Craftworlds Painting Project Log #2

Hey game fans, we’re back with another article on our Hobby project for 2020. Today we’re going to talk about Colors, and the paints we’re going to be using for this project. Most of this project is going to be using the Contrast line of GW paints. These are a lot of fun and I have had a decent amount of success with in the past. So that’s how we’re going to run most of this painting project. Let’s take a look at the base of this project and then go into some details.


Primer


This one’s a fairly straightforward decision. Since we’re using the Contrast line, we have either Grey Seer or Wraithbone as our primer choices. Wraithbone, being the thing that the Spirit Constructs is made of, seems like the basic choice. I like the warmer offwhite from the Wraithbone and i think it will be a fun choice to get things started. One easy primer coat later and they should be ready to go for the next step.



Primary Color


The base color that I am going with for this project is Black Templar. I love the way Black templar works on everything I have worked on so far. Spirit Construct models, especially the Wraithguard/Wraithblades, have a lot of grooves and curves that make them a lot of fun to paint with the contrast line.



I realize it’s a dark base coat, but that works to my advantage. With the dark coat, I can set up some brighter accents. Black Templar is an excellent Contrast, and i will be using it as the foundation of this army. This is an easy paint for me to work with, and with a single coat i can get the minis battle ready. A single edge highlight of Dawnstone will move them to parade ready.


Secondary Colors


Okay, this army has a couple of secondary colors to break up the monotony (and overall darkness of the army’s coloration. So I’ve got a few color choices to liven things up. I’m going with a green, a white, and a metallic silver. I also need to sort out a few other colors, including the tabards for all of the Spirit Constructs, and then the additional accents for the Seers. Let’s dig in to each of those and see where we get to.


Green

This one’s pretty straightforward. I went with Ork Flesh Contrast because I wanted a brighter, more colorful green. Dark Angels Green is too dark, and the color for Creed Camo and Plaguebearer Flesh is off. Realistically, my two choices were Ork Flesh and Warp Lightning, and i’ve used Warp Lightning before and it’s not the color I was looking for.


The Battle Ready painting for this shade of Green is just Wraithbone plus Ork Flesh, so that’s not a hard sell. Parade Ready requires highlighting with Warboss and Skarsnik greens, but those are both easy sells. Again, this is the most prominent of the secondary colors, so i want it to be a brighter pop to balance out the black templar black.



White

White is going to be another secondary color. This will go on the blades for the Wraithblades, and the ranged weapons on the Wraithguard/Wraithlords. A Classic White is the effect we’re going for, and with the Contrast line, that means we need to grab some Apothecary White. Again, I like the Contrast paint line and this should be easy to put together.


Battle ready just needs the Wraithbone primer and Apothecary White. Parade ready needs a White Scar edge highlight. Since this is also forming the hoses and cabling on the Constructs, I might give it a bit of a Nuln Oil wash to darken it up, then highlight back up.



Silvery Metal


This is one of the few non-contrast paints I’m going to use because I need something bright and shiny to break up the heavy black bodies. Starting with a standard Leadbelcher base, i am going to stack up glossy Nuln Oil on top of that. To finish up, I’m going to break out the Necron Compound Dry paint to finish up the effect. This gives us the Immortal Iron effect which you can find on the Games Workshop site.



Spirit Stones

Every Craftworld model should have a spirit stone, and i am still deciding what exactly I want to do with these. I think I’ll pick up a pot of Soulstone Blue and a pot of Spiritstone Red to figure out which color I want to use for these. I’m leaning towards Red as the color.


Basing


Now this is going to be a work in progress, because I honestly haven’t gotten that far with this idea. I’m probably going to avoid Astrogranite, and may end up trying to combine Mordant Earth with an overcoat of Valhallan Blizzard to create a snowy effect on Obsidian. I’m not sure how this is all going to work out in the wash, but i’m sure i can figure out something.


Total list of Paints




Primer
Wraithbone


Contrasts
Black Templar
Apothecary White
Ork Flesh


Base
Leadbelcher


Layer
Dawnstone
Warboss Green
Skarsnik Green
White Scar


Shade
Nuln Oil (Glossy)


Dry
Necron Compound


Technical
Mordant Earth
Valhallan Blizzard



Things we didn’t cover

Well, we haven’t decided on the color for the Tabards that the Wraith Constructs all get, and i may end up using those to denote Squad Markings. If I end up doing that, I’ll let you all know what colors I end up deciding to use for that process. I also need to find an accent color for the Seer corps to make them stand out on the tabletop next to their larger hulking kin.


I also need to get a pot of ‘Ardcoat to encourage the Transfers process, and some sort of spray varnish to finish off the boys. This is the hobby process for these miniatures, and as soon as I get assembly done, hopefully I can get some paint on the bodies and we can all see the results. Until then, Game On Game Fans.