The Heroes of Armageddon Blood Angels Build Team Part One

It's time I got this going!  I wanted to introduce to you the Heroes of Armageddon Blood Angels Build Team.

First of all, it was a true honor to have been invited to take part in the Storm Wardens project last year.  Do to the fact that I had a newborn, I was only able to do a squad and transport, but I think they came out great and the army as a whole was a beautiful compilation of art, talent and love.  We raised I think 14 grand for Doctors Without Borders and Jacob walked away with the prize of a life time.

This year I was included in the planning for the new project from the start, but as the plans unfolded I was given an even bigger honor. I was asked to head the team to paint the Blood Angels part in the 3rd Armageddon War. Holy CRAP!  Four team leaders were selected to build the list, organize it's look and select the squad of artists to do the painting. I can't think of a more shining and generous nod towards what I do here than that.  I want to thank the boys at Santa Cruz Warhammer for having such faith in me and giving me this great honor.  I won't let you down.

That brings me to the Blood Angels army.  Each of the team leaders were asked to create a list for one of the four major factions of the 3rd Armageddon War.  Two ork armies were selected, Graz with his boys and the Speed Freaks.  An IG army was selected lead by Yarrick, and of course my beloved angels of death.  Yes there were many other marine chapters there including the Sallies and Black Templars, but the boys had to instill limits some place!  The Heroes of Armageddon concept was born. Who were the major players in the war? Graz, Yarrick, Dante of course.

So we decided on the armies, and a general due date. This would be Gamesday 2011 in Chicago. We are unveiling the project to the public as a display table at Gamesday. Some of the models will be entered into the Golden Daemon, adding that much more prestiege to an already big deal.

On with the list!  Given 3k points to work with I wanted to create a list that focused on two things. One, I wanted to spotlight the Heroes of Armageddon.  The Blood Angels are such as colorful codex with so many well known characters I wanted to get as many in as possible. Dante and Tycho were mandatory. Dante led the entire war and Tycho, the captain of the third company, famously fell to the black thirst before charging to his fate.  But the Blood Angels have other special upgrade characters. I managed to get Corbulo in there as well as Lemarte, Guardian of the Lost.  Having these four big names made me happy.

The Second thing I wanted to do was take a piece of each thing that made the Blood Angels unique.  Storm Ravens, Baal Preds, Furioso Dreads and Death Company.  Here is what I came up with.

Blood Angels 3rd Company at the Battle for Armageddon:

Dante
Tycho and Death Company Tycho
Sanguinary Guard
Sanguinary Priest with Jump Pack
Corbulo
10 Death Company
Lemarte
2 Death Company Furioso Dreads
1 Furioso Dread
1 five man assault squad
5 Terminators, 1st squad veterans to accompany Captain Tycho and Corbulo
1 Dedicated Land Raider Crusader to transport Tycho and his command squad
1 Baal Predator
3 Storm Ravens. One for Dante and the Sanguinary Guard and a DC Dread. One for the DC and the other DC Dread and one for an assault squad with Sang Priest with the Furioso.
5 Scouts with Teleport Homer.

Compared to the other armies in this project, the model count of this force is extremely low.  I could have gone horde and loaded up with a couple hundred assault marines or something silly, but I think this list catches the fierce spirit of the Blood Angels and gives a complete representation of what the codex has to offer.  Plus, despite the very small number of models, I would hate to have to face this in assault, I don't care how many Orks I have on the table. 3 dreads, 5 termies, 10 DC and 5 SanGuard are simply capable of armageddon on their own.

There is the list. Next time I will post up the painters I selected to complete this project.

Now what? Well you need to be in it to win it!  You can donate to enter by clicking the link at the top right of my blog.  For every dollar you contribute, your name will be entered once into the drawing.  If you donate 100 dollars, you name will be entered 100 times.  But not only will your name be entered for the four grand prizes, (Each of the four armies will be given away) but you will qualify for weekly drawings that will be held between now and the actual drawing.  This week gift vouchers are being given away to Secret Weapon!  Check out the post HERE. Entering early will qualify you for more prizes.  If you win now you are still eligible for the grand prizes.  So get in it!

But I want to take the time to remind you all that this project is bigger than an army, a give away or a single winner. This is about world compassion and doing the right thing.  People all over the world are in need of help and Doctors Without Borders is always there at the front doing what they can.  You are giving to a cause. Doing your part to help. That alone should be enough. But doing so gives you a chance to walk away with something truly special. An army, and the satisfaction of knowing that you make a difference.

Jawaballs

Hogs of war banner progress!

I was out of commission for a while with a nasty cold I picked up at The Colonial coupled with the trees dumping some gross yellow stuff into the atmosphere and closing up my throat. :)  Plus I was on vacation. Any way, I am back in action. First step was a trip to the art supply store to get more red paint because I ran out when I started laying down the colors.  Yes, I know the line down the middle is not perfect. It will be covered by images and won't matter. :)  I decided to lay the acrylic paint directly onto the banner for this one. I painted the rectangles with lots of black and red. Now I will add the hog skull, scythes, angel wings and scrolls!  This should be a fairly quick process.  I will draw in the skull first and paint the silhouette of it brown then layer it up to bone.  Should be pretty sweet!  Jawaballs

I actually got a bit more work done before this post went live so here you go!

Here I put in the hog skull first. I ended up making it smaller than I did in my sketch so that I could fit in the rest of the images.

Here I put in the scrolls and the scythes.  When creating one of these requires that I think about the elements of art and principles of design as I go.  For example, the two scrolls are repeating shapes while the scythes add symmetry. I won't know how the overall design looks until I start adding in base color. The colors will play against each other and make things jump around. The final couple of elements are going to be a terminator crux below the lower scroll, and some angel wings.  Maybe on the wings.  The checker pattern creates a very rigid angular look even though the scythes and scrolls are very organic. So I may need more organic shape to balance out the hard lines.  That is where the wings come in. I use them as a balancing element. This is a little trick you will see many artists do. That is why I am waiting til last on them.  I don't know at this stage if they will compliment or contrast the primary elements.  We will have to see!  Ok, time to get to work.  I have more posts to put up!

Jawaballs

Jawaballs loot clear out! Wave Two

Yesterday I posted up my first wave of stuff for sale and you guys were awesome. Every Dark Eldar model I had sold, as well as lots of other stuff.  This post is a bit smaller.  Here we go! Get ready for pic overflow. I realized yesterday that I should have given some guide lines though.  First off, I am not really interested in breaking up large groups of models to sell individual ones.  Please don't ask me "how much for just the cadian melta gunners".  I have taken pictures of them in the rough groups I want to sell them in. My email is jawaballs at hotmail.

Factory Sealed original Cadian Infantry box set.  20 models inside!  Big Brother is selling 10 for 25 bucks. That would value this box set at 50.00.  I will sell it for 35.00. 30% off.

Factory sealed Tyranid warrior box set. 25.00

28 Cadian infantry on sprue.  I will start with a base price of 60 for these models and knock 30% off it, so 42.00 buys the pile.

Krieg!  Not the best shape. 23 models. Melta gun, grenade launcher, sgt, leutenant, flamer, vox, banner. Some of the models have cadian arms. some have cadian guns and krieg arms. Some bits are broken. One is broken off the base and needs repair. Half are primed. Some are painted. I originally wanted to use these as inquisitorial inducted guard. You can see that Forgeworld was having an off day and most of the FW weapons are curly and bent. This is how they came.  Thats why I replaced most of them with cadian bits. Take a good look at the pics. These are AS IS.

Price: This is 2 squads and a command squad minus 2 models. Shotty shape. Probably in need of complete stripping and a lot of love.  Retail price would have them at 150 dollars or so new. I will lop that in half to 75.00, then take another 15 off because I love you. So 60.00 will buy the lot.  I'm sure some one out there will have the patience and desire to take advantage of that! 

Old metal storm troopers. 9 with mask, 8 without. 1 melta gunner. 2 sgts. half primed. As is in the pic! Price check? What's the going rate on these boys? 50 bucks?

Assembled and painted/primed cadian infantry. Not breaking up the lot. I will throw in an extra arm/gun sprue to finish the models in the back. These are painted well, cadian 8th. I will include my How to Paint video for Cadian that I used to paint these very models! 

Price: The cadian at ease models are going for 20+ on ebay. The snipers and special weapons are 15 for 2 on GW. Plus 23 other models including some very well painted ones.  I would have to say that 85.00 will buy the pile.  When I get home I will root through my bits box and throw in any odd models that have slipped away for free. Im sure there are a few.

3 plasma 2 melta

Sgt with Power fist

2 snipers

2 cadian at ease

Large GW plastic carry case. 100 bucks on GW. I will sell it for 50. It is huge though and will cost a lot to send.  It holds all of these models with a couple of empty trays. Buy the entire wave today and I will throw in as many bonus figs into the empty slots as I can find. What will they be? You will have to wait and see! :)

322 takes all of this IG with the case plus shipping and will include a copy of my How to Paint cadian videos, bonus figures, and a 20% discount off Jawa bases.  I will hold the sales for a short period to see if any one takes the bundle.  Otherwise I will let go of individual lots.  I know a lot of you already showed interest in this stuff based on a mere mention of IG. I hope this suits your fancy!

Jawaballs

The Great Jawaballs sell off!

Here we go!  The great Jawaballs sell off is here. I want to buy a home for my family. So it is time to turn the loot I have been hoarding the last few years into cold hard cash.  I need to come up with about 10 grand. Lets get started!  I wanted to offer these great deals to my loyal readers first.

This is the first wave of many to come selling stuff I have been sitting on. All of this stuff comes from projects I once intended to do, received in trade, or won at tournaments.  I am beginning with unopened box sets. Next will be painted models starting with Eldar stuff.  

Dark Eldar Gone.

Chaos Daemons! I won these some place.  Daemonettes of Slanesh going for 18.00 and Flesh Hounds going for 28.00 Demonettes pending

Scout Bikers.  8.00 each. Pending

WHFB High Elf Mage I used to convert Eldar Farseer Bikers. 15.00

Gothic Tyranid Leviathin... 20.00

Screw it, I will add the Eldar stuff now. This was actually my army before I got into Blood Angels. Funny huh? :)  

3 old Heavy Weapon teams. The guns are in rough shape, and only one weapon is with them. They are magnetized though. They need stripping.

Pathfinders. Two of the limited "squatting" model. Some of them painted fairly well! I can finish this squad up to the standard of the three well painted models for you.

Guardian squad and two warlocks. I think that is a star cannon weapon. The squad is mostly painted and needs some love.

One very well painted wraithguard. I have another one painted to this standard, and 3 more unpainted.

6 painted Dire Avengers and 5 unpainted still on sprue.  

Iyanden Wave serpent.

Avatar. All of the parts are around some place.

Wraithlord one. This one has been re posed so that he is crouching down and punching a Tyranid Genestealer.  I have the model some place and his hand. The torso is magnetized. The original idea was for a display board showing the destruction of Craftworld Iyanden by Hive Fleet Kraken. 

This one I modeled after an alien from the movie Aliens. I wanted him leaping off a balcony over a dead nid and went for a ferocious animal like pose and gave him hands for feet to simulate claws.

Your standard walking robot.

10 more Iyanden Guardians. I reversed the base colors on these to differentiate the squad. Never got around to painting them.

Custom plucked trays and Sabol Transport!

I also have my converted Farseer on jetbike who looks fairly good.  Rather than piece these out I will let the whole transport full go now for 350.00.  With a little effort some one can finish this work and have a really nice Iyanden army.  That includes all of the unpainted wraithguard I have not pictured, a whole bunch of Runic bases from Back to Base-ix that I bought back when I started the army, and whatever other bits I can find at home.  

  My Full Sized chapter banner that appeared in White Dwarf, on the GW site and won Best Painted Banner at Gamesday is also for auction starting at 500.00.  I have already been offered at least that much for it and have decided I will probably put it on Ebay, unless of course some one wants to make an offer here I just can't refuse!  

Ok then!  Buy my stuff. Jawababy wants a back yard.  Coming up in wave two?  Lots of painted IG infantry, Death Corps of Krieg, space hulk nids, and more painted models from my award winning Blood Angels armies!

Jawaballs