Raven Guard Commanders

G'day all, Macca here with a "by request" post.

I recently showed the full Legion assembled together and was asked if I could show the individual commanders. So, as I aim to please (everyone except Keepy, the jerk), here they are:

Alvarex Maun, you can find out how I did this guy here.

Terran-born Commander, with a home-made shield. I built it as I didn't like the existing ones and wanted something more slab sided and breacher siege shield like.It's also worth noting he was the first true model painted for the army, so a lot more technique was developed just from working on him. Side note, the shield is magnetised at the wrist joint, I can put any ranged weapon or CC weapon I like on that left hand.

Strike Captain Aggapito,one of the Dropsite Survivors, I use him as a Praetor for most games.

A Praetor OR Consul, with twin Ravens Talons. The claws are converted from 40k Warp Talon ones, as when I built him, the 'finger nails' type claws weren't for sale.

Legion Champion, possibly the famous Sharrowkyn.... we'll never know....

Legion Chaplain, an early attempt at a chaplain, this guy isn't used post-Istvaan, because all of the chaplains were killed...

Legion Librarian, Pre-Nikea, or a while into the Heresy, I have him in the list, but I am not likely to use him very often. At first, he was THE go-to guy, but since Alvarex Maun has been so insanely good, I think I'd like to add either a Master of Signals or a Deep-Strike capable Praetor/Consul to give some more edge to the list. Side note, his pack is magnetic and I can give him a jump pack instead.

So there they are, I have a Master of Signals, Vigilator and a very special Moriat on the way, as well as some more RG infantry, so I guess my next post will feature the infantry, at a guess.

Hope to see you all next time, Macca

The Entire Raven Guard Legion... So Far...

For those who are curious, but haven't seen it floating around a few pages on Facestalk, here is the fully painted Raven Guard Legion so far. The weathering I do has come a long way since I started this project, but as I have to maintain a theme across the army, I continue to paint them the one way.

Enough from me, I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

Raven Guard Scimitar Jetbikes and Contemptor Dreadnought

Ho ho ho, Merry Friday!

Macca here, showcasing this weeks work. Believe it or not, these models are from my Death Guard Legion, with the bikes repainted, and the dread converted.

On to the show.

I have given all the bikes a subtle lean by VERY carefully heating the flying stands to curve them. These stands are very brittle, and also, can melt, so be very careful if you attempt this at home. The Raven Guard jetbike picture from book III was my guide to these, and lucky for me, my previous Raven Guard forces used the same tones, so I was able to blend these bad boys in well, the only major change from the book being the single red trim shoulder pad.

On the underside, I used a light blue wash to create the afterburner effect on the engine tips.

Raaaarrrrggghhhh! Chainfist! I was not happy with the FW chainfist sculpt for the the contemptor. I t just looked lazy, and it's a real shame, since the guy who sculpted it has done almost every other weapon in the Horus Heresy range and nailed every one. So, I used the boltgun chain-bayonets as fingers, partly because it now IS a chainfist, but also, it almost looks like a shark side on, a possible nod to the Carcharadons of 40k, you never know...

(I'd also like to note, it's not my idea, I'm not the first guy to do this,all I did was pose it and paint it this way.)

 Again, a soft blue wash blended into the silver gives a real burnished metal look, like the material has been subjected to great heat and cooled again.

This is probably the last thing a group of traitor marines saw...

Arms off, and you can see the decals a little clearer. I filed away all the Death Guard iconography to turn this bad boy Raven Guard, and in the blank space on the chest, I applied the medium sized Raven decal. I love it, it's again, similar to the picture in book III of a Raven Guard dread.

On a side note, all of these guys are 100% HAND PAINTED, just to see if I still had it in me after painting quite a bit with the airbrush over the last 6 months. I'm pretty pleased with the result, especially with the burnished metals. Well, that's all for me, I have a 1500 point game tomorrow and I will try and get some happy snaps from it, no promises,

Lots of love, Macca

Strike Captain Alvarex Maun: Part 2

G'day all, Macca here with the complete Strike Captain Alvarex Maun. I chose to keep him relatively subdued, with the same dark blacks and reds I have used across the army. I also used bronze as my metallic primary, with the rivets and parts of his pack painted in it as it was more interesting to see then silver. The black raven is a decal applied over the hand painted white stripe (many layers, I think 4 in the end of Tamiya White...), and a small raven in white on the front. Finally, the skin was a mix of old Elf Flesh and Tamiya White, with Tamiya flat black for the eyes (which still look weird as they are solid black, but hey, when in Raven Guard Rome...).

I also decided it would be fun to build a scenic base for him, as all of the other Forge World special characters have a cool extra-bases. I decided that I would stick with the theme I have established with the rest of the Raven Guard, fighting amongst the cliffs and ravines on the path to the salt flats. With that in mind, I used a few rocks, some spare bits of MK III power armour and a chunk of green stuff to make it. (pictures of the WIP base at the end of this thread.) Iron Warriors happened to be the chaps I picked as the dead, as the Raven Guard did take out just about the entire Iron Warrior presence in Istvaan V.

Hand painting Roman Numerals, always fun.

And the work in progress display base.

So, there you have it, one Raven Guard special character, I hope you enjoy, Macca

Strike Captain Alvarex Maun: Part 1

G'day guys, Macca here, and today I am back onto the Raven Guard!

With the release of Book III: Extermination from Forge World, I finally got my hands on the Raven Guard Legion rules, and might I say, I love them! The only unit that didn't catch my fancy was the Moriat special character, because, he sucks. S4 rending pistols are a bit mediocre, but he'd be good against Mechanicum, I guess...

Anyhoo, I thought I would try my hand at building Strike Captain Alvarex Maun. I have this lovely little image of the man, and his rules, but no points values because that would be wrong. This guy isn't the nastiest guy in the Heresy, but, he did survive the Massacre and was one of only 4 commanders in the Raven Guard to do so, so it's pretty fluffy for my force.

The wargear selection is key when building any character, in this case, he is wearing late MK armour, probably early MK VI, but, I decided to stick with MK IV as I love the more dynamic poses of Legion MK IV plate. Wargear as written is a power sword and a bolt pistol, and the key feature is his Nightfall Pattern Strato Vox. I built it by using a MK IV vox pack combined with a legion recon squad vox upgrade plate (the extra two antenna). The leather waist straps are from Anvil Industries, for anyone interested, and really help to sell the captain look. His head is the MK IV commander head, (from the Forge World blister with the guy holding the banner and the captain holding his helmet) which I have hacked and filed into in order to get that signature mohawk. To finish off, I used shoulders which look like the ones in the picture, and added some pouches to his waist and a combat knife to his backpack.

So what do you think? Looks like Alvarex? Let me know below,

Macca

Emperor's Children Legion Praetor WIP

Howdy all, Wadey here! So I've been plugging away and getting my Emperor's Children army ready for paint. Whilst prepping my Praetor I got to thinking about how I always run him gear wise versus how he is modelled and in turn, how this effects me with regards to WYSIWYG for tourneys.

I suppose I should start be explaining how I tool my Praetor...

LEGION PRAETOR 

- Paragon Blade
- Power Fist
- Iron Halo
- Digital Lasers
- Sonic Shrieker
- Jump Pack (Depending on list)

The problem I faced was that my Praetor although having paid the points for a Power Fist is not modelled with one.

 

 

After having a good look at the current model and my MKIV Power Weapon set I decided I'd have a crack at modelling my Praetor so he had both his Paragon Blade AND Power Fist. Now my first thought was to simply remove his pistol hand and replace it with a PF then just attach a holstered pistol to his belt... but that would be too easy! It then hit me, how ****ing tough would he look in the original pose but with dirty great PF resting on his sword!! That's when the fun began...

 

 



To start I CAREFULLY removed the existing hand. Using a sharp scalpel I removed the existing hand just forward of the elbow. I then removed the PF from its existing arm pretty well flush with the back of the fist. I then drilled and pinned them for a strong join when glued. Then I carefully and gently removed the old hand from the grip and guard of the sword with my snips and scalpel.

The process from there was simply to line the 3 pieces up for the best pose and use TINY bit of green stuff to close the join between the fist and the arm.

Well that's it for now, stay tuned for more on the Praetor and more of the mighty III Legion.

Cheers,

Wadey