Renegade Militia

Time to post up my latest work, Renegade Guardsmen. It has been a long, hot summer since I last posted. Originally I of course intended my blog to be far more regular than this, but one can only post as often as one completes projects. With a summer of little to no money and heat that dries the paint off your brush faster than you can apply it, it has not been a very productive few months.

A desire to use Forgeworld weathering powders on my predator left that on the back burner, and a commission for a Tau riptide has also eaten in to my time (Still working on that one) --- But I have managed to finally finish something. My chaos renegade command squad had been loose inside my bits box for far too long, and I decided it needed to be painted.

Once more poor photography skills, a bad camera and nowhere to take photos has left these models looking far more washed out than they do in person, but such is life sometimes. 

I hope you like my Chaos Renegade Command squad, which hopefully will head a whole army of guardsmen when the new codex comes out.

This time I will open with the group photo, I think it captures well the feel of these renegades. I decided on a very simple dark grey painted steel on lighter grey uniform paint scheme, and made it more interesting with chipped paint and rust. I wanted to give the feeling that their uniforms were practical in a black ashen wasteland dotted with urban settings. I chose brown and 'tin bitz' for secondary colors and I feel it gives them just a touch of a steampunk vibe.

As you can see from the bases, i mixed ashen rock with pavement and worn metal grates. I followed the guide on stippling metal tones found in Imperial Armor Masterclass Volume 2 --- The section dealing with the titan. I actually love the effect for these renegades, and have started using it a lot in my painting, including adapting the technique for use on pavement to give it a concrete tone. 

For the commander, I waited until last. I wasn't sure that i liked the pose and the character in general when he stood next to the rest, so it took me a while to work out what to do with him. Suddenly I had a flash of inspiration, realizing this militia commander was probably not always in the military, I decided he was once a brutal gang leader in the lower slums of a dirty manufactorium hive. 

These pictures, while blurry in parts, capture that personality. On the left image, you can see the barbed wire tattoo I painted on to his upper arm, as well as my still burgeoning efforts at plasma glow. You can also see the back side of his chainsword arm, which I painted a simple rose pattern on. Unfortunately, the resin chainsword was beyond salvaging when it arrived, it was twisted and dotted with holes, so i lopped it off and glued on an old metal obliterator chainsword, i'm happy with the result.

In the picture to the right, you can see my attempt at freehanding a tiny chinese dragon onto his chainsword, this and the rose pattern felt very right to me, almost bladerunner inspired. This gang boss probably had that installed before military service, losing a hand and demanding a brutal but beautiful weapon replace it.

Finally on the right I used a combination of red and brown washes to make his tissues seem red-raw and swollen, perhaps horrible infections are only kept at bay by a constant supply of chems. 

The vox operator was a joy to paint, and I loved getting to test the steadiness of my hand on the tiny dials and gauges on his front and back. I am happy with the result there. Also, rather than attempt to fill the gap left from attaching his arm, I made a greenstuff bandage and wrapped it around, then bloodied it. It is hard to see here, but I am especially happy with the blood tones on the grey military uniform.

I will finish up with a close up of the last three soldiers in the squad, sorry they are low quality shots. Thankyou for taking the time to read this post, and hopefully the next one will come around a lot sooner.\