Look and Feel of my Dark Angels

The first thing I settled upon was the look and feel of the force. I knew there were some things I wanted to do differently than my previous Dark Angels, while still staying true to the general guidelines in the Codex.

The piece of art that originally got me interested in the Chapter was the cover for the old Space Marine Epic game. This year it was reissued as the cover for an anthology, but when I was starting this project I had to do some research to find it. It was just as powerful as I remembered, and gave me the basis for my army; very dark armor, outlined squad markings, blond super clone looks, and only the occasional personal heraldry to add color splashes.

The combination of the Black Templar artwork and the Horus Heresy art books added some final elements I wanted for my marines, in the robes, chains, and Heraldry. As a fleet based Chapter, with a medieval religiosity, and permanent quest for redemption, I see the Dark Angels as the perfect crusading Chapter, a feel the new Black Templar models conveyed very well.

The rumors of the Citifight campaign were stirring as I began, I wanted my force to feel like it was engaged in an Urban Campaign, so like every other player I went with urban basing. It seemed rather novel at the time, and gave them a different feel than most other armies I was seeing at the time.

I knew I wanted to do something different with my Deathwing too. I had painted 35 or so Terminators in the white scheme before and fancied a new look. According the Dark Angels' lore, the Deathwing changed from black armor to memorialize a squad (or more) saving a recruiting world from genestealer invasion. By my math, the genestealers had only been appeared as a known threat to the Imperium in the last 5,000 years or so, so that gave me 5,000+ plus years when the Deathwing would have been fighting in black armor, post Heresy. Perfect. This historical time frame would also add credence to why so many of the old armor styles from the Black Templar minis would be found in the force.

Finally, I knew I wanted to have a nice centerpiece for the force in a Command Squad, a transport, and a Dark Angels Banner. I didn't care the point cost, I wanted that high profile showcase unit to field, and to try my hand at hand painting one of the Sacred Standards. I also wanted to field representative units from every unit the Dark Angels could field. This meant I could work on models that might not make too much tactical sense in the force structure, like Assault Terminators, and units I had never played with before, like the Predator.

Linking Items

I'm very big on the idea that it's the little things, done consistently, that make an army come together. Those little things that make it appear as if the soldiers come from the same army, the same background, and the same battle theater. You might not even realize they are there, but you realize something's missing when they're not!

The most basic elements that needed consistency were obviously the bases and armor. In order to make sure I didn't "evolve" my scheme over time, I spent quite a bit of time on various paint tests to make sure I had the dark armor and urban bases exactly as I wanted and could replicate.

The Dark Angels are or course known for their robes, but rather than use any of the existing minis I decided to give all my Veterans the new Black Templar robes and model hoods on them too. In fact I decided every Veteran Sergeant would need hoods, even the scouts. Once they are initiated into the secrets of the Deathwing, they must hood up for secrecy!

Just as closely linked to the Dark Angels as robes are swords. The winged sword appears in every icon, and their very founding mythology revolves around the broken sword of their Primarch. Swords are a big deal. That meant no other power weapons would be available to my boys, and it also meant that all the cool sword icons in the Black Templar box would find their way onto my vehicles.

The other bits and pieces in the Templar box really fit the Dark Angels' monkish them too, and I made sure every single marine got at least one icon, seal, or scroll for good measure. I also added the great Forgeworld icons to shields and vehicles as appropriate to keep the gothic theme going throughout the force.

I decided not to add Campaign Badges and 4th Company markings to each marine, in order to keep to the uniform darkness of the armor, but still value these icons for their unifying affect on the army. Therefore I made sure each vehicle sported the badges, and any purpose-built shields or badges in the army, like those of the Deathwing and the occasionally worn by the line marines would display the colors.

As a homage to the Horus Heresy art books decided all power weapons and plasma coils would glow green. In addition this made them stand apart form most other marine models. Finally, in order to add an aura of secrecy and violence to the army. I decided all glass, windows and lenses would be red.

Changes and Growth

After a few games I decided I needed more Termies. Specifically, ones with guns. I have always loved the Deathwing, and Assault Termies were just way too limited to be my only Terminator option, so an old squad was stripped, slightly converted, got some Forgeworld pads, and was added to the force. On the other hand, I decided to remove the Ravenwing bikes. I am a big fan of combined armies, and love the Ravenwing rules, but I just wasn't feeling the bike squadron, so they went back in the box.

When the new Scout Snipers were released I felt compelled to add them to the list because they were so cool, and when I had a chance to lay my hands on a Forge World Vindicator for a steal, I added that too.

My final additions were for a local Rogue Trader tournament. I added the Librarian a week prior and decided to model Fear of the Darkness onto him to add to the presence and special nature of the Command Squad. The only surviving models from my previous armies were my home made drop pods. I like playing a drop pod force, it really fits the marine fluff as I envision it, so I had to add some serious painting touchups to bring them into line and make them ready for the tournament.