First engagement, and a fresh coat of paint

Painting has been going a lot faster than I expected- 1 or 2 drybrushing coats per day has my first tactical squad's basic coloring done in 3 days. I settled on a bone/red/black color scheme and making the army a successor chapter of the Blood Angels. I'm not 100% sold on how it looks, so I wanted to post a few pics and get feedback before I finish painting my first squad.

Had the chance to play a few small games last Wednesday with Rob, it was great fun, and I'm surprised that they went pretty smoothly considering I'm almost a decade (and 2 editions) behind. This was highly educational for me, as I really didn't know ANYTHING about the strengths and weaknesses of various weapons and units.

The first game I realized why Rob's unit of wraithguard have 12" range after he summarily vaporized an entire squad of space marines in a single volley! Needless to say I rushed into melee and hoped for the best after that. I'm very happy with how my captain did with the dual lightning claws... I converted him for the coolness factor before I knew what exactly they did in combat :-P

All in all, a great start to the escalation league, with Rob beating me out on victory points by a narrow margin- next time I'll bring more power fists ;-)

Humble Beginnings

Finished constructing the last of my initial investment. 495 point force ready for fielding in next Wednesday's Escalation League at Astral Games. I will chronicle my steps towards making this a noteworthy 2500 point, fully painted army.

Details on the specific chapter will be forthcoming, as I haven't decided much beyond a basic colorscheme (bone and dark blue). I think the likeliest would be a Second Founding chapter of the Dark Angels, or just a generic Space Marine chapter.

So far as the general tactics I'm wanting to use, I am planning on fielding very strong close-combat units (vanguard veterans w/ jump packs and dual lightning claws) backed up by a wall of bolter fire, with Dreadnoughts suppressing their vehicle units.