Leagues of Votann Step by Step

Hello!

As promised in the previous entry, here's a step by step tutorial on how I painted the purple Leagues of Votann. We're going to be looking at the plasma gun guy here, but I did in fact batch paint the whole lot at once, which this scheme should allow to be done relatively easily. 

First up, the models were sprayed bone (I used army painter spray but I'm sure pretty much any bone coloured spray will work), then heavily drybrushed with white.

Next, I used Skeleton Horde Contrast, diluted to about 1 in 3 with medium, to wash over all the undersuit sections, giving a cream look.

Time for some purple. It's Leviathan Purple Contrast, mixed to 1 in 2 with medium so it goes on nice and smooth, and still shows through some of the highlights from the drybrush earlier. I went over all the armour panels, leaving as much white as possible over the sections that are going to be yellow.

A couple of steps here - the yellow shoulders and black for the metal areas. The yellow is Vallejo Game Colour Heavy Ochre, I think it's my favourite yellow, nice muted colour and good coverage, a couple of slightly thinned coats worked for the majority of the models. The black is just straight up neat Black Templar Contrast, covering tubes and cables as well as the exposed metal parts of weapons and backpacks etc. I also used the black to go into the gaps around the head inside the armour.

Here's the most fun stage, followed immediately by the least fun. I sponged on some Gunmetal (I used the Game Colour one, but there should be a suitable equivalent in your paint range of choice) over all the metal and some select armoured areas, trying to avoid going onto the under suit too much. This gives a good worn effect for the metal and some nice chipping on the armour, and is loads of fun.

Then I had to tidy up the bone areas, which was boring, but necessary. In addition to cleaning up any under suit mess, I painted the bone over any slips onto the faces or pouches.

Speaking of pouches, they were up next with Snakebite Leather Contrast. This was also done over the coats and stowage for the Pioneers and Kahl. At this stage I also used Militarum Green to paint the containers on the back of the Pioneers.

On to some more detailing. The gold for visors and other details was painted with Game Colour Glorious Gold (though again, I'm sure most ranges have a good equivalent) and then washed with Skeleton Horde. The faces and hair were all washed with various contrast paints, Guilliman Flesh and Snakebite Leather doing most of the work in some combination.

Final details were any glowing areas painted white then washed with Hexwraith Flame - leaving a bit of over spill to simulate a bit of lighting, and any final tidy up - like repainting some of the goggles or facial cybernetics.

Last but by no means least the bases - Astrogranite Debris Texture paint doing most of the work, with black rims and the odd tuft here and there.

Ta da! Done, as you can see he fits in there on the bottom right corner with his fellow Hearthkyn. Hope this helped in some way, thanks for reading, and stay safe out there.

Leagues of Votann Launch Box Completed

Hello!

For those of us who have been in this hobby for a good few years, the idea of the Squats coming back to 40k has always been a bit of a joke, a rumour never to be taken seriously or a dig at GW's past mistakes. But now, the Leagues of Votann are a thing! I just about managed to talk myself out of getting a box to paint orange, but I did offer to paint one for someone else...

So here we have some purple and yellow/gold space Dwarves for your amusement:

The full set, just about all fitting into the light box. They are a fantastic set of miniatures with loads of cool details, but to keep myself from going mad I did a decent tabletop standard that I hope is easily repeatable, using drybrushing, contrast and the wonder of the sponge!

First up, two squads of the Hearthkyn Warriors, one with bolters and one with ion, both with a medic and a selection of special weapons. I really enjoyed all the head options in this kit, in fact I only used the heads from a single set so that I didn't duplicate any, and there were still loads left. Also note the client asked for the Ironkin to have smiley faces, which is a pretty inspired touch if I'm honest. Love those happy little robots.

The Hearthkyn Pioneers might be my favourite models from the whole release - such a cool update on the old Squat Trikes. Once again the sprues are jammed full of bits, and they are a bit of a faff to build because of it, but I'm a big fan of the covered in stowage look (though if you are not, most of it is optional). 

Onto the characters, and there's this absolute unit, the Einhyr Champion. I think possibly the kit that I'm most pleased with the result of. The techniques used really worked here and the purple scheme really makes the gold details pop. Though of course at this stage I'm pretty familiar with the gold and purple combo Dwarves.

Finally, the boss himself, the Kahl. I always enjoy a good pointing power fist pose so this guy gets a thumbs up from me. Otherwise, he's just painted the same as everyone else basically. How is that you ask? Well keep an eye out because there will soon be a step by step tutorial.

But until then, I hope you like them, thanks for reading, and stay safe out there!