This is my BOB log for my Blood Ravens. I'm moving all updates on the Blood Ravens over here, with my Mech Guard, Trollbloods and everything else I start painting over on my other log which you can find in my sig.

I paint fairly fast, but I have a tendency to not always finish units when they have minor details left.

The army is the 5th Company of the Blood Ravens plus members of the 1st, 6th and 10th Companies. The plan has always been to have a full Company with all that entails and the vehicles are all crewed by the 6th Company. The setup also means that I can do Terminator strong armies and Scout focused armies.

The biggest thing for the army is that this is an infantry army. The Blood Ravens' Chapter traits mean that I could take a single vehicle bigger than an attack bike, but nah. No vehicles, just bikes, landspeeders and Dreadnoughts. These are scouts and infilitrators and very happy to get up close and personal.

Now the list is the 1500 points. I construct armies based on full squads unless I'm making veterans who have had damage done to them. So proper codex (though I do need a few more Assault Squad members). No idea if this will actually work. I haven't played 40k really since 2nd Edition apart from Combat Patrol. The only thing I'm unsure of is the 2 assault cannons in the Terminators.

THE LIST
Master - Power Sword, Iron Halo, Combi Plasma
Command Squad (5) - Apothecary, Company Standard Bearer, Company Champion, Vet sgt Term Honours Power Axe, Plasma Gun
Tac Squad 1 (10) - Heavy Bolter, Melta Gun , Infilitrate, Counter Attack, True Grit
Tac Squad 2 (10) - Plasma Gun, Plasma Cannon
Terminator Sqd 1 (5) - 2 Assault Cannon
Scout Squad 1 (10) - Bolters, Heavy Bolter
Devastator Squad 1 (10) - Lascannon, Missile Launcher
Dreadnought - Lascannon, Missile Launcher

Total Points - 1485

Bit light of Librarians, but I have 3 painted and so this is the basis I'm actually finishing for Band of Brothers and then just keeping going. Being a genius the first things I have done aren't even on the list. Blood Ravens need loads of Librarians.

On the list I still have the Company Standard bearer to do, the last of this first Scout Squad (almost done) and the Devastator Squad.

I have already started painting past this point to get all 5500+ points of the army done and I'm now looking at doing objective markers etc to go along with the force. The army is based and set up to go along with the Cityfight board I'm also slowly building (also in my sig).

FLUFF
The Blood Ravens have allowed various rumours about them to propogate; that they are a codex chapter sporting a full armoury; that they do deals with Xenos, and that they do not know the origins of their bloodline. These half truths or lies suit them. They sow discord in their opponents, allowing the Blood Ravens to dictate battlefields and means that even when faced with a disadvantage the Blood Raven will seek to turn it to their advantage.

Brother Captain Hyrcleon of the 5th Company commands this detachment, consisting of forces from the 5th, 7th, 1st and 10th companies. Having been active quelling trouble in the Randian Hiveworlds he is not concerned about the lack of armour in his force. He is however mindful of the Librarians who assist him and the other captains in leading the Chapter. They must remain pure and loyal or they must die. The Chapter’s knowledge cannot be sullied or allowed to fall into the wrong hands.

Brother Librarian Cassius’ duty is that of all Librarians within the Chapter. He is looking for knowledge to add to that which the Chapter already knows. He will not tell the Captain what it is they seek, but will advise him on the route to take, the building to aim for at the appropriate time. As the Chaplain delivers his sermon Cassius will listen intently as past betrayals are spoken of and will not fall onto that path. If he does then he will expect to die.


Jan Work completed

Chapter Master

Devastators

Bike Squad 1

Plus Terminator Librarian and 2 Chapter Masters and finished Command Squad


Feb Work completed
Assault Squad

Attack Bike 1


Plus objective markers

March Work Completed
Tac Squad 3

Terminator Assault Squad

Term Chaplain

Jumppack Chaplain

Assault Squad 2


April Work Completed
Venerable Dreadnought

Scout Squad 3

This means at this point I have this much done for the Blood Ravens.



Obviously not everything there is on that first 1500 points so I need to figure out the blocks of points to get it to 2000 then 3000. I'm not that versed in doing wargear anymore (though thankfully vortex grenades came back with Apocalypse).

Stuff to do after the figures that are in production now.




That amounts to approximately:

4 Tactical Squads
1 Devastator Squad
1+ Assault Squads
2 Attack Bikes
3 Bikes
1 Chaplain
10 Terminators - likely to get magnetised arms to take a variety of weapons, but mainly will be close combat
1 Venerable Dreadnought (FW) - also magnetised like the one I already have done.
1 10 man Shotgun Scout Squad
2 5 men Sniper Scout Squads
7 Scouts I haven't figured what to do with yet
3 Landspeeders

I think that's everything.

Ok in transferring stuff over from the other log I'll do grouped pictures to show my WIP on various bits.

I've been slowly putting together my Command Squad for the 5th Company with various conversions on the figures. This is also one of the things that will be finished this month for points. What I'm currently working on is the banner which I'm slowly building up.

The first figure that started it all was the Veteran Sergeant.



And he was then joined by the Apothecary and the Company Champion. The Champion is possibly the oldest figure in the army and has been through a few changes and paint schemes, some due to my getting better and some due to cat damage.

The final two members have been started in the last week really and are the standard bearer and plasma gunner. The plasma gun comes from the Elysian weapon pack as do all the Melta and Plasma guns in the army to make it look a little different and also to stop me just using them to compensate for no tanks.




The current work to finish the unit is now on freehand on the banner. Obviously the banner is from the Blood Angels honour Guard and converted for use in this army.



I only have a little bit to do on it and any suggestions for what to fill the blank space would be good.

More later including some more new updates.

Yay some one else who is adding to the existing stuff for Bob :)

i really like the free hand you've done on the banner so far also painting scripting is quite hard and you;ve done a really good job :)

the kneeling down marine looks wicked aswell i think i might nic the idea for the elsyain plasma gun if i ever get round to doing the marine army i was planning on doing :)
good work matey

The main unit I'm painting at the moment is the first Devastator Squad. This is a Missile Launcher/Lascannon squad.



It has an old metal Mark VII in the mix to make it a little more interesting and a converted sergeant.



So far I've done the basic blocking, then inked the red and the bone. I've not painted any Dev Squad symbols yet so that should be interesting to try. I'll probably put some sort of squad markings on the top of the Lascannon backpacks as well.

Cheers for that Jester. Yeah I figured I should keep on going because if I didn't I'd be in my usual spot of half finished armies. The plan is to try and finish the Blood Ravens this year so I can start on something new.

Figuring out what to do on the banner has taken up the time, plus I decided to freehand the Chapter symbol rather than use a transfer. Hopefully finish it shortly.

I've also been slowly doing two Chapter Masters for a bit.



The Scout Captain is closest to being done (and I'm not sure yet what Company I should make the other one).



I've done his shoulder pad in white to match the rest of the scouts, but I'm not sure how well it works yet.

I know the feeling of having half finished armys :(
its much the same with my eldar trying to get these done cause i've spent so much cash on them
and the scout chapter master looks fine i think he would have a colour on him to tie him to the company that he lead's so if your scouts have white on them then it should be fine :)

As I said on your log, these are really nice, especially the red, and it seems you're making very good progress for the BoB.

Well painted ... nothing at fault to pick out. :)

I especially like the banner design, wvery well executed. :)

awesome stuff,
MM :)

Thanks MM

I'll probably keep the White on this Captain. The other one has white on the front and that will probably go to whatever company colour I decide to assign him to. I'm not using white for Veteran helmets in this army and he's got enough bone on him already.

I do have a question someone can probably answer. For objective markers what size do I need? I think it's 3 20mm and 1 40mm. Once I have a clue I can start putting some together so I have them if I ever play these in a tourney.

Any chance of anyone answering the question about objective markers?

Very nice Blood Ravens there mate, it's a striking colour scheme and you've done it justice. Brilliant to see a full army together. Perhaps we could get a picture or two of them on a tabletop board?

Regarding your objective marker question, I wasn't aware that they had to be of any particular size. Having said that, someone more accustomed to tournament-play would be better suited than I to answer that.

More infantry than you can imagine? Have you seen the pile of 300 guardsmen I have sitting collecting dust (I mean waiting to be painted) :unsure:

I like the lok of your blood ravens, is thta the chapetr created for the video game "Fire Warrior"? Keep up the work rate and you'll be done in no time, do you use foundation paints for your red???

Back to work on the Ravens tonight after gaming last night.

Finished the banner on sunday and also did a laurel wreath freehand on his shoulder pad which I need to tidy up the blood drop on. I'll probably do similar on the Company Champion and plasma gunner's shoulder pads as it worked loads better than I expected.

I'll have pictures of the assault squad members that are almost all done before the weekend and then hopefully pictures of the finished Command Squad at the weekend.

Grizz - I'll see what I can do about tabletop shots. I'll have to clear the table :)

Gonzo - It's all a trap to lure people in. My Guard armies both have more infantry (though it's the tanks that are driving me mad painting my Steel legion over in my main log).

The Chapter was created for Dawn of War. I just liked the scheme. I've always tried to avoid doing GW created stuff before, but the scheme just got to me.

I don't use foundation paints for the red. It's scab red base, red ink, red gore highlight and P3 Khador base final highlight with some blending in between the highlights.

Cheers for the comments.

As I've been painting the Chapter Masters alongside my normal stuff it's been on my mind about how my Commander up on my list isn't really very different to any normal Captain. I'm thinking of making him just the Captain of the 5th Company and then looking at converting a Commander up. Going to have a think about this up until the weekend.

The problem is obviously what to use as the base of the model. I may have an Emperor's Champion model that was started being converted to work on. I want to avoid Calgar and whatever the Imperial Fist one is.

That will mean that I have Captains for the 1st, 5th, 7th and 10th Companies. I repeat my hatred of orange as the colour for the 7th Company. When I get a picture of the other Chapter Master I'm painting up you'll be able to see his orange crotch guard :)

Ok updates for stuff without pictures.

Company Standard bearer is finished painting. Got the base to do and I'm hoping a shedload of bases can get done this weekend.

The 2 Chapter Masters are nearing completion. I may have a bit of freehand to do on them, but they are mostly done.

Devastator Squad has had the bone done on it so it's black next to tidy up before working on highlights and details.

I've also found a body and a head for my commander. Now to figure what to arm him with. This will mean I have to slightly modify my army list, but I'll do that when I also figure the next 1500 points.

The latest unit I've finished (apart from basing) is my first assault squad. I'm doing these in 5 man blocks which I will then expand out to 10 men full squads once the first blocks of Squads 7 and 8 are done.

This is squad 7.

Couple of WIP shots.




I've freehanded the squad marking as per usual and then the squad number is actually displayed on the top of the jetpack.







I'll try and get a full squad shot done at the weekend when I get another round of photos done.

I also have the last 3 Scout Bolter squads members finished so I have to decide what to do next.

you seem to be speeding with this lot, great work!

Thanks Jase.

I've pulled out bits so I'll see about converting up my new Commander tonight and this weekend. Thinking of buying a new jumpack Chaplain tomorrow as a reward for getting stuff painted.

I'm also trying to stay focused and not get distracted by ODM's lovely Dark Angels. I can paint DA stuff when I've finished the Blood Ravens.

Your red is very deep and vibrant, god I sound like a bloody art teacher!

Thanks Gonzo.

Picked up more Scab Red as I'd exhausted the two pots I had in the house. Slightly important as the base coat :)

I also got a Jump pack Chaplain so I may start him once I've finished the characters I have started now. See it'll get me to stop messing about.

The Commander build is in progress. I have a body, head and armed him so far with a power sword. I also gave him a helmet hanging from his belt. Trying to decide what else to equip him with. I thought Combat shield, but I think he looks too like an Emperor's Champion. I'm also trying to decide on backpack. The current model has Azrael's skull backpack at the moment which I don't think really works for the Blood Ravens. Any suggestions from anyone on arming him? I don't think I'll give him a jetpack so I can do Masters of the Chapter for Apocalypse without it looking weird.

Pictures and progress to come at the weekend. I have at least tonight and Saturday to paint.

Ok pictures probably starting tomorrow as the camera's batteries need to charge.

Still figuring how to finish arming the Commander, though it may end up being a bolt pistol. I've started painting him though.

Started and pretty much blitzed two more Assault Troops as I went looking for what I had in my spares. That means this squad is up to 7 men and the other one is on 6 so far. They will have a full 10 men before I'm done.

Prepared the last Chapter Master so now I have 4. Slight conversion on one of the ones from the box and leaving him with the Thunder Hammer as he'll be one I convert when I buy a second box for probably the Dark Angels. The two Chapter Masters I've been doing will probably be finished this weekend so I can start on the Chaplain and final Chapter Master. I have a crazy notion of doing an Honour Guard/Command Squad, but that can wait until the rest of the army is done as I'd like to get on with painting other armies rather than just keep expanding this one.

And just normal work continues on the Devs though I did give one a Krieg knife as I thought it looked cool. Probably going to start one of the Melta Attack Bikes this weekend too.

All the rest of my painting is over in my normal blog.

Comments/opinions would be good. I may start a question list as I can't seem to get help on the ones asked so far :)

Whilst I'm thinking about the revised list with the figure done as the Captain rather than Chapter master is:

Captain - Power Sword, Iron Halo, Combi Plasma
Command Squad (5) - Apothecary, Company Standard Bearer, Company Champion, Vet sgt Term Honours Power Axe, Plasma Gun
Tac Squad 1 (10) - Heavy Bolter, Melta Gun , Infilitrate, Counter Attack, True Grit
Tac Squad 2 (10) - Plasma Gun, Plasma Cannon
Terminator Sqd 1 (5) - 2 Assault Cannon
Scout Squad 1 (10) - Bolters, Heavy Bolter
Devastator Squad 1 (10) - Lascannon, Missile Launcher
Dreadnought - Lascannon, Missile Launcher

1470 Points

1 HQ
2 Elite
1 Heavy
3 Troops

To expand this to 3000 points

Assault Squad 1 (7) - 2 Plasma Pistol, Sgt (Term Honours, Power Sword, Plasma Pistol)
Codicier Jump Pack, Might of Heroes
Bike Squadron 1(3) - Meltagun
Terminator Sqd 2 (5) -Assault Cannon & Cyclone, 2 Chain fists
Scout Squad 3 (10) - Shotguns, Heavy Bolter
Tac Squad 3 (10)- Flamer, Missile Launcher, Infilitrate, Counter attack, True Grit
2 Assault Bikes - Heavy Melta
Scout Squad 1 (5) - Sniper Rifles - need to build
Veteran Squad (10) -Heavy Bolter, Melta Gun , Infilitrate, Counter Attack, True Grit

Total 2941 - this means I have a few extra points to get the last Assault Troops with or to spruce up the Librarian for example

2 HQ
3 Elite
6 Troops
3 Fast Attack
1 Heavy

Of this lot I need to paint or finish:

2 Assault Troopers
1 Codicer
Scout Squad Shotgun completely
Scout Squad sniper rifle completely
Tac Squad 3 completely
2 Attack Bikes
and get the melta gun for the bikes.

Gives me stuff to aim at finishing whilst I do other odds and sods to keep me interested along the way.

Leaves about 1900 points I won't have done.

Thats as much stuff then i need for my Black Templars!

Christ, i wish you double-y luck for this mate! :)

DK

Good luck indeed ... :)

Any pictures of your progress?

Pictures later today when the camera is fully charged. Going to get some table shots of the army so far and then some focused shots on the new stuff.

Finished the 2 Chapter Masters last night and the proper new Chapter Master is well underway. I've ended up arming him with a Storm bolter as well as Power Sword.

Getting out the attack bike to start next as I only have 14 Blood Raven figures on the go at the mo and the assault troopers should be done soon.

DK - all of my Marine armies (except the 13th Company) are about 5500 points. The Blood Ravens will be the first one properly finished and so is growing a little bit as it's done. The others have rhinos, predators etc so will also likely grow from their starting points once I start and once I start filling gaps I see or when I get inspired.

Pictures later.

Finished the chapter masters already ... :blink: ... well done Keravin, this looks awesome, and you're painting at an amazing rate! Keep it up! :)

Well only 2 to give me 3 Captains done. The 4th one will get done starting when I have finished my Terminator Librarian as he's been around too long.

The other Chapter Master from the box has gone off to one of the other armies and I'll probably buy another box of them to convert once I've finished the Blood Ravens (or at least these 3000 points).

Cheers MM.

Given the Chapter Masters got talked about here are the two done.



10th Company Captain



7th Company Captain

And the 5th Company Standard Bearer

The Black squares represent the shame of the 5th Company from their fluff.

More pictures to come later. Going to go update my main log as well.

good stuff mate
i think the standard bearer has come out really well :)

Ta Jester

I forgot a shot of the freehand I did on the standard bearer's shoulder pad.

good work on the free hand wreath(sp) on the shoulder pad looks wicked pal *thumbs up

Thanks Jester.

The pictures are better this time, but the highlights are still not properly showing up.

My wife's been talking about setting up a picture area provided we can get enough light.

You can tell that you have highlighted them its the most obvious on the finished bearers left leg and foot you can see the edge highlights :)
i would offer advice at taking pictures but im crap :(

all looking nice, random, but however you made that gold colour between the master of armouries legs is super duper !, what did you do ?
the banner/bannerist's shoulder are extra nice too

Hi Marcus

The gold is just

Basecoat of Brazen Brass
Shining Gold
Chestnut ink wash
Shining Gold
Burnished Gold highlight.

The bright orange bit between his legs is Orange (unfortunately) as he's Captain of the 7th Company.

I've been building a new Chapter Master to act as the proper full Chapter Master.


The legs are from a Company Champion, head from the Devastator Squad. I can't remember where the sword comes from.



Trying to take my time with him and got to decide how to base him.

i like the cape what paints you used

On which one?

The new Chapter master just has a basic grey tabard. I'm figuring what to do with it as I probably won't do it in bone.

I'd give him some freehanded trim on the bottom of the tabard, maybe the chapter symbol? Also, i'm wondering if you're gonna make a Davian Thule model based on the DoW captain.

That master is looking awesome, I like the pose (even though one arm is missing yet, still looks awesome). How did you get such a clean cut on the Emperor's Champion legs? Am pondering a conversion for which I'll need to cut the Champion in half too (though I'll need the upper half ;) ), but I'm a bit worried about achieving a clean cut.