Painting Bloodletters for Warhammer 40K and Warhammer Fantasy Battle

I thought I'd compare and contrast the results I get with my typical Paynes Grey wash vs. a wash with Citadel Badab Black. The pictures don't exactly match the steps because I decided after the first two test minis that I could have combined a couple of steps and shaved quite a bit of painting time.

For the remaining 8 figures, I decided to time each step to determine aggregate painting time. The results are listed below and is the result of a number of painting sessions.

  • 40 minutes - Basecoats of VMC Gunmetal, VMC Black, and Citadel Enchanted Blue
  • 25 minutes - Wash with Liqutex Paynes Grey
  • 55 minutes - Basecoats of VMC Brassy Brass and Citadel Skull White (claws and teeth), pick out eye detail with Citadel Lightning Blue
  • 9 minutes - Glue sand to base
  • 17 minutes - Wash sand and brass with Liquitex Burnt Umber
  • 12 minutes - Red and silver highlights and adding static grass to the bases

Step-by-Step

  1. Clean and assemble the model. You may need model putty to fill in some of the gaps at the hips and and arms. Also, be sure to clean the mould lines off the front of the legs and arms.
  2. Prime the Blood Angel Red (spray)
  3. Paint the horns VMC Black, the sword blade VMC Gunmetal, and the tongue and eyes Citadel Enchanted Blue. The figure on the left has just the primer coat. The figure on the right has the black basecoat painted.

  4. Wash the entire figure with Liquetex Paynes Grey/Water/VMC Glaze Medium (left) or Citadel Badab Black (right).
  5. Basecoat sword hilt VMC Brassy Brass.
  6. Basecoat teeth and nails Citadel Bleached Bone.

  7. Wash the nails, teeth, and the sword hilt with Liquetex Burnt Umber (left) or Citadel Devlan Mud (right).
  8. Re-highlight the nails and teeth with Skull White.
  9. Highlight the eyes with Citadel Lightning Blue.
  10. Highlight the sword edges with VMC Silver and blood as desired.

  11. Do whatever makes the most sense for the banner. I plan on doing a freehand design for mine.
  12. Base
  13. Seal

Post Mortem

I started with a black sword with the intention of highlighting the blade red, but decided in the end to go with a metallic sword as there was too much red and black. Also, in the pictures above, I painted the eyes and tongue later. All the blue could have been painted during the first phase, thereby eliminating two steps.

Notes

Last updated6/21/08
AuthorMichael Kan
Pre-requisites None
Related Articles None