Blackstone Fortress Traitor Guardsmen - WIP

 

This month, I'll be painting up the Traitor Guardsmen from the original Blackstone Fortress box.  These are the last of the hostiles left to paint from that box.  I started the set by painting the Spindle Drones, Ur-Ghuls, and Chaos Beastmen for Squaduary 2020.  In the absence of a formal challenge this year, I will complete the set initial hostiles for a personal 2021 Squaduary challenge.  If this isn't your cup of tea, check back in March when I paint up the Adeptus Titanicus Psi-Titan for Monster March...

I initially built these guardsmen on their original bases.  Having moved on to Necromunda bases, I needed to first replace all the old bases, then get them primed up for the challenge.

Next, I airbrushed the bases to get a smooth texture and the purple glowing effect I've been using.  In the past I've painted the bases separate from the models, then attached them carefully before touch-ups and final varnishing. With the bases attached in advance, I'll just have to be super careful not to get paint on them while painting up the guardsmen.

These models come in two identical squads, so I'll paint them with something different with the each squad - like a different helmet color or something.  In the game, you sometimes pick them by squads when they enter the board so it'll help if they look different.

I started by base coating the uniforms and helmets. I'm working towards some contrast with the darker armor, weapons, and equipment.  Shading is going to mess with the colors so bear with me here...some metal bits are painted in here as well to help a feel of where this is going.

As promised, the lighter colors are muted now with GW Nuln Oil (pants/helmets/metals) and GW Agrax Earthshade (Coats).  Red bits are now added for a little chaos allegiance, Korn I suppose, shaded with GW Reikland Fleshshade.

Which brings us back to the title picture where the wood of the weapons has been painted and shaded with GW Agrax Earthshade.  I wouldn't paint wood here normally; I mean this is the 41st millennium and stuff is generally fabricated and assumed to be primarily synthetic...but darned if these guys don't have wood grain molded in with tally marks scratched in the wood even. Gotta love a flamer weapon with a wooden stock.

So that's a week's work of progress.  Not bad, but I hope to pick up the pace a bit if I'm going to finish the second group of seven before the month ends. They look a little murky, but I hope that will change as I bring in the flesh and complete the remaining base colors (fur cloaks and what-not). Oh, and of course highlights will help pick out the different areas and add some interest as well.

Stay safe out there.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!