Blood From A Stone

When the decision was made that our big Christmas game this year would be 40k Apocalypse using 5th edition rules, I saw that I could use this as an opportunity to add to my original Blood Angels army outside of what fits with the Horus Heresy.

However, I don't have much in the way of unpainted 40k miniatures, especially as I've recently been raiding that particular pile for my Astral Claws, leaving only scraps to pick over.

Thankfully, I was able to rustle up enough parts to put together a couple of Assault Marines and a Sanguinary Priest to add a little more punch to what had always been an understrength unit.

I always find painting Blood Angels a bit of a chore because I still use the same laborious method I've used since I redid the army in lockdown. It's slow, but it does ensure that the new models fit in and I like the final outcome.

The Sanguinary Priest uses a combination of parts from newer Blood Angels upgrade sprues put on a body I had originally used for a kitbashed Chaplain when I first put this army together.

In 5th edition Sanguinary Priests are force multipliers, making nearby units both more deadly and more durable. Exactly what might be needed in my first ever Apocalypse game.

The Assault Marines were scraped together with whatever parts I had left over. Fortunately, in 5th edition one in five could be armed with a Meltagun, Flamer or Plasma Gun so I could take advantage of my Heresy weapon sprues when the Chainswords ran out.

I had an unpleasant surprise when I discovered that the green parts of the Tesseract Glow technical paint I'd used on my Plasma Guns for this army had solidified, leaving me with a watery yellow wash. Fortunately, I've discovers that adding some Hexwraith flame over the top gives a better result than the original paint.

I currently have only a single Marine body left in my bits box and he's been earmarked for service in the Badab War. However, I still have one more thing to add to the Apocalypse war effort without needing to spend any more money.

More on that soon.*

Acquired: -61

Painted: 371

Lead Mountain: 641

* Don't get too excited, it's only a Land Speeder.