WIP: Adeptus Custodes with Halberds IV

A short post today to reveal what I've been able to accomplish this week.

The squad is looking good. The gold armor highlights are now complete and an initial pass on the blue gems capped the session.  Some little details also got filled in, such as the handles on the misericordia knives. The squad is close to completion now...hopefully just one more session to go.  The halberds require highlights, particularly to the black.  The gems need to be cleaned up with their rims re-painted to cover the blue where it got carried away.

1st and 2nd gold highlights applied

The shot above shows the squad before the final Vallejo Silver (71.063) highlights were applied to the armor. I think comparing the two photos goes a long way to illustrating how the different highlights change the overall look of the armor. In this photo, Vallejo Gold (70.996) was applied as a 1st highlight, followed by Vallejo Old Gold (70.878) as a second.  In the past, I would have stopped there. But having followed many painting blogs and GW painting guides, I now do the silver and welcome the results. The armor is brightened and does seem to have an improved shine to it.

The gems were painted with Vallejo Silver (71.063) and then given a generous dollop of the GW technical paint Soulstone Blue. I'm not convinced this yields the best gem effect, and you have to play a bit with it as it is brushed on to get the thicker, darker paint to fall where the shadows in a gem may lie, but it's quick to apply with a reasonable outcome. 

In all I'm very happy with this lot of Custodes.  Despite coming back to them some months after painting the squad with sentinel blades, they blend and match well with the original squad. I'll do a family shot in the final to-done post to illustrate how the force of ten Custodian Guard and one dreadnought hold together as a fully painted force.  It's fun knowing I can already play them as a patrol detachment. I think they look great on the table.

Best of luck for your own projects, whatever they may be.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!