Blood Angels What Do?

[ElectricPaladin]

So, I've got a vaguely painted Blood Angels army. Having long ago stripped and started repainting my Tau and sold away my Cygnar in favor of my new, and gloriously painted Khador, it's my oldest current project, and it's... kind of janky. I mean, I was still using dip all the time back then. While I still recommend dip as a tool for building an up-and-coming painter's confidence, I can't say it got great results. OK results, sure, but I'm so much better now.

Anyway, I'm having a hard time convincing myself to get back to it.

But then I had a thought.

Strip them down to bare plastic and paint them up as Knights of the Blood!

There are a lot of benefits to doing Knights of the Blood. They are lone badasses, badmouthed by the Administratum, but still protecting the people of the Imperium... when they don't go berserk and chew on them, but we don't need to talk about that. Some sources (ie. the older fluff that has since been retconned) indicates that they have gone full-Chaos and serve Khorne, while other fluff indicates that they retain some of their old nobility and do their best to contribute, even as they are relegated to outlaw status. So, if I felt like it, I could organize some of them according to the Chaos codex and play them as blood-soaked Khornate berserkers, while at other times I could play them according to the Blood Angels codex and play them as semi-loyalists.

But on the other hand, the Blood Angels have a longer and more storied history... and there's the Blood Angels novels, which really brought the faction alive for me. And there's repainting my stormraven - I'm not going to strip that son of a b^tch down and start again.

Additionally, Knights of the Blood have a more complex color scheme that I think my newer talents could really do justice to, while the Blood Angels are just kind of... red.

So, what do you think?

[phoenix01]

I'm going with the Knights of the Blood answer. I like it when people step out of the comfort zone and take an army that you don't often see played/painted.

[Obispal]

Lamenters, Still Blood Angels so you can still use the same models. Plus their paint scheme is interesting, a challenge to paint well but rewarding.
Plus then yo play the badab war campaign, which is lots of fun :)

[ElectricPaladin]

It looks like BoLS is leaning towards Knights of the Blood. I've picked out an unpainted Blood Angels assault marine on foot - I'll paint him up in the scheme, post a side-by-side photo with one of my old Blood Angels, and we'll see how it looks.

[Brandoncbaker]

I'm a long time BA general,and having my painting skills improve drastically over the years,I've decided to reprint a lot of models. I chose the Angels Encarmne. Mainly because I think DC is awesome,and they have the most.plus there DC and Sanguinary Guard wear white armor.

[ElectricPaladin]

I'm a long time BA general,and having my painting skills improve drastically over the years,I've decided to reprint a lot of models. I chose the Angels Encarmne. Mainly because I think DC is awesome,and they have the most.plus there DC and Sanguinary Guard wear white armor.

One of the fun things about going Knights of the Blood would be getting to to decide how to adapt the color scheme for various units. Here are my thoughts:

• Basic Marines: silver bodies & backpacks, red shoulder pads & helmets, left kneepad red, right kneepad type color (red for tactical, yellow for assault, blue for devastator) with squad marking superimposed.
• Honor Guard: silver bodies & backpacks, golden shoulder pads & helmets, left kneepad gold, right kneepad red with squad marking superimposed.
• Sanguinary Guard: silver bodies & jump packs, red shoulder pads & helmets & wings, right kneepad red with squad markings (in case I field more than one Guard squad...)
• Death Company: not sure of this one, but since I don't have any immediate plans to field a death company, I can wait and figure this one out.

Also not sure how I feel about the honor guard being both gold and silver. Might be too gaudy. Perhaps they should have red helmets and golden body bits?

[magickbk]

Also not sure how I feel about the honor guard being both gold and silver. Might be too gaudy. Perhaps they should have red helmets and golden body bits?

It all sounds great, and I'm always for people doing armies that aren't very common.

As for the above, Silver and Gold can look great together. The trick is to avoid large areas of a very yellow gold next to large areas of a very white silver. What I would actually do is mix a very tiny amount of your silver into your gold (really tiny, this is like mixing black into a color in terms of how quickly it changes), and then highlight with an even stronger mixture, and then use the same wash on both. Personally, I would do the helmet, shoulder trim, and any iconography and the Aquilas with the gold, and have the rest be silver.

[ElectricPaladin]

It all sounds great, and I'm always for people doing armies that aren't very common.

As for the above, Silver and Gold can look great together. The trick is to avoid large areas of a very yellow gold next to large areas of a very white silver. What I would actually do is mix a very tiny amount of your silver into your gold (really tiny, this is like mixing black into a color in terms of how quickly it changes), and then highlight with an even stronger mixture, and then use the same wash on both. Personally, I would do the helmet, shoulder trim, and any iconography and the Aquilas with the gold, and have the rest be silver.

I hadn't thought about that: the fact that the aquilla will also be gold on the honor guard will break up the areas of silver and help the silver and gold work together. Good get.

[Deadlift]

I had a Knights of Blood army a fews ago and I loved them. I painted my Dreadnought in a 50/50 scheme. Half Angels and half knights. Had lots of compliments on here for it :D
It's a great army with interesting fluff (what there is of it) and they could easily be used as chaos or blood angels.

[Cactus]

Knights of Blood does give you two army options. With a couple of HQ swaps, you can double-dip on armies and stay consistent with the fluff. I really like the Black and red version myself.

[daboarder]

Give into the hatred and avenge our fallen father against the puppets of the corpse-god, he betrayed Sanguinius and sent him to his death at the hands of his brother.


Chaos bro, chaos!

[ElectricPaladin]

• Basic Marines: silver bodies & backpacks, red shoulder pads & helmets, left kneepad red, right kneepad type color (red for tactical, yellow for assault, blue for devastator) with squad marking superimposed.
• Honor Guard: silver bodies & backpacks, golden shoulder pads & helmets, left kneepad gold, right kneepad red with squad marking superimposed.
• Sanguinary Guard: silver bodies & jump packs, red shoulder pads & helmets & wings, right kneepad red with squad markings (in case I field more than one Guard squad...)
• Death Company: not sure of this one, but since I don't have any immediate plans to field a death company, I can wait and figure this one out.


My wife - also known as my creative consultant - has confirmed that she agrees that gunmetal and gold on the honor guard will work. I think that additionally veterans, including veteran sergeants, will have golden helmets, though the rest of their color scheme will match whatever unit they are a part of (for example, a veteran devastator sergeant will be gunmetal with red shoulder pads, one red knee, one blue knee with superimposed squad marking, and a golden helmet - a veteran in an honor guard squad will be entirely gunmetal and gold, with knee squad markings).

I read the codex and the sanguinary guard are described there as wearing "traditional" colors. I'm a big nerd, and if I'm going to do something I'm going to do it right... but with a twist. I think what I'm going to do with them is an inversion of the normal veteran scheme. They will have golden bodies, but I'll give them red shoulders and red wings, which should be very striking. Not sure if I want to give them red helmets/kneepads as well.

I'm still torn on the death company. Probably I'll stick with the basic black. That's what the codex recommends.

[ElectricPaladin]

Hey all - just wanted to let you know that everything is coming along swimmingly (in blood... :)). I'm almost done with my test model, and I really like how he's coming along. The silver and red scheme is really striking, and the degree to which my skills have grown since I painted my first Blood Angels is... remarkable. I can't wait to post some comparison shots for you all.

Now I need to start thinking about how to work the color scheme on vehicles... :D

[ElectricPaladin]

Pics! I got pics!

http://31.media.tumblr.com/eee55669dd30e2e6530293143d53f4b1/tumblr_mrmrbopuDh1rgb5qno4_1280.jpg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/a069e252b77ca8c268c20e253e4bb1d7/tumblr_mrmrbopuDh1rgb5qno5_1280.jpg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/fe36a240ac5722d72f7c65ceaee59bd3/tumblr_mrmrbopuDh1rgb5qno3_1280.jpg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/820ce8a838d5682cd0f279f98cebf2c1/tumblr_mrmrbopuDh1rgb5qno1_1280.jpg

Before you help me judge from the pictures, you should know that there are two elements missing from the Knight of the Blood assault marine. I still need to drybrush some mud onto his boots. Additionally, the sealing process will take some of the shine out of the silver... which is fine, because I'm going for more of a gunmetal silver than a bright silver. I'll post more pictures when the model is done, but the rains started so there's no guarantee I'll be able to seal the model today.

By the way, I'm quite proud of the freehanded Knights of Baal symbol on the shoulder pad. It isn't perfect, but it's pretty good for a first attempt. Most of the army will have elaborate Blood Angels-style shoulder pads - which makes sense for a company that is struggling with chaos, having left the Imperium - but some of them will have freehanded symbols.

All of them will have the black tear, because I have a lot of practice making that symbol. That means that for whatever it's worth, I'm painting the Knights of the Blood 5th Company.

[Deadlift]

I like it, the scheme in the codex has the metal much, much darker. I too decided that it was too dark and went lighter. I think it helps them stand out more.

[ElectricPaladin]

I like it, the scheme in the codex has the metal much, much darker. I too decided that it was too dark and went lighter. I think it helps them stand out more.

I agree. Super-bright silver is probably too "knights in shining armor" for such a troubled and crazy bunch of Space Marines, but it should look like metal, not just slightly shiny black.

[ElectricPaladin]

Here's a color test for the Knights of Blood sanguinary guard scheme:

http://31.media.tumblr.com/d34bf755124364a34b338bc748d525da/tumblr_mrpb03pj3l1rgb5qno1_1280.jpg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/627495b44ce3caf70295163412067741/tumblr_mrpb03pj3l1rgb5qno2_1280.jpg

http://31.media.tumblr.com/9be7acf33f07d239491061b900000b50/tumblr_mrpb03pj3l1rgb5qno3_1280.jpg

Now, before you go judging me, this is a sanguinary guard model from my old days. He was dipped, which is why his gold is, if not gaudy, a bit bland. In the future, I'm going to use the gold base, wash red, and then drybrush liberally with the red-gold and, on top of that, lightly with the bright gold, so the end result will be a bit ruddier and more complex.

But either way, I think it shows that gold with red and white works.