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Hi guys.

I'm thinking about creating an IG force, aesthetically themed around the atmospheric conditions of their "fluff" homeworld (a dim and gloomy volcanic planet, covered in dark rock and sand), but at the same time I want an almost Middle-Eastern touch: the soldiers used to fighting across deserts and withstanding arid conditions.
In gameplay terms, I'm aiming for an infantry-based assault force, backed by light fire-support vehicles, transports and artillery.

I would have used Tallarn models, but AFAIK, they aren't available in plastic. So I'll probably be using Cadians, creating head-scarves and whatever distinguishing modifications I can with Greenstuff (which I've never even used before).

Anyway, I'm posting a pic of a Cadian shock trooper painted with an experimental camo-scheme. On a finished model, the Guardsman's fatigues and armour will be camouflaged, with the shoulder-pads left bare (for decals/insignia) and scarves, coats, head-wrappings, etc painted in shades of grey, brown and black. The skin will also be a brownish colour (Arabic skin tones).









I'd appreciate it if you guys could:

a) give me feedback on the camouflage, and tell me how to improve my painting! I don't really know about ink-washing, gradients, etc...

b) help me brainstorm any little details and/or conversions that could contribute to the thematic appearance of my infantry and vehicles (and their weapons!).




Thanks in advance!

The experimental guardsman looks good!
However reading your fluff and setting, I think the camo colors would not fit in that setting.

"volcanic planet, covered in dark rock and sand"

To me that sounds like browns/ reddish browns and maybe some khaki. I would definately loose the white and substitute that with a more sandish color (kommando khaki or bleached bone come to mind).

I recently did a wasteland camo guardsman who might fit your desired colorscheme:



The camo on this guy was painted:
- 2 layers of bestial brown on all the cloth parts
- kommando khaki blotches for the first camo patern
- little irregular crosses, lines, etc of dark flesh for the 3rd color
- washed with devlan mud to darken and blend the colors together and to create more shadow in recesses
- highlighted extreme edges with the respective color

The Showcase is more for finished, completed projects, and not really the right place for a running blog.

Moving over to P&M Blogs!

The camo looks great, though as has been mentioned, for a volcanic world you'd be looking more at blacks/greys/reds/browns and less white.

For washes, in the past I've used Devlan Mud, but it tends to suck the life out of a model as it's very grey in tone. Try mixing a bit of black wash and gloss varnish into Gryphonne Sepia instead. This will make a nice dark, but rich wash that will flow nicely into the crevices, doing all the shading for you.

Thematically your skin tones don't match with the planetary conditions. Darker skin develops in order to protect people from UV light in the sun. If your planet is dark/gloomy volcanic planet, it's most likely permanently covered in ash clouds that would block out the sun and lead to very pale skin. Having said that, it's your planet so you could have it mildly irradiated and the skin tone is a minor side affect, or too close to their sun so they get a higher concentration of UV in the weak light they do get.

Adding lots of goggles and respirators onto your guys would also make sense in a gloomy world full of ash. Have you seen the new Forgeworld Cadian hazard suits?

fiddler6291 wrote:I think the camo colors would not fit in that setting.

"volcanic planet, covered in dark rock and sand"

To me that sounds like browns/ reddish browns and maybe some khaki. I would definately loose the white and substitute that with a more sandish color (kommando khaki or bleached bone come to mind).

I recently did a wasteland camo guardsman who might fit your desired colorscheme:



The camo on this guy was painted:
- 2 layers of bestial brown on all the cloth parts
- kommando khaki blotches for the first camo patern
- little irregular crosses, lines, etc of dark flesh for the 3rd color
- washed with devlan mud to darken and blend the colors together and to create more shadow in recesses
- highlighted extreme edges with the respective color

I saw that Stompa in another thread... fuckin' awesome stuff right there.



Thanks for the advice... I only really used white in order to make the model stand out a little against dark backgrounds (kinda counter-intuitive for camouflage, I know). I was almost going for an "Urban" camo pattern, but yeah, the white is too much. I do want a sort of "greyscale" scheme though, as their homeworld is supposed to be dark, gloomy and almost colourless. Dark skies, dark sand, etc.
But having too drab a colour scheme would defeat the purpose of painting them in the first place...

I_am_a_Spoon wrote:But having too drab a colour scheme would defeat the purpose of painting them in the first place...

That's actually one of the problems I'm having with my guard. I used dark brown and grey which looked great together up close, but once they have been given a wash and you're standing back a bit... hoooo boy. Welcome to blobsville

Volcanic ash can lean towards reds and lighter browns/creams as well, so maybe a light brown base with cream and red camo would work?

endtransmission wrote:The camo looks great, though as has been mentioned, for a volcanic world you'd be looking more at blacks/greys/reds/browns and less white.

For washes, in the past I've used Devlan Mud, but it tends to suck the life out of a model as it's very grey in tone. Try mixing a bit of black wash and gloss varnish into Gryphonne Sepia instead. This will make a nice dark, but rich wash that will flow nicely into the crevices, doing all the shading for you.

I'm about to sound like a complete idiot, but...

...do you apply a wash before or after you've painted the model? I'm assuming you do it afterwards, and then touch up any areas left too dull by the wash?

I tried washing a model with Chestnut Brown (I think), and it turned out horribly.

endtransmission wrote:Thematically your skin tones don't match with the planetary conditions. Darker skin develops in order to protect people from UV light in the sun. If your planet is dark/gloomy volcanic planet, it's most likely permanently covered in ash clouds that would block out the sun and lead to very pale skin. Having said that, it's your planet so you could have it mildly irradiated and the skin tone is a minor side affect, or too close to their sun so they get a higher concentration of UV in the weak light they do get.

They're fairly close to their sun, and receive a moderate amount of light, but the planet itself is very dark and they're protected from its rays by vapour and volcanic debris trapped in the atmosphere. It still manages to filter through however, and their skin tone is a direct result of the limited (but continuous) contact they have with the sun's light.

endtransmission wrote:Adding lots of goggles and respirators onto your guys would also make sense in a gloomy world full of ash. Have you seen the new Forgeworld Cadian hazard suits?

You mean these?:

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Imperial_Guard/Cadian_Shock_Troops/CADIAN-HOSTILE-ENVIRONMENT-TROOPS-CONVERSION-SET.html

They look great, but 18 pound is a lot in $AU. I might just stick to GS, or other, cheaper third-party models (some awesome stuff out there).

Damn though... those Cadians are kickass...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

endtransmission wrote:

I_am_a_Spoon wrote:But having too drab a colour scheme would defeat the purpose of painting them in the first place...

That's actually one of the problems I'm having with my guard. I used dark brown and grey which looked great together up close, but once they have been given a wash and you're standing back a bit... hoooo boy. Welcome to blobsville

Volcanic ash can lean towards reds and lighter browns/creams as well, so maybe a light brown base with cream and red camo would work?

I was thinking more of greyscale; blacks, greys, etc... cream or bone would look good though.

Still too bright?

I'm about to sound like a complete idiot, but...

...do you apply a wash before or after you've painted the model? I'm assuming you do it afterwards, and then touch up any areas left too dull by the wash?

I tried washing a model with Chestnut Brown (I think), and it turned out horribly.

You are right, you do apply the wash after you painted the model and usually before the hightlight. I think your problem is that you used ink, instead of a wash (at least the old GW brown ink was called chesnut. Inks tend to get very messy especially if you don't thin them and add stuff that lowers the surface tension (flow improvers or the ever so popular future floor finish).

The new washes work a lot better (I tried several brands and so far the GW ones yielded the best results for me).

Also GW has a very nice article on painting IG camo paterns for several enviroments, I followed it for most part:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?catId=cat440130a&categoryId=600003§ion=&aId=2400008

I think currently he is a well painted model but IMO definitely an urban camoflage. I would recommend something involving sandy brown, dark reddish brown and avaition blue (same colour as Fiddler's dude's armour plates).

Oh another thing, i dont know how you got the F-bomb through the language filter but please refrain in future this is a civilised forum, non of this docker speak!

fiddler6291 wrote:I think your problem is that you used ink, instead of a wash (at least the old GW brown ink was called chesnut. Inks tend to get very messy especially if you don't thin them and add stuff that lowers the surface tension (flow improvers or the ever so popular future floor finish).

Yeah, it was Chestnut Ink...

Just out of interest, what kind of "flow improvers"are you talking about? Something that dilutes the ink? Water?

fiddler6291 wrote:GW has a very nice article on painting IG camo paterns for several enviroments, I followed it for most part:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?catId=cat440130a&categoryId=600003§ion=&aId=2400008

Ta.

Perkustin wrote:I dont know how you got the F-bomb through the language filter but please refrain in future this is a civilised forum, non of this docker speak!

Ok...

Yeah, it was Chestnut Ink...

Just out of interest, what kind of "flow improvers"are you talking about? Something that dilutes the ink? Water?

Flow improvers come in a lot of different kinds from different manufacturers, what they all have in common is that they lower the surface tension of the water and thus the paint.
They are usually agents that have some soapy content in them. (if you would look at the physical chemistry behind it, the soapy molecules would sit on the surface, with their hydrophilic or "water loving" side towards the water and their lipophylic or "fat loving" side towards the air.) Simply speaking the improvers make sure you'll have an ultra thin film of basically soap on your paint, which makes it easier for the water/paint to flow (into recesses).

You can see the effect for yourself, by putting one drop of normal tap water and a drop of water with some soap/dish washing soap on a guardsman for example. The normal tap water will probably just stay a droplet sitting on the mini. The water with the soap will actually flatten and run into the recesses.

I use Open thinner by Golden, however there are lots of brands that should do the trick.

Another, easily available option is to mix an acrylic gloss varnish into the wash as this acts in the same sort of way as well as slowing down the drying time to allow you the chance to move the wash into just the right place.

It's also possible to make washes out of any acrylic paint by mixing in a gloss varnish. Useful for when you don't have a wash of the right colour