Imperial Shoretroopers

on . Posted in Star Wars Legion

Star Wars Legion: Imperial Shoretroopers

The Shoretroopers for Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars Legion were a joy to paint, not least because of the contrast paint used. As usual I start painting with a three-color zenithal prime (a thin coat of black Vallejo surface primer, followed with a 45-degree application of gray, and finished with white from above).

The colors are as follows, unless otherwise noted (all paints are Vallejo model color and shades are Army Painters Quickshades).

Base ColorsDetails
Armor Skeleton Horde
Medium
Basecoated with a 1:1 mix of Skeleton Horde contrast paint and contrast medium
  Pale Sand Thinned and glazed as a highlight
Pants & Shoes USA Olive Drab
German Grey
Buff
Watered down to a wash and applied
Leather Flat Earth Basecoast
  Smoke Thinned to a wash, tinting the leather areas
Details Red
Flat Red
1:1 mix and applied to one arm. washed with red tone and Flat Red used as a highlight
  Azure Blue Used for the blue armor markings
  Flat Yellow Used for the blue armor markings

The base was done in my usual way for the empire. See Darth Vader: A Study in Black or Emperor Palpatine: The Pallid Face of Evil.

Until next time, adventure on! Koliada

SPQR: Caesar's Legions – Legionaries

on . Posted in Historical

SPQR: Caesar's Legions – Legionaries

While the sprues of legionaries are a little dated, they look ok. The only major flaw is that the sword and scabbard is molded onto every body, so the sword wielding miniatures end up with two weapons.

The colors are as follows, unless otherwise noted all paints are Vallejo model color and shades are Army Painters Quickshades.

Base ColorsDetails
Armor & Weapon Steel Chainshirt and weapons
Helmet Copper
Gold
Pale Burnt Metal
Mixed in a 3:2:1 ration and basecoated bronze areas
  Sepia Wash Shaded bronze and re-highlighted with basecolor
Skin Guilliman Flesh
Darkoath Flesh
Fyreslayer Flesh
individually used as skin color for a variation. Guilliman Flesh highlighted with Basic Skintone. Darkoath Flesh highlighted with Flat Flesh. Fyreslayer Flesh highlighted with Medium Flesh
Shirt Pale Sand Basecoat and shaded with diluted Soft Tone. Again used as a first highlight
  Ivory Mixed into the base color and applied as a second highlight
Leather Leather Brown Basecoat
  Flat Earth stippled on and applied to edges
  Dark Sand Edge highlight. Shaded with diluted Smoke
Sandals Mahogany Brown Basecoat. Shaded with diluted Smoke. highlights come naturally when dry brushing the base with Dark Sand
Shield Refractive Green Airbrushed on the darker part of the shield
  Flat Green Airbrushed on the lighter part of the shield, making a gentle gradient
Wood Wyldwood Contrast Paint Basecoat
Plume Black Templar Contrast Paint Basecoat
  Neutral Grey drybrushed in highlights
Base Burnt Umber Basecoat
  Yellow Ocher Drybrushing
  Dark Sand Drybrushing
  Beige Brown Painted the rim Beige Brown

Until next time, adventure on! Koliada

Bolt Action: Band of Brothers

on . Posted in Bolt Action

Bolt Action: Band of Brothers starter set

I purchased the Bolt action Band of brothers starter set by Warlord Games back in the fall of 2017. True to form, having more than one project going, the Germans did not get finished until early 2018 and then the American Airborne got built, but I only painted a few. At the start of the new year I wanted to finish them all.

Darth Vader: A Study in Black

on . Posted in Star Wars Legion

Star Wars Legion: Darth Vader with Stormtroppers

When I thought about painting the Imperial units, I feared Vader. It wasn’t the way childhood me feared him (his telekinesis, lightsaber expertise, or force choke), but the fact that I had to paint him black. Aside from the Emperor, he’s the first fully black model I would be painting and there are quite a few shades of black across his different uniform materials (cloth, leather, plastic, metal). With the emperor, I didn’t think that my blacks were well varied, so I wanted to do that better this time. At the same time, I wanted to be true to film and avoid over-highlighting the miniature to prevent a cartoony feel that can occur when painting and highlighting black.