More Reavers: The Midnight Vultures

Last summer I read through the Night Lords book trilogy, and I always appreciated how each little warband, squad and formation had its own name and lore. These are groups of warriors who have fought together for 10,000 years, so it makes sense that even the smallest fragmented squad or weapons team would have a strong sense of identity.

So with that I give you the Midnight Vultures, my newly painted Chaos Raptor squad. They’re part of the Reavers of Deculon Prime, which is my in-progress Night Lords warband.

These guys took an inordinate amount of time to complete due to some travel and work obligations in recent months.

And apparently I am a glutton for punishment, because I did hand-painted lightning bolts on the shoulders and jet packs on each figure. Ugh! Why do I do the things I do?

As with most of my painted figures, these guys are nothing special. They’re block painted and dipped with Minwax Polyshades Tudor Satin, then based in a generic rubble pattern to match my Zuzzy terrain mat. But … they’re *actually completely painted,* which is a condition that eludes the typical 40k army. 🙂

Based on my research, it appears these guys are the “middle school” Chaos Raptors that were released after the original (fairly unpopular) metal bat-winged models but before the current plastic set. The newest models definitely capture that hard-edged Chaos vibe, but I prefere these older models. Something about the smooth aerodynamic helmets and jet packs, and the grasping taloned feet just says “RAPTORS!” to me.

They’re painfully top-heavy, though, so I will be looking at some ways to add weight to their bases.

I’ve got five more Raptors to complete, but I think I’m going to take a break and work on my chaos daemon prince. The Midnight Vultures will likely take the field this coming weekend in a game of One Page 40k!