Three Deathwatch Vanguard Veterans, painted

There are probably several times over more canonical Space Marine chapters that specialise in melee than ones that focus on shooting. This would probably not be very realistic, but it means there is a wide spectrum of different melee-focused marines, from the Black Templar crusaders, swearing oaths full of zeal, to the silent and terrifying Carcharodons Astra, who kill their enemies with naked efficiency. This emables a Deathwatch Vanguard squad to have a nice spread of different marines, whose different styles would complement each other well.

 The Carcharodons Astra veteran's armour's molecular bonding studs give the model a lot of character, as does the fierce pose of th model. I wanted to leave the armour relatively simple and unadorned, as the chapter is known for their simplistic brutality, rather than their artistry.

 The Black Templar somewhat represents the opposite end of the same spectrum. The Marine would have sworn a number of oaths, both at the beginning of his duty in the Deathwatch as well as before each battle, and these should be represented on his armour. I ended up sculpting an extra litany scroll to be worn as a loincloth, just to make extra room for his oaths. I also scribbled some on the front of his right greave.

The Flesh Tearer would probably be the most terrifying of the three, to his opponents as well as his allies, since one can never be certain if one of his Chapter is going to be able to keep his aggression directed towards the enemy, instead of his allies. This is somewhat reflected on the model, in that I can never be sure if the model's heavy thunder hammer is going to stay on or come off, because there is a slight gap between the arms and the torso. To fill in that gap with green stuff, I would have had to first attach the weapon and then prime and paint the model, and I find that fiddly, so I just decided to glue it where it stuck and hope for the best. If it comes off again, I suppose I'll use green stuff.