Citadel Contrasts (1st Looks)

Hey Game Fans, we're back with another article taking a look at something near and dear to our hearts.  They've been out in the wild for a couple of weeks and we finally got our hands on the new Citadel Contrast paints.  They have been hyped to the moon by Games Workshop and the news is good so far, but we finally got our hands on them and couldn't wait to give them a test.  Let's take a closer look at the two projects we've started with these new paints

Project 1:  Imperial Fists

I bought an Imperial Fist battleforce at Christmas, and have been honestly dreading trying to paint them.  Yellow has been a historically hard to paint color so i was interested when the new contrasts had a pair of Yellows (Iyanden, and Nazdreg).  There was a little bit of back and forth in the Decidetron-9000 (patent pending) as to how i wanted to do this.  First i applied a Wraithbone undercoat to everyone, which i really like this color.  It's a fantastic canvas for creating warm tones with the Contrast range, or as the base color for my Deathwing Terminators going forward.  If you're curious what that looks like,  take a look. 

It's an easy spray, it undercoats well, and serves as an excellent foundation for the Imperial Fists i'm working on.  Now, i need to go back and recheck the actual Imperial Fists color scheme and pick up a few more contrast paints, but I'm going to use a pure Contrast paint scheme for this to see if i can get it Tabletop Ready before i do anything else.  I was able to get the Iyanden Yellow on the bodies of the marines and i have to admit, it was one of the easiest painting projects i've had in a very long time. 

It flows easily, though you will have to be careful with it when you apply, because it will pool and leave odd looking orange puddles.  The other thing to keep in mind is that you can apply a pretty thick coat of paint and then spread it where you want it.  I'll have to go back and Wraithbone up some areas (Like the chest eagles, sarge helmets, shoulderpad rims, and of  course the Imperial Fist chapter Icon itself).  However, i do like the base plus shading effect the contrast paints provide.  Show beats tell, so let's take a look.

Yeah, i know i'm not a professional painter (or photographer for that matter) but these paints seem like the were designed for a painter at my skill level, or more importantly, a brand new painter starting the hobby for the first time.  for my estimation, these models will look fine for getting the army on the table in time for an event, or a league, or just to help you get satisfied by having a project complete. 

(Look for updates when the next batch of colors come in, and i'll show what they look like at "Tabletop Ready")

Note 1:  Yes, this Battleforce also came with a Redemptor Dreadnought, but i keep hearing horror stories of how contrast paints work with big flat armor panels, so we'll give the big boy a more traditional paint job.  It'll also gives us a look at how the two styles look side by side on the tabletop. 

 Project 2: Necrons

Now the Necrons gave us an opportunity to try the Contrasts over a metallic undercoat.  So all of these Necrons were undercoated with Leadbelcher spray.  Also, there are some metallic bases used so i couldn't do a pure contrast scheme with these guys (not that i really wanted to).  There are a few obviously metal bits (namely shoulders and collars, and cloakwork on the big characters).  Other than those, these are all Contrast, all the time.  Let's take a closer look.

So, this is Blood Angel red over Leadbelcher for the majority of the bots.  The body of the Annihilation Barge and the Scarabs are Black Templar over the same Leadbelcher undercoat.  Now we've done a further color with these minis (Grey Knight Steel on the Shoulders and collarrs), but haven't done any pictures. 

I personally really, really like the way Blood Angel Red works over Leadbelcher and i am really jazzed to finish this army.  This may be the first army project i actually "Finish." I'm going to get them tabletop ready and then apply some drybrushing to actually get them Parade Ready.  I wanted to see how the Contrasts worked on larger vehicles with odd textures, which is how the Annihilation Barge got tagged. 

Thoughts 

Well, having finally played with these, i really like the way these paints work on some models and in some circumstances.  I don't think i want to try to paint tanks with them, but for small infantry with lots of edges and bits, they work very well.  We'll be back with updates hopefully in the future.  Hope you guys like.  Game On, Game Fans.