Warmachine Hobby: Painting Dawnguard Invictors
Hey guys, I just finished painting up my first Retribution of Scyrah unit and wanted to share with you some of the techniques I used.
So after reading a great article over at The Painting Corps, I decide to adapt the technique to work with the infamous white scheme Retribution of Scyrah is known for. The technique I speak of is zenithal highlights with an airbrush as detailed here. I started off by cleaning, assembling, and basing the whole unit. I then stuck the unit down to a box with double-sided tape and undercoated them grey. Once that was dry I started the highlighting with my airbrush.
I placed the box on my painting desk and away I went. I started by applying a layer of Vallejo: Ivory. After I had a good coat of this down I made sure the brush never tilted up while doing this. Once I had a good basecoat down I moved the box to the floor and started to apply Vallejo Model Air: White. The reason I placed the box on the floor was to really help bring out the zenithal highlights. The overspray wouldn’t hit any part of the model that I didn’t want it to. At this point I was pretty happy with the white work and sealed it with a coat of Pledge: Future Floor Wax.
Now it was time for the details. I first went around and coated all the metal areas save for the “power cores” located on their shoulder and leg pads with Chainmail. Once that way dry all the areas that were designated to be normal metal received a Babdab Black Wash. All the Iosian metal areas received a 1:1 wash of Thrakka Green and Asurman Blue. I then went back and highlighted the Iosian metal areas with Chainmail.
All the pouches were done by applying a basecoat of Catachan Green followed by a Devlan Mud wash. I then went back and highlighted them with Catachan Green. The skin was done using the technique I detailed here. After that was finished I went about working on the hair. The blonde was done by simply painting Deneb Stone on followed by a Devlan Mudd wash. The redish/brown was done by applying a Mechrite Red basecoat with a Devlan Mud wash followed by a highlight with Mechrite Red. On to the golds.
To be honest golds always give me trouble. I’ve been trying forever to find a great recipe for it and so far I think this I the best I’ve found. It starts with a 1:1 basecoat of Shinning Gold to Cathayan Brown. Next comes a pure layer of Shinning Gold. After that highlight the gold with Burnished Gold. Followed by a very fine highlight of Mitheral Silver. Next tie in the layers by applying a layer of Devlan Mud followed by a layer of Gryphon Sepia. I was quite pleased with the result and will be using it in the future.
Now for one of the defining characteristics of the Retribution of Scyrah, their green glow. I achieved this on the Myrmidons by using oil paints. I’ve found normal models to be too small to use this technique so I decided to do some good old fashion wet blending. I started by mixing a 2:1 mixture of Vallejo Model Color: Jade Green to Skull White. I watered that down using liquitex slow-dri in a 1:10 dilution in distilled water. White that was still wet I applied a very watered down skull white using the same dilution. After that was dry I went back and picked out all the power cores with Boltgun Metal. The based were done by applying a good layer of Graveyard Earth followed by a Devlan Mud wash and a drybrush of Graveyard Earth.
I finished the models by applying a coat of Future Floor Wax with my airbrush, then a layer of Liquitex Matte Varnish also with my airbrush. Once that was dry I hit the entire unit with Testor’s Dullcote. Once that was dry I went back and added scorched grass to the bases.
~So there you have it! The airbrush was my savior when it came to painting these models. I sat down at 5:00pm and finished this unit by midnight. Next up… Dawnguard Sentinels. I’m trying to get my Retribution army finished so I can have an open painting schedule for whatever Warhammer Fantasy army I decided to do. As always if you have any questions feel free to email me at [email protected] or swing over to my blog First Rank, Second Rank.
