Mostly Grey Knights

In the spirit of motivation, I decided to rank up the remaining Crypt Angels once I'd finished assembling them.

I'm not going to claim this operation was a complete success. Yes, there were plenty of good models that I got that 'ooo I know what I can do with this guy' feeling, the one that makes me leap towards the paint box like Michelangelo did when GW released their Sistine Chapel of Skulls kit.

Funny - I think 40K models take longer to paint than WFB, somehow. Back when I was doing those Elf armies, for example, I seemed to get through twenty or more a week without too much bother. These guys seem to drag out somehow, so that even just five pad the week out plenty. I must be getting old. 

There being plenty of models was also kind of a downer, though. That's a lot of grey on the table right there. I thought I was already over halfway, but that's clearly optimistic. Michelangelo is apparently noted for saying 'Lord, grant that I always desire more than I can accomplish'. I think he was probably talking about Space Marines as well.

Ah well - chelping over, on with the show!

And what a show it is.

Having ranked them up, I felt obliged to knock some down. A fairly standard group of Tac Marines, these guys only deviating from previously established norms by having purple squad markings on their left shoulders. This may mark them out as members of the 7th Company, if you're feeling canon.

This particular quintet were all assembled from battered and armless remains. Two of them, including the sergeant, had pre-existing paintjobs. Paintjobs that resembled a good dipping in tinted PVA, I might add, so some of the details, like the sergeant's face, were looking pretty smooth.

Burns Victim.

The same was true of these bikers, who are much more fun to paint than I expected. Marines aren't generally the most inspiring troopers to grind out, they're terribly samey (and I speak as someone who painted 40 Dark Elf spearmen in a week once, so I know from samey). Slapping a bike under one, I thought, would make it feel like two Marines for the price of one. But no - having armour panels to give nice blocks of red livened them up a bit, as did the instrument panels. Fun.

Sergeant Coward always wears his red velvet smoking jacket to battle. Altogether now, "Don't teach your daughter 40K, Mrs Worthington!"

I start to think purity seals might be a bit like cub scout badges. Needlework, knot tying, driving over little old ladies in the road, that kind of thing. 

Oh, bloody hell. Now I'll need to ask the Techmarine to glue it back on.

The attack bike was missing a big gun, which makes the sidecar all the more pointless. This multimelta is an upside-down Hellbrute arm; the spikey bit is from the Chaos Land Raider, and features a Necron head. Nice touch, if you like your trophies to reanimate and sporadically teleport reinforcements in.

In case the sidecar doesn't have enough gun, the driver has a plasma gun too. I think that's probably illegal, but the metal body was the only one who fit the metal legs on the chassis properly.

Painting Guide:

• Reds and Blacks - standard Crypt Angel practice, with Chaos Black undercoat and then hearty drybrushing with Eshin Grey and Longbeard Grey before anything else happens. Khorne Red gets a wash of Drakenhof Blue, then Wazdakka layers and a little Wild Rider trim in places 
• Guns - Either Leadbelcher/Nuln Oil/Runefang or Tin Bitz/Agrax Earthshade/Brass Scorpion/Runelord Brass, depending
• White Bits - Pallid Wychflesh with a White Scar finish
• Yellow Bits - Averland Sunset, Golden Yellow and whatever that yellow drybrush paint is called
• Blue Bits - Crypt Angels favour blue grenades, I've discovered, to go with their blue Purity Seals. Altdorf Guard Blue or Deadly Nightshade, depending on what I find in the tub first, then Teclis Blue and a tiny bit of Etherium Blue drybrush

A character! That's what I needed to round up the Marines this week, seeing as my Fantasy batteries are on recharge for the moment, building up for a Maximal blast next month. Introducing, therefore, one Phylactrus, Master Embalmer for the Crypt Angels.

He's based on a Dark Angels Terminator. Tthey have lots of nice Deathwing emblems on their robes, the kind that are moulded on so fine, it's beyond my skill to file them off without damaging the model. This shows a clear benefit of painting models black, though. It blots out unwanted markings fairly easily. The Ravenwing bikes above, for example, are carrying plenty of unseen chapter allegiance symbols (as well as the massively obvious winged back banners). Fallen Angels, perhaps?

His hood has a Deathwing symbol, but the Winged Mouth logo has blotted it out pretty well.

Next Crypt Angels update will be all about the firepower!