Thursday, January 23, 2020

WIP: Horus Heresy Dark Angels Command Squad Veterans

Horus Heresy Dark Angels Command Squad Veterans WIP

Back in December, I began work on a set of Dark Angels characters for my heresy-era project.  Today I'm sharing progress on two members of the Command Squad.  Both veterans of the Unification Wars who likely fought in the armies led by the Emperor of Mankind before such forces took to the stars as part of the Great Crusade. They will accompany my recently completed Praetor in power armor.

I chose a theme for sergeants and veterans in my force using helmet crests.  One veteran in this squad uses the newer (in my mind) transverse crest sported by my sergeants while the other uses a much older longitudinal crest, possibly indicating long years of service to emperor's legions. A bionic leg was also chosen to indicate wounds from past battles. It's my own fluff loosely melded with what we have for existing background canon.

Horus Heresy Dark Angels Command Squad Veteran WIP

I'm batch painting these two warriors, however this one is further ahead with the black armor highlights in place. I continue to enjoy the red on black color scheme.

Horus Heresy Dark Angels Command Squad Veteran WIP

Steel highlights are still needed, but many details are starting to pop, such as the articulations of the power fist and the highlighted legion crests.

Horus Heresy Dark Angels Command Squad Veteran WIP

I continue to follow my painting recipe which can be seen on the pre-heresy tab above.

Horus Heresy Dark Angels Command Squad Veteran WIP

Not sure what to put on the Command Squad right shoulder pads.  Probably a stylized number 1 for the first legion along with some livery, such as a couple rows of checkers or something.

Horus Heresy Dark Angels Command Squad Veteran WIP

Next we move on to the second warrior.  I wanted some individuality between the veterans and I like how they are coming together as a pair. The warrior below is meant to look older and slightly apart from most of the rest of my force.  This approach hopefully sets this warrior apart as a seasoned veteran in the First Legion. Having a story for the models adds some inspiration for my paintwork.

Horus Heresy Dark Angels Command Squad Veteran WIP

No armor highlights yet, but this model has fully highlighted legion reds.

Horus Heresy Dark Angels Command Squad Veteran WIP

The bionic leg has received a simple base coat of Vallejo Oily Steel with a heavy shade of GW Nuln Oil. It will be highlighted with some additional shading with Agrax Earthshade to give the leg an oily well used look.

Horus Heresy Dark Angels Command Squad Veteran WIP

The bases of both models have been painted and shaded but still require highlights. In these photos, the shade can be seen still drying.

Horus Heresy Dark Angels Command Squad Veteran WIP

This will be one gnarly looking Terran veteran in my force. Older battle worn armor, missing limb but still capable of delivering the Emperor's justice to His enemies.

Horus Heresy Dark Angels Command Squad Veteran WIP

So that's what I have been working on this week. I did skip a post earlier this week when it was clear I hadn't made significant enough progress to show much. I'm glad I continued on with these characters rather than move on to other projects.  It can be important to maintain momentum when working on larger projects and I'd really like to see this First Legion force complete.

With Squaduary fast approaching, I'm pretty confident I'll complete these two warriors in plenty of time to task switch to something new for the challenge.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

6 comments:

  1. These are such characterful models and I'm a big fan of what you're doing with them. nice one.

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    1. They are indeed - between what Forge World offers in detailed resin and what is available in the GW plastic kits there is a lot of latitude to assemble interesting combinations.

      Thank you!

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  2. This is shaping up to be a really cool force to go with your awesome Praetor. That bionic leg is great. "I aspired to the purity of the blessed machine!". My first army was Dark Angels and they were black. Not green. Mind you this was a very long time ago.

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  3. Great stuff! Bionics is a great way of picking them out as Veterans! I did the same for my artillery loaders and Aimee’s, they have been too injured for frontline so they are relegated to support line.

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