Dark Angels' Dark Shroud and Vengeance Speeders

I wanted some of the new iconic Ravenwing speeders to add to my force. Picking up two of the kits to make one of each, I constructed them and painted them at the same time. Painting them simultaneously allows me to keep a uniformity among the two. I am able to keep the same coloration of certain parts, namely the window.

Land Speeder Vengeance

This Vengeance was built with magnets holding the plasma cannons in place. This allows for them to be removed and for it to be used as another Dark Shroud should it be needed.


In combat the Vengeance has been hit and miss. I was able to cause some real damage to a Tyrannic Exocrine once. It has damaged itself once which did not help its survivability. Being that it has only two hull points is a real downer. I tend to stick with the large blast template when I do run it.

Honestly, I love the concept. My opponents get scared crapless about the potential of what it CAN do. In practice, it rarely carries out the threat. Still, when running nothing but Ravenwing, it fills a heavy slot.

Land Speeder Dark Shroud

This speaks volumes of the Dark Angels and their dark gothic background. The relic of a statue being used to project a shadowy field around the craft is a pretty cool visual to me. The art from GW accompanying the craft is damn sharp too!

In-game, the Shroud is quite effective. It definite gives the enemy something to think about. How much effort do I put into taking down the portable cover save over the approaching bikes? Unless you are playing Tau, the Shroud should at least make it long enough to deliver the bikes safely. As you do have to keep the other units somewhat close enough to get the saves, large blast weapons can be damaging.

 As for painting, the glass on both of the speeders was done as one large pane of glass as opposed to many individual ones. The blue really stands out among the black. These two are some of my favorite vehicles because of that.



The stone was painted grey, with some slight darker streaks added for a marbling effect. Then a light dry brush over it. I gave it a very watered down wash to tie it all together.



If you are a Ravenwing fan, the Dark Shroud is a must item simply for the fluff feature. The shrouding effect is just an extra bonus giving it a nice use. Also, the assault cannons that you get for cupola gunner can be used for the gunners on your other speeders.

Dark Angel Speeders

I am showing off two Speeders for my Dark Angels 2nd Company, The Ravenwing. One is a Typhoon to give me some long range punch. The other is Sammael's personal speeder, Sableclaw.

Like many of my models, they had been sitting in storage awaiting construction. In the process of making space, these two got put together. Only to take up a different form of space by being on display now, much like kernels become popcorn! I am trying really hard to complete what I already have. Trying my best to avoid picking up new boxes of goodies.

If you follow my blog, you know when these two were originally painted up just by looking at the bases. A simple paint job, slight highlighting, a wash over the metal, sealed and ready to go. Black models are almost unfair to paint at times, too easy... until you have to highlight or show shades. The interior controls were painted too, no shortcuts there.

Sableclaw is a build from a standard speeder with the parts from the Ravenwing Accessory Pack available from GW. Being an avid Dark Angels fan, I grabbed several of these sprues, and whenever a friend didn't want his, I gladly accepted them. Besides, to use the original metal bits that GW offered before, would have made the model impossible to mount on a stand, it would have been so heavy. Imagine a metal twin-linked heavy bolter and a metal twin-linked assault cannon. Not only would they never properly stay attached to the model; it would be enough to require a warning should you ever fall in the water with the piece!

Being that this is an HQ choice, I took a bit more time detailing the piece. Giving the book some extra attention can be time consuming, but it makes a huge difference on the table. The head and shoulder pads are from the Black Knights sprue. The script decal is from the Sororitas decal sheet. 

The focus grabbing book was relatively easy. Paint the pages bone white first. Add the writing with either watered down black or to really ease it out, use a micron pen, love these things! A general square of yellow was added. It does not have to be perfectly squared. Once you outline it with the black, any mistakes disappear. A letter of choice was carefully added to the inside and voila!

Gamewise, when I have used Sammael, he is quite the terror for enemy squads or anything with an armor save of 4+. As long as you keep his front towards the enemy and out of combat, he should be fine. Just remember, he only has two hull points, so he is quite a glass hammer. Keep him sitting next a Dark Shroud won't hurt either. I'll show pics of that in next week's post.

Thanks for looking!

Ravenwing Stencil

I was painting up some Ravenwing speeders and wanted to do something extra for the flying base. I could add some texture or sand to the base, but Sammael's speeder should have a bit more. So I added the ravenwing symbol to the base.

I found a simple Ravenwing symbol online and added several of them to a word doc and printed out a page. I tested it out by taping it to a plastic top and cut out the shape with a sharp exacto knife. An example can be seen below.

It came out a bit fuzzy as the paint was able to get under the paper. So I then laid down a couple strips of 18mm Tamiya tape onto a ceramic tile and cut the symbol out onto that. I then transferred it to the bottom of the clear base. I could have just as easy used a cutting board instead of the tile. Here you can see what was cut out and tape that was used. 

Spraying the base white first puts the symbol onto the base. As you want to see the symbol coming up through the base, you must do this first. It's opposite of what is normally done, ie. spraying a design into a finished product. The top of the base was masked off and then black was sprayed onto the rest of the base. Give the finished bottom of the base a coat or two of gloss coat to protect it from the scraping it'll receive as it's moved across the tabletop. 

You could do the same for others too such as Battle Fleet Gothic, assault troops, Tau Drones, or anything else using a flying stand.