I’ll be working on this stuff forever…

I was prompted by the CB Infinity painting comp to pick up my Shasvastii again. I’ve not done any work on them since moving house at the beginning of this year. It was also a good time to take a break from the other large project I’m working on at the moment.

Being a metal mini, I cleaned the components and pinned it together.

It got the dual prime of a Vallejo Red from under and a white from above.

The mini was then drybrushed with Vallejo Buff to bring out the texture of the mini.

The usual Citadel Contrast paints are used for the body, weapons and some of the details.

Another unit for the glorious Combined Army ready to be deployed. The mini has since been sealed with Army Painter Matt Varnish.

3 Nox troopers will be needed for the next mission.

I also painted the 3rd Cadmus of the three in the set.

On again!

For the next mission, I need to prep 3 pieces of terrain and 3 enemies. I took the opportunity to finish another enemy and a little Palbot for the heroes.

These were primed with a grey, then drybrushed with Vallejo Buff followed by a light drybrush of Vallejo Ivory.

They received a coat of Citadel Contrast Black Templar. This was diluted with Citadel Lahmian Medium. Approx 1 part paint to 2 parts medium. The base areas and the vents along the length of the gun received a second coat.

The white bands are Vallejo Ivory. Two thin coats were required for a nice solid colour.

Citadel Contrast Blood Angels Red for the lenses on the front.

A touch of Citadel Contrast Luxion Purple for heat discolouration on the ends of the barrels.

I then used some thinned AP Black to label the three differently.

Gaspar is prepared the same as the turrets.

The Citadel Contrast Black Templar is applied to “mechy” bits: toes, upper arms, knees etc.

After I’d done that, I was actually really happy with it. I’d wanted an off-white and orange scheme to go with Rahman.

I used Citadel Contrast Magmadroth Orange to add the spot colour,  around the knees, back of the “med-applicator” arm. I also free-handed the vertical stripes on the “visor”.

The eyes are Citadel Contrast Akhelian Green to Contrast with the orange.

There’s a couple of cylinders in the back of his left arm that I decided are “med-fluid” so I painted them with Citadel Contrast Blood Angels Red. 

I’ve got to go back and do the highlights for this one. But the base is done.

In addition to prepping the minis I need for a given scenario, I’ve also prepped only as much terrain as I need. Each piece is prepped the same way as the fast paint method used so far – spray base, druybrush with a bone and/ or white.

I’ve only used whatever paint I had left over on the pallet, just to use it up. I didn’t want to get to invested in painting these pieces, just give them splashes of colour.

Following the missions in Defiance, I prepped up the next batch of  Shasvastii required. This way it directs my focus on which minis to paint from my Combined Army collection.

From L-R 4 Thaiga Creatures, 3 Seed Soldiers, 1 Jayth.

Jazz, done over a couple of days.

Got a few characters done quickly over the last few days, given that I was stuck at home.

I’ve just grabbed some quick snaps of them, I’ll take some proper photos when they’re done.

Ah, I forgot to mention all the weapons are Citadel Contrast Akhelian Green. I’d also done the overlapping armour plates at the shoulders and back of the calves in a single coat of Citadel Contrast Black Templar

At this point, Tom says you can leave it and call it done or go onto the next steps. Basically, each step after this is optional (other than basing, right?), depending how in depth you want to get.

So, next is highlighting. Mix some of your base colour with an off-white/ bone/ beige for the 1st stage highlights.

For 2nd stage mix the Contrast base colour with a pure white or Ivory, a really strong white.

Next optional step is small details. I decided on some small yellow glow details on each of the minis and painting any skin.

The yellow was based with Vallejo Ivory, then the yellow was applied when the white was dry.

The skin is Vallejo Dead Flesh, which actually I got from the Vallejo Shasvastii paint set. I dotted in points of Ivory into Sheskin’s eyes and put a dab of Blood For The Blood God onto the end of her sword.

In February I attended a painting tutorial, something I don’t think I’ve ever done! The goal was to learn a method of getting a 1 hour paint job to a decent standard. Without using an airbrush.
So, minis prepped and pre-primed, along I went.

It turns out I needn’t have pre-primed… step one was prime with colour. HA! Oh well. It meant that I only had to prime in one colour [Vellejo Gory Red rattle can] which was applied from under the mini.

After spraying appropriate colours for the shadows, it is time for 1st drybrush. A Bone/ off-white colour preferably. The following steps use Speedpaint/Contrast… so kind of like that Slapchop thing all those dudes on YouTube are raving about.

Next step: picking colours. On a piece of art paper (it’s nice and white and just the right absorbancy). Our Tutor, Tom, supplied all the paints. These are his re-bottled Contrast paints. So, by throwing some colours on a page like this, we can see what the colours will turn out like and see if they match what we are planning before we throw them at the mini.

If that looks good then start painting. Since I was doing something more like a colour scheme than a uniform, I began applying the [Doomfire Magenta] from the bottom up and the [Talassar Blue] from the top down.

I got the first one “wrong” not really thinking about it, I put the Magenta at the top on a patch. I let it be, just wanting to focus on learning the skills, not trying to get it “right” straight away.

As I got more confident, I started blending the colours more in the middle on the mini, but also pushing the blue down lower on the mini and the magenta higher.

I wasn’t quite satisfied with the bases, I felt they needed just something a little more, and tufts sprang to mind. I’ve seen those cool “alien world” tufts and was planning on grabbing some eventually. But I was in my FLGS and saw the Gamers Grass Laser Plants Alien Rosettes and figured I’d give them a go.

They’re quite interesting. Pluck them from the sheet, bash them up a little bit to give them more dimension and super-glue them down. On the Gamma above, I built the rosette in three layers, sticking each down and allowing it to dry before adding the next layer.

My take on the O-12 half of the Operation: Wildfire set done!
It’s the first “complete” set I’ve done from this range, from the 3 factions I own. They probably would have been done sooner if my painting lamp hadn’t died… ah well.

Above: Kappa, Kappa, Gangbuster, Epsilon with Sniper Rifle, Delta Hacker, Gamma with Feurbach

I’m thinking that the bases could do with some plant life on them… Perhaps. Something I’ll look at in the future, but for now I’m happy with these. I’ll keep this theme going. I received a stack more O-12 for my birthday.
O-12 complete: 7/27

Between Defiance and Operation: Wildfire, I’ve quite a few O12 minis.

I wanted something darker than the studio colour scheme, though this ended up lighter than intended.

The ideas:

• “Hard” Armour is blue, Fabric is grey, undersuit in metal.
• Trim in metallics
• Pouches and belts in black.
• Shoulders in yellow, squad marking on left shoulder, faction on right.

Afterthoughts:

The blue is lighter than I intended, but actually that’s ok. Overall, the scheme is a bit too flat. The only bright spots are the face and shoulders. The “undersuit”, the texture that can be seen at the back of the lower legs and inside elbows. Doing that in metallic isn’t working for me. Similarly, the trim (runs vertically down the torso to the thighs) in metallic doesn’t really stand out.

A second test scheme for the O-12, using the same colour selection as the previous test. This time I’m going

• Blue for the fabric
• Black for the armour plates
• Grey for the trim and the undersuit
• Khaki for the belts and pouches

The mini had a black prime, followed by a white zenithal highlight. After all the base colours are down, I put a black AP Dark Tone wash over all the armour, guns etc. I avoided hitting the belts/pouches and skin.

I definitely prefer this scheme. Of course I can now see a couple of things I need to tidy up, but I can do that and finish the basing next.
O-12 batch 1: 1/7 complete (pretty much, :-D)