WIP: Horus Heresy Dark Angels Command Squad Veterans

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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!