Painting the Blood Angels Troop Choices

With the new Codex just two weeks away, I've begun to look at my current Troops squads and their armament. Mostly I've been running three five-marine squads of RAS, with the Sergeant armed with various close-combat kit, loaded in a Blood Angels Rhino. The new Codex will inevitably have a points drop on these basic units so I am considering expanding each one out to ten-marines strong. That means I'll have room for special weapons like Meltaguns. With an eye on growing the squad and building news, I'm looking to paint up about 15 more of these basic troopers.

Painting-wise, mastering a way to paint red quickly is important to building and painting a Blood Angels army. I've gotten to the point where I can produce finished marines rather fast. I take the grey plastic models and spray them with a citadel spray gun with Mecharite Red as my undercoat. Then I put Vallejo Model Colour: Carmine Red into my spray gun and get a nice even coat of red on the entire squad. Then I bring them to my painting desk. I cover then entire model in Badab Black Wash. I let that dry and then I drybrush with blazing orange. At that point I am done with the armor and all I need to do is paint the rest. It produces a deep red for Blood Angels armor.

The signature yellow helmets is also important to get right, but most new painters are at a loss to get a good yellow on their models. I start with a basecoat of Iyanden Darksun, then I wash with Gyphonne Sepia. Once that is done, I mix Vallejo Model Color: Yellow with Iyanden Darksun and paint that on again, leaving the wash in the recesses. I highlight by adding bleached bone and then white to the mix. This produces a nice yellow color that is not too bright and cartoony, but still attracts the eye to the head.