Dusk Raider Praetor

Paints used: Vallejo, Reaper Master Series, Games Workshop Washes, Com Art Medea Airbrush Airbrush: Iwata Hi-Line HP-CH Airbrush Paint Brushes: Rosemary & Co. Raphael 8040, Broken Toad Brushes, Windsor and Newton Series 7

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In the Shadow of Mighty Wings; Belarius Blood Angel Legion Praetor

"Angels are agents of wrath, or revelation."

Unknown. 

Belarius

The Encarmine Blade. Praetor Tertius of the 405th

"Charting the histories of the legions after the Fall of the Arch Traitor is a problematic endeavour. In an era rife with misinformation, falsifications, mass purging of data repositories and the reformation of Adiministratum, clear, concise scholarship concerning this era is a messy affair. However is it the burden of this humble servant...[text goes into a lengthy essay about the role of the scholar - edited for brevity]

Praetor Tertius Belarius, named the Encarmine Blade, served aboard the Starfall [Lunar Class Cruiser] scouting the Perditia Veil in the latter part of the Great Crusade. He is logged as having served in the scouring of Mandax and is commended by his superior [Praetor Primus Anchious Obirex] for decimation actions against Third Legion warships. 

Belarius is known to have been at the defence of Terra but in what capacity and whether he survived is unknown. However, amongst the ranks of the Blood Angels there exists a legend concerning a Chapter relic [cross reference the Encarmine Blade, Sword of Belarius] was gifted to the Praetor by Primarch Sanguinius himself. It is unclear whether the blade was given to Belarius before the Siege or during the assaults against the walls. It is also unclear whether the blade was named or whether it later adopted the epithet in honour of the Legion hero. 

  Further references to Belarius are scattered throughout the annals of second founding mythology (one cannot call such reorganisation anything other than a mythos). Several documents note  Belarius as the first Chapter Master of the Blood Angels, contradicting the documented history of Raldoron ascending to this position. If this Praetor survived he would have been one of the Legion's highest ranking and most experienced military assets, eligible for reassignment as Chapter Master of a second founding chapter."

- Myths of the Second Founding; Chapter IXX - The Hosts of Baal, Children with Earthly feet. 

By Adept Historomancer Belquin Levi

I was privileged enough to have been in the hobby when Warhammer Monthly started. As a child I devoured the stories and spent the proceeding month contemplating the story. The episodic nature of the stories made the tales feel epic. Waiting month to month to find out if Leonatos was successful in his quest has left an impression on me. From the very first comic strip printed in White Dwarf I was intrigued as to who Belarius was. All we know of him was that he was a mighty hero of the Legion who was gifted a sword by Sanguinius himself and went on to become the first Chapter Master. 

I knew from the very outset that I didn't want the Praetor's feet to touch the ground, and that his countenance should be angelic. I have a theory that while the gene therapy of other Astartes makes them look bulbous and overly muscled, for the Blood Angels their inhumanity take the shape of otherworldly beauty. I also wanted a larger scenic base for him to stand on, akin to other personalities in Forgeworld's Character series. 

The base is made from the Abaddon and Loken diorama, cut up and repositioned. It is also fully magnetised.  The central fallen cathedral nave made the perfect base to attach Astorath's jump pack to. The model is them converted from Sanguinary Guard parts and the Sanguinor. Because this is a Heresy era piece I didn't feel non metallic metal to be appropriate (it has a slightly cartoony feel, at least when I do it, that is at odds with hyper realistic dirt and weathering look of the Heresy). The metals I used are a combination or Forgeworld's excellent gold paints and Vallejo's airbrush metallic paints. I shaded the metallics with inks for tonal variation and oil paints for the very deepest recesses. 

Paints used: Vallejo, Reaper Master Series, Games Workshop Washes, Com Art Medea Airbrush Airbrush: Iwata Hi-Line HP-CH Airbrush Paint Brushes: Rosemary & Co. Raphael 8040, Broken Toad Brushes, Windsor and Newton Series 7

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Autilon Skorr Painting Tutorial Part 1

Forge World Event Only Alpha Legionnaire. 

At the Horus Heresy weekender the topic of the alpha legion cropped up. Exactly what colour are they? It seems every new document or image portraying this legion has contradictory information. In some images they are purple, in others a metallic blue with a green shine. I’ve read ‘Eavy metal articles where the model has been painted in a dark blue/ purple and highlighted with green. Some have freehand scales, others are devoid of legion insignia. Nothing is easy when it comes to the Alpha legion but instead of this stymieing your imagination, use it as as a spring board. The Alpha Legion have no uniformity and allows the painter the versatility to explore their own interpretation of what this mysterious legion should look like. 

Preparation

Forge World resin needs to be cleaned in hot soapy water. Sometimes this still leaves a shiny layer of mould remover. I’ve recently started to use Cilit Bang Grease remover for that extra bit of grease removal. It hasn’t melted any of my models (yet! - I doubt it will but please no angry e-mails if you use the extra strong stuff) and does a pretty good job of removing the mould release agent. There were precious little mould lines to remove, but I used Wilder sanders - little fine grade emery boards that give an amazing finish once you’ve filed the models.

Tools used 

Paints used: Vallejo, Reaper Master Series, Games Workshop Washes, Com Art Medea Airbrush

Airbrush: Iwata CR Plus High Line

Paint Brushes: Rosemary & Co. Raphael 8040, Broken Toad Brushes

Resources - I bought all the tools (save for the brushes) used in this article from airbrushes.com. I’ve bought from other shops i the past and from various sellers on eBay but I’ve found this website to be one of the most comprehensive sites for everything a modeller may need. 

Undercoat the model white. Why white? I wanted a light vibrant end product which I would not be able to achieve to fully with a black or grey undercoat. But please feel free to use a black or grey undercoat and use this tutorial to guide you through the painting process. I’d love to see your final result if you do this.

Step 1 - Airbrush Vallejo Game Colour Turquoise (mix with Life Colour thinner 30:70 mix). PSI 20.

You don’t have to worry too much about your technique here as we are just base coating the model. Use even strokes with brush and use multiple layers to create a consistent layer of colour. If you find that the ratio is a little off please adjust it so that the paint is flowing evenly from your airbrush. 

Turquoise is one of those colours I love to use as you can go in many directions with it. You can shade with a darker shade of blue, green, even purple and highlight with a lighter shade of blue or green. You can manipulate it in a lot of interesting ways. The turquoise we have chosen is slightly darker and desaturated, which will make our highlights contrast with the base layer. 

Step 2 - Airbrush Com Art Medea White (mix with Life Colour thinner 10:90 mix). PSI 20.

This is our first highlight of the armour. I use the Iwata CR Plus High Line airbrush which has a little nozzle underneath the nozzle that can regulate the amount of paint that comes out. This allows for a greater degree of accuracy when airbrushing areas of the model and minimises those unsightly overspray flecks of paint that can sometimes occur.

With the first pass of the airbrush concentrate on sketching in where the light would fall on the armour of the model. 

At this point it is worth considering the context of the piece. Horus Heresy collectors do have more of a historical vibe to them, as we are interested in re-creating their favourite armies or characters to exacting details. When planning my own Blood Angel Heresy force I agonised for weeks over which armour they would have, where in the Heresy were they when I came to paint them, and would specialist troopers like assault marines have yellow helmets? Defining the context of your force is part of the joy of collecting a Heresy army as it allows us to delve into the history once more and unearth gems of details for us to create. 

I wanted to paint this model with very clean lines to show off the sculpt in an uncomplicated manner as possible. I over heard Mark Bedford talk about battle damage techniques normally used on tanks being applied to marine, and he commented that it breaks up the line of the miniature, it confuses the eye and can destroy the outline. I like that interpretation and I can agree that by adding chipping effects to exposed areas of the armour does break up the lines of a model. I wanted to avoid this here. The character of the model is therefore informed by this decision. This may be a marine who has recently made planet fall and has not had the chance to get dirty, or that he miraculously turns up half way through a campaign unblemished by the savagery of war. I think either would be fitting for this Alpha Legionaire. 

Once you’ve put in the basic highlight scheme reinforce this by adding a layer just inside the first highlight. You can repeat this stage as often as you feel is necessary to achieve the effect you wish. The more white stages you add, the smaller the bands of highlighting layers become, you intimate that the light source which the armour is reflecting is stronger. I find three layer of this stage to be perfect. 

Stage 3 - Airbrush Vallejo Game Ink Black Green (mix with custom made gunk 10:90) PSI 20…

…To be continued. 

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Charger of the Rout Heresy Era Space Wolf Legion Praetor

This was a commission piece to represent the same character in a suit of terminator armour. The head was chosen as it resembled the facial features of the client who commissioned him. Yes, you really do take charge of a battle here! 

I wanted to emphasize the brutal nature of this Praetor. I'm drawn to dark characters and I find it more rewarding to explore the dysfunctional aspects. Psychologically, it cannot be easy to systematically wipe all life that is not human from the face of the galaxy. I guess the Space Wolves mask their savagery with hyperbolic sagas and verbose Nordic heroism. By under-lighting this praetors face with red I wanted to align him with the image of Horus. Although this character did not fall to Chaos I wanted to introduce the idea that the Adeptus Astrates as a while are an unsavoury organistion. 

This character bears the head of an Ancient Fenrisian Wyrm that the Praetor had slain with his tribe when he was still a human. The creature was so big that it's skull can only be mounted onto his terminator plate. His Power Armour plate bears the smaller skull of an Araxian Devil that was purged during the IIXX expeditionary fleet purging. 

The Space Wolf Grey was given a little life by adding a very small quantity of turquoise into the base and adding brown into the shadows. It's very subtle but gives that little touch of interest needed for such a boring colour. 

Myles

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