Showcase: Blood Angels Ballistus Dreadnought and Terminator (inc. painting guide)

Clad in impregnable armour and armed with devastating heavy weaponry the Blood Angels stain the sands of Baal with the foul stench of Xenos Ichor and stride onto the blog in a blaze of nostalgic glory. In this post, I’ll talk about early Blood Angel colour schemes, how to paint them with modern Citadel paints and also share a recent special gift I received from Eavy Metal themselves.

“Even in Death I still serve”. Is one of the coldest, darkest Warhammer 40,000 quotes and it refers specifically to Dreadnoughts, but I think it’s appropriate to wheel it out and use it to describe my Blood Angel paint job. The orangey red armour, with yellow chest Aquillas and hazard stripes dates all the way back to 1st edition Rogue Trader Warhammer 40,000. It hung around in 2nd edition for a while before the 3rd edition 40k Eavy Metal team changed the scheme to a deeper red, with no more black shoulder trims, hazard stripes and the chest aquilla was painted black! What a downgrade if you ask me.

This long forgotten Blood Angel colour scheme has been languishing in the metaphorical Chapter’s armoury waiting to be awoken from its slumber and applied to the latest models. That time is now!

A gift from ‘Eavy Metal

If you follow me on twitter you might have recently seen I received a gift from ex-Eavy Metal painter Stuart Thomas. It’s a 2nd edition plastic Space Marine painted by Mike McVey for Games Workshop promotional materials like painting guides and mail away leaflets. Having this bright orangey-red Space Marine as reference is amazing even if the back isn’t painted (image in the twitter thread). It was seeing this very model painted like this that encouraged me to paint Warhammer models back in 1994. My first Warhammer model was a mail away push-fit Space Marine that I tried to paint with my Dad’s Humbrol Enamel paints.

So, what was once old is new again. Games Workshop’s Leviathan Launch boxset features upscaled versions of old kits such as Sternguard Veterans and Terminators. After a couple of editions trying to reinvent Space Marines as Primaris with new units, squad structure and weapons it seems like they’re now going back to existing Space Marine units and trying to ignore the Primaris / First Born elephant in the room.

Since 1994 I’ve been painting Space Marines who have gradually gotten bigger and bigger over time. I love the Primaris range, I love how the proportions have been sorted out and I’m happy to see old classics get the upscale and correct proportions. I just can’t mix Primaris with First Born in the same army. They look ludicrous next to each other.

How to Paint Blood Angel Terminators

Painting this scheme isn’t too bad. White undercoat then airbrush Wild Rider all over. Some light glazing for shading and area highlights, armour lining and edge highlights and then there is minimal detail to pick out. Hardest thing is the freehand symbols, but I’m a mentalist and you don’t have to do that if you have decals.

So, for 10th Edition, I think I’m going to go 1st Edition. I’ll have to paint a few more Blood Angels to see if I really want to commit to painting a brand new army. This will actually be my 4th Blood Angel force I’ve painted since 1994 and I’m not sure if I’ve got it in me to retread old paths or if I should be doing something new and exciting.