40k Raven Guard - Blade Guard Veterans

Blade Guard Veterans prepared for action in the grim darkness of the far future.

As 2021 draws to a close, I find myself working to build my small collection of 40k Raven Guard up to strength in order to participate in a local 40k gaming group. This inspired me to finally crack open the "Indomitus" box set - purchased back in the summer of 2020 - and get going on some of the figures inside. With the clock running out on the year, I wanted to throw up a bunch of posts highlighting some of the subsequent painting - here is the first one. This is a unit of "Blade Guard Veterans", multi-part plastic figures from the "Indomitus" box.

Shoulder insignia courtesy of "Pop Goes The Monkey"

The Space Marine models in the "Indomitus" box nearly all have a close-combat theme/look/feel. They are made for brawling, and the look and the design of the figures follows. These "Bade Guards" certainly fit that vibe - yet another new type of elite Space Marine (who are already elite, but anyway) that can certainly shoot at you, but would much rather chop you up. They have fancy shields and fancy swords to help get that job done. 

I like to drop the old Legion Numeral here and there on my 40k models...always nice to nod toward 30k inspiration.

These models are all push-fit assembly (although I still use a bit of glue because) and are covered in all manner of baroque details, including many things familiar to 40k players (many skullz, for example). In all, the effect is to bring the feel of a "Space Knight", something that for Space Marines had been more restricted previously to certain Chapters, like the Dark Angels and Grey Knights. With the tabards, shields and swords, these fellows have a different vibe from standard Marines for sure. I quite enjoy the sculpts, I think they are very well done.

Newly-painted elite models. What could go wrong?

For colours, I used my alternate (i.e. dark grey instead of black) take on the Raven Guard colour scheme, and used these particular figures to drop in a touch more colour (albeit still darker) here and there.

These three Marines will be joined shortly by reinforcements - stay tuned for more on that!