I have a number of projects on the go, right now, one of which is the Primaris Marines from the new boxed set for 8th Edition. I wanted to paint them as a solely Primaris force, and took the opportunity to try a new chapter, in this case the Blood Angels successor chapter: the Blood Drinkers. I selected this chapter for a couple of reasons: 1) I wanted a less popular chapter, but have always liked the Blood Angels so it seemed a good fit, but more to the point, 2) I wanted a chapter that followed codex-style marking conventions. I may diverge a bit, to channel my inner Rogue Trader, but I really want to paint them as a “by-the-book” Space Marine chapter. Minimal to no ornamentation.
After the Intercessor Squad above, I was inspired by an old piece of Rogue Trader artwork to paint a Blood Drinkers apothecary. The artwork features a ‘beakie’ apothecary marine with a split, red and white colour scheme and a yellow stripe down the center of the helmet. I think it looks great on the Primaris sculpt.
I have more Primaris on the way. Next batch will likely include some Reivers, and the Store Birthday exclusive Captain model. I also have a Repulsor Grav Tank that is nearly complete that will be making an appearance soon. I’m still of a mixed mind on the Primaris Marines and the lore around them, however, I think they are absolutely fantastic looking models and really enjoy painting them.
Alex – these are fantastic! Thank you for posting them. I’m struggling to find the right balance of the red and gold for my own marines; would you mind sharing the paints that you used here?
Thanks Richard! I appreciate it!
Recipe for these guys is as follows:
Basecoat of Khorne Red.
I then do a zenithal highlight with the airbrush of Evil Sunz Scarlet. If you don’t have an airbrush, just paint the model with Evil Sunz Scarlet leaving Khorne Red in the recess areas – the model should be more Evil Suns than Khorne, if that makes sense.
Next, I flow Agrax Earthshade into all the creases and panel lines.
Finally, edge highlight with Wild Rider Red. I may also add a bit of Troll Slayer Orange to the Wild Rider Red for the very sharpest highlights. This is more optional but can help push the contrast a bit further.
Gold trim is easy. Retributor Armour with an Agrax Earthshade wash, followed by an edge highlight or Retributor Armour with a bit of silver mixed in.
Hope you find this useful and thanks again for stopping by! 🙂
Hey Alex – I recently started a Blood Drinkers force and came across this post as I was looking for some inspiration and colour schemes. Your minis look fantastic and the paint guide you offered in the comments was super helpful. Also checked out your other posts, which were great. It’s a shame this blog doesn’t seem active because it’s worth following. I have noticed the Instagram icon in the left bar though so I’ll look for you there.
Hi Nik, thanks for your comment and kind feedback. I appreciate it.
I had sort of moved over to Instagram earlier this year, but I’ve lost interest with it as a platform recently. I think it’s just too ‘social’ for me (took up time that was better spent on hobby). I was actually wondering if I should come back to my blog here, and maybe you’ve helped me answer that question.
I’m excited to hear that you are building a Blood Drinkers force. There aren’t that many of us! With not a lot of reference material for them out there, I’ve found it to be a challenge to reflect their adherence to the Codex Astartes while at the same time making them feel a bit ‘Blood Angels-ey.’ Sometimes when painting all that red I wouldn’t mind the odd blue or yellow helmet. 😉 I’d love to hear your thoughts on the chapter.
I’m just finishing up a Primaris Captain that I’ve been painting over the Christmas break and I did a fair bit of free hand that seems to be working out. I’ll try and get it posted here and reinvigorate this blog.
Yeah, I understand what you mean about Instagram. In any case, I hope you do pick up this blog again. As you say, there’s not a lot of Blood Drinkers material out there so I could see your blog plugging that gap.
I’m just returning to the hobby after 15 years away (side-effect of the covid lockdown). I spent months flipping through White Dwarf, old core books and codexes, chatting with the guys at the GW store near me, etc., before finally biting the bullet and purchasing the Indomitus box. It astonished me to see the progress in the quality of the minis over the last decade and a half. I’d initially started painting the set as Ultramarines but quickly had second thoughts, feeling it was too generic and predictable. Besides, the Ultramarines have always seemed a bit too “clean cut” for me, too obvious as the “good guys.” I wanted a force that existed in more of a grey area – committed “bad” acts in the pursuit of “good” – which is a reflection of the 40K universe in general. It was also important to have a good colour scheme. The Blood Drinkers satisfied the criteria. I love the lore and the colour scheme is great. I’ve only managed to paint 4 minis so far (I’m also painting a small Stormcast Eternals force in Age of Sigmar) but happy with the choice so far. My Blood Drinkers have come out a bit darker than yours, mainly because I’ve used a black undercoat (looks like you may have used a white or red undercoat?) and I’m using a deep bronze trim. I’ll be brave enough to share a picture once my painting skills have returned in full! In the meantime, hope to see some more of your minis here.