Two more Subjugators finished! These two are the first with shields, finally adding some armoured fists to the group. On the left, we have the Sgt for this group – I think he looks incredible 40, from the skull on his shield to the club to the pose and red flowing cape. The right figure is ready to clear some rooms with revolver and pistol.
Originally I wasn’t sure how to paint the shields – do I go bright with colour or go grime? I decided to go grime, painting them in Leadbelcher. I then painted on a layer of black contrast before wiping the top layer away to leave it settled in the lower areas of the shield. To prevent them being a simplistic metal colour, the blue visor at the top and the bone/colour/gold detail on the front helping to make them pop.
Last week I managed to finish off my last batch of Palatine Enforcers and begin the process of working on my more heavily armoured Subjugators.
While my other sets of Enforcers were more standards, these guys are definitely much more of the Special guys. A marksman, two leader characters and then my gunslinger/massive mistake.
Painting wise these were mostly the same as my other Enforcers with a few tweaks. The Marksman was drybrush and painted a slight shade of grey, her armour covered in dust to help her hide among the rubble. Meanwhile, the gunslinger and commander also had a touch of gold added to their paint scheme, making them look special among the other troops. In contrast, the Concussion carbine user has a bit of Typhus Corrosion on his guns, giving them a slightly more worn look.
Having spent a chunk of assembling these guys, I’m quite happy with how the paint job worked on these “special” characters. They match the basic colours, while still looking unique with a few colour touches.
This is how the gang currently looks with the regular enforcers. They have a nice uniform feel with the green and tan which is appropriate for a merc group, but each character then has enough extra elements to make them stand out at a distance. I’m also still a fan of how my bounty hunter matches the green rule but still is distinct, mostly by towering over the other characters.
Now, lets take a look at the BIG boys. Subjugators are the guys in super heavy armour that covers most of them, giving them the real riot control guys. For the first two figures, I decided to paint the ones not carrying shields, giving me a chance to actually paint all their armour.
The other tweak these guys have is the cloth handing off the armour. It does help to make these guys look a little more 40k, especially with the purity seals and winged skulls on them. I did scribble on some writing using a detail brush and black contrast paint and I’m really happy how it looks with the guy on the left.
One thing I’ve been trying with these guys is edge highlighting, something I haven’t really done with my moderns before. The Subjugators require a lot more of it (as there are more edges to detail) and by god, it makes me not want to make an army of Space Marines if all those panels need detailing. It does, however, look really good – I’m tempted to go back and add the highlighting to my vehicles, just to make them pop a little more.
Next week’s hobby time will be finishing off the last four Subjugators before moving onto the special character and her doggo. I keep thinking of stepping away to do some individual figures as a break (such as the Spectre Tier 1 MG gunner) but honestly, I’m so close I think I’ll just push on and get the project done. I can have some time between this and WW2 time to try painting different things.
First figures of 2021 painted, finished just after midnight on the 1st of January (“start as you mean to go on” they say). Four more Enforcers done – after having worked out the scheme with the last two models, it quickly escalates up to batch painting. I’m really happy with how these figures have turned out, both with the extra conversion pieces and the paint scheme. I think out of this group, my favourite has to be the white-masked trooper with the bolter – I had worried about his pose looking awkward but I got to have a little fun giving him a decorated face mask and the old-style bolter. I’ll get some more detailed shots once all the models are painted up.
This week, I’m onto the final set of normal Enforcers to paint. Well I say normal – the presence of the sniper and gunslinger mean I get to work on some extra cool bits. After these guys, I then have the Subjactors to do, before finishing off with my special character and her doggo. And THEN I get to start work on the WW2 project.
Another week, another enforcer done in the new pattern. And stupidly I managed to pick a figure in exactly the same pose, just with a different weapon/head. This time I picked up one of the shotgun figures, one modelled after some of my airsoft kit (complete with helmet and chest-mounted pistol). I had a lot of fun painting this guy up – the scheme I’ve come up with works rather well.
The only thing I think I messed up was doing the flesh slit around the eyes. I seem to have covered up all the details on my first pass, and then after scrapping some of the paint off, it hasn’t really gone back together well. This is still something I need to work on, but luckily this model just has a very small gap of flesh.
As for further comments on painting, I’m really enjoying using the black contrast over lead belcher for a lot of things. The helmet was done this way, not even needing a dry brush. I’m not sure I’ll move over to contrast for everything but I’m really happy with it.
I also had fun adding the final touches for my helmet – the white writing on the back of it. I didn’t really do it 100% accurately but it evokes it enough. That flash of colour to draw your eyes.
Last week’s paint session was me finally getting some paint on the first of my Enforcers. It’s taken me a while to work out which scheme I actually wanted to do, but I finally came up with one that I think is suitable for a group of Space Faring Mercs in the 41st Millenium. Dark green armour and tan clothing evokes the traditional Cadian 8th colour scheme from the Imperial Guard (or Astra Militarum if you want to be on brand), something that a successful group may want to emulate – it looks good to the client if your group turns up looking like the bees knees. The other colour reference with this combination of colours (especially with leather boots) is it definitely evokes the American airborne of WW2 which I admit I quite like.
The colour list for this scheme so far is
Black Undercoat
Russian Uniform – Armour
Iraqi Sand – Cloth
Mahogany Brown – pouches + boots
Leadbelcher – metal
Black Templar Contrast – pistol grips + optics casing
Sand Yellow – colour stripes
Khorne Red – antenta optics
In terms of techniques, I tried out a few specific things:
Rather than only a single wash, I decided to double wash just to double down on the effects (making the dips darker)
After the wash, I went back to the armour and highlighted the raised portions with the base colour, just to make it stand out a little more from the washed areas. this can be seen especially on the shoulder pads
Using contrast paint over metallic leads to a really nice lacquered effect, making it look like plastic compared to the bulk of the metal
The base was done the same as my Eldar bounty hunter’s except I repainted the edds
Next week (or today when this goes up), I’m going to get to work on my next enforcer. Seeing as I only have a small number, I’m only going to paint them in very small batches – I don’t need to rush this, and I want them to look as good as I can make them. I also haven’t varnished this guy yet, purely so once I’m done, I can go back and do any touchups that might be required (such as neatening up the shoulder elements).
Cultists of all kinds are a common foe in the various nations of the Midgardian Empire. Although no match for the regular forces, they can provide troublesome to scattered adventurers or remote pre-industrial villages.
Three more of Northstar’s impressive figures from the Rangers of the Shadow Deep range. I really like their design, with the face masks, robes and bare feet to give them an unusual edge. The champion and archers are a neat addition to the existing pair, perfect for turning the pair into more of a force.
The paint scheme is also simplistic – black robes with gold masks. I decided to go for more gold on the Champion, showing off his importance, while the archers got dark wood bows with bone pieces embedded in them. and leather quivers. Flesh wise, I continued to use my new technique, combining medium fleshtone with contrast and then a drybrush over the top.
The other element to my Monday night hobby session was getting my fantasy figures onto their new basing material. I’ve used flock and sand in the past, so the experience wasn’t brand new. What was interesting was the way these scenic bags combine flock, gravel, sand, small stones and bits of green shrubbery. I’m still not 100% on it (the shrubbery seems to clump together mostly) but I’m slowly working at it. However, it’s amazing what a covered base can do for the model.
I also took this opportunity to get these models touched up and varnished. Safe to say, they are now in a “finished” state (or as much as they possibly can be). The only thing I might tweak is the face on my purple-dressed wizard – it’s a little less detailed than I’d like so I need to go back and do the detailing using paint as opposed my usual method of relying on the sculpt. Time to learn the highlighting methods!
One thing I noticed while doing these models is that I really need to up my bases game. The mud look is… not great. It does the job but it’s missing all sense of greenery. So after talking with my wargaming group about their recommendations, I’ve ended up grabbing these base ready bags from Geek Gaming Scenics. The unmarked one (scrublands) will be mixed with the mud layer for my fantasy guys. Arid Grasslands is going on my Moderns while the ground cover will be mixed with the mud for my WW2, ideal for going through the Reichswald. Expect some more details when I get to playing around with them!
The rest of my hobby sessions this week have been finishing off my Dark Elf Corsairs and getting them built (as part of my aim to clean out the unassembled models sitting in boxes on my shelves). They are definitely late-era Warhammer models (designed to rank up and so similar in posing) but they do have plenty of interesting elements that are fun to build. Combined with the Fleetmaster figure, they should be a fun project to paint and a good set of rivals to fight.
And then there is also…
Some trees – I’ll write more on these when I work out how on Earth I’m going to paint them.
The nation of Siccarian is a proud member of the Midgardian Empire, trading it’s highly trained Legionnaires (experienced from border skirmishes and rough discipline) to maintain a certain amount of independence. Led by a Triumvirate elected from among the Senate, Siccarian is a land filled with political intrigue and decadence, that could almost rival the central regions of the Empire in it’s glory.
Yep, it’s a Roman figure from the Footsore Streets of Rome range. A fun little object to paint – A freebie from a wargames show (back in the days we had those). I decided to go with a super quick and easy paint scheme – white robes and sandals to give a look that will stand out among the more dirty fantasy figures. Ideal for a VIP character – perhaps a Siccarian travelling through the Empire and being ambushed on the road?
Despite using a black undercoat, I’m actually pretty happy with the white I managed to get. This was done with a layer of Vallejo Medium Grey, followed up by Vallejo White. A layer of Nuln Oil over the top and then a dry brush of White to keep the colour. I go pretty hard on the wash (as I have done with all my models) but at this point, it’s turned into a trait of my painting.
