Ok so I’ve just come off the back of two very long painting projects in Eidolon and Fulgrim (you can find out more about those here) and despite promising myself I’d take some time away from the painting table to focus on other things, I didn’t.
Instead what I did was paint my Necromunda gang. I’ll start off by saying that anyone who wants to win a Slayer Sword, look away now. That was never the point to this painting project. What I wanted to do with Necromunda was get a whole game system out of the gates very quickly. The gang is 17 fighters (apparently quite big for Necromunda) but would get batch painted.
I had a strong aesthetic that I wanted to follow. You can read more about that here but it’s essentially; dark skin and clothes with very bright accent colours (strong contrast is always a good thing in miniature painting in my opinion.
So the models were built, the aesthetic was chosen, now it’s time to execute, right? Well, kind of. Actually I like to over complicate life so there were a couple of things I wanted to achieve with this gang:
- I want it painted quickly (after some long stints on single models, the idea of getting a whole game system entry in short order was appealing to me
- I want it painted to a level where I can progress the gang if I use it. By this I mean if I start using the gang for games (not sure if this is very likely) then I want to be able to do a few hours here and there to progress them and get them looking better over time rather than ‘finishing,’ them now. In practise that’s going to mean basecoating them well this time rather than rushing and basecoat and layered highlight job when any future effort would be remedial rather than progressive. Yes that’s right, you’re reading a ‘basecoat and dip,’ article.
- I wanted to try a few new paints out, principally the Vallejo game ink range (I picked up a set of these after watching some Vince videos).
So, with all that in mind here are the stages I went through:
Over a light sketch (see more about that here)
- The skin in Citadel Paints Dryad Bark
2. Green clothing in Citadel Paints Castellan Green
3. Black hair and black leathers in Abaddon Black with some Kantor Blue (both Citadel Paints). Just a few extra words on this step – I don’t like using pure black when I paint as it’s really ‘heavy,’ and over powering. So I try and add another colour (usually a blue) to lift it a bit.
4. Silver parts with Citadel Paints Leadbelcher.
4. Loincloths and leather straps with Citadel Paints Baneblade Brown and Balor Brown respectively
5. Wash over the whole model with 1:3 Agrax Earthshade : Lahmian Medium. We all know what a wash does in terms of adding depth but as my base colours were already dark I added a lot of medium to make sure I kept the definition but not so much of the intensity and depth of the wash.
6. The ornaments were base coated again with Citadel Paints White Scar and Vallejo Game Ink Yell and Red. This stage really brought the aesthetic to life. It made the skin look darker (so I’m glad I didn’t go too heavy on the wash) and really adds contrast. In terms of the Vallejo inks, they are very, very vibrant. I didn’t thin them and only added one coat and the colour is very strong. I’ll do more things with them before making a final judgement but overall I’m impressed with them so far.
7. The bases were painted with Leadbelcher, Nuln Oil, Typhus Corrosion and Ryza Rust (all Citadel Paints)
So, how long? About 5 hours all told. Am I pleased with them? Against the standard I wanted and the outcomes I listed, yes. Are they the best things I’ve ever painted? No.
So what’s next for them? I’ll black the rims (it’s all about black rims) then try and get a few games in with them. If I play 5 games I’ll go back to them and add some simple free hand on the loin cloths and some extra details on the ornaments so they have some depth rather than just being day-glo vehicles for contrast.
That’s my first end to end game system painted within the lifetime of this blog. Get in!