Blood Angels: Revamped

A day long feared has finally come...

Many moons ago, I built and 'painted' a Blood Angels army to take part in games of 40k at a gaming club. It was done cheaply (it was one of the projects on which I developed the Cheaphamner golden rules) and quickly.

I never really got into 40k and so the army has sat unloved in a box longer than this blog has existed. I never sold it, as it still had one remaining purpose: to prevent me spending money should the time come when the 40k urge should ever strike again.

That time is now...

The only problem was that when I opened the box in which they have been literally gathering dust, I found that the standard of my painting has improved a touch since I did them, and so some tidying up was required.

Here's an example of the before and after of the tidying up.

For some reason, I'd decided that dumping black wash over red was a good idea.

In fact, when it came to the Assault Marines, I'd also decided that black wash over yellow was also, as Matt put it, "a bold choice."

Another before and after on the 'yellow' helmets.

Therefore, what was required was a fresh layer of red, and a tidying up of the other colours I'd used as it turns out that my eyesight was getting worse long before I thought it was and the details were a bit scruffy. I also needed to add transfers on the shoulder pads

So over the last few weeks I've been working on several units and now have about 650 points of Marines redone.

Tactical Squad

Assault Squad

Dreadnought

Rhino

Death Company

Chaplain (Kitbashed)

I've not done anything fancy with any of them (including improving the basing - although I may get to that if my motivation holdsup), as that could turn into a massive rabbit hole with the other half of the army still to do.

Whilst I mention it, the rest of the army includes another Tactical Squad, a Terminator Squad, a Veteran Squad, 2 Attack Trikes, a Captain, a Razorback and a Baal Predator. I'm hoping to get them all done before the butterfly of inspiration notices a different project.

In terms of painting tallies, I've decided to count these in the painted totalbecause in reality, most of them have needed a repaint from head to foot and I really don't think I would have used them as they were.

Acquired: 222

Painted: 230

Unleash the Dragon

But not in a Cisqo way...

For this post we're returning to the emerging struggle for Sheffield in another installment of 7TVBCW, and this time we broke out the big guns.

Whilst the BUF and Swallownest Socialists fought to determine the fate of George Orwell, the Handsworth Volunteers, part of the patchwork of militia that had declared the People's Republic of South Yorkshire, had received intelligence that royalist forces gathering near Wortley had developed a new weapon that might tip the scales against the numerically superior left-wingers in the region. Therefore they detached a scouting force of Great War veterans to Wortley to gather intelligence:

Rugged Veteran

Spiritual Custodian

Soldier of Fortune

VIP

Army Officer

Army Sergeant

5 Army Privates

Truck (Running Board, Twin- Machine Guns)

They were successful in discovering that the royalist militia in Wortley had constructed a prototype steam-tank they had nicknamed the Dragon after a local legend. However, the Handsworth men were discovered and found their escape route blocked by the a small force of well-armed Wortley folk and the imposing form of the heavily armoured Dragon, belching fire and smoke.

Bad Lieutenant

VIP

Grunt Leader

Grunt Heavy Team

3 Grunts

Big Rig (Heavy Suspension, Roof Machine Gun, Turret, Reinforced Frame, Plating)

Aware of the firepower arrayed against them, and knowing that the People's Republic needed to know what they were up against, the Handsworth commander divided his force into three groups. One team would make their way cautiously through the cover of the old ruined mill. Another would mount up in the SICKLE (the Siege Insertion Carrier with Knight's Lance Entry) and attempt to use speed to break free.

 

The final team would make their way through the farm and across the fields, keeping their heads low.

However the Dragon and the Lewis Gun team waited patiently for their quarry to move into view.

Whilst a squad of militia ran quickly towards the fence to take up a firing line.

To the surprise of the men of Wortley, a bright red fire truck burst across the bridge and race towards their lines, machine guns blazing, whilst other enemy figures could been seen scurrying past the farm.

Sensing there was no time to lose, the militia raced to the fence.

And the Dragon clunked, clattered and beached it's way to the top of a rise and began to pour fire at the enemy, raking the SICKLE and killing one of the men by the car.

The Lewis Gun team also opened up, further damaging their blazing red target.

Whilst all hell broke loose to their left, the leader of the Handsworth men moved with his team through the old mill without drawing any fire.

However, those was because the SICKLE was taking fire from all angles whilst barreling headlong towards the Dragon. Ultimately the weight of fire told and in an almighty explosion and the wrecked fire truck was pitched on its side. Only the chaplain crawled out of the wreckage alive.

From their vantage point, the Lewis Gun team were surprised when the explosion shook the ground around them.

And they narrowly escaped being caught in a land slip that blocked their firing line, taking them.out of the fight until they could reposition.

In a chilling reminder of their experiences in the Great War, the Handsworth men tried to advance across the cornfield to the well defended Wortley lines, but were shot down one by one. 

However, help arrived in the form of the chaplain, whose injured form, crawling out of the wreckage of the SICKLE made one of the militia briefly rethink what he was doing.

This moral dilemma caused him to back away from the fight and question the choices that had led him to firing upon his own countrymen, allowing the chaplain to stealthily make his way past the Wortley lines.

Seeing his men gunned down and realising that the Dragon would soon turn its attention to him, the leader of the Handsworth scouting party suddenly made a death or glory charge towards the Dragon, spraying it with SMG fire.

Despite the Dragon pouring fire at him, including a jet of some corrosive substance sprayed put of the window slit, the socialist officer was somehow able to exploit the steam tank's high firing point and duck under everything that came his way, scurrying past the armoured behemoth to escape.

The last few men of the Handsworth squad were not so lucky and were gunned down amidst the ruins of the mill.

However, the team leaders had escaped and the PRSY would at least be able to prepare for when the lumbering beast headed their way.

In what had appeared to be a somewhat one sided affair, Matt's Handsworth Volunteers had almost all been killed by my somewhat cheesy heavy firepower. However, speedily grabbing objectives and getting his two co-stars off the board handed Matt an 8-2 pyhrric victory.

It was fun to use Apocalypse vehicles in the game, and although the 17 rating Dragon was a bit OTT, it did leave me both short handed and short of plot points, which proved crucial for Matt when he made his dash for glory.

I'm not sure where we're going next, but given that I know Matt has a WW1 artillery piece, I confidently expect the Dragon to be facing it masquerading as a bazooka team then next time it numbers out of the work sheds.

Gorilla Warfare

For those that are familiar with Pulp City, there may be some consternation at my pre-emptive use of the pun in the title, given that I've not painted the mini-gun toting Guerilla, but instead have painted the four-armed techno berserker, Silverager, and the somewhat contextually inappropriately named grease monkey, Virus.

With both of these, I've eschewed the traditional colour schemes in favour of a more Soviet military look to fit with Ape-Bot. Originally, this decision was fueled simply by the red star logo of the A.R.C. but a bit of reading on the Pulp City website has revealed that these apes are actually the unforeseen consequence of a Soviet experiment gone wrong. 

Result.

I'm really quite pleased with how Silverager (he's meant to have white fur, but I'm arguing his name stems from him being a silverback) has turned out, particularly with his fur, which saw me using a more precise form of drybrushing than is usual for me.

I also like how the mouth, red stars on his bionic arms and the gizmos on his belt contrast with what is otherwise a fairly muted colour scheme.

The only small issue I faced with him was having to trim and angle the bionic foot, to that I could pin him to the resin base in a more upright position than is intended with the sculpt.

Virus on the other hand was a bit of a bugger to put together. Small parts and clumsy fingers meant I had to take several attempts at gluing his arm and tail on, and both required me to position them in a way that gave them other points of contact to make everything more robust.

I also managed to cut off half this left foot when I was trimming the metal tab off the base. Although not perfect when inspected closely, I managed to fix things with a spare hand from the Wargames Factory Zombie Vixens sprue.

In terms of painting, he was fiddly, but quite straightforward. I decided to give him a couple of red details (neckerchief and wristband) to tie in with the stars on Ape-Bot and Silverager.

I've currently only got one more A.R.C. model to go, the incendiary orangutan mad scientist, Dr Red.

In terms of painting tallies, things have taken a turn for the better, even though I've bought a Rohan House for my LotR project. It turns out that my 6-year-old nephew has been bought an Age of Sigmar starter set (the one with the push fit models), and so I've taken the opportunity to package up the models I got with the first two issues of Mortal Realms magazine (I was after cheap paint) and send them to him. 3 Stormcast Eternals, 4 Banshees and 10 Chainrasps should keep him busy (and reduce my 'lead' pile).

Acquired: 222

Painted: 207

The Battle Pinchfield Farm

George Orwell once called Sheffield 'the ugliest town in the Old World', which seems a harsh judgement. However, it's a little know fact that his viewpoint was probably affected by his being captured whilst visiting the area by the local branch of the British Union of Facists during the opening stages of what became known as a Very British Civil War.

 

Fortunately for Mr Orwell, a rescue mission was launched by the Swallownest Socialist Brigade, a local socialist workers militia affiliated to the Handsworth Volunteers.

If you haven't worked it out yet, this is battle report for 7TV: Pulp in which Matt and I broke out our VBCW forces for a little dust up. We've used a range of rule sets for VBCW over the years, but we felt that 7TV might suit the tongue-in-cheek nature of the setting.

My BUF consisted of:

Branch Officer Jack Boot - Ruthless Lieutenant (Co-Star)

Mr Frederick - Big Game Hunter (Co-Star)

Billy Boys - VIP (Extra)

BUF: Sheffield Branch - Stormtrooper Unit (Extras)

 - Stormtrooper Commander

 - Stormtrooper Sergeant

 - 6 Stormtroopers

 Propaganda Wagon - Sedan (Vehicle)

Matt's faceless (and currently nameless - typical feckless leftists) socialists horde were:

Cynical Gumshoe (Star)

Rebel Leader (Co-Star)

4 Rebels (Extras)

Grease Monkey (Extra)

VIP (Extra)

We used our flag bearers as VIPs, as the effect they had on PPs during the game seemed appropriate. The scenario was The Rescue and so Mr Orwell was also a captive VIP.

The socialist leader lead the way, slowly sneaking into the farmyard and disabling the car parked there, to prevent escape.

However, the BUF, who had returned, with Mr Orwell in tow, to Pinchfield by the back roads, caught sight of movement in the yard and spread out.

Aware they had been rumbled, the socialists took up firing positions by the hedge.

In an ostentatious move, the driver of the propaganda wagon performed a handbrake turn which thrust the vehicle between the shed and the house, simultaneously creating a barricade for the BUF to shelter behind and exposing the filthy commies to some of Oswald Moseley's more stirring quotes.

Meanwhile, Mr Frederick, the owner of Pinchfield, started a small smokey fire near the grave of his father to provide himself some cover.

Despite these precautions, the socialist leader managed to flank the BUF (unsurprisingly, he moved to his left), and unloaded his revolver into one of the fascists. He also tried to shoot Jack Boot, but another of the loyal blackshirts leapt in the way.

On the other side of the house, a largely ineffectual firefight broke out.

The works engineer tried to break the stalemate by moving round the side of the shed.

However, his plan failed as he was assaulted and captured by the BUF platoon commander, who then also tried the same trick.

The sudden appearance of the socialist leader had thrown the fascists into disarray.

They decided to withdraw and regroup, but their shots, fired on haste, went wide.

Just like the engineer, the platoon leader found himself in an exposed position.

Seeing their position being overrun, the fascists backed off further.

Filled with revolutionary zeal, the socialist leader pursued his quarry, keen to rescue Mr Orwell.

However, he was furiously assaulted by a counter attack and left stunned by repeated blows from Boot.

However, he managed to clamber to his feet and hold off the fascists.

Meanwhile, the static and leaderless defensive line of the BUF was once again in danger of being flanked.

It looked like Orwell might be liberated as the socialist leader finally got some back up.

What's more, the BUF were broken as their men were gunned down in quick succession.

However, Mr Frederick had been overlooked. He calmly loaded his shotgun and blew away the socialist engineer.

And then he reloaded and carefully took aim at the socialist leader, whispered, "get off my land," and opened fire.

BLAM!

The BUF had notionally won the day with an 8-4 victory, and had kept hold of Orwellas a hostage, but their noses and bodies had been well and truly bloodied by the Socialists. Certainly, further hostilities could be expected.

We have plans to broaden the conflict by bringing in Spy-Fi profiles (for weapons teams), Apocalypse vehicles (for wierd and wack contraptions) and Pulp gadgets, perils and countdown cards.