Lately I have been slowly plugging away at my 30K army. I picked Raven Guard because I thought that their background and chapter tactics were cool. They are the “black ops” chapter of the loyalist forces, using infiltration with an emphasis on infantry and fast units. The Raven Guard didn’t fare too well at the Michigan GT, losing nearly all of their matches, but I am going to try to remain optimistic about their possibilities.
Since my choice, I have determined that I hate painting black armor, but now I’m committed. A lot of the models are specialty units which aren’t in other legions.
Right now I am building a 2500 point list that is heavy on infantry. So far I am making progress on four units:
Assault Squad
In my opinion, this will be my coolest looking squad. I used a standard 30K Marine model and used arms from Anvil Industry for their close combat weapons and shields. I used the “steam wings” from Puppetswar for their jump packs. This combination gave them a cool “death” appearance with their black armor:
The scythe art was taking too long to do on fifteen models, so I opted in the future to just paint them metal. I plan on making decals for their shields, each with their individual names on them and individual artwork, as well as unit insignias and XIX legion marks. So far aside from decals, I have seven of fifteen done.
Mor Deythan Squad
These are my alpha strike scouts. They are used to sneak up and use their fatal strike ability which (hopefully) causes a lot of damage to an enemy unit. They are armed with combi-flamers, a rifle with a one-shot flamethrower. I used a little bit of red on these guys to break up the boring black and white paint scheme. This also calls them out as an elite specialty unit. I have two squads of five, of which I have five almost finished. I just need to highlight their backpacks and finish their bases.
These guys were fun to paint. They also have a rhino armored vehicle I have to paint.
Tactical Squad
I also have a big tactical squad I’ve been working on. This squad will be twenty models and used for holding objectives. They will have a Chaplain with them to ensure wherever they decide to hold, they will stay. They are also equipped with an extra close combat weapon for when they have to go toe-to-toe with an enemy unit. It was while painting this squad that I found out that stonewall grey is a great alternative to white with superior coverage. It also is good for the pallid skin color that the Raven Guard have as a defining characteristic. I’ll be repainting my Mor Deythan Shade’s skin in this color. I currently have eight of twenty in this squad painted.
In the background, my seven near-finished assault squad models can be seen.
Dark Furies
The Dark Furies are assault marines on steroids – they have no means of ranged combat and are entirely dependent on getting in the face of the enemy with their Raven’s Talons. On paper, they seem good, but the main reason I got them was because the models look so darn cool. I worked up a prototype before I start applying paint to the rest of the squad, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. They have so many seams that it will take a bit to do this squad. I have ten models, of which one is nearly completed. They also have wings, but I will probably do them last when all of the figures are complete.
Painting black to make it stand out has been a real challenge. I wanted to find a good color without going overboard on the contrast. I think after some experimentation I have found a process that I like which I may detail in another post.