We have a couple of reader entries today to share with some great progress – be sure to send your stuff in so we can all share the inspiration! I actually got these reader entries in May from the guys – but between family, a tournament and so on I got lax in updating them here – but I got there in the end! Massaen
Steve – Black Templars
Hey guys, so it’s first update time. Overall it’s been a productive couple of weeks! Life caught up with me a bit in the second week but the first week was the most painting I’ve ever done. The ten fighty Crusaders are done, and the last few shooty ones too, which gives me two full units painted.
I like the mix of looks in the fighty squad – the robed Neophytes help break up the otherwise very black paint scheme. It took me ages to come up with a look I liked for the Neophytes. I really don’t like the Scout models commonly used, and nothing in this army will go bare-headed – they are styled as fighting on an ice world after all. In the end I settled on using the bodies of Dark Angels Veterans to get the robed monk look, with the hooded helmeted heads coming from a third party bits store. With arms from Space Marine Scouts of every stripe as well as some censers, books and other relics from the bits box I’ve ended up with something a bit unique.
When it came to painting the Neophytes, the big focus was obviously their robes as they cover most of the model. I didn’t want them to be smooth linen like the Dark Angels, so I went for something a little grittier. The idea is essentially hessian cloth material, which is a bit more rustic and in keeping with the puritanical witch-burner vibe of the Chapter. The effect was achieved by liberally washing a Zandri Dust base coat with Reikland Fleshshade, before dry brushing quite heavily with Ushabti Bone followed by a little Ceramite White. The drybrushing helped turn the smooth surfaces slightly rougher, which suited the hessian look.
I liked how this cloth turned out enough to apply it to the rest of the army. This Sword Brother’s tabard and scrap on his shoulder pad – which I like to think of as the remains of a war-torn banner – were done with the same effect and it helps to brighten up the black model a bit.
This week I’m aiming to get stuck into the Terminators and characters – I’m experimenting with a marble look for the Storm Shields. Hopefully I can keep up the pace of the last two weeks!
Sly Dave – Harlequins
So after finishing another model I was painting I was motivated to paint some more, in no small part to the new painting challenge and the thought to finally get my harlequins underway. As such I decided to paint up a standard harlequin to decide on a colour scheme I liked.
I already had a good idea of how I wanted the army to look. As stated last week I wanted the army to differ from the black and bone of my ulthwe army but still be similar enough so that if needed they could be fielded alongside my ulthwe eldar and not be too out of place. My ulthwe army is black and bone with purple weapons so I wanted to keep to similar colours.
Flicking through the harlequin book for inspiration I came across the frozen star harlequins. The black and white was a simple yet effective colour scheme but I wanted to differ from that a bit. As such I settled on a dark purple and ice blue colour scheme with bone weapons. Ice blue from the old paint range was one of my favourite colours to use and in the p3 range frostbite is pretty similar, and will usually find its way onto most of my models in lieu of using white. So this was a pretty easy choice for me to make.
I originally was going to go for black masks for the harlequins but I quite liked the appeal of the bronze mask of the frozen stars. Similarly the purple hair was appealing but ultimately ended up being too similar to the dark purple I was using for the undersuits, so I ended up going blue mixing to purple hair, which I really liked the look of.
The only thing I am not sold on is the bone shuriken pistols. I liked how the sword came out but am likely to go a different colour for the harlequin kisses/caresses in the army (likely a grey or silver, will experiment some more), which may make the bone pistols work.
Finally the sashes will be used to differentiate between the units. This sash I went with the meridius blue as once again I really like the colour. I am unsure what the other units will end up as. Will worry about that when it comes to it.
All in all I am happy with the colour scheme and the way the model came out. The challenge for me will be replicating it over the rest of the 30ish rank and file harlequins I have. It will also be interesting to see how the colour scheme translates over to the bikes and vehicles in the army. As well as how I mix it up for the characters (notably the death jesters). Hopefully this provides enough variation to keep me motivated and focused on painting the army to as high a standard as I can.
At least I remembered to record my paints and steps I used for each colour and section so as to remember it easily. With so many unpainted models and different projects on the go, I often find myself jumping between models, only to come back to a half finished unit/army 6 months (or years) down the track and having no idea how to match the colour scheme.
Next up I am doing some of the characters for the force…
We will have 8th edition in just a hand full of days so it will be really interesting to see just how our reader armies adapt to the new game! I am certainly excited for what the coming weeks will bring! Massaen