Sometimes painting miniatures for a living can be a dangerous thing. At the end of every commission job, you line up all the models and take pictures of them. There are times when you look over a nice group of freshly painted models that you think "Hmmmm... I wouldn't mind having me some of those."

Most of the time the feeling passes, which is good. I don't have the time (or the money) to collect every faction of every game that I paint models for. Even if I did have the cash and the time, I don't have the space to store it all.

Having said that, there are times when the pull is just too much for me to resist. Such was the case when I set up the model to take this picture for a commission gig.

Yup. I know. Another Space Marine army!?

Well, these guys are going to be a bit different from my Crimson Fists. This Blood Angels army is going to be a 'Death From Above' army. I'm a huge fan of the book, Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein. The Mobile Infantry in that book are my idea of what a futuristic miltary force should be like. To emulate that ideal as closely as I can, everything in this Blood Angels army will be dropping from the sky via wings, Jump Pack, or Drop Pod.
 

To start off with, I wanted an impressive HQ model. Something that would look cool and still pack a punch in the army list.

I decided to go with a Librarian, primarily because they use a variety of psychic powers to suit most battlefield situations.

The model itself is built from a number of different Space marine kits. I especially like the psychic hood, made from a Space Marine shoulder pad.

I built the Force Weapon to look like a long-hafted axe or halberd. The axe head is from an old Sapce Wolves kit, with the addition of a wing from a Blood Angels power sword. The haft is made from a couple of different weapon shafts. I drilled out the weapon shafts and ran a small gauge steel rod the length of the weapon for stability.

I also sculpted the 'Librarian Horns' around the skull on the shoulder pad.

The other arm is posed to look like the Librarian is casting some psychic power or another. The hand from the standard Space Marine Tactical Squad kit, from the arm that braces the missile launcher.

I also used a jump pack from the Death Company kit, because it just looks cool.

At this point, this guy is about ready for primer.

Next up is a Sanguinary Priest. These guys are great support characters, giving some special abilities to any squads within 6".

Since they are so valuable in their support abilities, you don't neccesarily want these guys to get into combat.

Arming this guy to the teeth might have tempted me to throw him into the sharp end where he doesn't belong, so I opted keep his loadout pretty basic.

No army is complete without some grunts... even grunts that drop from the sky :)

These are the first 5 of what will be several squads on Assault Marines. They'll be loaded with as much melta weaponry as I can squeeze in. They have to have something to deal with tanks.

One of my favorite Blood Angels characters from back in the day was Moriar the Chosen. Unfortunately, Moriar was omitted from the current version of the codex, but there is an entry for a Death Company Dreadnought.

I'll just have to paint mine up as Moriar...

Here he is with all his parts, ready for primer and painting. I have magnetized his arms, and each of his hands, that way I can field him in either of two ways:

Dreadnought Close Combat weapons, for tearing up vehicles and hard targets or...

Blood Talons, for massive infantry carnage!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Should be fun :)