Ravenguard- What Next?

A good question I think. This army is a decent size now, it's a bit harder to use than I thought as it only really has two elements:

1. Infiltrating stuff

2. Deep striking or flying stuff

This means your drops and tactics have to be spot on as the infiltrating part can be quickly overwhelmed, it's all about troop placement and movement. Which it should be with Ravenguard infantry. There is no killer unit, though the veterans do shoot very well.
So I guess what next should always fit two categories for me:

- Does it fit the army background?

- Is the unit reasonable enough in the game that I will use it/or is the background so good I'll use it regardless of rules?

So, here are my ideas:

1. Terminators in Tartaros armour: There are a few references to Corax using a company of veteran terminators for teleport actions into the midst of the enemy, this would be quite cool, but not really fit in with the rest of the army. However, a black terminator with a white helmet would look great!

2. Apothecaries: You see too many of them in my opinion and they are a good way to use the spawny tactic of points denial as you have to kill all three. However, as an elite infantry force behind enemy lines I think Ravenguard could justify minimising their casualties.

3. Landspeeders: any light infantry force needs support and landspeeder are a very mobile way of doing it. Javelins are super cool models too.

4. A super heavy flier: probably the only super heavy I could justify!

5. Maybe the most likely option, a Mor Deythan strike team with combi weapons in a Darkwing:These guys are quite good but I think there could be a more dynamic role for them

I usually take a fair bit of time off and do something else once an army is at this size, when I add something it'll be straight up on the blog.

Till next time,

SR

Ravenguard- objective markers

Perhaps I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel now but this is a long running army showcase. Some simple objective markers. Dead easy to make, parts came from a mkVII tactical squad. Ravenguard transfer to show Legion, imperial eagles to show localist status and then based like the rest of the army.

Ravenguard- Moritat

I picked up this figure a couple of months back. The theme of the moritat is very pre-Corax Ravenguard. Also a cool figures though, I went for the volkite version as it’s a very Heresy style weapon.

A few people have asked me about the ammo feeds, they are easy to do with a hairdryer and fit into the torso rather than backpack. This is useful if you want him to be on foot rather than have a jump pack.

He looks a bit “no frills” because he’s Ravenguard and I suspect he wouldn’t want to stand out behind enemy lines and all. He was a nice figure to paint and I’m happy with the result.

Ravenguard- Legion Vigilator

This was my first character model for my Ravenguard, reckon he still stands the test of time and as there is no official model, good job I have him!

This Vigilator is a super Ravenguardy character, he isn’t that great overall but I’ve found him highly survivable and annoying for my opponents, so he often features in my armies.

The conversion uses a mkIV recce marine, a piece of manufactorum scenery, a marine head from god-knows-which plastic sprue and a converted stalker Bolter.

A closer look at the Bolter helps me explain the conversion. I took a plastic mkVI Bolter, added a sight from the mkVII sprue. Then I cut off the barrel and pinned a ruberized paper clip in (my favourite pinning item). I then used a high elf spear as the silencer. Ta-da!

I think he’s one of my better conversions!

Till next time

SR

Ravenguard- Alvarex Maun Conversion

So, here we go....

I wanted to add Avlarex Maun to my army as he helps the drop pod aspect and messed with my enemies reserves, thus preventing early reactions t my alpha strike with the pods.

But no model....probably never going to be one in my eyes...

So, how I made my version...

The main body is from the mkIV command pack. I then added an arm and power sword from the mkIV marine sprue, as Alvarez does carry a power sword. Next I added a Ravenguard shoulder pad and a standard plastic mkIV backpack.

The head was going to be the difficult bit, he’s meant to look like this:

I ended up with something slightly different, I used a space wold head and cut off the ‘burns. So his Mohawk has been left to grow a bit. I was going to paint in some facial hair but decided against it in the end. So here he is! In retrospect I’ve seen other conversions using a master of signal backpack to represent his special cox. Mine is more understated, I’m still happy and he’s definitely helped in my games!

Raven Guard- Darkwing Gunships

So, the start of my Ravenguard Airwing. Darkwings are a must in any Ravenguard army in my opinion

Two separate birds here if you can spot the difference, similar scheme to the Xiphons, using corvus black as an "off black" to create some contrasts between the base layer.

Got to say these are a pain to put together, as you can tell from the past I've done three now and it doesn't seem to get any easier.

Hopefully I'll get a change to photograph some characters this week and talk about my Alvarex Maun conversion!

Until next time...

SR

Raven Guard- Xiphon Interceptors

I wasn’t too keen on this model originally, but given time it’s defintately grown on me

I really had a fiddle with the airbrush for these. I wanted them to look a bit battered, as they’re meant to be old fighters pressed back into servic3 due to the Heresy. 

My two fighters form an air superiority wing, other than Corax, I couldn’t think of a good Lord of War choice, so this is it!

Whilst brittle, these tend to perform well. Particularly when my opponent doesn’t have any good AA, such as a Deredeo.

Until next time!

Raven Guard- Armoured Proteus Landraider

After all the excitement of the Weekender and the battlereport, I think it’s time to get back to what Magnusfolly does best, lots of painted heresy stuff!

Why have a landraider in your Ravenguard army? Well when it’s an armoured proteus and messed with reserves, that’s when!

The main reason I have one of these is because it was one of the first Heresy tanks available and I was buying everything at the time! It was for my original Thousand Sons army, when that became defunct and I sold it, I repainted this model for my Raven Guard.

I tend to fill this with seekers, they’re a bit of a nightmare on the first round of shooting if you nominate the right unit. The proteus’ scout move gets them in rapid fire range! Until next time....

Raven Guard- Drop Pods

I have six drop pods.... six! Painting these sapped my life away. They are hard work.

The paint scheme was a simple black scheme with weathering. I chipped the models with a sponge and used an airbrush for the re-entry marks.

Of my two drop pods, two are death storms, these have a useful distraction in games. They’re also dangerous enough to do some damage, particularly when armed with krak missiles.

My raven guard army is all about the alpha strike and these are a major part of it!

Raven Guard - Dark Furies

Here we go with some more ravenguard. Dark Furies are top figures, but due to the paint job a bit understated, but maybe that’s raven guard all over!

I did the wings with a grey face using an airbrush, it seems to have come out ok, but the wings seem partial to chipping despite a coat of matt varnish.

Bit of metallic weatherin on the jump packs to finish, I suspect this would look quite good army wide. However, they’re kind of all done now and it’s hard to go back an army!

Since my army is quite shooty, it’s hard to find a role for these guys and I struggled to use them initially. However, eventually I settled using them to fight fires as a reactive defensive unit. They’re a bit expensive for that but they seem to do it well!

Raven Guard- veterans and melta support squad

Hello again, more raven guard units. This time veterans, which I have twenty of and a ten man meltagun support squad. These guys are all in drop pods and aim for the alpha strike on the enemies best units. They can’t take a beating though so they have to kill what they engage really quickly!

The awful sniper flamer combo, if anyone can do it maybe raven guard?






There are another five marines in this squad

The sniper flamers are good for killing elite infantry before they do too much damage. The meltagun squad has to carefully choose targets as the use of ceramite armour seems about 50:50 in heresy as it’s expensive stuff and sometimes your opponent has no meltagun.

More to come!

Raven Guard - Mor Deythan

Next up, a ravenguard signature unit, Mor Deythan. I went for the sniper variant initially but if I can ever get back to painting the odd extra squad I’d lover some combi weapons/shotguns for a more mobile unit. These guys are nice figures but the initial price was high, I believe it’s been reduced now. Either way I bought mine as part of a deal with a dark wing storm eagle so saved a little bit.

Worst part about these models is the barrel of the rifle bends all the time, everytime they’ve been in the case! So hairdryers at the ready. In game these guys are pretty cool, I found that they are surprisingly resilient due to the stealth rule. Never be afraid to go to ground, these guys do damage but if you weight them against what’s shooting them you can gain benefit from drawing fire and surviving. I once had three units shooting at them, but they had a 2+ cover save I only lost one marine and drew a lot of fire.

Raven Guard- Tactical Marines

This is the third Heresy army I completed, after my iron hands and world eaters. I’ll show those armies another day, however these guys are my go to loyalist army at the moment so pretty current.

The paint scheme is amazingly straight forward as you might imagine with an all black model:

1. Black undercoat using UPOL matt black primer

2. Xentihal highlight using FW air Corvus black, this is an off black/very dark grey. 

3. Dawnstone edge highlight.

4. Lead belcher to the metallic areas followed by null oil wash

5. Highlight the steel areas with Runefang steel for a good contrast.

6. Pouches were added to most models for a well armed infantry feel, these were painted rhinos hide, highlighted steel goon drab and washed to a duller shader with agrax earth shade

7. Helmet lenses were mephiston red and then a highlight of evil sunz scarlet

Voila! Really easy to do, but hopefully a nice clean cut but dark and shady ravenguard.

I have thirty tactical marines altogether, drop pod ready!