# Forgiveness Is A Sign of Weakness - A Dark Angels Log



## G8Keeper (Jan 24, 2013)

Hi everybody, first time poster over here! I'm eager to get this thread and my creative juices flowing so I shall dive straight in!

I've been collecting Dark Angels for well over 13 years now and my collection has grown steadily over that time, starting from a lowly 1500 point army painted quite poorly for a Warseer (Portent as it was then) tournament in which i failed miserably and moving to where I am today with a painted force of roughly 7000 points. 

A few months ago two friends and I decided we would embark upon a tale of three gamers project, each with us starting a new force, painting and gaming as we went, increasing points limits incrimentally as we saw fit and completed sections of our army's. This is the first post for me on that project as due to christmas and a number of financial constraints I've only been able to start recently.

I decided to go with Dark Eldar initially but soon changed my mind when I saw the Ravenwing rules in the new Dark Angels codex. I've never really had a strong Ravenwing presence in my collection so now was an ideal time to start. 

Initially we have 500 points from which to construct a basic army. Somewhat limited for Ravenwing and as such you will see from the image below I have Sammael and 8 bikers, weighing in at 479 points (i think).

I plan on obviously finishing the squad on the right but also "dirtying up" the left squad, along with a few changes such as the back banner's head being painted black. 

Comments or critique so far would be welcome, I plan on an update roughly once every two weeks, maybe sooner depending on games.


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## son of azurman (Sep 19, 2010)

looks great so far,is it just ravenwing you do or do you o normal/deathwing aswell?


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## G8Keeper (Jan 24, 2013)

I do all three. Currently I have the whole 3rd Company painted bar 2 rhinos, probably around 30-40 ravenwing bikes and 50 or so terminators all in various states of completion plus I would guess at most of the 4th company unassembled. 

Lots of work to do!


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## G8Keeper (Jan 24, 2013)

Ok so a decent update here. I've had time to work on a couple of bikes so that I almost have my army up to gaming standard. Only two bikes remain plain black. 

Starting with Sammael who has had no work at all done on him thus far. I still need to attach his sword arm yet again, probably pinning it this time and finish off some edge hightlighting as well as some work on his face.

Bike squad 1 are the ones with their bases attached. These basically require the white on their fairings tidying up, the head of their back banners painting black and various highlighting odds and ends.

Bike squad 2 are without bases and as such I had to lean them together slightly so was only able to grab side pictures. I decided to go with two plasma guns here and use up most of my remaining points. This unit is very WIP with all needing bases and two without any work at all. Notice the white on their fairings is alot neater and this is how I plan on both squads looking in the end.

Comments and critique welcome. Also, if there's the interest I'll try and get up a pic of my entire painted DA collection?

One last thing, photobucket seems to hate me hence having to attach the photos to the post instead of include them. See you all soon!


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

Plenty of solid work there.

Your whites seem a touch thick in places; I suggest even more even thinner layers.


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## G8Keeper (Jan 24, 2013)

Ironically the white is done in 4 thin layers, maybe its the way it's ran into the recesses or something? I shall try and thin the layers even more on the next bike, maybe it'll tip the balance.


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## Kobrakai (Jul 25, 2008)

Hey Steve.

I'm really sorry it's taken me this long to reply to the thread. It looks like some good replies are coming in, and the new Ravenwing stuff is looking really good so kudos. Our tale of gamers event is going quite nicely it seems!

What's next on the block?


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## G8Keeper (Jan 24, 2013)

Kobrakai said:


> Hey Steve.
> 
> I'm really sorry it's taken me this long to reply to the thread. It looks like some good replies are coming in, and the new Ravenwing stuff is looking really good so kudos. Our tale of gamers event is going quite nicely it seems!
> 
> What's next on the block?


Hey Joe!

Well next on the block once i've got around to finishing the last two bikes (bloomin uni!!) is probably a Darkshroud followed by yes, more bikes. I'm looking to get three full squadrons of 6 in there in 1000 points if i can, then going for some cooler options such as Black Knights or maybe a Librarian.


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## G8Keeper (Jan 24, 2013)

Ok a bit of time has elapsed since my last update. I have no new pics of my ravenwing as frankly, 11 bikes and Sammael were boring enough to paint (aside from Sammael) and to show pics of similar works to those i've shown already seemed a bit pointless. Fear not, I shall pop a pic or two up once the army is at 1000 points (currently working on the 500-750 jump).

I thought i'd take some time this afternoon and get a group shot of all of my painted dark angels. Little did I know what it would involve, after an hour or so of dusting off tanks, repairing a couple of models (i gave up with a few) and lugging my cases etc downstairs, I realised the table wasn't big enough.

So I just went for my 3rd company plaus supporting elements and omitted the 'wings. Apologies for the slightly dodgy quality it was taken on my mobile phone, although I don't think it came out too badly. C&c welcome.


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## Kobrakai (Jul 25, 2008)

Now that is looking INSANE!!

Totally awesome Steve, that looks amazing. Need to add a few more pictures of the entire collection! 

Need to see it all soon!


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## G8Keeper (Jan 24, 2013)

Thanks Joe. I'll try and get some took tomorrow, possibly some of my Deathwing along with a few selected odd and sods from the battle company. 

Actually, I'm going to make it a huge update and may well get it up tonight. :victory:


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## G8Keeper (Jan 24, 2013)

Okay as promised a pretty hefty update here.

First off, the ravenwing. With my army now approaching 750 points I must confess I've found it difficult to find motivation with these guys. I put it down to two things: a) Painting black is pretty dull and b) I haven't had chance to give them a run out on the tabletop as yet. The second bike squad is shown in the picture attached which, as you can see, isn't completely finished as yet. They still need decals and bases for two as well as some tidying up and static grass etc. I don't think the picture does these guys justice as you can barely see any highlighting at all, despite the daylight bulb.

Secondly and still with the ravenwing we have my darkshroud WIP. You may notice the sword has snapped off on the statue turret. I actually think this looks better and gives the statue a more realistic feel as through the millenia I doubt that protruding sword would have survived in tact :laugh:. Otherwise it's a pretty straightforward kit to assemble and paint with only the cockpit giving any real dramas. 

Lastly for ravenwing I've included a shot of the last unit to go into my 750 point force, a Typhoon. Pretty self explanatory really, awaiting basecoat 

Moving on, I have included several shots of my deathwing force taken a few months ago. I'm pretty proud of how they've all turned out even if the command squad is no longer viable (damn you thunder hammers!!). One piece of advice regarding contemptor dreadnoughts, paint each part seperately, it will save you so much time its unbelievable both painting wise and from un-supergluing your fingers together :grin:. All of these took an absolute age to paint thanks to roughly six layers of bone required on each model. That is a heck of alot of paint especially on the crusader.

Please take your time to have a thorough nose at all the models I've posted up here and get those comments flowing!


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## jaysen (Jul 7, 2011)

Nice Company! I like the solid, iconic DA paint scheme.


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## G8Keeper (Jan 24, 2013)

jaysen said:


> Nice Company! I like the solid, iconic DA paint scheme.


Thanks mate, I saw the words Emperor Titan and a link in your sig... this should be interesting


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## G8Keeper (Jan 24, 2013)

Hey guys, I've left it a while to post any updates as life got in the way (as we can all relate to I'm sure). As you can see from the picture below my Ravenwing are now fully painted up to the 1000 points mark aside for a few odds and ends on bases and a Standard of Devastation (still seeking advice/ inspiration by the way).

Below them is my current project, namely the updating of my Deathwing command squad from all Thunder Hammers to the new codex and a more mixed up unit. I have replaced a model so that I could get a completely new champion in there with the obligatory Halberd of Caliban and swapped out my Apothecary's Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield arms for the Storm Bolter, Narthecium combo you can see. I have also gone a shade lighter with my champion and will probably be updating the rest of my Deathwing to match (eek).


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## G8Keeper (Jan 24, 2013)

Thought i'd post a quick update as i'm pretty pleased with my work today. I've been slowly getting the Deathwing company banner up to a half way point finished standard. The lighting isn't the greatest as it doesn't do the flames justice at all, oh well. Pic's below, enjoy (i hope). 


C&C welcome as always.


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## G8Keeper (Jan 24, 2013)

Quick update:

After a healthy Sunday blooding my Ravenwing force against Grey Knights and Space Marines i'm now ready to expand by 500 points. First on the list has to be a third attack squadron, the two coupled with the standard of devastation that I had in my 1000 point force just wreaked havoc (notably one unit killing off a Grey Knight Terminator squad in one round of bolter fire). I'm pretty limited what to take other than them, maybe a second character is in order?


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## Ratvan (Jun 20, 2011)

Very nice army, really crisp painting. Am myself looking forward to.DA successor chapter once I clear some space


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## G8Keeper (Jan 24, 2013)

Im finding the new codex rather good. Are you going to use it or codex space marines?


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## Ratvan (Jun 20, 2011)

Going to be using CA at the moment have to keep a beady eye on the release schedule however


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## G8Keeper (Jan 24, 2013)

So I've been pondering what to include in my next 500 point add on to my ravenwing force and have finally got off my arse to do some work! After a tidy ebay deal I managed to pick up the dark vengeance librarian for £5 including shipping and gleefully got chopping and the results are shown below. 

Whilst plastic is very very easy to saw through I found it quite challenging to get the diamond saw around the details I wanted to keep as I sawed him in half, I promise I never had an evil grin on my face whilst doing so by the way. In the end I settled for the book and frag grenade on his belt and used some spare bolt pistol ammo pouches to patch his left side up. I think he looks pretty good 






























C&C welcome as always.


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## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

Looks pretty good to me! One thing I also find helps when sawing plastic minis is to go and trim the fiddly bits with a scalpel afterwards, just to get them sitting flusher.


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## G8Keeper (Jan 24, 2013)

Yeah i had to do alot of tool swapping between clippers, diamond saw, files and the modelling knife. I had the enviable task of making the torso fit onto space marine bike legs too. The joy! Hopefully my painting will do it justice and make it all worth while.


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