As some fantastic new Space Marine kits hit the shelves, the Warhammer Community team have been hard at work adding these illustrious characters to their armies. Joel’s take on Aethon Shaan is a feast for the eyes – and you’ll be seeing more of his wider Raven Guard collection later today. In comparison, Vulkan He’stan appears to have been painted by a prodigious five-year-old... That’s not true, the writer painted it. Please don’t look.
Joel – Aethon Shaan
Joel: I’ve been a long-time Raven Guard collector, having painted three armies over the years for both Warhammer 40,000 and The Horus Heresy. I just like painting black and white… and lightning claws, of course.
I recall that when I first glimpsed our new Master of Shadows*, my eyes popped out of my head like some crazy cartoon character. The model is stunning and is everything you’d expect from an exemplar of the faction. Jump pack, beaky helmet, twin lightning claws, a bunch of raven feathers, and yet… not covered in all the bling – we’ll let the Ultramarines keep that, the Raven Guard are usually a humble Chapter.
I’ve stayed quite consistent with the wayhe ’Eavy Metal team painted him, but I wanted him to fit with my larger force, so I used blue-grey cloth for the ribbons and added obsidian-style claws and some of my signature warpaint lines to the helmet. I wanted the ribbons to have a pattern on them but keep the more solid, stripe style I use on some helmets and armour panels on other models, which meant I sneakily managed to get the 19th Legion number onto him. I tend to use more gold on the elite of my Raven Guard collection, but for Shaan I just painted the skulls in his claws to give them more of an important artefact feel.
One of my favourite details on this kit is the two Servo-automata scouting around his base. The design is awesome, and I love painting scriptwork. I should also note that I spent a good hour or so magnetising his three head options – but the helmet is such a cool design that I couldn’t resist making it my first choice.
If anyone is interested in how I paint things, my Raven Guard are based with Chaos Black spray, then the black armour is edge highlighted with Eshin Grey, then a second highlight of Dawnstone. My white is super simply just based Grey Seer, followed by a bunch of thin coats of Ulthuan Grey, and then a final highlight of White Scar. The blue cloth is Dark Reaper, washed with thinned Nuln Oil, and then layered with Dark Reaper and Thunderhawk Blue.
I’m now just itching to see what rules he has and how I can deploy him in my games. I’m sure he will be clawing his way through traitors and heretics soon enough!
Rob – Vulkan He’stan
Rob: I painted something too.
Sitting next to Joel’s work is always a daunting prospect, as I consider myself an acceptable painter at best, but being a die-hard Salamanders fan, I couldn’t pass up the chance to paint Vulkan He’stan. I like using plenty of Brass Scorpion on my veterans, so I was glad to see a lot of his shiny details returned – and while I usually opt for simple metallic weapons, this seemed like the place to try out one of those fancy glowing blades beloved by much better painters.
I also went for black drakeskin around the edge of his scaled cape rather than the white on the box art, as it fits better with the rest of my army, who tend towards a darker palette. Keeping most of the model dark means the flames and white insignia really pop… and I could cover up the many mistakes much easier.
I ran into a snag with his base, as I usually just throw a load of snow on and call it a day, but here he’s depicted walking through fire and I forgot to assemble it without the flames stuck to the designer’s original vision. Since the snow would have melted, I used just a little bit of Valhallan Blizzard at the edges and made the rest look shiny and wet with heaps of Ardcoat.
But never mind all that – if you remember back when the various Warhammer teams reflected on their favourite miniatures, I demanded a new plastic Vulkan He’stan from the Design Studio. This is therefore entirely my doing, I will accept no other explanation.
Imperial Fists Captain Lysander was meant to be in this article, but he got delayed in the warehouse teleportarium – we can’t wait to see how our other colleague Darcy tricks him out.
* The Raven Guard have a special fancy title for their Chapter Master.
