Monday, May 14, 2012

New Recruits: Black Templars



The days of painting Salamanders for Adepticon have waned. In the immortal words of Alice C., "School's out for Summer!" And, for the moment, I'm still unemployed. Throw in a much-appreciated invitation to participate in an Apocalyptic reprisal of the 3rd Battle for Armageddon, and it's time to do some painting!

I've owned Grimaldus and Retinue since I got back into the hobby (oh, going on mid-fourth edition now). Sadly, because he's a bit cumbersome compared to much cheaper units, he's been languishing in his box all these many years.

Now, with Helsreach being so key to his fluff, and me having a bit of free time, I just had to drag him out, dust him off, and slap on some paint.

I tried some new techniques with this squad. The main difference is I used Vallejo Air grey primer, applied with my Grex airbrush, instead of Chaos Black. I wanted to see how it would work, one, and I also wanted to start experimenting with alternatives since the Chaos Black spray will be hard to come by from now on (I have no idea what the current GW Black will look like so it's best to find an alternate route to get where I need to go).

Here are some before and after pics of the models.

Grimmy sprayed with Vallejo Air grey primer mixed with VGC Black
Retinue primed with a mix of VA Grey primer and one with the Grimmy mix leftovers.
The whole gang.

Backside. Cause it's smexy.      




 It felt good to paint some Templars after such a long time. It was strange, though. I kept blending and building the highlights on the blacks and it just kept looking wrong. It was only after about 12 hours that I realized it was the absence of color that was messing with me.

I plan to add High Marshal Helbrecht next. I've also ordered some more Assault termies and I'm building some new neophytes (although I seem to be missing their heads. Guess it's time to give Genocide a call to see what WFB junk he's got laying around).

Oh, and as an added bonus, here's an updated (and much better) picture of my TH/SS Terminator Marshal. He's been done for a while, but it's one of my favorite conversion pieces.

STOP! Hammer time! (Yeah, I went there)




3 comments:

40K + T&A said...

Have you tried a grey primer and then triple coats of Chaos black wash? I find they give a rich black color with enough softer black highlights that make painting black armor totally unessessary and they have a vivid look that you can't get with black primer.

chaplainaerion said...

I've been shying away from washes lately. They're great shortcuts but they tend to dull the colors they are covering (that, obviously, wouldn't be an issue with black or grey). I wanted to have more control when painting the black armor which is why I based in dark grey and applied the shadows/highlights by hand. For squads or other non-showcase models I'll give your method a try, though. Sounds easy. Thanks!

Matthew Ochs said...

These are some beautiful minis, super crisp details and the marbling is spot on. Well done!