Raven Guard Chaplain

Well, it certainly has been a while since I've updated the blog. Since my last post, I've completed my Rhino (nothing fancy, just a plain old Rhino), four more pistol/chainsword Assault Marines to round out a squad of ten, attended an invitational 40K friendly tourney, and painted a Chaplain to lead my Bladewing Assault Brotherhood. Oh, and GW also dropped the bomb of 8th Edition on us.

I had intended to put my thoughts on the edition change down in words, but I think this image sums up my experience thus far quite well:


Put your hands in the air!

 Yup, complete roller coaster ride. When the news was first released, I was very up and down on the idea. First mad, then excited, back to mad, then apathetic, up, down, round and round. I've settled on optimistic and enthusiastic after GW started their slow release of actual info on the Warhammer Community page. The news that while my codexes and supplements are recycling bin fodder, my army itself is not was very welcome to me. The fourteen FOC layouts sound promising, as do all of the other rules. I think I'll be able to play my Bladewing Assault Brotherhood without requiring formations, which is awesome!

To that end, I put some energy into painting a Chaplain for my Raven Guard:

Just the basic monopose model from the Reclusiam Command Squad kit. No real reason to try to reinvent the wheel on this one. Well, except for this:

Yes, Thor, I magnetized his backpack! While I don't plan to field him with his standard power pack very often, there was no reason not to make them interchangeable. Just a magnet sunk where the nub on his back was, and a couple in the holes of the packs. I did have to tilt the magnet in the jump pack ever so slightly forward to get it to sit behind the rim on his right shoulder pad.

I'm excited to field this guy this weekend at what may be the last tourney I play in 7th Edition. I've got another five-man Assault Squad with a pair of flamers and a power sword on the painting rig right now. I need to order some more Assault Marine torsos and legs to bump the squad to ten eventually.
The news that pistols will have extra utility in close combat in Eighth was welcome to me, as I've had the parts for a five man Vanguard Squad with a bunch of plasma pistols and power weapons lined up for ages now.