Codex Unforgiven

For those of you who don’t know me.  Which as this is my first article, I imagine is all of you. I am a proud member of the royal air force and so, when I was told I was going to be spending four months in the Falkland Islands I took it as an opportunity to do something I had been meaning to do for a long time.

That’s right start my first ever space marine army. Now some people may have spent time trying to pick a chapter but for me the path was already laid.  I had had an affinity for the Dark Angles ever since I bought my first ever White Dwarf in 1994, in said White Dwarf there was a battle report featuring the Dark Angels verse the Orks. It was basically a showcase for the release of the codex Angles of Death and I still have the image of Azrael and brother Bethor leading a squad of Deathwing down the centre, everything the Orks could throw at them bouncing off the Lion helms power field or the impressive tactical dreadnought armour.
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millennium I was perverted from the path of the emperor by the touch of chaos…

Ok back to the present.  I developed a deep dislike for everything power armoured upon the release of 3^rd Ed as the AP system made it so much more powerful and as I had been playing for some time at this point felt that more of a challenge was needed then was offered by a space marine army.  So after collecting a Black legion (with a contingent of fallen) chaos army, a Biel-Tan army, a Daemon Hunter army, and an Elysian army I felt it was time I started a Dark Angels army.  The only question that remained was where to start?

Now I don’t know about the rest of you but when I start an army it is usually because of a certain model or squad that inspired me. I go out and buy everything I think I need for a force and the codex all in one go, get home build it all and then find out that I am massively over points and half the stuff I have is actually pants.  With the Dark Angels I wanted it to be different.  I had wanted to do an army for so long and liked everything about them.  So I actually decided that I would do this army properly.  Make an army list for both 1000 and 1500 points, making sure that it was effective at both point values without having extra squads and guys left over.  To further limit myself I wanted it to feel like the space marine armies I remembered from second Ed. (No not 50% characters you bum!)  I wanted full ten man squads or combat squads with the weapons balanced evenly between combat squads.  I also loved the Imagery of the Interrogator Chaplains and I wanted to test my painting with some Deathwing, so they were a must.  I wanted to avoid dreadnaughts as everyone seemed to have one in there army since the venerable rules came about in the new codex and you may notice there is also a lack of assault cannons as I was determined to make as un-cheese list as possible, yet still have it be competitive.

The main point was that I wanted the list to reflect a force that could be sent out on a mission, whether it be to hunt the fallen, take an objective or hold the line I wanted it to feel realistic. With that in mind I also wanted to include Ezekiel in 1500points as I had never used a special character in an army and he is such a sweet model.  The thinking for the 1000point list is obviously the Reclusiarch in with the combat orientated razor back squad with a solid base line of 15 tactical marines and the predator and the termi's to fill a hole, reinforce or exploit a week point as needed.  The 1500 point list was more of the same really but with more emphasise on the firing line then the combat orientated squad so in came two devastator squads to give me an abundance of anti-personnel fire and an extra anti-tank threat.

The next job after making the army list was to actually see if I could paint Space Marines as I hadn’t tried since I was about 12 and the results were not promising back then.  So I was off to my local GW for a painting lesson (ok I wanted a free marine to practice on).  I was pleasantly surprised at how much easier they were to paint then I am used to and the result convinced me that I was on the right road.

So with my practice miniature in one hand and a pad and some paper in the other I sat down to work out the cheapest way of throwing my army together.  After begging some back packs, bolt guns, 3 robed vets and an extra cyclone missile launcher form different places I decided that the most efficient way was as follows

• SM Battle-force                           £50
• Devastator box                             £18
• 2 Heavy Bolter  Blisters                £10
• 1 Lascannon Blister                      £5
• 1 New Chaplin                             £6
• 1 Terminator Captain                    £7
• 1 Terminator box                          £20
• 1 Predator                                    £20
• Loads of different shoulder pads    £38
• Ezekiel                                          £7
• Extra Armour For Razorback        £8
• Total                                            £189

After thinking that Space Marine armies were cheep this came as a bit of a surprise but I just kept thinking of the money I would be saving while I was away (then I remembered that I was going to need to buy paints and everything before I left. Oh well).  The basic plan was that with my extra back packs and bolt guns I could make the command squad in to an extra 5 marines and have some good stuff left over to make a few nice conversions.

The next step was to plan out my painting. I had my plan for the normal Angels but the Deathwing were another matter.  After some thought I decided I would try layering as I didn’t feel I was up to blending them.  The plans were as follows with everything starting from a black undercoat;

Dark Angels

Armour

1:1 Chaos black: Dark Angels Green

Dark Angels Green Highlight

Chest Eagle and Chapter badge

Bestial Brown

1:1 Bestial Brown: Vomit Brown

Vomit Brown

1:1 Vomit Brown: Bleached Bone

Bleached Bone

(Then skull white if I though it needed it depending on the chest plat)

Guns and Squad Badge

Scab Red

Blood Red

Metal Areas

Bolt gun Metal

4:1 Water: Chaos Black

Highlight Bolt gun Metal

Deathwing

Armour

Bestial Brown

2:1 Bestial Brown: Vomit Brown

1:1 Bestial: Vomit

1:2 Bestial: Vomit

Vomit

2:1 Vomit: Bleached Bone

1:1 Vomit: Bleached Bone

1:2 Vomit: Bleached Bone

Bleached Bone

Occasional Skull white highlight

Guns

1:1 Chaos: Dark Angles

Dark Angles

Crux Terminatus and Chest Eagle

Bolt Gun Metal

4:1 Water: Chaos Black

Highlight Bolt Gun

Bases

I wanted the bases to contrast with both the normal Dark Angels and the Deathwing so I decided on sand with a scorched brown wash (4 or 5 to 1) dry brushed up with graveyard earth then some bright static grass to give some contrast.

So I had my notes, I had my paints and best of all I had my army. It’s off to the Falklands and a whole load of painting.  That about all for now folks but I will Have my next instalment ready with some photos of the work so far and the conversions that I have planned.  Hope you have all enjoyed sharing my first few steps in to The Rock and when I leave in a few months there should be a force of Dark Angels marching behind me.

Kris Sherriff