Dark Angels Primaris Chaplain - TO DONE

 

Greetings!  Today I'm sharing my completed Primaris Chaplain.  This closes the first chapter on my Primaris Dark Angels force.  I have all the Indomitus models complete now, save for the Chaplain which was swapped out for this excellent model.  Here is the completed force in my display cabinet (Plus a squad of Primaris Hellblasters from a past Squaduary...)

 I'll put up a proper group shot at some point, but you get the idea.  Pics of all of the above can be found here anyway if you practice some Blogger searches.  It's a great set of models from GW in my opinion.  Lots of detail, some great poses and a fun collection to paint as Dark Angels with the various companies represented.

Some may be relieved to read that I'll not be posting more Dark Angels for a while as I move on to other projects.  From here I'll enter Squaduary 2021 by pledging the set of Traitor Guardsmen from Blackstone fortress, shown assembled above.  I'm eagerly hoping the challenge runs this season; but I'm painting on regardless.

Skip down for more picks of the completed Chaplain.  For now I close with this big seal o' DONE.

Stay safe out there.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Dark Angels Primaris Chaplain - WIP

 

So, I'm banging away at a Primaris Chaplain for my Indomitus Dark Angels force.  As I've posted previously, I decided to assign the original Indomitus Chaplain to the Blades of Vengeance project in favor of pulling this guy in for the Dark Angels.  The soon to be released codex may not allow for Primaris Interrogator-Chaplains, but that's how I saw this guy as I started the project. This of course widely departs from the original notion for how distrusted the Primaris were by the Dark Angels.  However, as GW modifies the fluff to allow Primaris marines to join the inner circle, I'm jumping all in with this all Primaris force, started with the Indomitus boxed set.

The base colors went on much like the Judiciar.  I like the contrast of the bone-colored robes with the black armor.  I put Dark Angels green on the shoulder pads to tie him into the force.

Lots of gold and some dark silver (eg. boltgun metal) comes in to add some bling.  A standard Dark Angels chapter symbol transfer was laid down on the left shoulder while a light grey is painted over the right shoulder pad iconography, shaded with GW Nuln Oil. All of the colors are up above on the recipe tab.  I'm transitioning to Pro Acryl paint by Monument Hobbies.  I tried a couple on a lark, and have found that they just really fit my painting style and methods. 

Here's how the models stood before I began attacking the highlights and cleaning up some of he heavy handed shading.  I'm on pace to complete this guy before the end of the month.  With that done, I'll have completed my goal of painting the Marine half of the Indomitus set; albeit one month over due and with a replacement Chaplain.  The more significant goal, will be the first completed Dark Angels force in my collection after decades of playing and collecting them.

My previous record was one HQ and two tactical squads completed before I started the blog.  I never completed a Deathwing or Ravenwing model.  With this effort complete I have units from the various divisions of the Dark Angels represented and it feels great! But I live in a mind of small victories.

Stay safe out there.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Dark Angels Indomitus Judiciar - TO DONE

 

Greetings.

It's time to call this Indomitus Judiciar DONE.  He's been great fun to paint and I found myself sinking into the minutia of details, where I could pick away with highlights, etc. ad nauseum.  So today I'm calling it quits so I can move on to the last character, a Chaplain.  I'm not painting the Indomitus Chaplain from the box, as I've decided that Chaplain will go to the Blades of Vengeance.  I'm using the older Primaris Chaplain with the cool robes for the Dark Angels. But I digress...on to the big stamp o' DONE.

I used this week to complete the hour glass, backpack, and miscellaneous other details I hadn't quite got to for the last WIP post.  The hourglass got red sand, something I took some time to decide.  I tried something new here, using a gloss varnish to help with the glass look. I recognize I could have done something with highlights to give the impression of glass as well, and maybe better. But this will do.

I also put some more work into the buttons and button holes to make the robes a bit more interesting.  Some mud and dirt was dry brushed over the boots to tie the model to the base.

The backpack was highlighted and the icon painted. some more button detail also visible below. So...many...buttons...

The sword finishes up kind of plain, but it suits his chapter executioner role.  No power leads present, so I did not paint it as a power sword.

 

And a last look at the right side, with more of the hourglass shown, and the pop of color from the green sleeve cuff.

So there we have a completed Dark Angels Indomitus Judiciar.  Now to wait for the new codex to find out how either on or off the paint job is once we see the models role in that Chapter. 😂 I decided not to get too wound up over that so I could get the project done.  For the remainder of January I'll be working on the Chaplain.  Then for Squaduary 2021, I'm going to paint the fourteen chaos cultists guardsmen for Blackstone Fortress, so I can call the original set of hostiles done and move on to the characters.

I hope your projects are going well, and you are staying safe out there.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Dark Angels Indomitus Judiciar - WIP

 

Moving on from the Indomitus Captain/Master to work on the Indomitus Judiciar this week.  I decided on a head swap and a little extra bling to enhance the Dark Angel's vibe and separate the model a bit from the standard Judiciar model.  

 As you can see, this conversion, like the work on the Master, was a last minute decision. Blends nicely though, and the head swap reads well with the rest of the Judiciar model, in my opinion.  I like the knightly feel to it.  And if you ask me, there's a trifle too much chaos in the look of the original Judiciar head...but then who is a Dark Angel to judge such things? Best to keep you helmet on and just keep walking, I figure.

I wanted to exchange the hour glass for a nice big censor, but I just love the "times up" vibe with this executioner.  So the sands of time stay.  The floppy robes were so confusing to my eye that I picked them out first using my usual recipe for such things (see tabs above).  This let me get a better sense of what was going on with the model.  I just have to put it out there that I NEVER expected to see space marines going with "off-the-shoulder look" like this.  Must be a new generational thing the Primaris are experimenting with. Back in my time, the LION would never had stood for it.

Anyway, with the robes defined I added a Dark Angels green lining and cuffs, then set about some of the many detail son the model. Basically trying to base coat all of the various areas that shouldn't be black.  I haven't settled on how I want the hourglass to look, so it remains conspicuously unpainted save for some imperial eagles.

At some point, I also applied a chapter symbol to the left shoulder pad.  Rather than go with a smaller symbol, I chose to nip the sword tip off a larger one.  As a character, I felt this model needed to make a statement with heraldry and not use something small here. Ah, for all the little choices we make as we go along.

With details painted in, I got to work on some shading and highlights.

Highlights begin to pick out details in the leather work, robes, and purity seals.  Much of the black armor has also been hit.

The sword needs attention.  It has some shading, but no highlights so far. I tried to build up some dark shading in the text on the blade with multiple GW Nuln Oil coats.

Next up, I need to attack the backpack and hourglass which have largely gone ignored so far. And certainly the sword.  He's coming along well, certainly.  I'll be happy to move on to other models soon though.  Been staring at Dark Angels for the whole fall and into winter now. I think I'll paint up hostiles for BlackStone Fortress as a Squaduary 2021 project, which is just around the corner!

Stay safe out there.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Dark Angels Indomitus Deathwing Master - TO DONE

 

Greetings.  It's time to call the Indomitus Dark Angels Master I've been working on DONE.  I could keep picking away at details here and there, but I like where he's at and I need to look at something else...and I guess you folks would probably appreciate that too!  He's a fun model with a lot of interesting areas to work on.

With the big seal of DONE out of the way, here are a few more shots from the light box.

Stay safe out there.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Dark Angels Indomitus Deathwing Master - WIP - Part 2

 

The Dark Angels Indomitus Deathwing Master continues his slow progress towards completeness this week. It is time to look at the little details now.  There are many and each is sort of a mini project in its own right.

I decided this Deathwing Master carries the blood of a predecessor, or perhaps as rumor say, it's some of the Lion's own, passed down through the centuries. 

I decided the skulls on the armor would be made of the same grey material as the Indomitus campaign symbols I've been painting on this force. Here, the intake ports on the backpack are painted a steel color and shaded with GW Nuln Oil as well. I believe some touchup and additional highlighting have gone into the tabard as well.

Then it was time to get the head painted, particularly the mostly covered face. I think I picked out reasonable eyes this time.  Still working to get satisfied with eyes on these models. Also, you can see where I picked out the prayer beads that the vial of sacred blood hangs from.  The alternating beads are easier to count during prayer and the colors tie in with the checkers on the tilting shield. Some cleanup went into the artifacts hanging down the front of the tabard as well.

Then more work into the shield, picking out the little details and cleaning up the shading to draw contrast between bone and non-bone items. The iPhone is washing out some detail here, but it's coming along. I can't decide what to do with the hour glass.  The particularly observant (or kind) may notice my attempt at putting a light gray sand in the glass.  I'm still working on how that would look here in paint - sort of a 3d freehand going on. But that's perhaps making my efforts sound a bit too grand.

Hopefully one more session this week to get this hero done so I can move on to the Judiciar and Chaplain models that complete the force. I'd like to finish before Squaduary 2020 in February, but otherwise I really have no need to rush these well sculpted heroes. I want to look back on this project and feel good about the aunt of work I put into them.

I hope you and yours are well and being safe.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Dark Angels Indomitus Deathwing Master - WIP

 

Greetings!  The work on the Indomitus Captain model continues.  I know that Belial is the current Master of the Deathwing, but he still needs a stunt double.  I decided that it was time to put a little more work into these Indomitus models so they'd read as Dark Angels.  The paint work and transfers go a long way towards that, but you can't beat a few simple conversions that draw the eye.  Siph suggested earlier that I look for feathers, and I think I will at some point, but I have a bits box full of other Dark Angels icons and such (no feathers sadly) so I got right to work.

Here is where I started from.  As a push fit model, I haven't glued anything yet, so it was easy to pull the model apart and look at its head.  This, in particular, looks like every other space marine helmet out there - at least for an Indomitus captain - so for a Master of the Deathwing, it had to change.

I tried an assortment of heads, and even looked at putting these wings on other helmets.  In the end, adding these Dark Angels helmet wings to the Indomitus Captain helmet captured everything I was looking for. With a little finessing, they fit and accommodate the raised helmet visor just fine. I very much like the style of the Indomitus helmet for a Knight of the Deathwing and I wanted to keep the different look of this Indomitus armor and not bring in a helmet from earlier armor marks that might look out of place.  The wings change it enough to clearly call out a member of the Dark Angels.  Simple!

With that one change, I could get back to work painting.  There are enough other details that already match a Dark Angels look (the little shrines, prayer beads, etc.) that I didn't feel adding more would help out.  I'll look at adding green stuff feathers at some point - right now I just need these guys finished to a good standard to I can get on with other projects.

I was feeling all proud and bad-ass about converting this helmet when I ran across a few on the internet to bring me back down to earth.  There really are no new ideas...at least I put this together BEFORE seeing other examples.

Back to painting; I had fun with the base.  My buddy's old Necron force used this green shoulder pad motif, so this will be a good natured tie in to our past battles.  I don't know if he maintains that with his new Indomitus Necrons.  I still have to pick out the chest icon on this poor fella.  I liked how the pose has this fallen Necron looking directly up at the Captain standing over him. So I gave him Terminator-like eyes that show he hasn't fully shut down yet...maybe he's about to reanimate? Or perhaps he'll bite him on the leg?? Lots of story here.  Probably should have used green glowing eyes on Necrons, but baleful red just looks meaner and scarier to me.

I continue to paint power swords using my version of Duncan's technique for Custodes. It reads "something special here" enough to make the power weapons clearly visible on the table.  Nothing really realistic about it; but then we're painting far future space soldiers so what's the worry, right?

I had fun painting the little tilting shield.  Some freehand checkers with a few transfers from the Indomitus sheet. I needed to get away from green and beige/bone so this element would stand out a bit.  I wanted to nod back to the 1st Legion origins of the chapter too for a Deathwing Master, even if this fella is one of Cawl's vat borne Primaris brutes.

I ran out of Indomitus Deathwing decals, so I grabbed one from a prior large GW Dark Angels sheet. It's a tad bigger than the Indomitus ones, but he's a Master. Probably should have the biggest...er...company/chapter badge, right?

There is a surprising amount left to do.  So many little bits and bobs on this guy. That little vial hanging from the arm-scroll behind the shield, for instance.  Lots of little things.  Don't glue this guy before painting him.  It's been great to pop of the arms and backpack to get at all the fine details.  So much easier that just jabbing the brush in to a tight spot and hopping to get it right.

 With luck, I'll get this guy wrapped up next week.  I have the Chaplain and Judiciar left to go and Squaduary 2021 is fast approaching.

Stay safe out there.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!