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G'day all,

Here be my first Death Korps of Krieger. I know it's sacrilege to paint such nice looking models quickly, but I want a full army of DKOK, so need a scheme I can pump out reasonably fast. This guy took me a bit over an hour, so I need to speed it up a bit, not sure where though.

What do you reckon? Good start for the rest of the army?

I plan to do the base with a light dusting of snow, that's why I put the branch in the base and built it up a bit, so I could have a nice snow build-up effect without just totally making the base white.

Cheers!






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Just noticed the chest plate looks terrible in the last picture, it doesn't actually look that bad, it just varies in glossiness because of how I blended the highlights in to the washed basecoat, I need to hit it with a satin varnish to smooth it out.

Looks good so far. I think that you should brighten up the mask a bit, since the face is generally a focal point for the model. As a whole, the model could use a bit more contrast. You don't need to make him bright and colorful, but even a dark and gritty model needs some contrasting or the colors just kind of run together.

Keep it up!

Thanks! What would you suggest to add contrast?

Well, I think with the earthy tones the model has, a nice bone-white for the mask would really stand out. Upping the color contrast between the gunmetal and the gray of the coat would be a plus, even if it's just adding some brighter highlighting. I'd also try to pick out the aquilas with a more noticeably bright gold or brass. Additionally, painting the ring of the base black would make the model pop as well. I think having it be gray makes it run together with the other grays of the model. Right now, that's the main issue I see with the mini; there's a lot of gray with not enough to break it up.

Yeah the base will add a bit of contrast, as it'll be snow and I'll paint the edging black. I just thought I'd get opinions before I add the snow, as that will take a couple of days (have to wait for greenstuff to cure and then paint and things to dry before adding snow). Here's an update with a light grey mask.

This is a Grenadier, the regular infantry don't have the skull-mask, they just have a regular gas-mask which I'll do the same sort of brown as the leather bit under the skull mask.

That looks a ton better!


It looks like the difference in shade between the armor and the cloth is a lot more contrasted now. I don't know if you actually painted on it (it looks like you did) or if it was just the lighting of the last pics, but it looks a lot better. I'd still pick out the eagle a little more on his head, but this is a vast improvement, regardless. I think at this point, it comes down to painting the base to tie the whole model together. The gray of the base really draws the eye and could be altering my perception of the model. Regardless, the mask is a huge improvement. Looks great! I'm thinking about picking up some Krieg for my Alpha Legion auxiliaries and every time I see a thread with them, my wallet hides away in a corner.

The Krieg models are really nice. You notice even more when you see them in person, they're the same height as a typical Cadian but the detail is much finer and I just love the gas mask aesthetic.

IMO GW should start using the FW scaling for their miniatures. You really notice it when you have a Krieg model next to a Cadian model, the more realistic proportions of the Krieg model make the Cadians look like children's toys. I was planning on allying Cadians with Krieg but now I'm thinking it will just look odd

Yeah the grey on the base is overspray from priming, lol. It might just be a difference in lighting as it's mostly natural lighting and I took the 2nd lot of pictures when the sun was lower in the sky.

There's less contrast between the dark armour and the blue-gray coat than I'd like, maybe I should just paint the armour black to start with (I used Eshin Grey then a Dark Tone wash followed by a black wash).

 Darth Bob wrote:
Looks good so far. I think that you should brighten up the mask a bit, since the face is generally a focal point for the model.

No. The DKOK are supposed to be just faceless soldiers.

 sing your life wrote:

 Darth Bob wrote:
Looks good so far. I think that you should brighten up the mask a bit, since the face is generally a focal point for the model.

No. The DKOK are supposed to be just faceless soldiers.

Their fluff has nothing to do with basic artistic principles. It's a fact that when most people look at a model or piece artwork depicting a person, their eyes are immediately drawn to the face. Therefore it's good to accentuate the focal point to make the model pop and be more visually appealing.

Hmmm, I did the base, not sure I like it now. Maybe I'm just doing it too dark or maybe I went overboard on the snow, I dunno.

I was trying to go for snow similar to Mark Bedford's in the FW Masterclass book from this diorama:
http://www.ifelix.net/gamingblog/?p=9323

I dunno, man, I personally think it looks pretty awesome. Maybe try to do a little less snow on the next model, but I don't think you went that overboard. I think, judging by what you were going for, you did a pretty solid job.

Ok I removed the snow and redid it, I'm happier with this.

The way I do snow is with Woodland Scenic snow, Secret Weapon Realistic water and just a touch of white paint (without white paint when you do thin applications it looks too transparent). I just added too much white paint, you just need to add small amount to several drops of the water to make it cloudy, I added too much so that the snow looked painted on with no depth.

I think this looks a bit less extreme (as far as snow colour at least, different models will have varying amounts of snow)


The image I had in my mind was trench warfare after a bit of a snow fall early in the snow season. I think the vehicles will NOT be white-washed, just in their regular camo with a bit of snow build up.

One tip I picked up from watching too many Bob Ross programmes is that every painting needs some red. I find this also works on minis to make them 'pop'. It can be the smallest item & doesn't need to be bright red, a muted red also works. Maybe try on the scope lens or part of the respirator pack?

I think once you start assembly lining them it should go much faster. I think they look good

Ya know, I did consider doing some red, I just couldn't figure out where to put it where it wouldn't overwhelm the rest of the model, lol. I'll think about it though, maybe paint the squad markings on the shoulder pad in mephiston red and/or the frame of the goggles.

I'm working on some DKOK at the moment too (also on snow-themed bases) and like what you have done. I've only painted the commanded so far but I put some red on the collar tabs, the piping down the front of his tunic and the sash hanging from his sword. Red definitely makes a big difference!

Ok I painted regiment and squad numbers on the shoulders in red, holy crap those shoulder pads are small and hard to paint numbers on, lol.

I know the numbers aren't quite centered, I did it in a stupid way, but just to give an idea how it looks. You can actually barely even see it from more than 2ft away because the shoulder pad is so tiny, but it does add a bit of contrast.




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Ok, any more suggestions before I leap in to painting 30 of the bastards? The only other change I'm making is the armour, previously it was Eshin Grey washed AP Strong Tone then nuln Oil, I've changed it to pure black with Eshin Grey highlights just to increase the contrast a bit, maybe I'll even do it pure black with a light brown-grey weathering powder instead.

Really great man. Awesome work, though IMO, the first snow was better Overall great though, my only quibble, and this is just because I paint nothing but Orks, but I really feel like he should have more dirt and grunge on him. I kind of always envisioned the mythical DKOK army I'd own (Because the models are that frigging awesome) would just be covered in mud, slogging through the crap, though yours are on a snow base, so I guess that makes less sense in the long run. It be cold on that thar planet!

I think the previous snow might look better in pictures but the 2nd one looks better in real life, the first one just looked like I painted some fine grain sand white. I've seen some really nice dioramas where they just put some white glue on the base and sprinkle soft flake snow, but I think that only works for static dioramas because on my models the nice fluffy snow just falls off and I'm left with more transparent crystals that don't really look like anything.

I will add some weathering, probably after the rest of the army is all painted and I'll weather the infantry alongside the tanks. I'm thinking using a wash of weathering powder and light brown (a technique they use a lot in the Forge World Masterclass books), with some darker muddy bits just at the bottom of the coats and also around the tank tracks. Then the tanks will just get a light snow build up in in some spots.