Something that’s been on my hobby radar for a while is a squad of Veteran Intercessors with Dark Angels flavour to match my collection. Since there are no official models for these, you have to make your own. The new Black Templars Primaris Crusader squad provides the ideal base. You only need the initiate bodies from this kit so the leftover neophytes might form the base of some primaris scouts or other project. Here’s what we’re working towards:

Hints and Tips

There are a few bits of Black Templars iconography to deal with, but nothing a hobby knife can’t handle. Specifically, look for templar crosses on purity seals and the wrapped sword on one of the shin plates. All you need to do on the purity seals is squash or trim the edges of the cross and they’ll just look like any other purity seal. The sword on the leg plate is thicker so needs more care. I found taking thin layers off it with the knife gave me the best results. When you’re left with a bare leg plate, drag the back of the hobby knife over the area to tidy it up.

The arms in the Crusaders kit have manacles and chains attached which I decided would be too messy for me to try and trim off, with one exception. The sheathed chainsword only has a chain and it’s right on the edge of the hilt so easy enough to just cut away with a hobby knife. I found the Primaris Assault Intercessors kit an ideal source of replacement arms and was fortunate enough to grab a load of them from eBay. To be honest, if you end up buying a box of these, you’ll still have some dynamically posed legs and torsos to use on another project (I thought another Intercessors squad with assault bolters would suit them well). It took a while to pose the arms appropriately because the Crusaders are mostly walking while Assault Intercessors are running. Dry fit them with some blu-tack before gluing so you can re-pose them until you’re happy with the overall look. The Assault Intercessors kit is also a good source of shoulder pads because the ones in the Crusaders kit have Black Templars iconography on them.

The main thing to differentiate these as Dark Angels is the heads. My personal favourites, which embody the Dark Angels aesthetic, are the ones from the Dark Angels Veterans kit. You get a few with hoods and helmets and one with a bare face and hood and they fit the primaris bodies perfectly. For the sergeant, I used a Deathwing Knight head from the Deathwing Terminators box. I also wanted something else to make the sergeant stand out from the rest of the squad so I used a backpack/banner topper from the Dark Angels Veterans kit.

There’s nothing more to it than that. If you feel they need some extra Dark Angels bling, raid the Dark Angels Veterans and Deathwing Terminators kits. There are icons, censers, and all sorts of fun things in those boxes, even a set of Dark Angels specific shoulder pads. I cannot recommend these kits highly enough – they’re fantastic. For other options, you might try the new Dark Angels heads and shoulder pads from Forge World.

Here’s the first one all painted up:

If you’re interested in making other Dark Angels from Back Templars kits, check out my blog here where I make a Primaris Ancient and Primaris Champion.

Full list of kits used:

Black Templars Primaris Crusaders: initiate legs, torsos and backpacks. Also the sheathed chainsword and arm reaching for it.

Primaris Assault Intercessors: shoulder pads, chainsword, thunder hammer, and heavy bolt pistol arms.

Dark Angels Veterans: heads and backpack icon (note: this kit is a treasure trove of Dark Angels conversion bits).

Deathwing Terminators: sergeant’s head.

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