Show and tell 4: Chris's Lamenters

Hi. I’m Chris Brighton, the campaign’s Lamenters player. Many of you probably don’t know me (and I don’t know many of you). This is because I only moved to the area (Haverhill, though I have worked at Addenbrookes for almost 3 years now) in September and am primarily a painter and a very lazy gamer. This is about to change.

This is my first Sanguinary Priest. I have deliberately converted him to carry the Red Grail so that I can use him as a Corbulo counts-as if I so desire.  I’ve spent a vast amount of time on this model and am delighted with the results. It’s the small details which I love – the blood vials on the exsanguinator and backpack, the gems and lenses, and even the Chapter Icon. Unfortunately I will not have the time to paint my entire army quite to this standard! The mustard yellow is built up using Iyanden Darksun mixed with Bleached Bone, and the Chapter Icon is a transfer I have made myself, with the chequer-board pattern being filled in with a 0.2mm pigment pen. A lot of people ask me about my gold. It is actually a mix of Dwarf Bronze, Scorched Brown and Mithril Silver. I use it because IMO the GW gold paints are too ‘yellow’ in appearance.

Why Lamenters?

Because I am a Blood Angel, and always have been: Flesh Eaters in Rogue Trader, Blood Angels in 2^nd ed, Flesh Tearers in 3^rd (a foray into Witch Hunters in 4^th, but that’s not relevant). I had been away from the hobby for a while playing Warmachine and becoming rather good at it. Then Space Hulk and the 5^th ed Blood Angels Codex came out. I spent most of 2010 painting Blood Angels and Flesh Tearers, then had to sell a lot of them to help fund the purchase of my house. I was planning on continuing the Flesh Tearers into 2011, but when this campaign came along I surrendered to the challenge of painting Lamenters. They are the only Badab army that uses the Blood Angels Codex, so I want them!

Favourite unit?

I have a few: the Storm Raven (though I’m not 100% sold on the appearance of the model yet), Dreadnoughts with Talons and (of course) Sanguinary Priests. I have heard many people complaining that the BA Codex is overpowered and I strongly disagree with them – if it was THAT powerful, then someone would have spotted it in playtesting, surely? I concede though that it does compare very favourably to 4^th edition Codices , and I may be inclined to agree with the detractors when it comes to Sanguinary Priests. This is not because their ability is game-breakingly powerful, but because it is quite honestly undercosted. The force multipliers that the Priest brings are such good value that Priests are pretty much ubiquitous in BA lists (the BA Force organisation chart is actually 1-2 HQ, 2-6 Troops, 0-3 Fast Attack, 0-3 Heavy Support, Priests & 0-2 Elites!).

Long term goals?

I want a 1000-point list that features Malakim Phoros in some way, just for fluff reasons. I don’t think that he’s a very good character (he’s not bad, though) but want to make use of him none-the-less. After that, I will be building up to a 2000-point list with a couple of Storm Ravens and a Mephiston counts-as. And Furioso Dreadnoughts. Actually, just Dreadnoughts in general would make me happy! Hopefully I will make some new friends along the way, actually finish painting an army, and lay some smackdown on the table. Secessionists FTW!