into the shadows..... building a full company

[olberon]

-Intro-
This is my First log here. I was listening to deliverance lost and did som research during listening to it. and found out that raven guard are really a chapter for me. I love black armour and the challenge it is to paint it correctly. I looked at black templars but decided these guys just didnt cut it for me, way to regligious for my liking. So Raven guard it is. i love their combat doctorine and really want to make a really fluffy army with plenty of droppods,assault marines and scouts.
I soon made the choice of using ALOT of droppods. I like the model and the ability to drop a unit practicly where ever you want on the table make it even harder for me to resist.

-The goal-
After the tragic loss of my 9 full companies of Blood Angels i realised after switching around quite alot in chapters that ravenguard was the chapter for me. So to start of "slow" im planning for just a company for the time being. painting it up in block of 2500pts.

-The inventory-
I compiled a list of stuff i already have in my invetory to start of on my fist 2500 points:
» Kayvaan Shrike (conversion) (see WIP further down)
» Librarian (conversion)
» 1x dreadnought
» 5x terminators
» 10x scouts with boltguns
» 10x scouts with sniper rifles
» 10x tactical marines with heavy bolter and plasmagun
» 10x tactical marines with heavy bolter and plasmagun
» 10x tactical marines with heavy bolter and meltagun
» 10x assault marines with ccw's and plasma's or flamers
» 1x Landspeeder typhoon
» 1x Stormtalon Gunship
» 5x devastator marines with lascannons
» 6x droppods



-pre work-

-Decals
being lazy and having a bucket load of transfersheets collecting dust i decided to make my own decal sheet for the raven guard. Based on an exsisting one i found over at bolter and chainsword. I remodified it to hold more decals and resized most of them to fit the shoulderpads better.
The sheet including refitting on shoulderpads took me a whole day in total and here is the result
The spot left blank on version 1 is intentional, i still need to fill it with stuff. Version 2 fits even better on shoulderpads even the scouts ones fit like a glove

Version 1:


Version 2:


- Jumppacks
I really like pre-heresy jumppacks so the step to making them myself where a pretty easy one. i soon found a tutorial on these -rather large- jumppacks and made a test one for my HQ -see later pictures-

-Work in progress Kayvaan Shrike-
as said earlier, the company is led by kayvaan Shrike and so decided to start on the conversion of that guy. this is the result, please note hes using th preheresy jumppack i told you about earlier. The original model looks pretty cool but i really wanted to make my own version of the guy.




o, i dont like them, they are going to be red for all my models, Bright red is my aim...

[olberon]

As you can se he is a total conversion, i actually bought a finecrap model but returned it to the shop asking my cash back (my granny makes better casts)
and went on the conversion route as soon as i got home, ok hes missing some raven guard tokens and insignia's but otherwise hes looking okay in my opion.

-work in progress (Test model tactical squad I) -
As carefull as i am and since painting high quality black armour is new to me i wnet for a test model first.
tho Kayvaan Shrike also was somewhat of a tst case for me.







Tho he looks okay(ish) im not to happy with the results they dont have the effect im looking for. so a bath of brak fluid is waiting for them

Note on the decals: The decals are a bit hard since they need a white background -and the armour is black - so i used a little trick there,I airbrush one of the shoulderpads white and apply the decal as normal,then dump the decal on top of that,paint the rest of the pad black when the decal has dried completly. it works great!!

The rims on the pads are green on this model also, i dont like them, they are going to be red for all my models, Bright red is my aim...

[olberon]

After spending last night with a fair bit of insomnia i decided to device a new black pattern for my Raven Guard.
and after a few trials and errors i found out this was the best result. I really hate the way GW lits up thir highlights and im always looking for a more neutral approach on the subject. The big plus is that you dont have th really sharp edges (which imo look horrible!) but a more subtle toning, making the highlights looking more neutral Bad thing if you have a bad camera (like me) but in real life it looks great!

This is what i came up with:
1. Spray undercoat black
2. Broad highlights Raven Guard Grey *
3. Nuln Oil Wash
4. Fine highlight of 50/50 Raven Guard Grey/ Standard Mechanicus
5. Final highlight of Standard Mechanicus
6. Glaze Abaddon Black
7. Touch up any mistakes with Abaddon Black

* is a mix 50/50 mix Eshin Grey/ Abaddon Black

Also did some work on my decals before printing.
Result of a few hours fitting and clipping


To be printed on white


To be printed on transparent


Marking still a Work in progress (looking for pics with personal heraldies (raven skulls ravens etc)

[olberon]

since there is always a need to start with one squad, i decided to start of with my dvastators.
The squad look like this
1x vet sergeant
4x marine with lascannons
1x droppod

The vetran sergeant is almost done so i tought id share a few pics with you all.









C&C always welcome

[energongoodie]

That veteran sergeant looks bada$$! Great posing BOLS chum.

[olberon]

that veteran sergeant looks bada$$! Great posing bols chum.

thx!!

[ElectricPaladin]

Uh... what happened to your Blood Angels? How were they lost?

Anyway, I love the way your Raven Guard are turning out, and I'm eager to see more.

Btw, you might want to consider buying white waterslide transfer paper. That makes it easier to get bright colors on dark backgrounds. I've been using it for my Exorcists, and it turns out pretty well. The only drawback is unless the background color on the decal matches the background color of the mini perfectly, you might have to do some touch-ups once the decal has dried.

[olberon]

-progress-
Yesterday i had a bit of an off day painting wise, i quit smoking -which is good since im now saving 5euro's a day for my hobby- and to keep my mind of smoking i went for painting a marine with lascannon for my devastator squad. problem is im a bi shakey at the momnt, so the mini doesnt look as nice as the last one
any how here are some pics of my latest progress.





and started to work on my 2nd marine with lascannon, after this one only 2 more to go!





Im still not sure about th coils on my lascannons, should i go for dark lascoils or the bright way. ??

With that question ill leave you all for today !
offcourse C7C are always welcome

[Bigred]

WOW, that Vet Serg looks like BOSS!

The pale skin looks very cool. It's very rare to see someone really go to town with Raven Guard and give em the respect a 1st Founding chapter deserves.

I'll be following this one.

[olberon]

thx red!!

Just found out i have my chaptersymbol and squad markings mixed up. what do you guys think, change or leave thm in place??