Heresy Era Dark Angels - Tactical Squad Batch Painting Madness!

In any army project I tend to prefer to get the requisite Troops choices out of the way early on while enthusiasm for a project is high, and save the more interesting and exciting models for later on as rewards for doing the mundane stuff. That meant I was staring down the barrel of 30 tac marines - My penchant for batch painting meant that I figured I could knock them all out at once with minimal trouble, right? ...Right?

Based on the fact that I haven't posted in a week and a half could tell you that 30 guys is probably too many to do at once. Oof. Nevertheless, I persevered and have been documenting the process as I go along. There's finally been enough forward motion to warrant a post about 'em, so here goes! Started off by doing all the fiddly edge highlighting for the paint scheme - Thin edging with GW Kabalite Green, followed by an extreme edge highlight of Sybarite Green, and the right shoulderpads got a pass with Vallejo Black Green and a highlight of Sybarite Green, to denote them as filthy traitorous Calibanites.

Once that was done, all the weapon housings and wings got a pass of Vallejo Gory Red, followed by a wash of GW Carroburg Crimson to give it some depth.

Once the wash had thoroughly dried, the red edging was picked out in Vallejo Hot Orange to bring up the colors a bit and make them pop. At this point I also laid in the fleshtones on the sergeants, starting with Vallejo Dwarf Flesh, a wash of GW Reikland Fleshshade, then highlights of Vallejo Elf Flesh and Bonewhite. Still some final cleanup to do on the faces, could stand a little more work.

Next up was all of the steel, using Vallejo Gunmetal, a Silver highlight then a wash with Army Painter Dark Tone here and there to pick out some details. The gold followed using Vallejo Brassy Brass, Glorious Gold, and a wash of GW Reikland Fleshshade to give it some depth. Can't have a unit go by without my usual blue on them somewhere, so the Calibanite Warblades got the treatment.

The final step in the process (so far) was to get some color on the bases. Especially on models that are predominately black, doing so really helps the models pop! Started off with an all-over pass of Vallejo Earth, then the rocks were highlighted up with Khaki, Bonewhite and Pale Sand, after which the whole shebang got a mopping of Army Painter Strong Tone. At this point they're left to dry overnight, and will be ready for the next dozen or so steps before they're actually finished. Oy...

Of course, can't let too many posts go by without some spreadsheet porn! The army list is coming into final focus at this point. I've settled on trying to do the Ironwing Protocol Rite of War which means the force needs to have an equal number of Tanks to other units - I was initially planning to have a mess of Rhinos, but with the recent release of the Termite I knew I had to get my hands on them. I figured with the Dark Angels predilection for using unusual weapons and vehicles they'd fit in just fine aesthetically, and I'm really looking forward to building them!

Still only three models fully complete for the force, I'm working on getting a mess of models all up to the same stage then doing a bunch of heraldry and weathering at once to keep them consistent. Time will tell if that's a good idea!