Blood Angels Legion Moritat - Part I

 

Zapp. Zapp zapp. Zapzapzapzapzapzap.

After watching the Blood Angels Grimdark video from Trovarion (link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlf_j8CB-3k) I was motivated to give it a go. It needed the right model however - adapting that approach to just any Blood Angels model wouldn't work for me because it would stand out too much from the rest of the army.

I originally had considered painting up a Death Guard marine in that fashion (and I still intend to at some point) but recently I was looking through the backlog and noticed a Legion Moritat. Of any model, this one just spoke to me as being a Blood Angel that would have far more wear and tear on their armour than normal. Here is a warrior that isn't part of the usual formation, and is basically geared and let loose to do their own thing, returning to resupply before going back out again. The armour is expected to have seen more action between repairs than most.

I tried to follow the video without changing things up too much, but one of the obvious differences was the model itself: the armour plates here don't provide for as many larger surfaces to play with. The key to the scheme is that the edges aren't highlighted normally, but instead are kept darkened. Directed dabbing motions with a brush give that level of control easily enough, just have to focus on the middle of panel areas, leaving edges and recesses to naturally be darker. Bonus is that no wash is required.

Seen above is the following steps:

• Black primer. This still shows through in small areas, but I didn't bother applying another base coat of black - there's essentially no need if the primer's coverage is good enough.
• Rhinox hide dabbed around all the armour. An old and definitely well used brush was great for this - it's completely frayed, giving a bit of random patterning, large enough to be quick with the application, but still allows for fairly good control over which areas are covered.
• Mephiston Red dabbed around most areas, focusing more on the inner areas of armour panels. I also used a smaller, less destroyed, brush in some places where I wanted more control. Two or three passes were used, giving surfaces facing upwards more attention to start on highlighting.
• Evil Sunz Scarlet dabbed around next, using on the smaller brush. I wanted much more control here, and focused only on the surfaces facing upward. I also tried to use slightly more on the upper parts of the body, which would not be self-shadowed quite so much. The head is perhaps a little brighter than I originally intended, but don't see any reason to tone it back yet; there's still more to be done that might change the look quite a lot.
• Iron Warrior applied lightly to various edges. This is where the paint has fully worn away, and actually highlights otherwise dark edges while giving some contrast to the surrounding red. This helps define the shape more, but it's worth noting that the shine will disappear when varnish is applied. I can always go back over some places if I necessary.

The "red" armour itself is mostly done at this stage, but I might well poke it at with a brush occasionally as more is done, depending on how I feel.

I'm really enjoying this approach to painting. It gives a worn and used look, like this particular Marine is in the middle of a drawn out battle, in a drawn out war. It's also very quick to do - highlighting and battle damage are all done naturally as part of the process. The odd thing about it though, is that it's not fast and effective purely because of the method, but also because I'm well familiar with how the paints work, how they'll look, and how comfortable I am with the brush. If I were to have tried this when I first (re)started painting, it would look nowhere near as good, take twice as long, and I might have abandoned the idea entirely. Picking the right model also helps too. So anyone trying this should keep all that in mind - experiment, have fun, enjoy, and practice!

Also I highly recommend following along with Trovarion. I find his videos excellent in describing not only how to paint, but also provide a lot of insight into many other aspects behind the hobby. In particular I find his views on what to try outside of "use this paint with this brush" very encouraging; basically, watch the whole video linked above.

I admit that I now even more want to try this approach on a (30k) Death Guard. Getting the off-white right would definitely be a challenge, but would look really amazing if it works out.

-- silly painter.