Dark Angels strikeforce by Joel
Great collection of characterful Dark Angels that started from humble beginnings as a break from painting Imperial Guard.
Built for Adepticon 2013, the 1850 army list was put together from a variety of sources starting with the Dark Vengeance starter box. The original project idea being just to use the DV models as allies with Joel's 7th Mordian Imperial Guard Regiment. But the Dark Angels just took over!
Typical of the organic manner in which the force grew was the method used to create Belial:
Not being a fan of the new Finecast version, he's been put together using leftover bits from the Deathwing kit. I have to say I was thoroughly surprised to see how many bits they packed onto those sprues! Took another run at the 'fake reflective' blade, this time in shades of black and grey — Belial's sword is described as being hewn from an onyx-like meteorite so I didn't want to do the standard blue power sword look.
Joel
The Assault squad with their Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard winged jump packs are really eyecatching models and I like the way the exhaust vents have been painted. The bright blue is quite a recurring theme in this collection: from object source lighting (OSL) glowing eye lenses and vehicle periscope prisms; sighting optics; power fists and power weapons; to the cooling coils on plasma weapons. I like the way it contrasts with the green and bone white battle plate.
The other standout feature across this collection is the liberal use of gold metallic in a fairly raw form. The use of the gold won't to everyone's taste I'm sure but it does serve to unify everything.
As usual I'm gravitating towards the Deathwing as my favourite models here. I like the dirty, grimy look they have going. But I do like the very dark green that Joel has used on his Greenwing models, the Tactical squad sergeant with his bald head and pointing chainsword being particularly characterful.
The basing is very neat too. Not too showy and nicely scaled with the models.
