I took a few hours and tried out a northern and southern paint scheme last weekend. As I have two fairly large armies for Heavy Gear, I wanted to do something that would let me get a decent paint job on them without committing to time that I just dont have to spend on them. First, the armies.
As you can see, there is a lot there. Not bad for starting sometime in 2013. Managed to get an army assembled and primed in less than a decade. Now for the real test, can I get them painted before 2020?
To start with, there is a color 'theme' with factions in HG. The north tends to go for lighter earth-tones (yellows, browns, etc) while the South tends to go with darker colors (grey, green, etc). While I have yet to find a resource in any of the old books I own, sometimes things like this just happen. Like painting WW2 Germans as a grey rather than grey-green. I digress.
Citadel recently came out with a line of Contrast Paints. I wont bother linking to a video or review, just do a search, you'll find a ton. My review came from a local game store, and the results were pretty good for the work put in. The idea is that it is a one-layer paint/wash all in one. It pools in the lower areas, giving it a lighter look on raised area and darker in the recesses. My main concern was coverage, and how it would look on wide flat areas. First attempt at using them was to paint some British Vospers for Cruel Seas that I did not plan to use. Lets have a look.
As you can see, I also painted a few of my Italian ships after I tried them, except with a white primer. The color of the primer can make a big difference in the final look of it, because of how transparent the contrast paints are. If you look at the bottom, I used (from left to right) Basilicanum Grey, Creed camo, and Militarum Green (not counting the three that were left in the grey primer). I also used the Basilicanum Grey on the Italians, but with the white primer they came out with a much lighter grey than the dark look (almost like a black wash) on the grey primer. Good enough for now.
Once the army was primed, I picked a sacrificial unit from each as my color test unit. Something that could look different from the others if I didnt like it, and it would make sense. Asp's for the South, Stripped-Down Hunters for the North. Here is the test run.
Top photo is the primer with the contrast paint test on the Asp, below that is a Stripped-Down Hunter and some infantry. Once I got going on the contrast paints, I didnt really want to stop. The infantry used Skeleton Horde for the body and Aggaros Dunes for the helmet. For some reason, even though it is the same primer the Aggaros Dunes turned out much brighter on the Gear than on the helmets. Maybe it was the surface area, or I used too much. Still, I wanted to tie the two units together with a similar color. I also find it very interesting that the resulting color does not really match the color shades shown on the various charts for the contrast paints. My advice there is to buy what looks right in the bottle, and try it out. You can also use helpful references like this: https://imgur.com/gallery/GjwQxcy
For the Asp, I did the main body with Basilicanum Grey, one shoulder in Blood Angels Red, and the weapons (gun and grenade packs on shoulders) with Black Templar. The Hunter got Aggaros Dunes, with Militarum Green for the ballistic cloth. I started to use Black Templar on the rifle, but the primer was too bright so I opted to just go back over with an actual black paint later on. Here are the finish squads.
Some things to pay attention to. You'll notice one Hunter has really brown shoulders. That was accidental, when I went over a mostly dry section that had been painted once already with another layer. Radically changed the color. In this case, it works out. That will be my Group Leader (CGL), but it is something to pay attention to. There is a little play with the colors when they first go on, but if you try to touch it up later with spots you miss, you'll end up changing the color of anything that has dried. I first noticed this with the Italian ships above, and it is a race to cover everything with a single layer before it starts to dry, without accidentally doubling up on coverage. This is going to make larger models (like ships) a challenge.
The other thing I noticed is that the Militarum Green on the ballistic cloth seemed to be very light on the raised areas. Almost too light, with the tan showing through. I went back over with a second layer there, which didnt drastically altar the overall color, but made the dark recesses very dark. I'm not sure if I should maybe paint a layer of a green roughly over the areas on future models, then add the contrast paint. Its worth some testing.
All in all, I am happy with the results. Minus a few details (guns, sensors, exhaust and other weathering) the Asps are done, which took me about an hour overall. The hunters took a little more time, because I had to use two colors on specific areas, as well as having to be very careful with coverage.
For those of us who want to try and save time whenever possible, I think the Contrast Paint line will certainly help. I wont get into the debate over DIY contrast paints vs the Citadel versions and all that. Thats something else you can dig up if you want to get into it. I will say that once I have a stable studio, I may look into making a contrast paint base in a large quantity, then using inks to make my own, but thats way down the line. For now, this works. It isnt a one-stop painting solution, but it did save me quite a bit of time. Some thought has to be put into it by using the right color primer to get the final result you want, but it did save me time in the wash/highlight step. The result isnt perfect, but certainly good enough for table-ready models. I'll be sure to post up photos of the finished squads so you can make up your mind there.
 |
| Southern Army (ESE) |
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| Northern Army (WFPA) |
To start with, there is a color 'theme' with factions in HG. The north tends to go for lighter earth-tones (yellows, browns, etc) while the South tends to go with darker colors (grey, green, etc). While I have yet to find a resource in any of the old books I own, sometimes things like this just happen. Like painting WW2 Germans as a grey rather than grey-green. I digress.
Citadel recently came out with a line of Contrast Paints. I wont bother linking to a video or review, just do a search, you'll find a ton. My review came from a local game store, and the results were pretty good for the work put in. The idea is that it is a one-layer paint/wash all in one. It pools in the lower areas, giving it a lighter look on raised area and darker in the recesses. My main concern was coverage, and how it would look on wide flat areas. First attempt at using them was to paint some British Vospers for Cruel Seas that I did not plan to use. Lets have a look.
Once the army was primed, I picked a sacrificial unit from each as my color test unit. Something that could look different from the others if I didnt like it, and it would make sense. Asp's for the South, Stripped-Down Hunters for the North. Here is the test run.
Top photo is the primer with the contrast paint test on the Asp, below that is a Stripped-Down Hunter and some infantry. Once I got going on the contrast paints, I didnt really want to stop. The infantry used Skeleton Horde for the body and Aggaros Dunes for the helmet. For some reason, even though it is the same primer the Aggaros Dunes turned out much brighter on the Gear than on the helmets. Maybe it was the surface area, or I used too much. Still, I wanted to tie the two units together with a similar color. I also find it very interesting that the resulting color does not really match the color shades shown on the various charts for the contrast paints. My advice there is to buy what looks right in the bottle, and try it out. You can also use helpful references like this: https://imgur.com/gallery/GjwQxcy
For the Asp, I did the main body with Basilicanum Grey, one shoulder in Blood Angels Red, and the weapons (gun and grenade packs on shoulders) with Black Templar. The Hunter got Aggaros Dunes, with Militarum Green for the ballistic cloth. I started to use Black Templar on the rifle, but the primer was too bright so I opted to just go back over with an actual black paint later on. Here are the finish squads.
Some things to pay attention to. You'll notice one Hunter has really brown shoulders. That was accidental, when I went over a mostly dry section that had been painted once already with another layer. Radically changed the color. In this case, it works out. That will be my Group Leader (CGL), but it is something to pay attention to. There is a little play with the colors when they first go on, but if you try to touch it up later with spots you miss, you'll end up changing the color of anything that has dried. I first noticed this with the Italian ships above, and it is a race to cover everything with a single layer before it starts to dry, without accidentally doubling up on coverage. This is going to make larger models (like ships) a challenge.
The other thing I noticed is that the Militarum Green on the ballistic cloth seemed to be very light on the raised areas. Almost too light, with the tan showing through. I went back over with a second layer there, which didnt drastically altar the overall color, but made the dark recesses very dark. I'm not sure if I should maybe paint a layer of a green roughly over the areas on future models, then add the contrast paint. Its worth some testing.
All in all, I am happy with the results. Minus a few details (guns, sensors, exhaust and other weathering) the Asps are done, which took me about an hour overall. The hunters took a little more time, because I had to use two colors on specific areas, as well as having to be very careful with coverage.
For those of us who want to try and save time whenever possible, I think the Contrast Paint line will certainly help. I wont get into the debate over DIY contrast paints vs the Citadel versions and all that. Thats something else you can dig up if you want to get into it. I will say that once I have a stable studio, I may look into making a contrast paint base in a large quantity, then using inks to make my own, but thats way down the line. For now, this works. It isnt a one-stop painting solution, but it did save me quite a bit of time. Some thought has to be put into it by using the right color primer to get the final result you want, but it did save me time in the wash/highlight step. The result isnt perfect, but certainly good enough for table-ready models. I'll be sure to post up photos of the finished squads so you can make up your mind there.
