Hawk Lords Vanguard Squad

After building and painting up Shrike for my Hawk Lords a while back, I realized that there was no real point to having him in an army if he didn't have a squad to go into assault with. Not wanting to build another metal Vanguard boxed set, I resolved to use the Sanguinary Guard boxed set as the basis for the this Hawk Lords Vanguard squad.



The single main thruster jump pack was the main reason I went with the Sanguinary Guard boxed set. I also used the legs, and one of the power swords (to represent a relic blade) for the build. I then added in the two assault marine torsos I had in my bitz box, as well as a pair of regular torso plates (one with eagle, one with skull) and an Mark VIII torso for the sergeant.



To add that Hawk Lords flavor, they all have a studded right shoulder pad, and a single lightning claw (believe me if I had them in pairs I would have used them) except for the sergeant who has the relic blade. Two of the marines got storm shields - having used them with my Disciples of Caliban I saw how much more resilient they can make a squad - and two just have bolt pistols.



I used the same painting technique for the Land Speeders as I did here, starting with black primer, then a basecoat of Leviathan Purple. Next a wash of Baal Red (I really like the depth this adds to the purple), P3 Beaten Purple and a final extreme highlight of P3 Murderous Magenta. The silver is Boltgun, Devlan Mud and Chainmail, the gold is Dwarven Bronze, Devlan Mud, Shining Gold and Burnished Gold. The green is Orchide Shade, P3 Ioasan Green, Goblin Green and Scorpion Green, the yellow is P3 Sulfurous Yellow, Golden Yellow and Sunburst Yellow. I used a Micron pen to draw the X, Terminator Honors and Hawk Lords symbols. I'm not altogether happy with the way these turned out, I think the Hawk Lords symbol is just a bit beyond my reach still.