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Hello!

I'm just starting out an Astral Claws army. I have another 20 marines assembled with Forge World shoulder pads so this is the test figure that I tried out the paint scheme on.

My goal is to keep it fairly simple.. I painted all the metal areas and then I applied an oil based wash which turned out fairly good. However I didnt leave it to dry probably because I was impatient and just used a hair dried to speed it up a bit. Then I applied decals.. and that's where the problems started:

The only way I know to apply decals is with the use of gloss varnish ('ard coat) to seal them to preven the decals edges to show. But that turns the entire area glossy so I then sprayed with purity seal even though I know this is not that good on metallic surfaces. The purity seal kind of screwed the miniture up. The blue areas became too shiny and the metallic ones lost their shine. Also the oil wash was not dry enough so in some areas this was also affected negatively. Since all my other figures will have forgeworld shoulder pads there isn't really a strong need to use decals on them but when I start painting tanks this issue will appear again so if anyone has any tips to share on how to apply decals on metallic surfaces I would be very happy for them.

Any comments on the color scheme is also very welcome. I tried to stick more closely to some pictures in the Imperial Armor book but mine are a bit different than the ones forgeworld have painted themselves.

Really liking this paintjob! It certainly matches very well with the IA book, I also like the dull metal you (inadvertantly) achieved as it looks nice and worn.

Cain

The painting looks good. The only comment I have is the color for the base, which seems pretty close to the color of the actual model.

Thanks for the comments so far! The more I look at my dull metal the more I like it actually. I'm starting to think I could be on to something. If I just let the oil wash dry properly before spraying and if I can dull down the blue areas a bit afterwards perhaps I'll be fine! I'm also thinking a bit about weathering the other models a bit more to enhance the worn look.

As for the comments on the base, I agree. I have already prepared the bases but I think I will alter the paint scheme. The rocks will still be grey but I will change the border to brown and change the tiny rocks into more earth tones. That should bring out the model it self a bit more.

Thanks guys! Any more comments are always welcome!

The blue on the shoulderpads look a little thick....either that or the shoulders themselves have some serious texturing - may want to add a little water or FloAid to the mix. The blue on the bolter needs some highlighting.

Overall good job on the trooper. I like how his silver is dirty, it give the marines a very gritty look.

You may also try (because you're doing test mockups) a Boltgun Metal basecoat, washed with Badab Black, and highlighted with Chainmail or Silver. You could also highlight your gold hard edges with a mix of the gold you're using and silver 1:1.

Your base looks great. Couldn't ask for more.

-MightyG

Nice job. I think the metallics look good without being chunky.

good to see another astral claws player. looks like a solid paint job, despite the mistakes you listed, so im looking forward to them when you get it all right, did you say you have the forgeworld shoulder pads? they as good as they look?

also, you plan on converting either of the two characters from the book (not huron. corien and armaneus) i'd like to see other people interpretations of these guys, personally im at a loss of where to start with the techmarine guy, found corien easy enough to do.

protomane0 wrote:good to see another astral claws player. looks like a solid paint job, despite the mistakes you listed, so im looking forward to them when you get it all right, did you say you have the forgeworld shoulder pads? they as good as they look?

also, you plan on converting either of the two characters from the book (not huron. corien and armaneus) i'd like to see other people interpretations of these guys, personally im at a loss of where to start with the techmarine guy, found corien easy enough to do.

I checked out your gallery, fun to see your work!

I think the forgeworld shoulder pads are really nice. Mine were all in perfect quality. The style of them are quite individual but some of them don't really match up all that well in pairs. Therefore some of my guys have one shoulder pad with a raised edge/border and others just flat (the part I painted gold on this test figure). They are all with the Tyrant's claw symbol but since I'm putting this army together for the Badab War campaign I suppose that's fitting. I also bought the Land Raider and Rhino doors but haven't started on the vehicles yet but they also look good.

I like your interpretation of Corien. I have no immediate plans on converting Corien or Armaneus but I am going to make a Centurion since I will also use this army as Tyrant's Legion. In the IA book there is a picture of a Centurion and he looks just like an ordinary Space Marine but I want him to stand out a bit so I'll see what I can put together. There are also some other fun conversions that can be made such as the corpse taker Apothecary with Dissection Servitors

Looking good cant wait til you get the batch of them going! . I agree on the base thing, had an issue with my undead as they were more dark in scheme and so I chose a light desert color base to make them jump out more.. but its all in what you really want to do with your models... i tend to try to go for effect more than anything myself on my paint jobs... probably why i cant paint good guy armies like High Elves very well lol .

Thats a nice scheme that, the dull metal effect looks cool and different in my opinion.
I do think that the bases wouldlook a bit better in another colour but thats only a minor critisism.

Well, I'm convinced about the dull metal now so that's good. It's also something I can achive on the vehicles and I would like the figures and vehicles to be painted in the same style. That's something that's been bothering me a bit with my other army.

I'll still have to come up with something for the blue but I will try to buy some matte varnish and see how it works. I might also test to spray my test miniature completely with dull coat and see if the metal is still ok or if it loses too much shine.

I'm going to try to change the color of the base a bit and post an updated picture. The reason I tried this scheme on the bases is because my Imperial Guards have similar bases and I thought it would be nice if it would match since I will run my Astral Claws as Tyrant's Legion also (mix of IG and Space Marines). But I think it's better to focus on a scheme that makes my marines stand out.

I have anyways started the tedious work of base coating my first 20 marines so in a month or so I will show the final result