After pushing on through I finally finished my Dark Vengeance Tactical Squad. I didn't take too many pictures as I was pressed for time and although one of the first GW rules of taking miniature pictures is not to use natural light [a lighting setup is much more controlled] I do just that because so far it's delivered the best results, granted there have been some predicted disappointments.
But surprisingly these aren't as bad as I'd feared. I'm still not sure the amount of effort I put in them is evident, the green in particular is so subtle it could perhaps have been achieved with the base coat and a wash!
But the figures turned out OK and the Sergeant too was rescued, his eyes have been done and although I re-did the skintone and made some mistakes I actually think I've done a better job of it. I even resisted the urge to highlight his eyebrows so they would look like skin - who has shaved eyebrows? So I actually painted some on, they're practically un-noticeable but I think that's because it looks more natural.
I'll do another photo-shoot down the line with the AoBR boys so you can compare the originals and more recent models for consistency but so far it looks pretty good.
I probably need to do some more close ups of the litanies inscribed on the armour. It can be quite a challenge to think of new ways to do it and the Plasma Gun guy was supposed to have two crossed swords on his left leg that went so pear-shaped I covered it up with a box which I then filled with green 'text' so it was more like a painted plaque on his leg.
The Sarge has a similar sort of illuminated script on his left leg with some added detailed border work.
The Plasma Cannon also has a lot of inscription on his power pack, including reference to Vraks, from whence they've just come
As you may have seen, freshly painted they entered into battle and did shockingly bad but that can;t diminsh I now have 20 Tactical marines painted, it sounds insignificant but to me that's extreme. I never completed 20 ever! And to add the Devastators in too... well I'm looking forward to exhibiting a new army at Armies on Parade this year. Big green stamp of approval to me!
