Apocalypse armies: Rik Turner's Blood Ravens

Apocalypse week is about big battles, and to fight big battles you need a big army. Straight after yesterday's post went live, Ian, who sits opposite us, mentioned Rik Turner had an army. He said it was pretty big so we went to find Rik to see just how big his army was. Boy, could he provide the goods - 10,513 points, in fact - and as he set them up on our gaming table this morning, everyone flocked around to take a look. So we decided to hand Rik the controls of What's New Today allowing his Blood Ravens to take centre stage.

Rik: Way back in 2004, I was trying to decide which new Warhammer 40,000 army to collect next. Happily, with the arrival of the Dawn of War computer game, the decision was made for me and, before you can say 'For the Emperor', I had wandered over to Warhammer World, purchased a Space Marine Tactical Squad and was busily assembling my first unit at my desk. A lot has changed since then, including Codex: Space Marines (which has been through two incarnations), a brand new edition of Warhammer 40,000 and, of course, the game-changing Apocalypse expansion.

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  Apocalypse really helped opened the door to what is possible with an army when you stick at it. I've been working on my Blood Ravens for a little over seven years, constantly adding new pieces from each of the individual Space Marine releases including Black Templars, Dark Angels and, more recently, the Blood Angels.However, it wasn't until Apocalypse that I really began thinking about fielding multiples of each tank and entire Battle Companies. Where once a single Whirlwind was more than adequate, today one will hardly do - now I must have three!
  

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  In fact, the number three has become synonymous with this army as I do in fact have three Whirlwinds (and a Land Speeder spotter) which forms my Suppression Force, three Vindicators which form my Line Breaker Squadron, three Predators forming my Predator Assassin Squadron and, until the recent addition of the Terminus Ultra, three Land Raiders which forms my Armoured Spearhead.With the exception of the Armoured Spearhead, the command tank in each of these formations can be identified by the single crew member poking their head through the hatches. I'm particularly happy with my command Vindicator as I used the original metal and plastic Vindicator's crew member with raised hand as the squadron commander.
  

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  The command tank of the Armoured Spearhead formation was a true labour of love. Inspired by Marneus Calgar's personal Land Raider constructed by the Design Studio, I set out to create something similar but with a few differences - chief amongst which is the diorama inside the tank itself.Here (click to enlarge), a Space Marine kneels to receive blessings from the Company Chaplain before stepping into battle. Deciding that this Land Raider should be truly special, I elected to use Forge World's pre-Heresy pattern, helping it to further stand out from the crowd.

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  For me, the best part about Apocalypse is that it has stretched the boundaries of my ambitions. There was once a time when I could only dream of one day owning enough Space Marines to field a Battle Company. Today my attitude has changed and), if I can't field 100 Space Marines in my Apocalypse games it feels like I'm not trying hard enough.What began as a single Tactical Squad, a unit of Space Marine Scouts and a Dreadnought has evolved into one and a half Space Marine Battle Companies and associated support personnel. I can even include my Legion of the Damned miniatures, my Thunderbolt Fighter and the crowning achievement of my army - a Warhound Scout Titan.
  

One thing that has not changed in the last seven years is the way I paint each Space Marine. Consistency has been the key to what makes this army stand out and having started it long before the introduction of Citadel Foundation Paints and Washes, each miniature is a labour of love, painted using the same techniques and colours that I used when I started the army in 2004.

Over a black undercoat, each model is given a basecoat of Scab Red then highlighted with Red Gore followed by a final highlight of Blood Red. This last highlight is applied using a technique called wet-blending and is achieved by using a wet brush to thin the paint as it is applied to the model. In this way, the paint can be drawn across the individual armour panels to create a gradient effect. Though quicker than layering, it still takes me a good six hours to paint each Space Marine!

I'm always adding new bits to the army, and with my first Battle Company complete, next I plan to add enough Terminators, Sternguard and Vanguard Veterans to field the Space Marine 1st Company datasheet from Apocalypse: Reload, and if I can sneak one into the house without my wife noticing, a Thunderhawk Gunship!

I know it looks as though Rik's head has been stuck onto this photo (if you click to enlarge it, then you can see both him and his army are real), but we wanted to show his smile of satisfaction. If you build an army as big as his, then you, too, can wear this cheesy smile.

Rik has used a whole bunch of Apocalpse Datasheets in his army. You can find Datasheets in the Apocalypse and Apocalypse Reload books, but we have also added over 50 more to the website, covering nearly all of the Warhammer 40,000 armies. Check out the full list and start planning some Battle Formations straight away.

Finally, just a quick reminder about our Gift List competiton. Simply complete a Gift List, send it to your friends, family and santa@games-workshop.com, and you could be in with a chance of winning a Virtual Gift Voucher. Full details can be found here.