Here’s a little old/new paint job comparison. It’s not night and day, but I can see the benefit of experience!
From left to right, the Infiltrators are July 2023, May 2020, July 2023; Chaplains are July 2020, July 2023.
I put in a couple sleepless nights getting the three new models ready for a 40k game. It was great to get back to painting Blood Angels!
The biggest changes are attempting proper edge highlighting, pin washes rather than all-over washes on armor, and being sparing with the final highlights. My brush control isn’t where I’d like it to be yet, but it has improved.
Thinking about how these will look in play, older paint jobs mixed with newer ones, reminded me of something I wanted to get up here on Yore for posterity.
A few years back I saw a post on Twitter that has quietly become one of my miniature-painting hobby touchstones. (I wish I’d taken a screenshot!)
It was a photo of thousands of points of 40k models from the same faction, some of which were quite clearly painted differently than the rest.
The poster noted that those were his older models, and that instead of being frustrated they didn’t match he looked at it like this: It’d be sad if they didn’t look any different, because that would mean he’d never made any progress as a painter.
I love that.
Out now: The Unlucky Isles
The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
I committed to learning to pin wash when I started painting BattleTech minis again, and since my first outing I’ve added it to my toolkit. That also means it’s time for an updated Blood Angels color guide, since pin washing is a big part of my Space Marine painting process now.
Old/new comparisons: Infiltrators (left) are July 2023, May 2020, July 2023; Chaplains are July 2020, July 2023
The pin wash on their armor takes a lot longer than an all-over wash, and requires a level of focus that feels closer to what I put in when I’m highlighting. But the payoff is worth it: It’s easy to neaten up messy bits using my base coat color; it preserves the redness of Mephiston Red, which means I don’t need as many highlights to bring back the red (as I did with my old approach); and the shading gets to do more of its work.
2023 general Blood Angels color guide
As always, these recipes are based on the Citadel studio recipes with some tweaks, and nothing is drybrushed unless noted. Highlighting is a mix of edge and point highlights.
Red: Mephiston Red > Agrax Earthshade pin wash> Evil Sunz Scarlet > Fire Dragon Bright.
Black, including 99% of armor gaskets: Abaddon Black > Eshin Grey > Dawnstone.
For grey armor gaskets (like on Chaplains and Death Company dudes, who have black armor): Mechanicus Standard Grey > Nuln Oil all-over wash > Dawnstone.
Metal: Leadbelcher > Nuln Oil all-over wash > Ironbreaker > Stormhost Silver. Notes for specific metal stuff below.
Go easy on the Stormhost, a little goes a long way for stuff like guns.
Cylindrical things: Do a volumetric highlight with the Ironbreaker, hitting just the top surface, then follow up with a tiny bit of Stormhost.
Jump pack forward vents: These are a pain in the dick to highlight, so I just do one light drybrush of Ironbreaker (with a tiny brush) and call it good.
Most leather: Khorne Red > Agrax Earthshade all-over wash > Wazdakka Red > 50/50 blend of Wazdakka Red/Kislev Flesh.
If it’s textured (like on the old-school resin Chaplain with Jump Pack), replace the highlights above with a single step: Wazdakka Red drybrush.
Purple gems: Screamer Pink > Agrax Earthshade pin wash > Pink Horror in a crescent from 2 o’clock to 8 o’clock > Emperor’s Children in a smaller crescent over the Pink Horror area > dot of White Scar at 11 o’clock.
Also applies to tiny screens, just with different colors.
“I’ll get to play with these” has been a powerful motivator since I got rolling in 2020, and I’ve always speculated that “I played and I like/didn’t like X, I need to paint some Y for my next game” would be similarly powerful.
Kill Team has produced that cycle for me, except instead of X being my team and Y being something new for my team, Y is just more teams. Every time I play, especially when I’m “curating” the whole experience in home games (providing the board, terrain, minis, rules, etc.), I want more options available.
That cycle has now kicked into gear with my Blood Angels, my largest and oldest 40k army. I’ve played two short games, enough to get an idea of what I like in play and what I wish I could field, and now that I’ve got a larger game — 1,000 points! — on the calendar for this week, I’m scrambling to paint three minis so I can field them right away.
Helix gauntlet and comms array Infiltrators on the left, Chaplain on the right
I want a sixth Infiltrator to form a complete kill team (joining the five I already have painted), and he and a seventh have the wargear I didn’t model on my Infiltrator squad because it wasn’t free in 8th or 9th and I needed the points. Now that it’s free, and I’ve seen that Infiltrators are fun to play, the helix gauntlet and comms array should come in handy.
I had to kitbash the helix gauntlet, which doesn’t come in the kit. Google turned up a great idea on Funnyjunk, of all places: use the comms array guy’s arm, shave down a couple of grenades for the medical lights, and add a needle. I had an extra comms arm; I trimmed off an Infiltrator backpack antenna for the needle.
I’ve also shied away from fielding my Death Company lads because of their mechanics: They’re not as good without a Chaplain, but they have jump packs and my Chaplain, Arrius, does not. So it’s time to paint a jump-chap, and hey I have this resin guy just hanging around…
Hello, resin, my old “friend”
Chaplain with jump pack color guide
Same base as my other Blood Angels, of course, and as always these recipes are based on the GW studio recipes with some tweaks. Nothing is drybrushed unless noted.
Jump pack jets: Caledor Sky > Drakenhof Nightshade all-over wash > Temple Guard Blue > Baharroth Blue
It’s been ages since I painted a purity seal, and I’ve forgotten what color I used to scribble the freehand “writing” on the parchments. This time I wrote it down!
Out now: The Unlucky Isles
The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
I like maxims and I like self-reflection. This post combines the two: a little look at some of the maxims that have served me well over the past three years of painting, and some reflection on them — especially in light of actually getting to play.
Any progress is progress
Since I got properly into miniature painting in 2020, I’ve done something to make forward progress on miniatures every single day. Sometimes I’ll go months where I’m literally scraping one tiny piece of mold line just to check that box, but those periods are banking the fire so that it doesn’t go out entirely. This isn’t my only hobby, and when something else is bringing me more joy I do that instead.
But it all adds up. Never stopping means always moving forward, sometimes in tiny increments and sometimes in fevered painting frenzies, and eventually painted forces and terrain start to emerge and multiply.
John C. Maxwell had it 100% right: “Little progress is better than no progress at all.”
I need the prospect of play for motivation
My motivation to paint isn’t solely dependent on playing — I painted for three years before playing my first game with models I’d painted — but it’s a huge factor. I enjoy painting for its own sake; the act itself is fun. But knowing that I’ll be able to play a game with all the stuff I’m painting is the X factor that keeps me coming back to the painting table.
Every time I’ve had a game on my calendar, I’ve kicked into painting overdrive. I spent hours before my first Kill Team game wrapping up the combat gauges and barriers, and then did the same thing again before my second game — a 6.5-hour push to finish a piece of terrain.
It’s almost comical how much “I get to use this stuff!” motivates me.
Paint for arm’s length
I’ve always said that I paint my minis for viewing at arm’s length. That doesn’t mean I phone it in: It takes me five hours to take the average model from sprue to varnished and ready to play. That number likely sounds appallingly low to some painters and appallingly high to others, but it’s the right number for me.
I do get closer than arm’s length to all my minis during play, of course. There’s real joy in getting an eyeball right up behind a tiny head to see what’s in the unit’s line of sight! But much of the game is played at arm’s length.
I also use a magnifier when I paint — though as infrequently as possible. Under good magnification, every miniature I paint needs hours more work than I can give it if I ever want to finish. But if I don’t magnify, I can better balance doing my best and actually finishing stuff.
Write everything down
I’ve been writing painting notes and color guides since 2020, and it’s paid off so many times. Just this past week I finished a terrain piece I’d started in, like, 2021. I could tell where I’d left off and knew how to finish it in a way that was consistent with my existing pieces because I’d written it all down.
I get a lot of mileage out of color guides other folks share, so I also like sharing mine in a format that I hope is easy to follow.
It has to get to the table
So many of my creative endeavors owe a debt to Voltaire: “Perfect is the enemy of good.”
I try to do my best work on every model, but also balance that with eventually finishing the fucking thing. I paint partly to paint and partly to play, so I want my stuff to get to the table…which it can’t if I take a million hours on every model and lose all my motivation to keep going.
Spray terrain, but not figures
I’ve been burned by spray varnish a few times over the years, so when I started painting in 2020 I committed myself to avoiding rattle cans. I brush on my primer (Vallejo matte white) and sealant (Vallejo matte), even though it takes longer, because I have complete control, zero dependence on the weather outside, and a 0% chance of having the temperature or humidity ruin a model.
The exception is terrain, which I spray with Citadel’s primer/base coat rattle cans. Here in Seattle the weather’s only good for spraying minis about 1/3 of the year, so I tend to spray a raft of terrain in the summer and then stash it for future use.
I also made an exception for an army which it seemed silly not to spray: Custodes, which I base-coated gold in one 2,000-point batch. Which leads me to…
Don’t paint in large batches
I told myself not to do this early on, and I’ve only broken this rule once — to my detriment. I have a 2,000-point Custodes army which is 100% based in gold, and has its gold shaded, with a handful of figures further along than that…and it’s largely sat just like that for more than 18 months. Every time I get them out, I feel exhausted at the prospect of working on them.
My usual process is to base coat the whole model, which narrows down from “paint it all” to “paint what’s still white” as I progress, and then to touch up the base coat before shading. Having batch-painted my Custodes torpedoed both of those stages: I hate looking at a solid gold model and hunting for the stuff to paint over, and I hate painting base coats next to shaded work.
Five models is a good number for me to be working on simultaneously at any given stage of the process, or ten at the most. Like right now on my painting mat I’ve got three Tyranid Warriors at the wash stage, five Grey Knights that need priming, and four crates I just varnished. When I want to work on minis, I have three manageable batches from which to choose.
Try not to be hard on myself
I’m notoriously hard on myself about my paint jobs. I have to make a conscious effort not to be, especially as I gain experience and my detail work improves.
But actually playing with my painted minis has made it significantly easier not to sweat it. During the four games I’ve played with my models to date (BattleTech, 40k, Kill Team x2), not once have I been disappointed with my work or thought, “Man, I wish I’d painted that better.”
I’m not thinking about the imperfections, I’m just having a blast playing a game with my opponent and enjoying a table full of painted stuff.
The Rule of Cool still rules
When I assemble a mini, the Rule of Cool prevails — from wargear choices to pose, I do whatever I think is cool. I do look at the rules and let them inform some of my choices, and I’ve noticed an uptick in that after actually playing (which makes sense), but Rule of Cool usually trumps optimal loadouts.
Similarly, I often like big, sprawling, dramatic poses…which are a real detriment in Kill Team, for example, because they make the model easier to see from more angles. But in play? I’ve never once thought, “I wish I’d made that dude more boring so he’d be harder to shoot.”
The same goes for wargear choices. For example: Both of my Tactical Marine fire team leader choices for Kill Team have a pistol and a melee weapon, and after two games I kind of wish at least one of them had a Bolter instead. But I’d rather just paint up a third leader than fret about my Rule of Cool-driven choices.
Painted models are worth the effort
This is Miniature Painting 101, but it wasn’t obvious to me until I actually played. Almost all of my wargaming until this year has been played with unpainted minis or cardboard tokens/models, plus the occasional game with factory prepainted models.
When everything on the table is painted, my mind is there. I immerse myself and try to live the battle no mater whether stuff is painted or not, but it’s much easier, and unlocks a higher level of immersion, when everything is painted. And I’d take any player’s best efforts over any factory prepaint; the personal investment also makes a difference.
That investment is key for me, too. I feel invested in my army — the one I sweated over for an average of five hours per model, trying to push my skills and stay motivated — in a way that’s unlike my investment in any other style of game.
That’s all I can think of for now. Happy painting!
July 14, 2023 update: I forgot one, naturally — and it’s a biggie. I gave it its own post, but TL;DR it boils down to your old and new paint jobs not matching up being a good thing.
Out now: The Unlucky Isles
The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
I snapped these back in January, of stuff I finished in December of 2022, and then forgot about them until now.
Sector Mechanicus dome/stack
I had a lot of fun building this piece. All of these sets interconnect so well that it’s satisfying to play around and find ways to work in “off-book” connections.
Ferratonic Furnace
I have a couple of these, so I felt free to assemble this one as a single piece — no modular lid. The Wraithbone railings and pipe fittings tie it to my Sector Manufactorum terrain.
There’s something therapeutic about drilling little bullet holes in terrain.
To matched the blasted and ruined look of my Manufactorum pieces, I added battle damage to the railings.
I assembled the platform and railings such that it can play nice with almost any walkway piece. The corner with the hazard stripes has a bite taken out of it with my hobby nippers.
Sector Mechanicus walkway
I clustered the railings in the center, leaving both ends and the “sides” of the ends free to connect with other walkways.
All of my ladders are carefully placed to as to mostly play nice with other terrain pieces.
I wanted this to fit in with my blasted-up Manufactorum stuff, so I used clippers and my hobby knife to tear chunks out of the platform. I kept the holes small enough to avoid being hazards for the actual miniatures.
Thermo-Exchanger Shrine and miscellaneous tank
Shipping containers and misc. bits
The bottoms are fully painted too, but not interesting enough to photograph. I paint the bottoms because these are so modular that they look good at weird angles, on their sides, etc.
Giant dire mantis
My kiddo, Lark, loves preying mantises, so I painted this giant dire mantis (a 3-D print I bought on Etsy) as a Christmas present. I used some glazing and progressive drybrushing layers to try to make it look natural, and the overall model uses something like 19 colors. It was a ton of fun to paint.
And that’s it, I’m all caught up! Now back to assembling Brôkhyr Thunderkyn for my Votanni army.
Out now: The Unlucky Isles
The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
Thinking of painting goals for 40k solely in terms of 2,000-point armies can be daunting. I’m not sure why I’ve never committed to this simple early goal instead: finish a Combat Patrol.
500 points is a much less daunting prospect, and it still leaves room to paint a variety of models. I have 2,000 points of Blood Angels, which can be sliced up multiple ways to create Combat Patrols — but my Deathskulls Orks, Custodes, and Leagues of Votann armies are nowhere near complete. A concrete, play-focused sub-goal would likely have helped me there.
My one finished army to date, 2,000 points of Blood Angels
Hell, I could field a few different painted Ork Combat patrols…except I don’t have any painted HQ options. If I paint Moonkrumpa or my Weirdboy, bam: instant Combat Patrol. Realizing that was what got me thinking about setting a short-term Combat Patrol goal for all three of my unfinished armies.
None of these Combat Patrols involve buying new models. They’re listed in order of how quickly I can complete them, quickest to slowest.
One of many possible CPs I can make out of my Blood Angels army: Squads Dolos (rear), Barakiel (left), and Karios (right), led by Chaplain Arrius (front)
Deathskulls Orks
The smallest goal, paint my simplest HQ option:
Weirdboy, “Warpmek” Nakk (a converted Age of Sigmar Weirdnob Shaman)
With my painted Boyz, Grots, Kans, Trukk, and Deff Dread, there are at a handful of viable Combat Patrols I can make with the addition of just my Weirdboy.
Moonkrumpa cries out, “Paint me!”
Adeptus Custodes
Finish painting 3x of these Custodian Guards, who are mostly painted:
Custodian Guard Squad, Inkaef, Halfden, Konstantyn, Baptiste, and Adomako (5x Sentinel Blade and Storm Shield)
And then paint these 4x models (all their gold is painted and washed, and their bases are done):
Captain-General Trajann Valoris (Warlord)
Custodian Guard Squad, Telvaer, Anselm, and Sadiki (3x Guardian Spear)
I think with the changes in 9th I need to glue Misericordia to some of my custard lad models; they weren’t free when I built this army.
Last seen in…holy shit, 2021. It feels like a year ago, but it’s been two years!
Leagues of Votann
I have precisely zero of these guys fully painted, and only a few partially base-coated. I also don’t own any of my favorite models for this faction, because Hearthguard were impossible to find when I started acquiring this army. This is the fuzziest goal — I don’t even have names for my models yet! — and the furthest from completion.
Finish painting 5x Hearthkyn (based and primed), and then paint another 5x of them:
Hearthkyn Warriors (7x Warrior, 1x Warrior with Magna-Rail Rifle, 1x Warrior with EtaCarn Plasma Beamer, lead by 1x Theyn with Concussion Gauntlet and Autoch-Pattern Bolt Pistol).
Finish painting this squad of Beserks (based and partially painted):
Cthonian Beserks (4x Concussion Mauls, 1x Mole Grenade Launcher; plus the 2x Mole Grenade models)
And paint an HQ option (unassembled):
High Kâhl (Rampart Crest, Mass Gauntlet, Autoch-Pattern Combi-Bolter)
Dang, I lost motivation so hard that this is the only photo I have of my WIP Votanni…and it’s the very first one I took
Hither and thence
That’s 26 models, ignoring the fuzz factor (the Mole Grenade team is two minis on one base, etc.).
If I’m in a good groove, I can take one squad of five troops from sprue to sealed and ready to play in a week, although two weeks is more realistic. Some of these models are considerably more complex than Joe Space Marine, notably Moonkrumpa and Trajann, so 26 models would take me something like 5-10 weeks to paint.
Under three months — good groove permitting! — to go from one finished Combat Patrol to a whopping four would be awesome.
But the obvious step one is to go from one CP (Blood Angels) to two by painting a single model: a Deathskulls HQ.
6/19/23 update: Well, maybe not thence. Now that I’ve read up on the details of Combat Patrols in 10th Edition, my approach in this post isn’t viable anymore. Combat Patrols are These Specific Minis With Special Datasheets, played against one another.
I can’t see GW sneaking rules for custom Combat Patrols into the core book; the updated CP mode is in lockstep with the dedicated CP boxes. There’s nothing wrong with just making 500-point armies and playing 40k, of course, but from what I’ve read the current edition isn’t balanced around that option.
That said, “Have an achievable shorter-term goal” is still a good approach. Maybe that goal is to paint 1,000 points (the new floor for vanilla 40k) while ensuring that a viable Kill Team is created in the process. A thousand points is like six months of painting for me, assuming I stay focused; the Kill Team portion would only take maybe a month, making it the initial goal.
So having just started working on Grey Knights, maybe I paint a squad of 5x Brotherhood Terminators first because I love them, paint a 10-strong Strike Squad next and make sure their wargear lines up with Kill Team, and then finish off the remaining 500 points for a viable 1,000-point 40k army.
Out now: The Unlucky Isles
The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
Hark! A wild round-up appears. I usually find writing housekeeping posts super boring, but things have been quiet here and I wanted to post a little update on the irons I have in the fire. (This post wasn’t boring to write.)
Godsbarrow and the Gilded Lands book
I haven’t posted any new Godsbarrow material here in months, but not because I’ve lost interest in my setting — I’m still working on it every day!
I really want to put out a second book, so the new stuff I’ve been writing is all part of The Gilded Lands: Godsbarrow Guidebook 2, which will hopefully be out this year. (I published The Unlucky Isles: Godsbarrow Guidebook 1 [affiliate link], in November of last year.)
So far my experience with the first book is holding true: about 50% of The Gilded Lands is new material. Revisiting and expanding it is a hoot. The best days are the ones where I get a wild hair about something, write it, and it feels like I’m just describing something that already existed because it fits the setting so perfectly. (On the days I’m just not feeling it, my “safety valve” is doing the bare minimum: jotting down a name, tweaking a snippet of text, etc.)
All of my Godsbarrow energy is going into fleshing out the Gilded Lands.
#dungeon23
My #dungeon23 project, the Black Furnace, is ticking along nicely. I write a room a day (which is the whole idea), and I’m currently about 75% done with level 2.
So far the pace is manageable, and the empty room safety valve is there for days when I need a break. Even if I don’t finish my megadungeon (not my plan, but you never know), I’ve already designed my largest-ever dungeon.
Miniature painting
I’m still working on BattleMechs, just much more slowly than I was in January. This is the third of my “do it every day” long-term projects, and at any given time one of the three is just getting prodded along without any meaningful progress. Right now, that’s painting.
Once Lark and I play a game with all eight painted minis, I’ll be more motivated to finish the next four.
Out now: The Unlucky Isles
The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
I haven’t played BattleTech in 20 years, and if you’d told me a few years ago — when I started enjoying miniature painting, and painting Warhammer 40k stuff every day — that my first-ever game using miniatures I’d painted would be BattleTech, or would be played with my kiddo, Lark, I wouldn’t have believed you.
Lark surveys the battlefield during the first turnThe first face-off between the two heavies; both took a solid hitThings are looking grim for that MarauderLark’s damaged Marauder takes cover in the woods about halfway through our gameA beautiful move by Lark, who won initiative: getting into my Archer’s rear arc; the game could have gone either way at this pointMy Archer survived this rear-gunning, and I stacked my Wasp behind the Marauder to close out the game
Last year I got to play D&D with Lark for the first time, and playing BattleTech — the wargame I’ve loved the longest and played the most — with Lark was just as awesome an experience. We had a blast, and we’re already looking forward to our second game on a larger map, two full lances per side (these four plus the next batch that I painted with our second game in mind).
One of my favorite moments was watching Lark get a ‘Mech’s-eye view to establish line of sight for the first time and being excited by how much fun that was. Sharing the visceral and tactile joys of miniatures wargaming with Lark was just pure joy for me.
On top of that, Alpha Strike was a great intro for Lark, a great return to the game for me, and not in any way “kiddy BattleTech.” AS 100% succeeds in distilling CBT into a shorter, punchier game without losing sight of what makes BattleTech fun. It’s streamlined and simplified, but not in any way simplistic. That’s a thing of beauty.
The core box is one of the best values in gaming, too: It’s actually everything you need to start playing, and for barely more than the ‘Mechs would cost in separate force packs.
I took some time during our game to talk a bit about the differences between AS and CBT, and I suspect Lark and I may have some CBT in our future, too.
What a fantastic Saturday all around!
Out now: The Unlucky Isles
The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
Today I finished painting my second lance of ‘Mechs, two heavies and two mediums for my Long Nights mercenary company.
No outdoor shots today, just the lightbox — but I remembered to use my grey backdrop this time!
L to R: Rifleman, Warhammer, Phoenix Hawk, Blackjack
I sometimes regretted combining two colors that are notoriously difficult to paint — white and yellow — in the Phoenix Hawk’s color scheme, but I’m happy with how it turned out. Walking the line between looking like an anime mobile suit and looking like a BattleMech without being too twee about it was an enjoyable challenge.
It also gave me a chance to try Soulblight Grey, GW’s new grey wash, for the first time. It’s interesting stuff, almost feeling more like a contrast paint than a shade paint; it’s kind of milky. But it walks a pleasing line between no wash and a black wash.
Butts
I’m not sure how long it will last, but my goal is to never repeat a paint scheme. “They’re mercenaries” is a great excuse to just experiment and have fun painting whatever feels right at the moment.
Out now: The Unlucky Isles
The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link], the first system-neutral guidebook for my Godsbarrow fantasy campaign setting, is now on DriveThruRPG.
Today I finished the first ‘Mechs I’ve painted since 2007.
L to R: Valkyrie, Archer, Marauder, Wasp
This lance for my Long Nights mercenary company is full of firsts: essentially my first time doing camo (I was about 10 for my actual first time), pin washing, flocking, detailed glass, and really pushing for subtle edge highlights.
Out now: The Unlucky Isles
