The Heroes of Armageddon: Meet the Blood Angels Build Team!

Here they are! The Blood Angels Build Team:

Jawaballs (Chris Dubuque) Team Leader

I have been into 40k since late fall of 2006.  I painted my first "good" model, and I use that term loosely, about a year later.  Since then I have worked hard and constantly pushed myself to improve.  I started this blog before the boom in 40k blogging, and so the Jawaballs machine took off and I became known as "The Blood Angels Guy".  That lead to some notoriety and infamy, but most importantly, got me invited participate in last years Storm Warden project.  For that project I painted a 10 man tactical squad with Rhino and the Chapter Champion for the Command Squad.  

That lead me to being included with the planning for this years project, and naturally being invited to participate as team leader for The Blood Angels army.  If you are reading this blog, you know plenty about me and my ego. No need to pad it more!  But here is a list of my accomplishments:

Many "Best Painted Armies" at various Rogue Trader Tournaments

The Conflict GT Best Army 2009

Many Grand Tournament Best Army or Best Presentation or Players Choice Runner Up awards. More than I care to count. ;) (Screw you and your skittle marines Joe Johnson)

Many individual model painting awards such as "Best Painted Tank" Bolscon 2009 for the infamous "Feather Tank"

Golden Demon Finalist for Best Painted Squad at Gamesday 2009. Some have said the rightful winner of the Bronze!  

Best Banner Gamesday 2009 and 2010 ( Full Sized Hand painted Blood Angels Banners)

I will be painting Tycho's Personal Land Raider, a Terminator Assault Squad, Corbulo, and a Sanguinary Priest with Jump Pack.

Here are some WIP pics of my Land raider!

Working some magic with Army Painter Dragon Red! 

I spray at angles to intentionally create shadows. :)

Jawa work station. Note another raider in the background. 

That is actually the first tank I ever painted, it was ultramarine blue. I am

breathing new life into it for an upcoming tournament. 

Mike Cho

I have known Mike and Black Matt since I started painting and both have served as inspiration for me.  Mike is possibly the best painter I know. Period. He is an anomaly in the 40k world. He paints, but does not play. In fact, I don't think he even has a painted army! But if you went to his house, I'm sure you would be assaulted by a parade of spectacular models.  He has been a golden demon finalist many times over, and won a bronze at Gamesday 2008 for an Eldar Vyper he painted in a VERY competitive category.  Mike serves as the club Paint Judge for Battle for Salvation tournaments and does not play in tournaments so I can't list off the pile of "Best painted" that I have no doubt he would have won.  But here is a hefty list of Golden Demon accomplishments!

2006 40K Single finalist

2006 40K Vehicle finalist

2006 Fantasy Single finalist

2008 40K Honorable mention

2008 40K Vehicle Golden Demon Bronze

2008 Fantasy Single finalist

2009 40K Single finalist

2009 40K Vehicle finalist

2009 Fantasy Single finalist

2010 40K Single finalist

2010 40K Squad finalist

Here are some images of Mike Cho's work:

Golden Demon Finalist

Recent Golden Demon Finalist

Heroes of Armageddon Work in Progress! This is just the

Storm Raven Pilot. Imagine what the rest of his work will look like!

His Work Space

Here is as jump pack conversion with a third thruster he made for the project.

Visit Mike Cho's Blog HERE.

For The Heroes of Armageddon project, mike is painting:

5 assault marines with Jump Pack

1 Storm Raven

1 Furioso Dread

Old Shatter Hands (Tim Williamson)  from his blog The Tau of War.

I don't recall where I first met Tim, but we became acquainted through the blogosphere.  I believe he showed up at the Jawaballs and Fritz Gamesday table when we first did it at Baltimore and started shaking hands like we were old friends.  He is without a doubt one of the nicest guys I know. 

Tim has a beautiful and unique painting style that I first noticed at The Nova Open in 2010.  I had not realized just how good he was until I saw his tau army on display, and it outclassed my Blood Angels in every way.  

A recent work from his blog demonstrating his unique style.

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More stylized Old Shatter hands touch.

Sweet Long fang!

Flesh is not easy.

My personal favorites... 

One of Tim's previous Sanguinary Guard

Here is a small list of some of his accomplishments:

Best Painted Single Miniature at NOVA Open 2010

Best Conversion, SGI Tournament 2009 (pre-cursor to NOVA Open)

Best Painted Army at Blobs Park in 2010 

Best Painted Army at Inner Circle's Holiday Beatdown 2009

Painter's Choice at Inner Circle's First Bunker Tournament 2009

For the Heroes of Armageddon, Tim is painting:

5 Scouts with Shotguns

1 Storm Raven

5 Sanguinary Guard.

Matt McClannahan from Black Matt's Black Legion Blog

Of all painters who have contributed to my work, Matt ranks at the top.  He and I have shared a friendly rivalry within Battle for Salvation ever since I arrived on the scene and stole my first Best Painted away from him.  We have fed off each others work for years and always used each other for inspiration. The yellow I use for my assault helmets is entirely inspired by Black Matt's Imperial Fist army.  I claim responsibility for forcing Matt to step up his game on his Black Legion Rhinos which he did in spectacular fashion.  

Matt's Accomplishments:

Among many honors, perhaps his top accomplishment was Player's Choice at the 2009 Baltimore GW Grand Tournament for his truly inspirational Imperial Fist army.  He has many Golden Demon Finalist awards under his belt plus a slew of Best Painteds.  

Here are some pictures of Matt's work:

Malifaux?

This terrible pic does not do this model justice. Go check it out on his blog!

Fantastic chaplain for his Imperial Fist army

The Fist Advance!

And here is his first Work in Progress picture for the Heroes project!

Sadly Matt had to step back from most of what he had planned for the Heroes project due to personal reasons. He will only be painting a Death Company Dread. But we are happy and honored to have whatever he will do for us.  

Joe Johnson. 

When I asked for bio info, Joe wrote up this:

I began playing 40K around 2003 in Atlanta.  Back then I was nothing short of a hardcore win at all cost gamer.  The guys at the local GW store were great at convincing me to get more into the hobby aspect and planted my painting seed.  Now I am less concerned about the win/loss record and enjoy talking about my army conversions and paint as much as I like playing the game!!  Heck I rarely mention that I won overall in the GT in Charlotte several years ago…I like the paint trophies better!!

In the Mid 2000 I began entering my models into the Golden Demon competition and over 3 years manages 3 silver and 3 or 4 bronzes.  As an outrider I typically got to compete against guys like Dave Taylor and Dirty Steve…God bless em both heh.  I have not been to a games day in years so I don’t compete in the GD competition as I enjoy the entire aspect of this hobby.  This means I like to paint ENTIRE army’s to high quality rather than just one or two models.  This has led me to win more best painted trophies than I can count including Players Choice at Atlanta’s GT in 2007 with my Grey Knights, Best Army in Chicago’s GT in 2008 with my Kroot Mercenary list, Best Painted at 2009 Adepticon Invitationals, and best painted at just about every RTT I have played in for the last 3 or 4 years.  Most Recently I took best painted at DaBoyz GT in Rochester 2010 and Best Painted at the recent Conflict GT.  I also tied for Best Painted at the St. Valentines Massacre in Philly this year.  All 3 of these were with my “Salmonanders” or “Skittle Marines” as they have been called by friends and competitors alike.  Currently I run my Eldar and Salamanders list at most events but am working on my Grey Knights as well as my heavily converted Dark Eldar army.  From what I hear Jawaballs has his sites set on me this year now that I have moved into the North Eastern US!!  This means I am going to have to work hard to keep the heat on!!

What else can I say?  Joe is not only a fantastic painter, but a funny guy. He is also not afraid to bust balls, (or Jawaballs) throwing shots at me from across the room at The Conflict GT having never even spoken a word to me.  I have finished right behind his Skittles with my Blood Angels at every GT we have both played in.  

Here are some pics of Joe's work. He does not have a blog.

Joe hams it up at Da Boyz, claiming his Best Painted prize

Joe is known for his "glazing" method of layering paint

One of his award winning Salamander (Skittle) marines

Absolutely beautiful.  

Joe will be painting:

10 Death Company

Lemarte

Death Company Tycho

Can't wait to see what he does!  I was happy to have him working with us.  

Finally we have Ron Saikowski, creator of From the Warp.

Ron's accomplishments in the community are monumental and From the Warp is one of the most loved blogs in the realm.  A cloud of respect follows him around wherever he goes and you can't help but like him when you meet him.  Last year he painted the Storm Wardens chapter banner.  So I thought it only natural that he do one for me!  He is painting up Dante's personal banner to be carried by one of Tim's Guard.  He is also painting a terminator that will be carrying the blood angels chapter banner that he is creating unique for the Armageddon campaign!  How very cool.  I will flush out Ron's contributions with the next post.

What else?  

John and Mike from Santa Cruz are both painting parts of the army. You can feel free to browse their blog for examples of their work.  John is painting a Death Co. Dread and a Baal Predator and Mike is painting the Death Co. Storm Raven.  

Finally, we have THE Hero of Armageddon!  We brought in a special painter to paint Dante.  He will be the subject of my next post, but for a teaser he has won over a dozen Golden Demons of different variety.  More on him next time.

So if you want a shot at winning these Blood Angels, or just feel like contributing to a great cause, click on the link to the top right and use your paypal to donate!  Doctor's Without Borders is the ultimate winner. Check out the Heroes of Armageddon Blog for more info.

Jawaballs