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Hello all. Like a lot of folks, I've come to really like painting in the grimdark style, which, at least to me, has a more realistic look to it. I've seen a few Mordheim pieces painted in this style that I really like and got me to wondering how I could incorporate this look into my ACW (American Civil war) minis? Does anyone havecany ideas on how to accomplish this???

I would go with lots of weathering effects. Uniforms covered in dust and dirt. Stains, blood dried to near black, war wounds etc. Would look great and much more realistic.

Thank you for the response! All of those are excellent ideas, I'm struggling with the uniform weathering though. Any ideas on that ?

You could start by de-saturating the colours to make them look worn and dirty, maybe with a mid grey into your blues, and brown into the grey uniforms. I'd darken areas that would get sweated into-armpits, on the back under rucksacks, etc. Dust from the ground would coat everything, so whatever your highlight for the base is, glaze that over the model at the end, concentrating more towards the shins and below. Speckle dirt marks, blood stains, bruises, war wounds (or Red Badges of Courage) bruised knuckles, black eyes etc. Anything that makes them look like they've been through it. Tarnished metal, worn leathers etc.

What JamesY said. The biggest part of the grimdark look is the color palette you use. De-saturate everything, keep your highlighting/shading subtle, use weathering effects, and above all avoid ever using pure colors. If the uniform color in history is blue use a gray base tinted with that blue so you have only a hint of the color, not the pure color.

There's a great book called "Steampunk Soldiers" that has bunch of illustrations, which are surprisingly realistic (A "Low" steampunk setting, where not everyone has a cast-iron prosthetic) :
http://www.markstaceyart.co.uk/steampunk-west.html

Just use more subdued colors and grime is what it comes down to. Trovarion Minis has a good guide on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlf_j8CB-3k&pp=ygUIZ3JpbWRhcms%3D

Thanks for all the great ideas guys !!!!