP''!
This model is UGLY for sure, but hey, name a real life gunship that you can call beautifull. AH64 apache, Mi-24 Hind, AH1 cobra are all Helicopter Gunships and you can't call any of them beautiful. So yes, I can't call the StormRaven beautiful too. Its job is to carry the death company to the thick of battle, destroy heavily armoured targets and make a mess to light skimmers.
I named my StormRaven ''Blood of the Martyrs'' and painted it with the colours of the Death Company. I armed it with Las Cannons and Multi Melta. This way I can engage two tank class targets with good propabilities of damaging them or turbo boost forward and use the Multy Melta inside melta range to destroy Land Raider class armour.
Of course a StormRaven so close to the enemy will attract a lot of unawanted attention but even then I care not. The Death Company is exactly where I want it to exact Vengeance.

The 1st Rank of hungry looking models.

he first rank of hungry looking Ogres is ready. I am satisfied with the flesh colour I achieved. It is simple for my busy mind to remember, easy for my skills to paint and effective on the camera. What else can I possibly ask? Some more maybe?
True enough, but the paint station is full with a furious Angel Sanguine Chaplain who is threatening me to paint his StormRaven. A trio of angry Dwarfs who's pressing me to paint their war machine.

So, I have to go. The Chaplain has begun to mutter and I don't like the words he's using.

Ιn Vulcan's Name.

This model is one of my favourites. Yes, I really do loath the metallic models for a number of reasons!

The conversion work is difficult and the fact that I have to use super glue to glue anything gives me second and third in a matter of fact thoughts, to buy, paint and convert any metallic model.

But some models are exceptions! Models like this, with rich iconography, adorned in purity seals, dramatic stances (well not so tactically correct, but who gives a damn), bolter toting warrior fanatics who give character to your army.

Yes brothers and sisters Astartes outhere.You can easily convert a decent plastic SternGuard Veteran. It's cheaper, easier to convert and paint, but if you want your force to shine like a Teleport Beacon on the tabletop of the far future your army needs character, a character that only metal models like this one can give.

Another reason for some of us to bother painting those pewter annoying models is the fact that we are collectors. Aye, not only gamers and painters, but collectors too. The endless search for a specific, out of production model for a particular squad we are building is like the quest for the Holy Grail (Oups that was pretty dramatic). Searching on Ebay or asking friends, visiting isolated gaming stores for some vaulted stock reminds me of the Quest of Forgefather Vulcan He'Stan for the lost relics of his Primarch.

So, if you happen to have a friend collecting Space Marines and you find in your spare box an old model don't be so quick to throw it back. Drop your friend a line he will appreciate it.

By the way, this lovely gentleman will be Veteran SGT Chronus. This model will be the beginning of the second Salamander Tactical Squad. Do I need to explain the reason of his Combi Melta?

Whats worse than an Ogre?

With the final details on the model completed I am pleased to present another painted (and based) Ogre.

I started with a black undercoat. I didn't glue the hands and gutplate. I glued those three pieces to a spair plastic sprue to be painted seperatetly.
For the body I used a lot of colour schemes but this one is my favourite.
Adeptus Batlte Gray like basecoat. Then I coated the model with a mix of 50/50 Adept. Battlegrey and Deneb Stone. A further coat of Deneb stone and finaly a coat of 50/50 Deneb stone and Skull White. A pure skull white highlight to define some more the muscles of Mr. Ogre and then I washed selected parts of the body with Liche Purple.

And it's done!Pretty easy huh!

From this angle you can see the rusty effect on its sword.I am not confident enough with my ''Rusty Effects'' paint style but I m improving. 

Another angle this time for the base.My basing skills are still low.Maybe the grass i used was not appropriate.I hope to find some altermative solution about it soon.Till then thanks for watching

Quick Update.

With my Stormraven deep in the WIP section of the Gaming Room and few more models nearly in complation its time for a quick picture of the ''Paint for a friend'' project.
This is the crew for a Dwarf War Machine.Not sure if i will assemble a cannon (He already got two) or an Organ Gun (He only got one).

Οh my God....its an Ogre.

Τhere was a lonely lovely box inside the playroom, it was sitting there since Jan of 2009. It was collecting dust under other boxes of models from another galaxy, another game and another race. The upper boxes were coming and going, the models inside turning from lovely grey plastic and metal to lovingly painted models. The winter turned to summer and then again winter and then again summer and then again winter… till Feb of 2011! Then, the lonely Ogre's Battalion saw at last the cold sunshine. The long years of loneliness had passed, it was time to transform from beautiful grey plastic to ugly huge models. It was time to get painted and stroll the battlefields of the Warhammer's Old World. It was time to eat and fill their guts with meat. The Meat of the enemy!
We don’t Eat you because we are evil or twisted, this is the evolution of the food chain and YOU are at the bottom!

Τhe Angels Sanguine Force ''Avenger of the Fallen''

After almost 10 months and the Angels Sanguine Project finally hits the board. Ten months to finally be able to play with the roster and find out its weaknesses. I really enjoyed this last 10 months painting this force. I never imagined that the split color scheme will be so rewarding. I had hard times trying to find a good red recipe to combine with my painting skills, I searched the net to find fluff and the heraldry of the Angels Sanguine Chapter (without results its true) to be able to come to this results I now present. The Angels Sanguine Picture.

Sure I need a proper Basing. Soon you will see progress with that.
Sure I need more units. Underway is a Devastator Squad, the second Assault Squad is 50% complte and a Storm Raven Gunship is nearly to completion.

So please stay with me and keep me company till the end of the project, cause this will take some time

Playtesting the Angel Sanguine Roster,

No matter how many years you got in competitive gaming you cannot overlook the ''Playtesting'' sessions of your list.Every single list you do it needs games , games that will patronize your roster and find out where your list lack and where list is overwhelming.
With that in mind i payed a visit to the Battle Bunker Club.A prive warhammer 40.000 club i am member.There i met Dimitris a friend of mine and we discussed about my roster.
The restrictions were:
No Spam units , No Mephisto , No a ''anihilation'' or defeat roster.
The  list we came up was.
Librarian with Unlease Rage and Shield of Sanguinius
an 8 man  Death company with chaplain and Storm Raven
a 10 man Assault Squad in a Redeemer Land Raider
two 5 man Assault Squads in Razobacks
a 5 man Sniper Scouts.
I playtested the roster against a Grey Knight quest-player .It worked wonders but my opponent was quite inexpierienced and his roster not challenging.So i tooked another go , this time with Brother Aris.

Brother Aris is a very expierienced player able with his play style to make enjoyable a really challenging game for his opponent.To tell the truth Aris can massacre you but at the game's end to make you feel the need to treat him a beer or two.
Long story short i gave the game up at round 3.
Ι fixed the roster some more.I added some extra Ιnferno Pistols and a Sanguinary Priest to ride with the Assault Squad.The Scouts disbanded to the army case.
Now my list looks like that.

Librarian : Unlease Rage and Shield of Sanguinius
Chaplain with inferno pistol. (Now i can shoot a transport and charge the unit inside it .Should  the chaplain Fail i can shoot the said transport with the Raven.This way i can practicaly destroy 4 units on a turn.)

Sanguinary Priest with Power weapon and inferno pistol .(Now the Assault Squad have some extra Punch and more durability)

Assault Squad with Power Fist and Melta Gun (The melta gun can allow the same flexibility with the chaplain's Inferno Pistol.Allowing the Land Raider to engage a different target)

Two 5 man assault squads with melta gun and RazorBacks .One with Assault cannon and the other with T-L Las Cannon.

A Death Company unit with 3 power weapons , Inferno pistol (Should Chaplain fail to destroy his target) , power fist (All around weapon) a Bolter (For wound allocation purposes) and 3 chainswords
Land Raider Redeemer with Extra Armour and Multi Melta (The Assault Squad's Dedicated Transport)
Storm Raven with Extra Armour.(The Death Company rides it).

After the rematch i was happy with the overall performance of the roster.I now have a nice roster able to play with my friends enjoying a mug of coffee of beer.Not an overpowering monstrosity but not a week not challenging list.

But a post without a new painted model is worthless so please enjoy the chaplain i painted last weekend.A really nice model with strong pose.Shame he doesn't have a place to my roster anymore.

The Begining of a fire base

I know it's not the proper way to play Blood Angels. The concept of "Fire Support" sounds way wrong for the blood hungry chapter.Thankfully, I play Angels Sanguine.
I want to build a Fire Base with a Tactical Squad , a Sanguinary Priest and a Devastator Squad. This Way I will be able to secure an objective early from deployment. This way I will be able to launch my attack to grab or contest some more objectives later.
The composition of the Tactical Squad will be like 10man Squad with Melta Gun, Plasma Cannon, Veteran Sergeant with power fist.
This way "shooty", deep striking units will have to ''Run'' to spread out. The threat of a Plasma Cannon on a tightly packed Infantry Squad is huge and no sane commander will take the risk to lose their unit. But even if my opponent is willing to try the Toughness 4, Armour Save 3, Cover Save 4 combined with a "Feel no Pain" save will prove a nut hard to crack.
But even with a Close Combat Unit the prospect of running against a Fire Base like that is not clever either. Ιf I feel confident I will not let pass a close combat oportunity. After all, 18 Str 5 In 5 Attacks and no less than 8 Power Weapon Str 5 Int 5 attacks is a nightmare to recieve. And please don't forget the Missile and bolter class fire on the shooting phase.
The Wargear of Sanguinary Priest is the almost standard issue Power Sword for reasons I have already explained (Please see the post on ........for more information)
And the Devastator Squad will be a 5man squad armed with missile launchers. It has to be cheap to be effective but the alltime clasic missile launcher is a must choice for every devastator squad.
So with that you got your self a cheap and reliable fire base able to defend and claim objectives away from the short and medium range enemy fire but with a long reach able to devastate light and medium armour.
This Sanguinary Priest is a classic old, out of production model. I cut his wrist to exchange his chainsword for a more ellegant Power Weapon.