My painting log: Deathwatch

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**Asmodai_00**

Hi everyone,

I've been playing Warhammer 40k off and on for almost twenty years now. It's been 7 years since I've did any miniature work or painting, and I'm coming back yet again, but this time it's thanks to my fiancé who will be building her own army.

I've always been a fan of inquisition forces, and was even attempting to write my own codex for them back in 2009. Needless to say, I was excited to hear that the inquisition had gotten so much love in my absence, and just what a world of improvement the new plastic kits were. Between the instant love I had for the Deathwatch Kill-Team kit and the fact the battleforce was such a ridiculously good deal, I made the mature adult decision and bought two.

Every time I re-enter the hobby, I make a decision to improve something about my miniature work. I also chose the deathwatch to do something I've never done before: black armor. It's taken me a while to get the technique down and remember just how the heck to actually paint a model. I'm super pleased with how the prototype came out and wanted to share:

Of course, it wasn't until I uploaded the photos that I noticed I didn't paint the black ring around the base

I've already got a list of things I want to try on the next model, and will post them here when they are worth showing. Hopefully with better photos! I forget just how much taking a photo of a miniature exposes all the little flaws or things I think I should go back and touch up.

**ghostmaker**

Looks great!

**amazingturtles**

Yeah, i've learned all too well just how much photos reveal. it's good in one sense, because some flaws that seem so obvious in a picture can be really hard to pick out in person!

I'm very impressed with this guy, you've given him the good highlighting and details, and i'm looking forward to the next!

**evildrcheese**

Looking good so far.

Keep it up.

EDC

**Nevelon**

Well you are off to a good start. It helps that you began with the Ultramarine

Looking forward to seeing your army grow.

**brushcommando**

Looks good, and the deathwatch is a good choice to try out black armor. Plenty of little pockets of color to make them pop. Looking forward to more.

**IGtR=**

Nice. What is your recipe for the metal?

**CREEEEEEEEED**

Very nice, how'd you do the black armour?

**Asmodai_00**

Thanks for the kind words, everyone!

Nevelon wrote:Well you are off to a good start. It helps that you began with the Ultramarine

With how well that shoulderpad came out, I sincerely thought I should have played Ultramarines instead.

I almost started an Ultramarine army before the battleforce came out!

IGtR= wrote:Nice. What is your recipe for the metal?

Nothing fancy; just Leadbelcher - Nuln Oil - Ironbreaker - Stormhost silver. I redid the metal shoulderpad at least once since I didn't like the first go, so it's slightly different, but that's the gist.

CREEEEEEEEED wrote:Very nice, how'd you do the black armour?

Abaddon black (obviously) - Highlight every edge with Eshin Grey - Extreme edge highlights with Fenrisian Grey.

I used the excellent Warhammer TV video on Deathwatch as a starting point and did what I could to match it, with a few variations here and there.

The next four are primed and in progress, but I've found that highlighting all this black is best when I paint each miniature to completion one at a time. I'll post the next one when he's worth sharing!

**Asmodai_00**

Hello everyone,

It's been a busy week, but unfortunately not so much for my own army. I've spent a couple of nights this week getting used to gap filling on miniatures, and those were the Skitarii rangers. It's been challenging and frustrating and it turns out that painting black was actually more preferable!

This marine isn't completely finished, as again, I've forgotten the ring around the base, but I've also not completed the chapter shoulderpad yet. I have the paint for the highlight, but I wanted to use a Crimson Fist transfer for the badge. I don't have the supplies I'll need to make the transfer look good, though, so it will have to wait until a trip to the local hobby store.

Something else I've started to accept is the fact that I will almost never be 100% happy with a paint job. I still want to keep working on this model, but he's a missile launcher Deathwatch marine. He isn't going to be a centerpiece, and I have many many more models in front of him to go, so I'm going to have to make myself stop and move on.

After the chapter badge, of course.

**CREEEEEEEEED**

The question that really needs asking is why'd you give him a missile launcher in the first pace?

**evildrcheese**

Looking good dude. The highlighting on the black armour looks great.

EDC

**Asmodai_00**

CREEEEEEEEED wrote:
The question that really needs asking is why'd you give him a missile launcher in the first pace?

A good question that I completely forgot to address!

I'm anticipating playing the game with at least one person who has played before and two who haven't, which means the first few games will be in the area of 500 points. I'm anticipating a few light transports/tanks, and don't really have anything long range that I can use to reach out and poke them with. At higher points, it becomes easier and the missile launcher(s) will likely drop then in favor for frag cannons / meltaguns in drop pods, guardsmen heavy weapon teams, land raiders, etc.

Also of note is these first five marines will be made primarily from the 3rd edition tactical marine squad box set, combined with bits and arms from the kill-team kit. This is on purpose so I can get comfortable with painting the deathwatch scheme before I get to the true core of the kill-teams. I'm very strange when it comes to painting and modeling, it seems.

**brushcommando**

I like how these are turning out. And if your experience is anything like mine, you should find that the highlighting becomes easier as you move from 3rd ed minis to modern marine kits. The newer ones have much crisper detail, which is easier to catch with the side of a brush.