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I picked up Space Hulk this weekend and have been working through painting everything to decent level so I might be ready to play a game next weekend or two away. I am not following the GW color scheme for the genestealers. At least not directly or yet anyhow. Right now I have a sort of grayscale thing going on giving my genestealers a sort of 50s sci-fi movie look as well as kinda looking like Aliens xenomorphs. I don't know it I want to stick with that as it is kinda visually bland. Except for the silver claws which I think look kinda cool and complete able to cut through terminator armor like tissue paper.

Here is a rough sample model to show what I got going so far.



My question is: "What sort of wash would you choose to go with this model?" I haven't work with many washes before (just earthshade, black and sepia), but I have been considering picking up a purple or violet wash to give the gray skin a purple tint more in line with the box art models. At the same time, I kinda like the look of the black and white Aliens look (even though there will be some red with the Blood Angel helmets) so perhaps sticking with my original thought of a black wash would be best. I would even be willing to accept that earthshade might still be the best choice as the black wash can be pretty situational.

It's tough to really know how each wash will turn out. My advice is do one genestealer with purple, one with nuln oil, one with agarax earthshade, etc.

My guess is -- the purple wash will somewhat destroy your shadows and making them all oddly purple. It'd also be tough to avoid "coffee" stains on the skin.

If you do try it, though, do a controlled wash (more of a glaze even) on just one area like the head or arm. That way if it comes out weird, you can easily undo it. I think your shadows are fine, so just applying the wash to key areas would likely yield better results.

I'd do a Nuln Oil wash, and then make a purple glaze using Lahmian Medium mixed with whichever purple takes your fancy.

A glaze is like a wash, but as Lahmian Medium is thicker than water it doesn't roll off the surface into the hollows like wash does, so it's good for tinting surfaces without really affecting shading.

Thanks for the suggestions. I didn't even consider trying a glaze. I think I will go with the black wash (yup, Nuln Oil) and see how much I like that. If I still think the genestealers need some color I will try my hand at a purple glaze.