base details (in my case, a green/
yellow/white mix drybrushed over Goblin Green base) and basecoat the infantrymen black.
Drybrush Codex Grey over the black.
•
Lightly drybrush Space Wolf Grey over
• that.
Paint the faces and hands Snakebite
•
Leather.
Highlight the faces and hands a 50:50
•
Snakebite Leather/Skull White mix.
Paint the lasguns Chaos Black.
•
Paint the lasgun tip Mithril Silver.
•
Easy but effective. Tidy up each stage as Tales of a Gamer: IMPERIAL GuARd
dUTy ANd hoNoUr PArT Two
Jonathan Brown is back to bring us up to date with the latest developments with his Guard army for Epic.
1 x Regimental HQ: 1 Supreme
Commander, 12 IG infantry stands, and 7 Chimeras.
1 x Mechanised Infantry Co.: 1
Commander, 12 IG infantry stands, and 7 Chimeras.
2 x Infantry Cos.: 1 Commander and 12 x IG infantry stands.
you go along. I found it preferable to work in blocks of 12 stands; performing each stage on each block in turn before starting on the next stage.
The command stands are similar, but as they are made up of unique character models they need rather more attention.
Following stages 1-3 for the regular infantry, weapons and equipment are picked out in Chaos Black and either drybrushed or highlighted with Mithril Silver.
Each stand has a Commissar attached to it, who is Chaos Black with Codex Grey highlights. Also included are red banding on his coat and cap. This is achieved with a base of Red Gore followed by a highlight of Blood Red. The face is done as per the IG infantry.
Sanctioned Psykers carry staves draped with purity seals and scrolls. The staff tops, in the shape of Imperial Eagles, have Shining Gold painted over the silver, which is washed in Brown Ink. Once dry, Shining Gold was reapplied to the highlights.
The scrolls are picked out in Bestial Brown, highlighted with Snakebite Brown, Dwarf Flesh and finally Skull White. Purity Seals are Red Gore with highlights of Blood Red.
Standard bearers carry the flag which
identifies the company. For the Regimental HQ and Mechanised Company this
should match up with the markings on the Chimera transports. The flagpole itself is black with a golden decoration and purity seals as per the Psykers’ staffs.
The Techpriest Enginseer attached to the Supreme Commander’s stand was drybrushed silver over black for the power armor, with a light coating of brown ink to tone it down slightly. The greenstuff robe was given a Red Gore basecoat with Blood Red highlights.
any colour, as lonG as it’s Grey
The vehicles are painted in a similar manner to the infantry, an easy-to-apply grey scheme that looks very effective. One particular advantage with Epic scale over 28mm is that you can usually get away with drybrushing techniques that wouldn’t look good at large scale. The other advantage is it is much, much quicker to paint a complete Epic tank company….
All the vehicles were given a black
undercoat. Then the following steps were carried out:
Touch up any areas the spray missed
•
with Chaos Black.
Drybrush Codex Grey over the black.
•
Lightly drybrush Space Wolf Grey over
•
the Codex Grey Layer.
Paint tracks and weapons Chaos Black
•
again.
Drybrush tracks and highlight weapon
•
tips with Mithril Silver.
Paint the dark basecoat of details
•
(company markings, searchlights, camo Tales of a Gamer: IMPERIAL GuARd
netting etc). For example, if I wanted green stripes in the company markings I’d start with Dark Angel Green
Highlight the details started in step 6
•
(e.g. paint Goblin Green over the dark green stripes).
“One particular advantage with Epic...is that you can get away with drybrushing techniques that wouldn’t look good at large scale”
With this system I found that I could end up with a tank that was too bright, particularly if I overdid the Space Wolves Grey stage.
This was easy to rectify with a wash of watered-down Chaos Black over the whole model. Again I found it easiest to perform each step across all the vehicles in the formation before starting on the next step.
This makes the process more manageable and keeps the models consistent.
The company markings are placed as triple vertical stripes on the forward corner of the track sections, which is repeated on the turrets. The Chimeras for the HQ and Mechanised companies had white surrounded by red, and yellow surrounded
by blue. The first Leman Russ company has white surrounded by Green, with a black section on the command tank to denote this model includes a Commissar.
Larger turrets such as on Chimeras, Leman Russ, Baneblades and Hydras have were left separate; these were superglued to the rest of the model via the pin joint once painting is complete.
So far I have completed only two vehicle companies in addition to the Chimeras:
If I am short of activations (i.e. the army consists of a small number of large formations, which can easily be outmaneuvered by a more dispersed enemy) then I can deploy each
Shadowsword as an individual formation,
though this costs more points.
puttinG it all toGether This gives me 6 formations, consisting of 79 individual units and 2,550 points, a respectable core for a 3,000 point army:
For the time being the army can “borrow”
the services of the Imperial Navy aircraft attached to my Space Marine armies.
Next up to be painted are the second Leman Russ company, Baneblade
company, Hydras, and an Artillery company comprising 9 Basilisks.
In the longer term I have Titans, Moles and the Capitol Imperialis to complete.
Happy gaming!
1 x Leman Russ tank company,
consisting of 9 Leman Russ tanks and one Vanquisher with a long-range anti-tank gun.
1 x Super Heavy Tank company, consisting of three Shadowswords.
Tales of a Gamer: IMPERIAL GuARd
Top: Stage by stage infantry painting guide.
Right: Leman Russ Company.
Bottom: Shadowsword Super Heavy Company.
introduction
One of the first things to consider when painting Epic is the scale. The average epic infantry piece is about 3mm high. At this size, people are not going to be looking at whether you have painted eyes and teeth (although you can if you wish).
The trick to painting an Epic force is to find a good balance between tidy base coats and picking out a few details. Keep the Golden Demon jobs for your titans and super heavies; these are the models people will be looking at.
Presented here then is a quick guide to getting Tyranids battle ready in short order.
Using only the most basic of techniques I was able to churn out the contents of two sprues in a couple of hours.
step one
The model is cleaned up fully, and undercoated black. I favour bases on my Epic models, especially top-heavy ones such as the bulk of the Tyranid range. This is down to personal taste.
step two
The various colours are base coated. The
trick with base coats is to keep them smooth and thin. Two or three thin layers are much better than one thick layer, especially at this scale where details are tiny. I based this colour scheme on a combination of the cover of the third edition Tyranid codex, and the traditional Genestealer one.
Colours used are: Deadly Nightshade (still using my pot from the Undead paint box, bought 13 years ago!), alternatively you could use Necron Abyss, Liche Purple, Graveyard Earth and Scab Red for the eyes (See, you can paint them if you want).
step three
Here, I used a technique known by several names. Overbrushing, or wet brushing, is a great technique for speed painting.
Basically, you load up on slightly thicker paint, and wipe it on some kitchen towel as if you were going to drybrush. However, don’t remove all the “wetness” from the paint. This is one of those techniques that is easier to try than to explain. The idea is that by brushing across the model, a solid layer of highlight goes on, without the chalkiness that can result from drybrushing.
Painting Workshop: TyRAnIdS