58 - Update on TOEMP Challenge #2 Entry

Here I present to you my official Challenge #2 submission. Not a big difference from the original entry in post 56, but a bit more characterful, in my opinion.

Since I had 2 days or so until the end of the official deadline (August 27), I decided to revisit my Blood Ravens Terminators. I was always disappointed with how uniform the Black Reach Terminators looked - pretty much every Termie was armed in exactly the same way and posed in exactly the same position. Due to this, the painting process for these 4 models was a bit boring. (Add in the sheer drudgery of trying to achieve a decent level of coverage of red paint over black primer, and the monotony became almost intolerable.) So, I rummaged through my bits boxes and stumbled upon some Chaos Terminator doodads that I thought might just do the trick of personalizing my Terminators just a little bit. I also took the time to go over some rough spots with more paint (primarily the helmets to achieve a brighter white than I had earlier) as well as give the heraldic shields near their left shoulder pads a Devlan Mud wash to add a little bit of depth. (Thanks, Gregory, for the catch and the tip on that one!)

Some might say that adding Chaos bits to Loyalist Marines goes against the fluff, and I can understand that point of view. However, if one reads the Blood Ravens fluff closely, one will notice that this particular Chapter of Space Marines has very close and ominous ties to the forces of Chaos. For instance, out of all of the Space Marine Chapters, the Blood Ravens are the ones most at ease with employing psykers - they have a higher percentage of Librarians within their ranks than other Chapters. There is also the 5th Company of the Blood Ravens (known as the "Fated Fifth") which disappeared into the Warp, the rumor being that they were corrupted by a renegade Librarian within their midsts. Now, the current members of the 5th Company wear badges of penitence and shame upon their armor, although the reasons for doing so are never spoken of. Finally, there are many hinted at connections between the Blood Ravens and corrupted legions such as the Word Bearers and the Thousand Sons. Thus, I think it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for the Blood Ravens to festoon their armor with "Chaos-y" regalia - not out of an attempt at becoming Chaos, but more due to the Chapter's willingness to dance with the dark side. Plus, at the end of the day, the spikes I added to the Terminators are just spikes, right? I purposefully avoided anything that might be too Chaos-influenced (like symbols of the Four Powers or the Chaos Undivided star or trophies that used actual Space Marine heads or body parts, etc.). Why would it be considered beyond the pale for elite fighters such as these to decorate themselves with icons that might strike fear into the hearts of their enemies?

Because of this new submission, my Points Total for Challenge #2 is now:

Foot Sloggers - 10 points
Lenses/ Eyes - 5 Points
Meet Deadline - 2 points

For a total of 17 points.

As usual, click here for more pics.

UPDATE: I was just informed by 73rd that models on 40mm bases count as 2 pts. per model, so the total points for my Blood Ravens Terminators just went up by 5! Woot! The original post was edited to reflect this change.