Warhammer 40,000 2nd Edition Painting Challenge Month Two

By the order in which I chose my slices, you can tell I went with what I was excited to work on, because I really should’ve started with the largest slice. Regardless, I lulled myself into a false sense of security with five models last month, and transitioned into month two with a whopping ten Eldar! At least the biggest slice is over.

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Since I’m addicted to using paint handles, and I only own five, I decided that I’d paint these citizen soldiers in batches of five. Not a bad idea, I thought, until January 20th rolled around and I had only finished the first half! Still, they’re done, and while there are some things I’d have liked to put more time into, I’m actually pretty happy with how these turned out. I’m going for a new color scheme for my craftworld models going forward, and this is a good first draft.

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The armor was painted with the modern Citadel Incubi Darkness, and highlighted with a 50/50 mix of Incubi Darkness and the old hex-pot Hawk Turquoise, followed by an edge highlight of pure Hawk Turquoise. The helmets and weapons were painted using the paint scheme I’m going to mimic on my Howling Banshees in month three, which is 50/50 Snakebite Leather and Bleached Bone as a base coat, then a little bit of Skull White added in for a highlight, and finally just some Skull White on the edges (all old hex pot paints).

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Speaking of Bleached Bone, my venerable hex pot of Bleached Bone may have finally bitten the dust, and replacements have been hard to come by. I don’t know if it’s just my pot, but the old Bleached Bone is a richer, deeper, cream color than Coat D’Arms or even Warcolours replicated, which tend to be duller. I searched high and low for a good replacement, and finally found it in Scale 75’s “War Front” range (Camo Top Lights SW-22). If anyone out there has a hex pot of Bleached Bone and wants to help me confirm my findings, I wouldn’t mind a comparison between it and Coat D’Arms' Bone, and Warcolours' Bleached Bone to see if I’m crazy or not.

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Overall, I'm very happy with how these guys turned out. But there's always room for reflection, and growth. First of all, I wish I had more time to do some more subtle highlights on the armor. Really I just did a base coat, shade, chunky highlight, and an edge highlight, and want to work on my blending more. Secondly, I might switch the purple on the tabards and ribbons with a dark red next time I have to do any. Asuryan knows I have enough reds kicking around. I might even try a red I don't use much like Khador Red Base from P3, or Scarlet Blood by Vallejo Game Color (which looks nothing like its swatch).

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Next month is the five Howling Banshees. They're going to be painted similarly to how I painted the guns and helmets on these guardians, but with all the added flair of an aspect warrior. Stay tuned to my Instagram to see some work in progress pics, and until next time…

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