Dark Vengeance Characters

Despite the order in which I have been posting model pictures, I actually alternated between chaos and Disciples of Caliban figures. I picked up the Limited Edition of Dark Vengeance purely for the Interrogator Chaplain. This model is a beauty to behold. I love painting it, and it was the second model I worked on after the Hellbrute.

The Master was a fun model to work on, and rather straight forward. I love the pose, and how it is reminiscent of Asmodai.

The librarian was a nice break from the other models, as it was almost like painting an Ultramarine. Those who know me personally know how much Ultramarines Blue once ran through my veins, now I guess it is Altdorf Guard Blue. Hard to tell.

Dark Vengeance Tactical Squad

The Dark Vengeance tactical squad is probably my ideal configuration. Put aside thoughts about point costs, min/max or in game value. I love plasma weapons. Period, end of story. My arch-nemesis HuronBH can attest to this, as I used to have an all plasma armed Ultramarines army that i ran - my fifth company.

I opted against modifying the models, mainly out of laziness, both in terms of the effort it would take to remove them, and in how much a pain in the butt it is to free hand the Disciples of Caliban chapter symbol.

The paint scheme I used was the same as for the other models in the chapter, substituting new GW paints where I have had to due to running out of P3 paints.

Dark Vengeance Bike Squad

The easiest models in the Dark Vengeance boxed set are by far the space marines. While at once detailed and simple, they make for ideal starters for any new player. Quite the contrast with the heavily baroque chaos models.

The Ravenwing element of the Disciples of Caliban was the one element stopping me from finishing up the one thousand point block I had envisioned building. However, when I finally was coming around to building something, previews for Dark Vengeance were popping up all over the internet. So I decided to wait.

While the Ravenwing bikes were painted similarly to the rest of the army, I did transition from P3 to the new GW paints for a lot of the Dark Vengeance models. Especially using Caliban Green and Warpstone Glow to replace the greens for my Disciples of Caliban. Like the terminators, the bikes are painted exactly like the rest of the army - this concept comes from some fluff I cam across on Bolter & Chainsword.

Dark Vengeance Chosen

After the Hellbrute, the Chosen models are my favorite of the Dark Vengeance chaos models. I especially like how the unit leader's third eye fits with the mystical theme of the Thousand Sons.

The detailing was especially tricky, but I like how the gold brings that out in the models. These were some of the first models I began painting with the new GW's gold metallics.

In the end I'm happy with the results, though i am not so sure how viable the unit is in game.

Dark Vengeance Chaos Cultists

Probably my least favorite part of the Dark Vengeance boxed set was the chaos cultists. While I do like the heavy weapon models, I'm not particularly found of the unit leader models. Regardless, I ended up painting the cloth dark blue and much of the metallics were painted gold to reflect their Tzeentchian character and match the 1000 Sons army.

Chaos Space Marine Codex

With the release of the Forge World Horus Heresy book series, my copy of the Chaos Space Marines codex got shelved. In fairness, I'm still making my way through some of the fluff areas, but on the whole I am a fan of the new additions to the list. The Helldrake in particular is on my list of additions for the 1000 Sons. The fluff areas are decent, but the studio bias towards Khorne and Nurgle is pretty evident with a lack of an Tzeentchian traitor space marine chapters. On the whole, a good offering, but ultimately eclipsed by Forge World.

Horus Heresy Book One: Betrayal

I am guessing that books ship from Great Britain faster than resin models, as I had to wait barely a week for my copy of Horus Heresy book One: Betrayal to arrive. For book lovers, this is a well crafted piece, with silver gilt on the edges, and a stamped silver eagles at the corner. There is also a red bookmark of cloth as well. As befits a work like this, the background information is a lot more condensed than the actual Black Library novels, but it purports to be drawn from extant sources a mere hundred years or so after the Heresy is over. Thus making it more apocryphal than the BL novels which are more immediate, first hand narrations. As for the army lists, there is a lot to digest, my initial impression is that the economy of the Thirty First millennium is a lot stronger than this one, as marine squad are much more specialized, as a basic tactical squad either has bolters or bolt pistol and close combat weapon and can be between ten and twenty men. Now some items overlap, drop pods for instance are the exact same mark as currently used. However, that being said, there are so many elements of a space marine legion that I am coveting, I'm glad they haven't been released yet. In summation, what GW fandom has been clamoring is here, Horus Heresy era models complete with Primarchs, careful what you wish for right?