I don't know how took say it other than this thread is inspirational. I have played a few mini games over the years, but have never really enjoyed the "hobby" part of it. After scanning this thread a few times I am…inspired.

Loophole, fantastic job and contribution to the community. Even though you may not have painted minis before, your artistic side is strong as you have shown a lot of creative takes on units (such as the Croc Hanz and BBQ squad). You personally have caused me to stare at the mini line and a rack of paints in my local shop while pondering if I should take the leap. And I am thinking I will…

What should I get? Unlike poor loophole, I am blessed with local shops that stock citadel or vallejo. I would guess the badab, delvan, and flesh are vital, but I noticed that citadel changed these recently; are the newly named ones the same? For other stuff I will probably be fairly traditional with greens and browns for allies and gray and blacks for the axis. I really want to do something like Loophole's Grim Reapers/ heavy laser grenadiers but black for me always seems to bury detail or look Tron-like with lines. What is the trick to those? Are you not using black as the base? Admittedly I have never played much with washes. Oh what is the feelings on metal as you complete your journey? Stil bolt metallic paint, wash, then some other color to do edges?

Thanks all. And thank you for the thread.

I'm always very happy to know my little thread is inspiring others to take their Dust collection to new heights. (and at the same time, I apologize for introducing you into this wonderful time-intensive hobby).

As far as paints, I think you already gathered all the advice I could give from this thread. I'm very sad to see the original line of washes go away, and I've heard some very discouraging comments on the new line, though I've also seen some fairly good-looking examples of it being put to use.

I've found that the best way to deal with black is to make the whole surface pitch black (you don't even need to apply washes) and then give it a very bright, very defined highlight to the edges. This allows you to see all the detail while still making the figure truly black. Even though my Heavy Laser Grenadiers are not quite black, that is my favourite example of highlights for dark surfaces, better than what I did before for the Reapers. And my personal advice is to not shy away from using some colours here and there. When seen on the board, a mass of grayish troops is really not that interesting. My Heavy Lasers wouldn't look half as good without those red and blue details.

Metals I still handle the same way, so I guess I'm satisfied with it. Paint with Boltgun Metal, wash with Badab Black, highlight with Mythril Silver.

Loop, you know I'm stealing your Blackhawk and Reapers paintjobs right? Great work, as always.

I'm nearly finished with my Spec Ops (i work real slow), and I did the guns and metal stuff in black and 'overbrushed' it with boltgun metal. (I think Psykostevo used this style, kind of a heavy drybrushing). It looks like every 40K weapon ever, but if done right can be striking. Still not sure which way I prefer.

Mattador Actual said:

I take it you really like black, then.

And I did some weapons that same way too, black base with boltgun highlights. It works very fine as well if you want some darker metal.

Heh we could have an additional thread for guys who are inspired by your work:P Only minor lack i always was sad about is that you don't do the bases;)

Who knows, maybe one day I'll go back and start doing base work… But as of now I don't feel the need. A neutral base works in any kind of terrain, be it snow, concrete or floorboards. I don't really understand how people can but their characters in the middle of a bush and then stick that figure inside of a building…

Well, here's a little something different. Back when I finished painting my original core set, I applied the only Matt Varnish spray I was able to find around here, in order to protect my arduous paint job. Well, luckily it was a little while before I got to to pain all the other stuff, so by then I had already started to notice that those figures with the varnish were starting to get quite shiny and even a bit sticky. So I stopped applying the varnish to my other paint jobs (no protective coat on any walker or figures beyond Core Set and Cyclone.

Well, now that I'm finished with pretty much all my units, I decided I just had to do something about those poor core set figures. They had gotten so ridiclously shiny that they felt really out of place on the gaming board, and the stickyness was very unpleasant when you moved the figure around. Getting a proper dull coat spray would be the ideal solution, but that has proven just impossible. Can't find anything around here, and can't even have someone bring a spray can from abroad. So, the solution I found was… Ogryn Flesh. It creates a dull layer that also removes the stickyness, and it's light enough that it doesn't affect the paint job significantly. I might have to do a little bit of highlighting to bring back the right tone to the figures, but it made me very happy to see these guys in a presentable fashion again.

On the left, the shiny, sticky figure. On the right, the result after applying Ogryn Flesh. On the back, the sh*tty "matt" varnish that you should never, ever use.

The new games workshop paints all have new names. I have also heard bad things about the new line the worst being that the wash replacing devlan mud has dried to a white color. I would stick with vellejo.

The one thing that I picked up that I liked years ago was to use Testors Dull Coat over any sealed miniature to help with any shiny or sticky miniature issues.

Loophole, could you post some pictures with your army together? I am toiling with how much I want to go with similar army look for consistancy versus what you have done which is treat each unit individually to make them stand out.

And finally, I have called around and I can't seem to find any of the old washes and would have to get the newer versions. Anyone have any experience with them? Should I go off brand? One local guy seemed to think there was a "warzone" product that was "exactly the same" as Delvan Mud.

Yeah, I'll make a group photo as soon as I can get all the guys together and a decent camera.

And I really wanted to get my hands on a can off Testors Dull Coat, but alas they don't ship it over here and it seems there's even restrictions for carrying that sort of spray can in your luggage….

Loophole Master said:

I've used the new Agrax Earthshade and am absolutely horrified by the gloss. Ogryn Flesh? Is that an old colour?

Siouxfire said:

Yup. It's the old "medium brown wash" of the Citadel range (Devlan Mud being the darker shade, Gryphonne Sepia the lighter one).

While I haven't tried the new line, I've stoked up on the older washes, buying two Devlan Mud and one each of Badab Black, Ogryn Flesh and Gryphonne Sepia. Just in case.

golem101 said:

Thanks. I'll have to stock up on Ogryn Flesh. BTW - the new Nuln Oil shade is great for guns and oily gears and the Astrogranite texture is a lot of fun to use.

And that's to Loophole for mentioning it in the first place.

As I mentioned before, I've gotten a great deal on Premium versions of the Konigsluther and Fireball, so you wouldn't be seeing my take on those units (other than some touch-ups which I plan to make, they look a little too plain to my taste). Well, turns out I also got my hands on a Premium Sturmkonig, so that's another one scratched out. And that means that for now the only unit left for me to paint is my Punisher, and boy, I'm taking my sweet time with it…

After much stalling, agonizing over what approach I should take, what pattern to use, and what colours, I finally began work on it. It's a very big boy, so whatever you do on him takes a looong time. Anyway, here's the work in progress:

Painted all the metallic parts on the legs and dozer, and started the very laid back work of painting the camo pattern. I'll keep the primer green as the base, then this black layer of wobbly stripes, and on top of that I'll do some beige wobbly stripes. Then some extra detailing, some decals, etc. I'm really anxious about applying a wash to this. It's just way too big, and I'm on my last cans of badab and devlan…

That looks great. That bad boy demands something a little bold and you've managed that. Great work. (And for once you're not going to get any grief about the base )

Siouxfire said:

Medium brown? Well, I am still clinging to the old "chestnut wash" and "flesh wash"…

@Nuln Oil: Is this similar or comparealbe with Vallejo/Tamiya "Smoke"? This was my first thoughts when I saw the Example at the local GW. However lightening was poor, so here I am asking again.

@Astrogranite: Picked up one myself, just to give it a try with these extured paints. Though to be honest I still have no clue what to do with it. Thought about basing the minis, but compared to mixing PVA, sand, color and water it would be a quite expensive alternative.

@ "Punisher": I am really excited to see him with the beige added.

Although I am unsure of the large boltgun painted areas. Hopefully the wont come out too shiny.

You can dilute some black or brown and make a wash with that. It helps when washing big things if you don't want to dip into the last of your badab or devlan.

Just test for consistency on something else first to make sure its good.

The model is looking good! I haven't touch any of my walkers yet.

Dunno, a while ago I tried dilluting some black to make a wash and it certainly didn't work. It doesn't flow anything like a wash….

And I'm done with the base colours for my Punisher:

Added the beige camo stripes, decals and other details like painting the hoses inside the legs, the lights, the guns and other metallic bits. I think I'll add another allied star decal next to "navy" and I need to do some chipping to the decals. I'm really happy with how this is turning out. The detailed camo actually makes it look even bigger!

Now on to the next step: washing. As loathe as I am to spend so much wash at once, I think I'll go ahead and do it. This is the only heavy walker I'm painting, and after all, isn't this sort of thing the reason why I have the wash in the first place?

looking good. how did you do the camo pattern? did you mask it?

Jeez how you gona wash all those nasty plain spaces? You still using those basic GW washes?

I didn't mask the camo pattern, I simply freehanded it with a brush. A lot of work, but it's hard to make mistakes when pretty much any shape will do.

Yeah, I still have a last cup of badab black and devlan mud. I think I'll use badab for the metallic parts and devlan for the main body.

Sistine Chapel….

Can't find my jaw. It has dropped somewhere on the floor…