Forge World have been relentlessly pumping out marine releases for the past couple of years like they are going out of fashion. Though I can appreciate the disdain from all the xenos players out there, I also love the re-imagining of classic, iconic Space Marine units. One in particular is the Rapier artillery piece. I actually purchased half a dozen of these on release last Summer for another army but never got around to getting them made. With the changes to Warhammer 40k 6th edition and the no-vehicles theme these will make nice additions to my Blood Angels Forces.
I parted with the original crew fairly soon after buying them since the mkII/III armour variants don’t fit too well with my other stuff, and built some new ones using standard plastic marine parts with a few Blood Angels bits mixed in. The artillery piece was superglued together and mounted on a base prior to priming. In hindsight this was a really bad idea, since I actually had to prise the thing apart again later to be able to get at the insides properly. In future I’ll paint the track sections and the main chassis parts separately.
The models I have are all good casts and were therefore fairly easy to paint. It really didn’t take very long at all to get it finished, even including assembling and painting the new crew members. The red of the artillery piece and power armour is simply Citadel Mephiston Red, shaded with Drakenhof Nightshade and then highlighted with Troll Slayer Orange. Mephiston Red is a pretty awesome ingredient for Blood Angels players since it really simplifies the red armour process. I can’t recommend it enough. It’s probably also worth mentioning that I prime using Halfords red car primer and I find that Mephiston Red covers this easily in one coat.
Now, if only Forge World could publish come consistent rules for it…. 😉
One Inch Rifles 