Dark Angels - To Date!

I've had a number of requests in the past to see the entire Ferron Expeditionary Force. As I'd just completed the Ravenwing it only seemed to make sense to throw everything on the table and see what I've actually achieved.

The Bastion isn't complete but hopefully I can get it and it;s twin done before Armies on Parade this year and I'll have quite an impressive looking display of my army.

And who knows what else will be done by then. Fingers crossed I can get the Dark Talon and Knight completed too, although I think it's be pretty disastrous if I hadn't completed at least one of those by September/October.

Ironically I think it's the bikes that are truly stealing the lime-light here.

They really work as my vanguard, I just hope they begin to pay dividends on the battlefield, although they've been pretty good when they weren't even painted!

The Deathwing also look pretty nifty.

Just take a close up look at the front cowl on the bike, the effect is really quite special. For all the challenges and worries this makes it all worth it. Check out the glow effect inside the Plasma Gun too, purely accidental.

Obligatory phone pics.

Now potentially this may be more than 1850pts, which was one of my To Do List goals. What will need to be considered come the end of the Hobby Season is whether 1850pts is the goal or sufficient figures to make an 'effective' list. 

I think so long as I don't rest on my laurels and continue to add Dark Angels so I have options then I may well have met that target, what do you think?

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the pics.

Dark Angels - Double Trouble army

Whilst I was taking my To Done! pics of the Ravenwing bikes I set up my Armies on Parade board to take my Double Trouble army showcase pics. Unfortunately I forgot to add the Techmarine as my HQ but nevermind.

 Not a lot to say really, its probably completely sub-optimal but its what I got and the old skool Rhino and Assault marines fits Luke's request to use old miniatures.

Bikes looking tasty amongst the rest of the squad. I can;t wait to have more bikes, I'm loving the Ravenwing now.

One question: do you think I should keep the Assault marines with green bases or re-paint the 'grass' as yellow to further fit my Ferron theme, Luke what do you think?

Looking forward to using them in a few weeks.

Dark Angels - Ravenwing bike squad - To Done!

Finally got these done, I may have gone over the top a little bit on the weathering powder on the tyres but I can live with it.

Obviously the OSl on the headlamps is still a little too opaque but the gloss highlight certainly gives the impression this is from a light source and not something else.

I have to admit thought that my idea of these guys a brooding unit of shadowy black hunters has been thrown out the window with all the extra colours, trimmings, badges, litanies, patina and effects. It's a positive cacophony of colours.

But I'm actually really impressed with the end result, my first true Ravenwing bikes.

Here's one of the units of three.

Though stupidly I got them mixed up and you've got two with Company badges of '2' and the last as Roman numeral 'II'

The screens came out OK, especially as I switched to Tamiya Clear Orange X-26, instead of Tamiya Clear Red X-27. The orange added richness to the red already present and made the white 'targets' orange so there was variety in the display.

Surprisingly the '2s' were far easier to paint than the roman numerals. I'll have no fear of doing these in the future, expect more curly gothic numbers!

Here's where the weathering powder looks a little OTT.

Phone pics

Big green stamp of approval to me, thanks for your patience with it all this time! Some more gallery pics coming soon.

Dark Angels - Ravenwing bike squad - Screens

Before and after the magic of Tamiya. Not fantastic but it'll do.

Did the screens and then I've done everything else. Orange weathering powder is a bit dubious but hey, ho.

To Done! pictures being taken later on today and I may even do a Double Trouble army shot.

Dark Angels - Ravenwing bike squad - nearly done!

It's all coming to a close now, the last update before they're complete hopefully. In preparing to do the Verdigris I HAD to avoid the task and decided to add some of the tribal stripes I'd included in my Deathwing. The three stripes really add something even when I've already included so much extra detail on these. In some respects they're incredibly simple but als very busy looking. The fact was the Sergeant ['Kanaan', if you're interested, his name scroll is pretty dire] needed something as he was just too similar to the first one. I'd wanted to do warpaint at some point but didn't think there was room on him. However, having decided to add no highlights to his skintone [compared to Sarge 1 - 'Creal'] for yet more diversity I realised that warpaint would break his bald pate up and I'm really pleased by the result, even if he is a bit Father Christmas/heavyweight boxer.

This guy has just the stripes on his backpack vent and the left side of his helm [out of shot]. I actually thought this would make a nice connection with the 'Bear Claw' tribe that inhabit Ferron Proxima as it looks like they've been mauled by a bear.

Of course I immediately realised that bears have four claws and there are three stripes but I was reliably informed by Professor Egon Suess that the Neon Bears of the Ferron Badlands do in fact only have three claws so this is anatomically correct afterall! Honest ;)

BUt I eventually got round to the Verdigris and out of the five remaining bikers I managed to do four of them in one evening. Ofcourse if I hadn't been faffing with the tribal markings that may have been the full five, but I digress [as I did last night!]. Of course I then realised I'd made a mistake in that the sole remaining biker was a Plasma gun guy and one of the remaining elements left is the plasma coils [I also need to pick out the purity seals on both Plasma Gun guys too!]. I couldn't do that while waiting for the verdigris to dry...

so I actually took this last guy into work and finished the Verdigris in my lunch! The first time I've painted like this in years. Now what's left?

1. Pin highlights [still]
2. Eye lenses [there's only 4, so not sure why I'm putting it off]
3. 2nd Sergeants head/eyes!
4. Purity seals - sepia wash
5. Litany script
6. Names and numbers on shoulder pad
7. Verdigris
8. Handlebar screens
9. Plasma coils
10. Red headlamp and OSL [v.nervous about this for obvious reasons! ]
11. Base edge
12. Varnish
13. Orange weathering powder on tyres

See, stripes!