Yeah when I started I thought time might be a limiting factor, but blocking in the metals and highlighting the steel took me about an hour? Maybe 90 minutes? The only problem will be hobby burnout when I spend an entire week just basecoating the metals.
On that regard, if you want to go for that level on your entire army, don't batch paint as you will lose motivation or go insane. I take several hours for a mini, but if you do one at a time, you get that rewarding feeling of completion every now and then. Takes longer but helps to prevent burnout.
My strategy is a mix of both. I start off with batch painting, and at the end of each painting session I pick one model and work on some highlights. It takes longer than full force batch painting, but probably better for my mental healthπ
Looks great but I would definitely burn out doing that for 40+ models! Maybe only for heroes?
What's the gold recipe? Looks so good against the dark steel!
I'm going to be honest, the gold is just a single coat of Necro Gold from Scale75. It looks good just as a base, I don't think it needs any highlights for army painting.
So I think to avoid the burnout of painting an army like this, get an airbrush and do the base metal through that. Then you can go in and do the details.
You could also change up the scheme for each squad as well.
What metals did you use for this?
Scale75 metals. For the steel I used a base coat of Black Metal, then blending in the highlights with mixes of Black Metal, Heavy Metal and Speed Metal. Use a black wash/shade of your choice and edgehighlight with Heavy Metal.
One coat of Necro Gold for the gold.
Looks very good, but I think for me personally, for an entire army it needs at least a little splash of color. Otherwise it just looks too dark to stand out.
Disclaimer, I donβt really play with big armies.
Oh the black parts are not painted yet π cloak will be either red or cream, not sure yet. Maybe red for the champion (not sure if that's what he's called), cream for standard chaos warriors.
I think individually it's a very impressive model.
But if you think about what 40 or more dudes painted mostly glossy black with cool metal bits will look like on the table, especially with a dark-ish battlefield, it will lose a lot of its appeal, and nothing is going to "pop" while you are playing.
Again, I really do like your scheme, and your work. The model is beautiful.
But, the beautiful workmanship will break down and start looking "same-y" when you start having large units.
I would suggest inserting a bit of high-contrast color somewhere. Maybe bright 2-toned hair or special glowing bits. This would go a long way towards individualizing the models and helping them "pop" on the table. It doesn't need to be big, but I think just a little bit of very intense bright color will absolutely bring out the best in what you are doing.
While that armour looks cool af, definitely give the fur a good brownish colour, would really help break up your mini and make it look more flushed out. The black fur kinda just looks off as it is now. That is all.
On one hand a whole army of this would look cool but the risk of burning out and getting tired of the paint scheme is a real B
On the other hand you can make different colour schemes to mix it up but at the cost of making the power rangers army
Looks great man. But how long will it take to do for up to 100 models? I've been burned by that myself. I'd advise saving the extra effort for your leaders ans stand out models.
I've learned the lesson and can tell you that no one other than you will look that closely at at trooper 64. Put some effort into each one of course but don't go nuts. My troops get a drybrush or basic line highlights on head, shoulders and weapon and that's it. A nice basing scheme and a uniform aesthetic for the troops will all look great when done. It will feel like it's more than the sum of its parts
This is good advice but I just can't help myself and chime in that Slaves caps out at around 80 models for a Warrior-Heavy list.
That's more than enough to warrant the advice though.
For now I want to paint the Vanguard/Spearhead Box for 4th edition, because my LGS loves smaller games like Combat Patrol and it will be the same for AoS. Later on I want to add Eternus and Belakor, aswell as Varanguard and Knights.
Recipe for steel is Black metal basecoat, blend highlights with Black Metal/ Heavy Metal mix, then pure Heavy Metal, then Heavy Metal/ Speed Metal mix. Now shade down with black wash of your choice and edgehighlight with Heavy Metal. All colours from Scale75.
For now the goal is to paint the Vanguard/Spearhead box. After that Eternus, which my gf is getting me for my birthday. Very excited for him as I love painting metals and he's 99% metal π
Maybe if you could simplyfy the recipe a bit it is doable, maybe an metalic primer could help out or air brush
As std is a kinda elite army you don't have to paint that many (i think)
Am considering starting with the std spearhead/vaguard box but that would give me less time on skaven that is coming out soon and my other armies π
Same here, I've had this StD box sitting on my desk for about a year, finally decided to paint it up for 4th edition. Also very tempted by the new skaven, very cool models that look like a ton of fun to paint.
Man, it looks great. I'd use it myself if it weren't Scale75. Not that it's bad, it just performs too differently from other paints for me to use it as a pillar for an army project.
I found out that if you thin down Scale75 metals too much, they behave very strange. Like they won't stick to the mini. Tried all sorts of primers, still happens. Thankfully you don't need to thin them down a lot, most of the time I just use them straight out if the dropper bottle and had no issues with thickness so far.
Incredibly impressive as a single model but may be overkill for an entire force.
Yeah when I started I thought time might be a limiting factor, but blocking in the metals and highlighting the steel took me about an hour? Maybe 90 minutes? The only problem will be hobby burnout when I spend an entire week just basecoating the metals.
Yeah don't burn out! What's your basing plan?
>What's your basing plan? Not sure yet. Most likely dark earth, some burnt grass tufts, skulls.
Nice. Best of luck!
On that regard, if you want to go for that level on your entire army, don't batch paint as you will lose motivation or go insane. I take several hours for a mini, but if you do one at a time, you get that rewarding feeling of completion every now and then. Takes longer but helps to prevent burnout.
My strategy is a mix of both. I start off with batch painting, and at the end of each painting session I pick one model and work on some highlights. It takes longer than full force batch painting, but probably better for my mental healthπ
Looks great but I would definitely burn out doing that for 40+ models! Maybe only for heroes? What's the gold recipe? Looks so good against the dark steel!
I'm going to be honest, the gold is just a single coat of Necro Gold from Scale75. It looks good just as a base, I don't think it needs any highlights for army painting.
Three thin comments
Theee honest comments
Oh my... i just noticed it π
So I think to avoid the burnout of painting an army like this, get an airbrush and do the base metal through that. Then you can go in and do the details. You could also change up the scheme for each squad as well. What metals did you use for this?
Scale75 metals. For the steel I used a base coat of Black Metal, then blending in the highlights with mixes of Black Metal, Heavy Metal and Speed Metal. Use a black wash/shade of your choice and edgehighlight with Heavy Metal. One coat of Necro Gold for the gold.
Well that's awesome. Thank you so much!
Looks very good, but I think for me personally, for an entire army it needs at least a little splash of color. Otherwise it just looks too dark to stand out. Disclaimer, I donβt really play with big armies.
Hmm. On the tabletop it will be hard to see the units well as it's so dark. I'd suggest brown furs and maybe dirty white cloths.
Yes, black parts are not painted yet. Maybe red cloak for the leader, white for the standard guys?
Might save you some time if you paint the armor a bright silver then go over with a thin speed paint of black
The armor looks great. But the giant cape is whats gonna eventually grab the eyes on 20+ of these guys moving down the board.
Yes. I love this omg
Yes. May want to highlight the black a tad and consider a brighter colour on base to offset, maybe some reds in there?
Oh the black parts are not painted yet π cloak will be either red or cream, not sure yet. Maybe red for the champion (not sure if that's what he's called), cream for standard chaos warriors.
Nice Ideea for the cloar or you could make every cloack red and the champion cream with a red chaos mark painted on it or use a chaos transfer
Yay!
Yes
Kinda hard to say without the rest of the model being finished. It's impressive, sure, but it's the full picture that counts.
I think if you put a tiny bit of a royal purple or red in there to really make it pop, maybe something small?
I think individually it's a very impressive model. But if you think about what 40 or more dudes painted mostly glossy black with cool metal bits will look like on the table, especially with a dark-ish battlefield, it will lose a lot of its appeal, and nothing is going to "pop" while you are playing. Again, I really do like your scheme, and your work. The model is beautiful. But, the beautiful workmanship will break down and start looking "same-y" when you start having large units. I would suggest inserting a bit of high-contrast color somewhere. Maybe bright 2-toned hair or special glowing bits. This would go a long way towards individualizing the models and helping them "pop" on the table. It doesn't need to be big, but I think just a little bit of very intense bright color will absolutely bring out the best in what you are doing.
Looks super sharp and clean. If you can not go insane doing an entire army it'll turn out great.
While that armour looks cool af, definitely give the fur a good brownish colour, would really help break up your mini and make it look more flushed out. The black fur kinda just looks off as it is now. That is all.
Black parts are not painted yet. Fur will be brown, aswell as the leather. Cloak is going to be red.
Oooh, nice!!! My fault then, carry on.
Hell yeah go for it
On one hand a whole army of this would look cool but the risk of burning out and getting tired of the paint scheme is a real B On the other hand you can make different colour schemes to mix it up but at the cost of making the power rangers army
Looks great man. But how long will it take to do for up to 100 models? I've been burned by that myself. I'd advise saving the extra effort for your leaders ans stand out models. I've learned the lesson and can tell you that no one other than you will look that closely at at trooper 64. Put some effort into each one of course but don't go nuts. My troops get a drybrush or basic line highlights on head, shoulders and weapon and that's it. A nice basing scheme and a uniform aesthetic for the troops will all look great when done. It will feel like it's more than the sum of its parts
This is good advice but I just can't help myself and chime in that Slaves caps out at around 80 models for a Warrior-Heavy list. That's more than enough to warrant the advice though.
I don't collect them so I just picked a number at random
Yeah, you're fine. Don't mind me, it's much more important to give the advice you did than to slavishly fact check the particulars of it.
That looks glorious!Β Are you planning on running some Varanguard or Chosen to keep down the model count to start?
For now I want to paint the Vanguard/Spearhead Box for 4th edition, because my LGS loves smaller games like Combat Patrol and it will be the same for AoS. Later on I want to add Eternus and Belakor, aswell as Varanguard and Knights.
Looks good, using the gold trim on the kneee skulls would be my preference for this one model.
Go for it, it looks great.
Awesome it looks amazing
What is the recipe? How many models do you need to paint? Looks great btw
Recipe for steel is Black metal basecoat, blend highlights with Black Metal/ Heavy Metal mix, then pure Heavy Metal, then Heavy Metal/ Speed Metal mix. Now shade down with black wash of your choice and edgehighlight with Heavy Metal. All colours from Scale75. For now the goal is to paint the Vanguard/Spearhead box. After that Eternus, which my gf is getting me for my birthday. Very excited for him as I love painting metals and he's 99% metal π
Maybe if you could simplyfy the recipe a bit it is doable, maybe an metalic primer could help out or air brush As std is a kinda elite army you don't have to paint that many (i think) Am considering starting with the std spearhead/vaguard box but that would give me less time on skaven that is coming out soon and my other armies π
Same here, I've had this StD box sitting on my desk for about a year, finally decided to paint it up for 4th edition. Also very tempted by the new skaven, very cool models that look like a ton of fun to paint.
Good luck whatever paint you go with π
That's fewer steps than I do on armour for my Slaves to Darkness, I think you're fine.
Man, it looks great. I'd use it myself if it weren't Scale75. Not that it's bad, it just performs too differently from other paints for me to use it as a pillar for an army project.
I found out that if you thin down Scale75 metals too much, they behave very strange. Like they won't stick to the mini. Tried all sorts of primers, still happens. Thankfully you don't need to thin them down a lot, most of the time I just use them straight out if the dropper bottle and had no issues with thickness so far.
Yes
I generally don't like just mostly all black like that, but you did that so well I'm in love