Outriders and another Reaver are on the workbench this week.

I’m actually quite happy where my Blood Angels list is at currently for Legions Imperialis. But there is one optional support slot I haven’t used yet in the demi-company. That is the Vanguard slot. The Astartes Vanguard box came out in the last wave of releases, but other than assembly, I haven’t used any of the box yet. My plan has always been for the Javelin’s and Skyhunter squadrons to for the backbone of my White Scars formation. This leaves the Land Speeders and Outriders however to bolster either the Blood Angels or Imperial Fists.

Blood Angels it is then.

legions imperialis blood angels outriders

The detail on the Outriders is spot on. I had more fun painting these than I really ought to. The detail is absolutely spot on. Just enough to really go to town on them if you want to, but simple enough that a coat of contrast and a few details is more than adequate.

Still a ways to go on the squadron. I’ve only just glued them to the bases so these will be left overnight before I do the weathering and last details. I made up a full sized detachment of six bases. Would have been rude not to in my humble opinion. I will of course run through any paints used in detail when I finish them and give them their own page in the army gallery, but for now I can say it’s a white pre-shade with contrast blood angels red. No airbrush, just basic red contrast and flat black for the tyres and guns.

I don’t think there’s much left to do on the Outriders now. Question is whether I should also do the Land Speeders for Blood Angels, or leave them for another legion? Still making my mind up on that. Unless I add another formation, they would also be an alternative to the bikes rather than a straight add-on, given there’s only one optional vanguard slot in the demi-company formation.

Battle groups

On the topic of add-ons. This weekend is pre-order day for the next Legions wave. Although there are no ‘new’ units as such, a lot of the missing flyers have returned like the Xiphon’s and Fire Raptors (yay!). Very keen to give the Blood Angels their own squadrons, not that I’m ungrateful for the air support the Imperial Fists have been providing.

The best news though are the battle group box bundles. They are basically just a bundle of five of the individual box contents; the demi-company, vanguard, support, Rhino and Kratos for the Astartes. It’s a odd mix in my view from a list building perspective if you take it as a starter box, but probably ok for growing an existing legion. What it is though is a significant saving versus the individual box prices and if you are pre-ordering through a FLGS chances are even better again.

Legions Imperialis Astartes Battle Group. Copyright Games Workshop

That’s too good a deal to pass up on, so I have pre-ordered one of them, plus a box of the Predators. The plan is both of these boxes will be exclusively for a new legion rather than any of the existing lists I’ve done so far. Watch this space.

Engine Nineteen

The traitors have been a bit neglected of late, well in legions at least. I’ve been putting in plenty of bush time on the Word Bearers for Heresy 2.0, but not so much epic scale. So nearly done now is the first of my engines for Legion Fureans. Scheme is a favourite of mine from back in the day and I reckon one of the most eye-catching and pleasing re-imagined schemes from Titanicus’ re-launch several years back. The yellow and black is such a great palette.

Anyway, there’s a Reaver on the workbench this weekend which I’m hoping to progress on and with luck maybe complete before next week. No name for it yet, so it is just going by the numeric ‘nineteen’. Because it is the nineteenth engine I’ve painted to date. That probably didn’t need explaining now I think about it, sorry.

It does mean engine twenty should be noteworthy! Or not. I will see where the mood takes takes me.

A small Reaver Titan from Legion Fureans in a hand.

On the plus side. It will be two weeks before next wave drops, so plenty time to get all of these finished and game ready.

What else is coming up?

I mentioned the Word Bearers for Heresy 2.0. Despite the truly horrific mauling they got at last weeks Zone Mortalis day (100% on me. My list sounded fun. It wasn’t. I should have thought it through better. They died badly!). I did receive most sporting award though which was cool. I guess you have to laugh and try to make it a fun game when it’s just going that badly.

Despite the shocker of a performance, the three games were all great and it was another well run event. Shout outs to all the player, my opponents and to Chris for his superb looking Raven Guard. Especially the Indomitus Termies. So, so good! Seventeenth will be back again in August for ‘Silent Wars II’. They ‘may’ also be sporting some new units if I can get them done in time.