Chaos Warriors come in all sorts of impressive color variations. Tzeentch favors blues and golds.

Khorne is a sucker for red and bronze. Nurgle sports all kinds of sickly greens, browns, and rust. Slaanesh digs on purples and pinks, and Undivided warriors stick to good old beaten metal and leather. For such a bunch of evil, rotten, soulless dudes, they're sure picky about what they wear to battle! The first part of this article will hopefully help you out with painting your Chaos Warriors, no matter what power you follow. Step-by-step examples by long-time painter and soulless puppet of the Chaos Gods Ty Finocchiaro, along with detail shots will show you just what you need to do so that you don't get lost. At the very least, you'll pick up a few new painting techniques to try out. So have a look! In the second part of the article, we've gathered a veritable horde of individually painted Chaos Warriors done by a gaggle of different folks. As you click through the gallery, it'll probably kick start a few dormant ideas in your head. Just click on the Chaos icon that interests you most or hit the gallery link below and you're off. Tzeentch Chaos Warriors are often blessed with strange mutations or wear armor with arcane inlays that improve the potency of their lord's magic. When painting a Tzeentch Chaos Warrior, be neat and try to use vibrant blues, yellows, and metallics that yield shining armor. Keep your water clean by changing it often, especially when you're using metallics, so that your colors truly come out bright.
Follow the detailed instructions and check out the stage-by-stage images for reference as you paint your models. Don't fret if the model doesn't come out picture perfect in the end; painting takes time and practice to master. Just do the best you can each time and be open to learning new techniques from others. Before you know it, you'll be quite an accomplished painter with models you'll be proud to game with!

1 Undercoat your model with Chaos Black. This first step is a big one and the most important as a good basecoat makes or breaks a model. Heavily drybrush the

shoulder fur with a mix of Codex Grey and a drop of Chaos Black. Next, use Regal Blue to paint the cape. Leave the interior of tattered tears and deep crevasses in the cape Chaos Black. The hardest part of this stage is to carefully paint the armor, shield, and weaponry with Chainmail. Don't just glop paint all over the armor. Take the time to pick out each plate and buckle. Fix any mistakes with Chaos Black. Clean your water before you move on.

2 Lay down a basecoat of Scorched Brown on the model's boots, horns, gloves, and belt. Pick out the shield insignia with Fiery Orange. Be sure to water this color

down and apply a few thin coats to get it right. Finish this stage by picking out the model's kneecap, breastguard, and weapon details with Shining Gold. Definitely change your water before moving on.

3 Start to highlight the cloak with a watered-down, even mix of Regal Blue and Enchanted Blue. As you apply this color, slowly mix in a tiny bit more Enchanted

Blue as you go along. Stick to the raised areas of the cape. Carefully drybrush Codex Grey over the shoulder fur. Follow this with another pass on the fur but mix Codex Grey with a bit of Ghostly Grey this time around. Paint the model's horns Dark Flesh. Pay attention to ridges and other features that will take paint nicely. Quickly highlight the boots, gloves, and belt with a few well placed lines of Dark Flesh. Clean your water before you proceed to ink the model in step four.

4 Now it's ink time. First, apply a bit of slightly watered-down Blue Ink to the armor and let this dry partially. Paint it into the areas you want it to go, do not just

slather the model with ink and hope it will come out okay! Be precise and sop up any excessive ink pooling. Now, selectively hit the Shining Gold areas with watered-down Chestnut Ink. It's important to let all your inks dry completely before continuing further! So take a break or work on another Chaos Warrior while the model dries.

5 Finish your model by going back over the metallic areas in order to clean the ink up. A very, very careful light drybrushing will do this effectively. If you do this

correctly, the Blue Ink will have given the armor a cool tinge. Clean your water before moving on. Water down Enchanted Blue and apply a few highlights to the cape. Build up the model's horns from Dark Flesh to Kommando Khaki. Now, paint the horn ends Fiery Orange and blend the very tips of the horns with watereddown Golden Yellow. Keep using Golden Yellow to blend the shield insignia in the same manner. Use several thin coats of paint and be patient. Clean up any niggling details like hanging teeth, and necklaces at this point. If you take your time and work through each step, then The Changer of Ways will be pleased with your efforts. If not, then...well I hope you enjoy being Chaos Spawn!

Chaos Warriors dedicated to Khorne will often be painted in various shades of red or bronze. This Chaos Warrior was painted mostly red so that it would end up being a striking model. A full unit of these guys would certainly draw some attention on the gaming table. Red is a tricky color that requires many thin coats of paint to pull off, so be patient!

1 After a thorough undercoating of Chaos Black, start off by drybrushing the model's cape with Scorched Brown. Once this is done, go over the belt, shoulder fur,
and weapon wrappings with the same color. Now, water down some Scab Red and carefully go over the the chaos armor, helmet, and shield with a thin coat of paint. You will have to apply a few coats of thinned-down Scab Red to get a proper basecoat. Be patient and neat here. It's very important!

2 Using Dark Flesh, go over the cape, drybrush the shoulder fur, and highlight any belts or straps. Make a mix of 1:2 Blood Red to Scab Red. Water this mix down.
Apply this color over the chaos armor, helmet, and shield. These second coats of thin paint will nearly cover the previous coat of pure Scab Red. Pay attention to areas you wish to highlight later and carefully paint them with the mixed color.

3 Use Dwarf Bronze on the warrior's chainmail tabard, occasional armor bits, and shield insignia. Be very careful not to get this color on any of the red armor! Have

a brush handy in order to quickly wipe away any mess ups and minimize such mistakes. Apply Scorched Brown to any weapon hafts and paint weaponry Boltgun Metal. Change your water at this point so no metal flakes mix in with further colors! Using watered down Graveyard Earth, paint over the raised areas of the cape. In order to continue to build up the warrior's red armor, make a 2:1 mix of Blood Red to Scab Red. Water this mix down and apply a few coats over the chaos armor, helmet, and shield. Be sure to pay attention to the edges of armor plates and the shield, as these will pick up the highlight nicely. Again, be very careful!

4 Now it's ink time. First, apply a bit of slightly watered-down Chestnut Ink over the Dwarf Bronze areas. Paint it on the areas you want it to go. Do not just slather

the model with ink and hope it comes out okay! Be precise and sop up any excessive ink pooling. Using watered-down Brown Ink do the same for any Boltgun Metal areas. Going back to Chestnut Ink, apply a heavily watered-down coat over the cape to give it leathery look. It's important to let all your inks dry completely before continuing! So take a break or work on another Chaos Warrior while they dry.

5 Make an even mix of Codex Grey to Chaos Black to create a highlight for the black leather boots, gloves, and any helmet horns. Carefully paint this mix onto the
raised edges of these items. Lightly drybrush a bit of Kommando Khaki onto the cape. You can dirty up the cape by drybrushing Bestial Brown on the bottom edges if you wish. Carefully drybrush the shoulder fur with Bestial Brown followed by a quick hit of Kommando Khaki while you still have Bestial Brown on the brush. Water down Blood Red mixed with a tiny drop of Scab Red and carefully highlight the edges of the chaos armor, helmet, and shield. Using a very steady hand, finish the red armor off with a few well placed highlights of thinned-down Blood Red. Go back over any inked metallic areas with the original metallic color in order to clean up any stray ink areas. Finish the base, and you're all set to collect skulls for Khorne!

Patrons of Nurgle are vile creatures - open sores, rusted armor, sagging flesh, and exposed bone are the norm. When painting these Chaos Warriors, just think of filth and you'll be fine. Use greens, browns, and inks when devising your color scheme. The painter of this warrior used inks to their fullest extent to make his job easy. Nurgle allows for a bit of sloppy painting, as stuff covered in dirt (or brown paint) works just fine no matter what!

1 Undercoat your model with Chaos Black. The first step to a great looking Nurgle Chaos Warrior is a very neat basecoat of Boltgun Metal. Carefully paint each

plate, belt buckle, breastplate, and chainmail tabard with this color. Water down your paint so that is goes on a bit easier. Do this in a manner that leaves the black undercoat showing through gaps in between joints and such. Go back over any mess ups with Chaos Black and rinse out your water before moving to the next step. Metal flakes in the water will pollute your nonmetallic colors if you do not do so!

2 Add some color (although rather drab colors) to your model with Dark Angels Green. Apply it to the cloak and leave only the deepest recesses Chaos Black.

Paint Scorched Brown onto the model's horns, boots, gloves, belts, and weapon hafts. Use Dark Flesh to drybrush the shoulder fur heavily and then move to step three.

3 Start to highlight the cloak with watered-down Catachan Green. Cover most of the cloak, but leave Some Dark Angels Green in the recesses. Drybrush the

shoulder fur with Tanned Flesh for a nasty fleshy feel. Go over any helmet horns with a coat of Bestial Brown. Horns are tricky, so take your time and pay attention to ridges and such. Using Dark Flesh, highlight the model's boots, gloves, belts, and weapon hafts. Paint weapon handle wrappings with a neat coat of Kommando Khaki.

4 Now it's ink time. First, apply a bit of slightly watered-down Black Ink to the armor as a whole and let this dry partially. Paint it into the areas you want it to go. Do

not just slather the model with ink and hope it come out okay! Be precise and sop up any excessive ink pooling. Now, selectively hit areas with watered-down Dark Green Ink and Chestnut Ink. Selective means that maybe half of the helmet gets some Chestnut Ink, while the other half gets some Dark Green Ink. This splotchy nature really brings the Nurgle out of your model. Going back to Chestnut Ink, apply a heavily watered-down coat over the cape and shoulder fur to give them a moist look. Do the same with Dark Green Ink on the handle wrappings. It's important to let all your inks dry completely before continuing further! So take a break or work on another Chaos Warrior while they dry.

5 Finish your model by going back over the metallic areas in order to clean the ink up. A very, very careful light drybrushing will do this effectively. Pick out your

shield insignia with Dwarf Bronze and stipple it onto the armor plates and shield in a few areas. Clean up any niggling details like hanging teeth, necklaces, and final coats of color on helmet horns at this point. If you've persisted, you'll have a putrid Chaos Warrior of Nurgle stinking up your paint station and attracting swarms of flies. Maybe that's not such a good thing...

Chaos Warriors of Slaanesh often have very ornate armor with patterns, etchings and all manner of decorations. Painting them onto your models can be tricky, so you'll have to experiment a bit. However, if you find a nice pattern that works well and can be done with relative ease, you'll have a cool looking unit that appears to have taken more time to complete than it actually did. Outside of decoration, these warriors favor purples, pinks, and pastels. The painter of the Chaos Warrior shown here takes all these factors into consideration for a great paint job, plus it's not too tough to achieve either. 1 Undercoat your model with Chaos Black. Start off by painting the cloak Scorched Brown. Leave the interior of tattered tears and deep crevasses in the cape
Chaos Black. Grab Boltgun Metal and a good brush. It's time for an important basecoat. Very carefully outline each armor plate so that Chaos Black is left in the center of each plate. Outline means just that - paint a very thin line around the edges of the armor plates. Click the larger image icon above for a better idea as to what we mean. Continue using Boltgun Metal to pick out the shield insignia and paint the model's helmet. Clean your water before moving on to step two.

2 Water down Liche Purple and paint the shield. It may take a few coats to do this properly, so be patient. Heavily drybrush the shoulder fur with Shadow Grey.

Water down some Dark Flesh and give the cloak another coat of paint. Keeping the same color on your brush, paint the model's gloves, any strings, and belt. Leave some Chaos Black showing through in order to add some depth to these areas. Apply Dwarf Bronze to some of the model's decorative bits like chest skulls, the shoulder spike, and weapon hilts. As always, clean your water after you use metallics.

3 Start to highlight the cloak with a watered-down Tanned Flesh. Mostly apply this to the lower edges of the cape, with only a bit extending to the middle of the

cape. Make a 2:1 mix of Shadow Grey to Space Wolves Grey and drybrush this mix onto the shoulder fur. Follow this with a very light drybrush of straight Space Wolves Grey onto just the tips of the fur. Mix a tiny drop of Chaos Black with Codex Grey and highlight the edges and folds of the boots with a few well placed thin brush strokes. Use Warlock Purple to edge the shield. Use the side of your brush to achieve this thin line around the shield. Very carefully drybrush the chainmail tabard with Dwarf Bronze. You'll see how this part of the model takes to drybrushing really well. This should be drilled into your head by now, but don't forget to change you water.

4 Now it's ink time. First, apply a bit of slightly watered-down Chestnut Ink to the outlined armor plates. Hit only the Boltgun Metal outlines, try to avoid the Chaos

Black areas. This is meant to tinge the metal just slightly. So be careful. Paint the ink onto the areas you want it to go. Do not just slather the model with ink and hope it comes out okay! Be precise and sop up any excessive ink pooling. Heavily water down some Purple Ink and apply this to the model's helmet, weaponry,

and shield insignia. It may take two coats of this watery ink to achieve the result. Be patient. Going back to Chestnut Ink, apply a heavily watered-down coat over the cape to give it a moist look. It's important to let all your inks dry completely before continuing further! So take a break or work on another Chaos Warrior while the ink dries. Finish your model by going back over the metallic areas in order to clean the ink up. A very, very careful combination of light drybrushing and selective detail painting will do this effectively. You don't want to obscure the ink completely, just clean it up a bit. Finish up any niggling details like hanging teeth, necklaces, and final coats of color on helmet horns at this point. A quick drybrush of Bestial Brown along the cape bottom will dirty it up nicely, but this is purely optional. There you have it, one elegant Slaanesh Chaos Warrior all set to cavort across the Old World in style.

Undivided Chaos Warriors may not be super flashy or colorful, but that just means that they don't mess around with funny color schemes and insignia, which means that they are bit easier to paint. Sticking mainly to leather and dinged up armor, they are also the most realistic looking. 1 Undercoat your model with Chaos Black. Start off by painting the metal components of the model. Use Boltgun Metal to neatly paint each armor plate, the shield,
weaponry, the helmet, and chainmail tabard. Clean your water before moving to step two.

2 Apply Scorched Brown to the model's cape, shoulder fur, boots, gloves, belt, weapon haft, and handle wrapping. Next, paint Dwarf Bronze onto a few of the
model's details like the knee cap and horn tips. Once again, clean out your water.

3 Heavily drybrush the model's cape and shoulder fur with Dark Flesh. Water down the same color and highlight the boots, gloves, belt, weapon haft, and handle

wrapping. Use carefully placed thin lines to achieve this effect. Water down Scab Red and pick out the Chaos star on the model's shield. A few coats will do the trick, so be patient. At this point, your model is perfectly acceptable for tabletop gaming! The final steps below will take the model from being good to great.

4 Now it's ink time. First, apply a bit of slightly watered-down Brown Ink to all the Boltgun Metal areas. Paint the ink onto the areas you want it to go. Do not just

slather the model with ink and hope it comes out okay! Be precise and sop up any excessive ink pooling. Heavily water down the Brown Ink and apply this to the model's cape to give it a deeper leathery look. Now, use watered-down Chestnut Ink and apply it to the Dwarf Bronze areas. Water this down a bit further and apply a second coat to the model's shield and weaponry to create a sort of two-tone crud wash. It's important to let all your inks dry completely before continuing further! So take a break or work on another Chaos Warrior while the ink dries.

5 Finish your model by going back over the metallic areas in order to clean the ink up. A very, very careful combination of light drybrushing or stippling and

selective detail painting will do this effectively. You don't want to obscure the ink completely, just clean it up a bit. Build up the Chaos star on the shield by mixing Scab Red with Blood Red in even amounts. Then go back and highlight the tips of the star with watered-down Blood Red. Lightly drybrush the shoulder fur with Bestial Brown. Finish up any niggling details like hanging teeth, skulls, necklaces, and final coats of color on helmet horns at this point. Your Undivided Chaos Warrior may not be as pretty to look upon as a Slaanesh Chaos Warrior, but he certainly means business. After all, it's all about swords and axes, not silk capes and intricate embroidery!

Matt Boles Nurgle Matt Boles Undivided

Jason Buyaki Khorne Jason Buyaki Tzeentch

Jeff Hall Nurgle Rick Smith Jeff Hall Khorne Nick Staugaitis Slaanesh Undivided

Eric Sarlin Tzeentch

Sean Forbes Khorne

John Shaffer Slaanesh

Stuart Spengler Nurgle

Stuart Spengler Slaanesh Ty Finocchiaro Undivided Fred Reed Tzeentch Adrian Wood Undivided

Nick Cristofili Nurgle Andy Brown Khorne Dave Taylor Undivided

Mike Anderson Nurgle

Ty Finocchiaro Tzeentch

Ty Finocchiaro Nurgle Ty Finocchiaro Slaanesh

Ty Finocchiaro Khorne

Daniel Boone Khorne Andrew Cromwell Undivided

Jeff Hall Undivided

John Shaffer Slaanesh

Jason Foley Khorne

Ken Kennedy Slaanesh

Rick Smith Khorne

Ty Finocchiaro Nurgle

Adam Bjornholm Slaanesh

Becka Kunde Nurgle Stuart Spengler Tzeentch Paul Schniedermeier Nurgle

Chris Blair Ty Barth Khorne Chris Blair Nurgle Khorne

Modeling and Painting a Hellcannon

by Eric Sarlin I am, by no stretch of the imagination, a great modeler or painter. I can hold my own when it comes to painting playable armies, but even approaching the level of Golden Demon painters is well beyond the scope of my meager talents. As such, it was with some trepidation that I agreed to do a modeling and painting article for something as large and elaborate as the Hellcannon. This model could be the centerpiece of many Chaos or Archaon's Horde armies and is sculpted to a level of detail that should inspire even the most meticulous Golden Demon hopefuls to ever-greater levels of eyestrain. I was surprised that the powers that be at GW asked this humble (and rightly so) painter to tackle the project.

Even with my limited skills, however, I found that, once I'd broken the project down into manageable steps, the Hellcannon was pretty easy to assemble and paint. Its large size, which may seem intimidating at first, actually makes the model much easier to work with. I'm very pleased with my results, and I'm sure, if you take your time, you will be too.

Assembling the Hellcannon

Assembling the Hellcannon is not as difficult as it first may seem. All you need to do is take your time and think through each step before you execute it. In addition to the instructions listed below, you may find the diagrams enclosed in the Hellcannon boxed set very useful.

Step 1

Begin by cleaning all the pieces of your Hellcannon. Remove all flash, tabs, and mold lines with a hobby knife, files, and/or clippers.

Step 7

Before the glue dries, apply more glue to the corresponding pieces on the right side of the model. Attach the right chassis piece to the assembly. You'll need to wiggle the pieces a bit to get everything to come together properly.

Step 2

Make sure the two halves of your Hellcannon barrel fit together without a gap. If they don't, you'll need to file down the insides of the two halves until they fit together tightly. Green stuff can hide any small gaps and cover seams, particularly in the "stoke hole" area where the crew shovels in the corpses of the fallen as well as inside the barrel where the large skull is wreathed by flames. Green stuff should not be a replacement for careful filing, however. Take your time and test fit the two halves of the barrel often as you work. This step is one of the longest and most laborious of the entire project but also one of the most important. Keep filing until the two halves fit together tightly. Only then should you glue the two pieces together and fill any gaps with green stuff. Either shape the green stuff as you apply it to resemble the surrounding texture, or file it into shape once it dries. Be careful not to get glue on the painted surfaces of your model.

Step 8

Set the assembly right side up on a flat surface and make sure that everything lines up properly. The uprights should be straight up and parallel to one another. You may need to nudge the pieces as the glue dries to ensure a proper alignment. Check your model from time to time as the glue dries and make further "nudge-adjustments" if necessary. Allow the glue to dry completely before moving on to Step 9.

Step 9

As you can see, the barrel halves fit together pretty tightly after filing, but green stuff fills any remaining gaps. A bit of filing is still required to finish the job.

Superglue the wheels to your chassis. Start with the smallest wheels and work your way up in size to the largest wheels. The smallest wheels go in the front. The second smallest are second from the back. The second largest go all the way in the back, and the largest wheels attach to the axle that protrudes through the chassis from the front face plate.

Step 10 Step 11

Superglue the Chaos star "hubcaps" to the large wheels.

Superglue the furnace doors in place near the stoke hole.

Step 3

Once the barrel is assembled and the glue and green stuff are dry, make a test assembly of the entire Hellcannon WITH NO GLUE. Make sure all parts fit together easily. If necessary, you may need to go back and file down a few more pieces to make sure your Hellcannon fits together well.

Step 12 Step 13

Superglue the two pieces of the Daemon skull to the mouth of the barrel.

Superglue the barrel chains to the chassis uprights and the horns of the Daemon skull. Though it's difficult to drill into the small chains, pinning the chains to the skull's horns will make a much stronger join.

Step 14

Superglue the bitz with the skull design and the three spikes to the top of the uprights. Note that the lowest spikes should point away from the barrel. Make sure these pieces point straight up, and the top spikes are parallel. You may need to nudge these pieces into place as they dry.

Step 4

I highly recommend waiting to do any further assembly until all the pieces of your Hellcannon are painted. Go to Painting the Hellcannon for some suggestions on how to paint your Chaotic war machine. However, if you would like to assemble your entire Hellcannon before you paint it, continue on to Step 6.

Step 15

Step 5

If you painted your model before assembly, do a test fit without any glue to make sure that everything fits together well. If you've built up too much paint, you may need to file down a few areas. If everything fits fine, continue to Step 6.

You can't really glue the restraining chains to the model. Without a base, these pieces would fall off during handling and play. Thus, you have two options: leave these pieces loose and simply place them next to your model on the tabletop or build a scenic base for your Hellcannon and glue these restraining chains in place. For instructions on how to create a scenic base, click here.

Step 16

Step 6

Steps 6-8 are the trickiest of the entire assembly process, because you have to assemble the four largest pieces of the model at once. You'll be assembling the two large chassis pieces with the uprights and the quarter-circle of gears, the cannon barrel, and the front face plate with the large skull.

Clean and assemble your crewmen as you would any other infantry models. Superglue the models to their bases. Cover tops of the bases with white glue and dip the bases into sand (or base your models to match the rest of the models in your army).

Left - Apply superglue to the six places highlighted in the photograph.

Right - Attach the face plate and the barrel to the left chassis piece.

Full Disclosure. I didn't use exactly the same method to assemble my Hellcannon. To read about a few of the conversions and omissions I made either deliberately or unwittingly, click here.

Painting the Hellcannon

My primary goal in painting the Hellcannon was to emphasize the cool details on the barrel. The many faces and flames that adorn the Hellcannon seemed to me to be the visual center of the piece. As such, I would paint these areas in bright, flashy colors and the rest of the model in fairly dark or neutral shades. All the other Hellcannon models I've seen like the one on the box cover and the ones painted by Mark and Steve in the "Dueling Hellcannons" article in White Dwarf 294 look as though they're dedicated to Khorne or Chaos Undivided. As my Chaos army is an all-Tzeentch force, I wanted my Hellcannon to fit in with the colors of the Changer of Ways. As such, I chose to use purplish-pink colors to suggest the Violet Fire of Tzeentch instead of the more typical fiery reds and yellows. The purplish-pink would also match the color of my Horror models nicely. I also used blue tones as accent colors on my crewmen. These blue colors would match my Screamers and the cloaks of my Chaos Warriors. Thus, these colors befit the Great Schemer and the overall color scheme of my army. Try experimenting with the colors you use on your Hellcannon. I'd love to see, for instance, a Nurgle Hellcannon painted in greens, browns, and other rotten and putrescent colors.

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3

Prime all the components of your model with Chaos Black Spray.

Step 12

Highlight the Liche Purple areas with Warlock Purple. Make sure to leave some Liche Purple showing along the edges.

Paint any areas missed by the spray with watered-down Chaos Black.

Step 13

Do a heavy drybrush with Tin Bitz all over the chassis pieces, wheels, Daemon skull, and barrel frame. I decided to paint the large Daemon skull at the mouth of the barrel in metallic colors. However, many painters prefer to paint this skull in naturalistic bone colors. It's up to you.

Next, highlight with Warlock Purple with a little Skull White added. Make sure to leave some of the last coat showing along the edges. Add increasing amounts of Skull White to the mix for subsequent highlights.

Step 14

Apply a very thin wash of Purple Ink to all the purple areas. Use about a 4:1 mix of water to ink. This wash will make your highlights blend a little more subtly. Make sure to use very watered-down ink, or you'll destroy all your careful highlighting.

Step 4 Step 5

Lightly drybrush the Tin Bitz areas with a 1:1 mix of Tin Bitz and Boltgun Metal.

Step 15

Paint all the skulls with watered-down Skull White. Keep applying thinned highlights of Skull White until you are happy with the results. For the Tzeentchian Hellcannon, I like the effect of the white skulls with a purple basecoat. If you don't like this effect, you could certainly paint your skulls with a more traditional brown or black basecoat and highlight up to Bleached Bone or Skull White if you want to.

Pick out the gears, the pipes, the chains, the teeth in the Daemon skull, the spikes, the metal components on the wheels and chassis, the large skull on the front plate, and the machine parts at the back of the barrel piece with a 1:2 mix of Tin Bitz and Boltgun Metal.

Step 6 Step 7

Pick out those same areas with pure Boltgun Metal highlights and then pure Chainmail highlights.

Wash all the areas you painted in Steps 5 and 6 with thinned Brown Ink to give the metallic parts a slightly rusty appearance.

Step 8 Step 9

Highlight the metallic areas you worked on in Steps 5-7 with subtle amounts of thinned Mithril Silver.

Step 16

Paint the wooden slats on the largest pair of wheels with a basecoat of Scorched Brown.

Paint all the areas on and in the barrel and furnace that resemble faces or flames with Liche Purple. Paint the skull piles, the skulls that support the restraining chains, and the fleshy areas inside the largest pair of wheels in the same way.

Wash the Scorched Brown areas with Brown Ink.

Step 10 Step 11

Wash the Liche Purple areas with Purple Ink and allow the ink to dry thoroughly.

Step 17

In steps 11-13, you will build up highlights on the flames and faces. Resist the urge to drybrush these areas. The flames and faces are really the visual center of the model and will attract the eye. By highlighting these areas carefully, your model will seem cleaner and more detailed. Paint the faces and flames with Liche Purple. Make sure to leave some of the darker Purple Ink showing in the recesses.

Step 18 Step 19

Paint the wooden slats on the largest pair of wheels with a basecoat of Scorched Brown.

Once all your pieces are painted, allow everything to dry thoroughly before assembling your model. I recommend waiting at least 12 hours. Return to Step 5 of Assembling the Hellcannon for instructions on how to complete the assembly of the model.

Painting the Crew

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3

Prime your crewmen models with Chaos Black Spray.

Step 7

For the darker metal areas, basecoat with Tin Bitz and highlight with Boltgun Metal.

Paint any areas missed by the spray with watered-down Chaos Black.

I stole my Chaos flesh technique from Dave Taylor of the U.S. Promotions Department. Begin by painting all the flesh areas with a 1:1 mix of Liche Purple and Tanned Flesh.

Step 8

Step 4

Highlight the flesh areas with Tanned Flesh, then Dwarf Flesh, and then Elf Flesh. Make sure to leave a bit of the previous color showing as you apply each new highlight.

Basecoat the brown leather areas with Scorched Brown. Paint large, exaggerated highlights of Bestial Brown on the raised areas and the edges of the Scorched Brown areas. Tone down your exaggerated highlights with a wash of undiluted Brown Ink. This simple technique yields a convincing result that resembles polished brown leather. I use it often, because it's so simple and fun to do.

Step 9

Finally, paint the beards with a basecoat of Scorched Brown. Finish with subtle highlights of Graveyard Earth and Bleached Bone.

Step 5

Basecoat the straps, yokes, and other cloth areas with Regal Blue. Highlight with Ultramarines Blue, and then apply a second highlight with Ultramarines Blue with a little Skull White added. To tone down these highlights, wash the blue areas with very thinned-down Blue Ink (about 3:1 water:ink).

Step 10

Paint and finish your crew's bases to match those of your army and/or the scenic base you'll create for your Hellcannon. Here's my simple base-painting technique: basecoat of Bestial Brown, heavy coat of slightly thinned Brown Ink, heavy drybrush of Bestial Brown, medium drybrush of Bestial Brown mixed with Bleached Bone, and finally a very light drybrush of Bleached Bone.

Step 6

Basecoat the bright metal areas with Chainmail. Wash the areas with slightly thinned Blue Ink. Finally, apply Mithril Silver highlights.

Creating the Scenic Base

I decided to create a scenic base for this model, largely because of the restraining chains that attach to the wheels and chassis of the Hellcannon. Of course, one could simply set up these restraining chains directly on the games table next to the Hellcannon. However, because I didn't want to lose these small bitz and because a cool centerpiece model like the Hellcannon deserves some special treatment, I decided to make a scenic base. Although there are a number of ways to make a scenic base, you can use the following steps to create one much like mine.

Tools and Materials Needed

Pencil Circular Saw or Hand Saw Drill with Wide Drill Bit (about 5/16") Jigsaw or Coping Saw Medium-Sized File Palm Sander or Router (optional) Heavy-Duty Utility Knife Masonite Plasticard Superglue White Glue Sand and/or Other Basing Materials Chaos Black Spray Citadel Paints

Step 1

Spend some time positioning and repositioning your completed Hellcannon, crewmen, restraining chains, and skull piles into different arrangements until you find one you like. Transfer your arrangement onto a piece of 3/16" Masonite, and use a pencil to trace an outline of the bitz, most importantly the bases of the crewmen, directly onto the Masonite.

Step 8

Once the glue dries, cut off any excess plasticard so that the edges are flush with Masonite. Use your heavy-duty utility knife for this cut. The edge of the Masonite will serve as a cutting guide.

Step 9

Cover the top of your base with white glue and sprinkle sand on top of the glue. Be careful not to get any glue inside the areas where the crewmen will stand.

Step 2

Use a saw to cut out the piece of Masonite in any shape you like. I decided on a simple rectangle, but you could use an oval or irregular shape. Make sure to leave a border of at least 3/8" of Masonite around all parts of the models. A border this size will look nice and help to protect your model during handling, storage, and play. I used a circular saw to cut out my rectangular shape. A hand saw would work here too. Remember that power tools can be dangerous; if you are under 18 or are inexperienced in the use of power tools, ask for help from a knowledgeable adult.

Step 10 Step 11

When the glue dries, shake off any excess sand and prime your base with Chaos Black Spray.

When the primer dries, paint your base to match the rest of the models in your army. My base colors and techniques are as follows: basecoat with Bestial Brown, heavy coat of slightly thinned Brown Ink, heavy drybrush of Bestial Brown, medium drybrush of Bestial Brown mixed with Bleached Bone, and finally a very light drybrush of Bleached Bone.

Step 12

Superglue the Hellcannon, restraining chains, and skull piles in place. I positioned my skull piles next to one

Step 3

In steps 3-5, you'll cut out the holes in which the crewmen will stand. Start with a power drill with a wide bit and drill several holes all the way through the Masonite in the exact spots where the crewmen will stand. You could also use a hand drill for this step. You're drilling these holes so that you can fit your saw blade through the Masonite in the next step.

another toward the back of the Hellcannon and added a few leftover skulls from the Skeleton Regiment Sprue to make the two skull piles look like one big skull pile.

Step 4

Use a jigsaw to cut out the square areas where the crewmen will stand. Start by installing a thin, woodcutting blade into your jigsaw. Insert the blade into one of the holes you drilled and carefully cut out the square shape. You could also use a coping saw for this step. Repeat this process until all three areas are cut out.

As you can see, this arrangement suggests that the crewman with the shovel has been hard at work and has made a big dent in the skull pile over the course of the battle. Do not superglue the crew in place. The crew models should sit in the holes you cut in the Masonite and can be removed as the crew takes casualties during play.

Step 5

Clean up the holes you just cut with a medium-sized file (don't use a hobby file; it'll take forever). You might find that a large utility knife (the heavy-duty kind with a metal handle that holds retractable trapezoidal razor blades) will help you clean up the holes too. Keep a spare 20mm base on hand to check the fit as you file the holes. You want a pretty snug fit so that the scenic base will help hold your crewmen in place as you move the model.

Step 13

You may want to add a little white glue and sand near the bottom of the wheels, skull piles, and restraining chain bases to cover up any gaps between these bitz and your base. Paint the sand to match your base.

Step 6

Bevel the outside edges of your piece of Masonite. There are several ways you can do so. I used a palm sander. You could also use a file, sandpaper wrapped around a scrap block of wood, or a router. You could also simply cut out your Masonite base at an angle in Step 2.

Step 14

Attach static grass, flock, or whatever basing material you use on your army's bases. You can also add a few extra bitz to add character to your base.

Step 7

Superglue a piece of plasticard slightly larger than your Masonite base to the bottom of your base. The plasticard should overhang the base by a fraction of an inch. Hint. Apply the superglue to the bottom of the Masonite rather than the top of the plasticard to avoid getting unsightly lumps of dried glue in the spots where the crewmen will stand. These spots will be visible when casualties are removed. Make sure to cover the bottom of the Masonite completely with your superglue. Set the plasticard/Masonite assembly on a flat surface and put something heavy on top of it for several minutes while the superglue dries. I added a few extra skulls to make it look like a few had scattered from the pile as well as a single Chaos Warrior shield. I love the new Chaos Warrior shields. However, all the Chaos Warriors in my army have additional hand weapons. As such, I used the scenic base as an excuse to paint one of these cool bitz. Be careful not to overdo it at this stage. Too many doodads on your base can distract the eye from the Hellcannon itself. If you limit yourself to just a couple of extras and paint them in dark or neutral tones (like the extra skulls), you won't go wrong.

Step 15

Challenge a buddy to a game of Warhammer and use your Hellcannon to blast away at the Defenders of Middenheim and reduce them to pools of protoplasmic goo!

Mistakes (and Conversions) Were Made

You'll notice that the assembled Hellcannon shown here looks slightly different than the one I painted. There are two reasons for these differences. One, I did make some small deliberate conversions to my Hellcannon. Two, I assembled the parts of my Hellcannon weeks before I ever saw a picture of a completed one. As such, there was a lot of guesswork in how I assembled my Hellcannon and thus a few mistakes as well. Some of them turned out to be happy accidents; others were of little consequence. I note a few of the changes I made below.

Barrel Chains
I left off the chains that run from the two upright posts of the chassis to the Daemon's skull at the mouth of the barrel. This was a mistake. When I first received the bitz for the Hellcannon, I assumed that those chains were largely decorative, like the extra chains on the 40K Chaos Vehicle Accessory Sprue, and thus left them off. I didn't realize they served the practical function of adjusting the barrel's elevation. If anyone asks, I'll just say that the Chaos Dwarf servants of Tzeentch came up with some cunning internal mechanism instead.

Furnace Doors
I deliberately left the stoke hole doors off of the back of the Hellcannon. The skull design on the doors looked too Khornate for my tastes, and so I left the hatches off. I also clipped off the door hinges and filed those areas smooth.

Wheels
There should be four pairs of wheels on the Hellcannon model. I mistakenly left off the second smallest set of wheels. At first, I thought they were an optional replacement for the second largest set of wheels. I think my model looks fine as it is, because with a normally assembled model, one can barely see the set of wheels that I left off. If you want to do a Slaanesh Hellcannon, six wheels would be perfect, as six is the sacred number of the Dark Prince. Tzeentch's number is nine, which like my number of wheels, is a multiple of three - so it kind of works. Okay, I'm stretching things. It was a snafu, pure and simple.

Chaos Stars
I left the large Chaos Stars off of the largest pair of wheels. This omission was deliberate. I liked the details inside the large wheels so much that I didn't want to cover them up with the big Chaos symbols. The Chaos stars are also fantastic bitz that I'm sure I'll use for a standard or some other conversion at a later time.

Restraining Chains

Because I left the Chaos star hubcaps off of the large wheels, I decided to attach the side restraining chains to the front of the Hellcannon chassis instead. This decision required me to file off the two rings that hang from the front ends of the chassis and attach my restraining chains to the single loops that remain.

Crewman with Pliers

I initially made a mistake when cleaning my crewmen. I thought the flames coming off the skull held by the Chaos Dwarf with the pliers were flash and immediately set about filing them down. About halfway through, I realized that I was filing down flames. I covered up my blunder by building up some exaggerated, serpentine flames to replace what I'd filed off.

SUMMONING THE MERWYRM

How to Build a Creature from the Briny Deep

With the Storm of Chaos unleashing its full fury across the nation this summer, many a High Elf player is looking to construct a Merwyrm for his High Elf Sea Patrol army. The mention of this fearsome creature in the new Storm of Chaos army list has sparked several conversions. My interpretation revolved around the classic wyrm, a kind of sea-serpent. In addition, the Mer part of the name brought to mind the mythical mermaids, who have arms but no legs only a fishy tail. Soon I had a concept in mind: a sea-serpent with armsbig, muscular arms with clawed hands (which would also help explain the creatures 5 S5 Attacks!). Below you'll find a step-by-step look at how I took this concept and made it into a conversion.

BITZ
Name Chariot Base Chaos Dragon Head 1 Chaos Dragon Horns Black Dragon Tail Black Dragon Left Hand Black Dragon Right Arm Dragon Limbs Sprue Harpy Wings 1 Harpy Wings 2 (2 sets) Black Dragon Belly Black Dragon Tail Orc Wyvern Body & Head Part Number 99379999030 020103005 020103007 021203313 021203312 021203311 99389999077 021204805 021204806 021200112 021200105 020911907 TOTAL $2 $6.50 $3 $6 $3 $5 $9 $2 $4 $6.50 $5.25 $6 $58.25 Price Pin Vise Files Super glue Green Stuff Pins Name Modeling Tool

TOOLS
Part Number 66-10 66-05 66-06 66-01 66-13 paper clips work well

Purchase this Conversion Kit:

Purchase these Tools here.

STEPS

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3

Pin and attach the Black Dragon Belly to the Orc Wyvern Body & Head.

Pin and attach the Black Dragon Tail to the Black Dragon Belly (make sure to get the head and tail on the correct sides). If you want, you can take this opportunity to use some pliers to carefully bend the Black Dragon Tail to one side or the other of the body. The Black Dragon Tail looks much more natural angled slightly to the left or right from the bodys center.

Clip off all the spikes on the back and file them down to look as similar as possible to the scales on the Wyverns back.

Step 4 Step 5 Step 6 Step 7 Step 8 Step 9 Step 10 Step 11 Step 12 Step 13 Step 14

Clip off the tip of the old Black Dragon Tail and the tip of the new Black Dragon Tail (the fin one), then pin the fin to the end of the old Black Dragon Tail.

Use some green stuff to help fill in the shoulders of the Wyvern when you put in the Dragon Limbs arm and the Black Dragon Right Arm.

Attach the Black Dragon Left Hand to the end of the plastic Dragon Limb. Take the Harpy Wings and place them together, with the concave portions facing each other. Trim the wings down until they match evenly. Glue the wings together in this pattern and fill the interior space with green stuff. Now, you should have two different, shark-like dorsal fins. Place the tallest of the two fins across the join on the back where the Wyvern body and Black Dragon Belly meet. Place the shorter of the two fins similarly across the join where the Black Dragon Belly and Black Dragon Tail meet. Use the additional Harpy Wings as extra fins for the areas on either side of the Black Dragon Belly where the legs normally go. Fill the majority of the empty space with green stuff until you have reached a thickness appropriate for the midsection of the Merwyrm. (For fins, you could also use the plastic fins from the Dragon Body Sprue (99389999075) instead of the second set of Harpy Wings.) Use green stuff to help fill in the gaps between the Wyvern body and the Black Dragon Belly, as well as the join between the Black Dragon Belly and Black Dragon Tail.

Clip the horns from the Dragons head found on the Dragon Limbs Sprue and place them where the Wyverns horns normally go just next to the eyes. Make sure to aim the horns backwards towards the tail where they form a slight downward arch. Now comes the tricky part. Clip off the fins from the Chaos Dragon Head. Take these fins and attach them to the horns from the Dragon Limbs Sprue. Make sure to get the angle just right remember that with green stuff, you have a little time to maneuver before it sets. Take your modeling tool and make sure to sculpt lines in the green stuff connecting the fin to the face so that the fins seem to be growing out of the sides of the Wyverns head.

Clip off the fins from the Chaos Dragon Horns. Take the fins and use green stuff to place the fins on the Wyverns shoulders just above the arms.

Take small pieces of green stuff and mold them into small disks. These disks look very similar to the scales on the Merwyrms back, so place them around the arms and the side fins in order to make those areas look more like the scaly plates on the back. Once the disks are in place, let them set, and you will soon have some pretty convincing-looking scales! You can even go a step further and sculpt the disks in the same general shape as the scales if you like. Mount the Merwyrm on the Chariot Base. Paint and base the model as you see fit. If you want to get that nifty water look, brush on some Envirotex Lite furniture polish resin on the base. However, make sure you follow the directions on this product (especially the ventilation part) for your own safety!

Step 15

Drink your beverage of choice and celebrateyoure done converting!

For more great conversion ideas, bitz deals, scenarios, and more, check out Troll, the monthly mail order magazine that comes free with your US White Dwarf subscription.

This Merwyrm conversion is featured in Troll 77.

Cool Orc/Ork Conversions

Lastly, here is a wide variety of greenskin conversions to inspire your efforts. Enjoy!

Ork Warboss by Douglas Waltman

Ork Wartrakk by Darin Brown

Orc Warlord by Ronnie Reyes

Ork Nob by Darin Brown

Ork Big Mek by Andrew Cromwell

Kommissar Yarsnikk by Benjamin Hardy

Looted Rhino by Darin Brown

Guntrukk by Paul Carrick

Orc Warlord by David Garcia

Orc Warlord by Francisco Linares

Orc Warlord by Jakob Nielsen

Orc Warlord on Boar by Adrian Wink

Space Marine Battle-Damaged Armor

By Ty Finocchiaro, Bryan Barnes, Stuart Spengler, Dave Taylor, and Rick Smith with special guest David Crosbie The warriors of the Adeptus Astartes can take an astounding amount of punishment and continue to fight the vile enemies of the Imperium. Their superhuman abilities are well known. They are capable of spitting a horrific venom, capturing the thoughts of the dead by eating the flesh of the fallen, and escaping the effects of sleep deprivation by switching off half of their brains. However, it's their near-indestructible armor that truly sets the Imperium's best fighters apart from the multitudes that take up arms for the Emperor. Due to the numerous implants the Space Marines possess, they are able to treat this powerful and heavy armor as if it were an extension of their skins. This armor turns a Space Marine into a walking tank (in fact, the tanks of the Imperium are made of the same material as a suit of power armor), capable of deflecting most blades and projectiles while enhancing the wearer's supernatural strength. Still, there are things in the galaxy that even mighty power armor cannot stand against. Read on to discover a handful of ways to model battle-damaged Space Marine armor.

Space Marine Battle-Damaged Armor: Combat Damage

The Space Marine conversions shown below illustrate how to add battle damage to your models. This page covers all sorts of damage, from projectile weapons and close-combat wounds to damage inflicted from an alien creature's death throes, and those repairs that are made to keep the Space Marines in the fight.

Claw (or Melee Weapon) Marks by Ty Finocchiaro

There are some aliens that can penetrate the massive ceramite plates of powered armor that Space Marines wear into battle. The alien menace knows as the Tyranids are one such xenos species. Their scything talons and lethal claws resemble power weapons in their ability to slice through the thickest armor. How It Was Done Use an X-Acto knife to cut deep grooves into the plastic. To make the gouged mark deeper or wider, make repeated passes with the knife but keep to the same path. To make the claw marks more convincing, make sure they travel in the same direction.

Bolter Shell Impact Craters by Rick Smith

Rick, inspired by the art of Kev Walker (at the bottom of the page), created this Space Marine that has been the target of quite a bit of bolter fire. Power armor in this state can really give your army the look of being on an extended campaign where repairs have to be postponed. Bolters fire self-propelled, armor-piercing, mass-reactive explosive missiles called bolts. These detonate a split second after penetrating a target, blasting it apart from within. With this in mind, I added the massive craters in the Space Marine's shoulder pad, power fist, chest eagle, and leg.

How It Was Done Before assembling the Space Marine, you need to add the craters. Start a bolter shell crater with the large pin vise drill bit. Then, take an X-Acto knife to bevel the sharp edge of the hole down to a 45-degree angle. Beveling can be done by carving a circular path along the hole edge, gradually working your way down to the correct angle. For the shoulder pads, drill all the way through the pad. Now, bevel as described above.

Improvised Armor - Orc by Dave Taylor

I wanted the Space Marines to look as if they had to repair their armor on the fly while they also took some small measure of revenge on the aliens who dared to damage them in the first place. How It Was Done Assemble the Space Marine as normal but gouge out damage in the areas that will receive the extra plating. Next, cut out small rectangles of plasticard and "weather" it with an X-Acto blade. Cut out thinner plasticard for the teeth on the Space Marine's new chestplate. Bend and glue the plasticard plates to the Space Marine with superglue. Once the glue has dried, drill holes into the plates and insert brass nails (available at HobbyTown USA) to finish the improvised look.

This Space Marine scavenged his "new" armor plates from the battlefield. Not only are these plates added to protect the Space Marine during the ongoing campaign, but the use of the Ork Choppa and the Ork icon on his chest are attempts at psychological warfare. The Ork glyph is Grim, which means tough or nasty, and is often used by Ork Nobz. This Space Marine now has the momentary mental edge over any regular Boyz he will face.

Improvised Armor by Dave Taylor

With his armor deeply scarred by acidic blood, this Space Marine has torn the heads off two Tyranid Rippers and the armored plates from some larger Tyranid creature to affect repairs. He has hastily bolted on these new armor plates onto his existing power armor to protect himself on his weakened flank. This conversion could also work well for Ordo Xenos Kill Teams, Ultramarine squads that have faced the Tyranid onslaught and survived, trophies and totems, or possibly a very barbaric Space Marine Chapter of your own devising. How It Was Done First, use a pin vise to add pock marks as described in the Tyranid Bio-Acid Space Marine section below.

Next, apply green stuff to create torn strips of flesh that will be covered by the chitinous plates. Press the Tyranid plastics onto the green stuff before it dries or wait until it dries and glue them on with superglue.

Use a pin vise to drill holes into the Tyranid plates and insert brass nails (available at HobbyTown USA) into the holes.

Improvised Weapon by Rick Smith

The ferocity of battle does not allow the Space Marines a lot of time to make repairs to their power armor. This Space Wolf has taken it upon himself to make his limb combat-ready once more. Many Space Marines, when in desperate situations or far from friend and battle barge, fall back on more primitive ways of bringing death to the enemy especially when they are wounded in some manner. How It Was Done Assemble a Space Wolf Grey Hunters Sergeant as normal, except for the arms. Cut the right arm with an X-Acto knife above the elbow pad, pin it, and reassemble it so that it is bent more to the right. Now for the left arm.

Cut off the hand from the Space Wolf power sword arm and drill out a hole in the stump with a large drill bit. Cut the blade of the power sword from the hilt and "fracture" it with an X-Acto blade.

Shave off the power conduit on one side of the sword and glue the blade to the remainder of the Space Marine's arm. Wrap a "worm" of green stuff around the arm and sword. Flatten the green stuff with the flat of the sculpting tool and then use the blade of the sculpting tool to create lines so it looks like a strap or rope (make sure you keep the sculpting tool wet...unless you want to attach it to the model).

Don't Worry, Call the Techmarine Man by Stuart Spengler

Stuart created a Space Marine that has some sort of Techmarine-developed prosthetics and equipment to repair a hearty dose of battle damage. "The idea I went for is kind of like Mega Man. These Space Marines are wearing some burly armor, so why aren't their guns just part of the armor?" Because...because...the Emperor said so! How It Was Done Assemble a plastic Space Marine as normal, but remove the right hand at the wrist. Leave off the plastic Space Marine backpack. Attach a plastic Chaos Plasma Gun in place of the hand and glue a Skaven Poison Wind Globadier Backpack to the Space Marine's back. Add the Steam Tank Vent bit to the top of the backpack to finish this powerplant off. Use guitar wire to create cables that run from the Space Marine's backpack to the Plasma Gun arm.

Finally, use the helmeted head from the Space Marine Vehicle Accessory sprue to "tech-up" the overall appearance of this Space Marine conversion.

Tyranid Bio-Acid by Rick Smith

When fighting a Hive Fleet, it goes without saying that those battling the Tyranids will be up against all manner of biological horrors. Some mutant swarms have a powerful, corrosive bio-acid instead of normal circulatory ichor. When wounded, these Tyranids can injure those individuals unlucky enough to be nearby. The larger the genus, the stronger the acid. This Space Marine has been hit by a gout of acid most likely from a mortal wound he inflicted on his enemy. This conversion for Tyranid bio-acid could also work for caustic environments such as planets whose atmosphere has a high acid content.

How It Was Done Use a pin vise and drill bits of varying diameter to drill out pock marks in the armor. Keep the holes shallow and pick a "splash-zone" and keep your marks in that area of the Space Marine's armor.

For really small acid burns, stick a fabric pin into the plastic and twist it around in a circular motion. Just make sure you watch your fingers!

Damaged Powerplant by Dave Taylor

The next two conversions were very straightforward and represent something you might see if a Techmarine was a part of the strike force that these two Space Marines were a part of. Care has obviously been taken to reconnect essential components to the power armor much like the other case shown below where the backpack has been temporarily welded to the legs of the Space Marine. These are easy conversions to accomplish with only minor cutting and drilling required.

How It Was Done Assemble the Space Marine sans backpack. Position the left arm with a backwards swing and cut the first segments off of his fingers to show him curling his fingers around the backpack.

Use an X-Acto knife to hack and carve up the backpack so it appears damaged. Glue the broken backpack to the fingers of the Space Marine. Use guitar wire and plastic-coated wires to link the backpack to the back of the power armor. Use green stuff to cover up the hole in the backpack and use varying lengths of wire to dangle out of the broken backpack.

Damaged Powerplant by Dave Taylor

This Space Marine has been repaired in a more permanent manner. Techmarines have applied a sanctioned field-repair to this Space Marine's backpack by welding the damaged thermal waste distributors to the legs of this warrior. How It Was Done Assemble the Space Marine model as normal, but leave off the backpack so that it can be converted more easily. Use an X-Acto knife to cut the top portion of the backpack free from the bottom half. Cut the top portion of the backpack in half and glue one half to each leg. Use small, thin strips of green stuff to create welds for the jury-rigged distributors.

Use a pin vise to drill holes into the piece of the backpack to hold the wires. Use superglue to attach the plastic-coated wire to the holes in the backpack. Do the same for the distributor casings.

Space Marine Battle-Damaged Armor: Environment

The Space Marine conversions on this page represent some of the ways that extreme environments can damage the protective armor of the Imperium's best fighters. You may have noticed that there are fewer environment-driven conversions than there were on the combat damage page. This lack isn't because we were short on ideas. No, the fact is that the very nature of power armor allows its occupant to survive in the harshest conditions even the frozen void of space. Still, we were able to think of a few.

Explosive Decompression by Bryan Barnes

A Space Marine's power armor is sealed against vacuum, but the air inside can decompress explosively if the seals are compromised. They can break when put through the extreme forces involved in combat like a bolter shell to the chest. Though a Space Marine can go without air for some time (courtesy of his various genetically altered implants), explosive decompression will still inflict considerable trauma if he accidentally holds his breath. How It Was Done Assemble a normal Space Marine model, but substitute an Assault Marine's legs and a Space Marine Biker's left arm. Arch the back to suggest internal bursting and other trauma. Position the arms to look like they are flailing in reaction to the decompression. Cut out a small piece of plasticard to fit the top of a 25-mm round base. Use a pin vise and a woodcarving tool with a V-gouge to create the deck plating. Drill a hole in the Space Marine's foot and a corresponding hole in the base. Use superglue to glue a paper clip piece to hold the model in space as if it had just floated off the deck of a battlecruiser.

Add the air jets last. Pick three seals on the Space Marine's armor that look like good candidates for failure. Use a pin vise to make a shallow hole in each of these locations.

Clip out three 1/2"-long pieces of paper clip and add green stuff to each. Use your fingers to shape the putty into an ice-cream-cone shape but leave plenty of metal sticking out of the bottom of the putty. Use a sculpting tool to make shallow lines going up while "plucking" the putty into little fingers of gas. Let these dry overnight and then clip them down to size before gluing them into the holes in the Space Marine.

Fungal Infestation by Rick Smith

Some planets hold life forms that are so persistent and pervasive that even Space Marine Chapters are ill-prepared for combat in these places. What if a planet's flora, spurred by some type of celestial phenomenon, grew at a highly accelerated rate? A world covered by fungi, molds, and bacterial slimes would prove an interesting battlefield. Especially when they are growing so fast that to stand still is to become a petri dish. How It Was Done Assemble the Space Marine in a hunched position. Cut off one or both of the exhaust ports. Leave off one shoulder pad. Spread large blobs of green stuff over portions of the model, especially the back of the Space Marine and any gaps that resulted from assembling the model in a stooped posture.

Use a sculpting knife and pin to add detail to the putty (make sure to keep your tools wet to prevent the putty from sticking to the tool). Roll the green stuff into small balls of varying size and apply these to the putty that already covers the Space Marine. Roll more small putty balls and then flatten them on a thin piece of paper (the blobs should be slightly rounded since they're going to be mushroom caps). Allow these to set and then cut them free from the paper to form mushroom caps. Use a thin paperclip for the mushroom stalks. Use a pin vise to drill holes into the Space Marine and then insert the paperclip stalks into place with a drop of superglue. Put a drop of superglue on the tip of the exposed paperclip for the mushroom cap.

Crystalline Infestation by Rick Smith

As slight twist on the fungi-covered Space Marine shown above, we included this Space Marine that has become encrusted by annoying, rapidly forming crystalline growths. This conversion was a really simple one to complete as all you really need are special pieces of plastic rod and your trusty X-Acto knife. How It Was Done Cut each side of a hexagonal plastic rod (Plastruct brand available at HobbyTown USA) at a 45-degree angle. These cuts form the point of your crystal. Next, cut the plastic rod to a desired length.

Dip the flat end of the crystal in superglue and press it to the Space Marine's shoulder pad or other somewhat-flat surface. If you wish to glue a crystal to a round surface, carve the flat end with an X-Acto knife so it's concave.

Caustic Environment by Rick Smith

Some planetary atmospheres are so brutal and unforgiving that even a Space Marine's protective armor can't stand up to the harsh elements of such an environment. Worlds with acid-vapor clouds are known even in the Solar System the galaxy must be littered with similar planets. These clouds and other harsh chemicals could eventually pit and dissolve even power armor blessed with the strongest holy unguents applied by the Chapter's Techpriests. This conversion for caustic environments could also work for Tyranid bio-acid, as these xenos sometimes have a powerful corrosive agent instead of normal blood.

How It Was Done Use a pin vise and drill bits of varying diameter to drill out pock marks in the armor. Keep the holes shallow and pick a "splash-zone" and keep your marks in that area of the Space Marine's armor.

For really small acid burns, stick a fabric pin into the plastic and twist it around in a circular motion. Just make sure you watch your fingers!

David Crosbie's Imperial Guard Casualties

These heavily converted dead (or dying) Imperial Guardsmen were too good to pass up on for this article. Hopefully these awesome Guardsmen will give you a few ideas for converting their Adeptus Astartes relatives. David brought these great models to Baltimore Games Day 2004. Rumor has it that he painted them as a birthday present for his friend and fellow gamer to deploy as casualty markers for his friend's Imperial Guard force. Do these guys say "Happy Birthday" or what?

Severed Arm

Flamer Malfunction

Shown larger than actual size. Click on image areas to see details.

Shown larger than actual size. Click on image areas to see details.

Yelling over the pain of his grievous wound, this sergeant commands his troops to advance!

Immolated by his own weapon, this Guardsmen is consumed by flames.

Plasma Gun Melt Down

Shot in the Gut

Shown larger than actual size. Click on image areas to see details.

Shown larger than actual size. Click on image areas to see details.

So this is what happens when a plasma weapon overheats! Would Space Marines fare any better? You decide.

This Apothecary has been laid low by a shot to the belly. Who does a medic call for when he's bleeding out?

Secrets of Survival in the Underhive Necromunda is home to teeming millions upon millions of Imperial citizens, most living and dying without ever leaving the steel walls of the planet's massive cities known as hives. The upper levels of Hive Primus are known as the Spire, where the rich and powerful enjoy relative comfort and lord over their servants and slaves, while the lower classes toil in the industrial depths below. Even deeper within the hive, lawless regions exist where gangs rule the polluted wastes and control every resource, no matter how meager. Fresh air and drinkable water are traded like gold, and a man's life is worth only as much as his enemies can afford. Bounty hunters, criminals, mutants, heretics, and worse make the underhive slums their home and eke out a wretched existence within the ruin. This gritty place is the setting for your games of Necromunda, so pay attention! Keeping your gangers alive long enough to win riches, fame, and glory will take more than just luck you'll have to keep your wits about you in the depths of the nightmare undercity. To explore the tactics of Necromunda thoroughly,each gang, scenario, skill, and piece of equipment would have to be analyzed for strengths, weaknesses, and possible combinations. Unfortunately, this article cannot go into quite that much depth therefore, what you will find below is a general overview of tactics any Necromunda player can benefit from. Most Necromunda veterans will find very little here that they did not already know, but it never hurts to look over the basics from time to time! Safety in Numbers Generally speaking, there are many advantages to a larger gang over a smaller one. Larger gangs tend to work better for me, as not every ganger is going to survive every shootout. A bigger gang doesn't make money as fast and isn't as well-equipped as a smaller gang, but is more flexible and gives you the opportunity to recover from setbacks much more quickly. In addition, a gang that is oriented towards hand-to-hand combat will benefit from numbers. Arm your gangers with pistols, chainswords, and other close combat weapons, then send them out in packs to hunt down enemy gangers by teaming up on the poor sods! Larger gangs can also afford to suffer more casualties before they have to Bottle out! Bottling out is not always bad, as you'll see below, but a good Necromunda player wants to have control over when he Bottles out as opposed to failing a check and Bottling out when victory is still within his grasp. Bottle tests must be taken when 25% or more of your gang is down or out of action. For example, a gang of nine models would begin taking Bottle tests when three of its members are down or out of action, while a gang with 12 models would not have to take tests until four gangers had succumbed to enemy fire. One more advantage a larger gang possesses is the ability to sustain a wide variety of skills. Large gangs will have more gangers that gain Skill Advances, and more Skill Advances means that a wide variety of categories can be chosen from. While I am not suggesting that a large gang lacks focus, it is rather nice to be able to set aside a ganger's Skill Advance for a Techno skill rather than a roll on the Combat or Shooting lists. In a Necromunda campaign, a variety of skills will help your gang adapt and survive better in the long run than a gang entirely oriented towards one or two particular skill lists.

Gear up A gang can live or die depending on the weapons and equipment it can steal, purchase, or scavenge in the underhive. Often, the equipment a gang carries is a way in which it is identified, a badge of its allegiance or affiliation as much as the means by which the gang is able to thrive and grow. Over the course of my history with Necromunda, I've identified a few items for which I have a particular fondness. Lasweapons are extremely reliable for a beginning gang. Not only do they fire just as well as an autoweapon, lasweapons only fail an ammo check on a D6 result of 1. While there are some minor advantages to autoweapons, for my money, the lasweapons are much more reliable and will keep firing long after most autoguns and autopistols have jammed or run out of bullets. The humble shotgun is also an extremely valuable item to most beginning gangs. The shotgun suffers from a shorter range than other basic weapons and only has an average ammo roll (4+). However, the shotgun offers a gang unparalleled versatility with its ability to fire up to four different kinds of ammunition! Shotguns can fire the solid slug which hits harder than any lasgun or autogun, the scatter shot which can hit more than one target (as long as both are close together), or the dreaded longrange bolt round which turns the shotgun into something very similar to a boltgun! However, my favorite special ammo for the shotgun has to be the manstopper round, which possesses all the power of a solid slug shell with a bonus 2 save modifier. The manstopper rounds are also, next to the bolt round, the most accurate of the shotgun shells, suffering no penalties at long or short range. One final advantage to the shotgun is that any opponent hit by a shotgun blast has a better chance of falling off a walkway or ledge! Considering the high cost of heavy and special weapons, you should probably consider equipping your Heavies with at least one heavy weapon from the start. The heavy weapon will come in very handy against other gangs and especially if you encounter The Raid scenario several times at the beginning of your career! Given the amount of cover on the average Necromunda table, you want to be able to move around in order to take advantage of that cover while you advance, which means you want to carefully think things over before taking a heavy or special weapon that can only be fired when standing still. Having said that, successful gangs usually have some heavy and special weapons, so pick some good ones. I like the heavy stubber since its cheap, is reasonably easy to find ammo for, and packs a punch. I also like plasma weapons for when you need to take out something tough or attack a piece of equipment in Hit and Run or Raid scenarios. Of course, if you want, there's nothing stopping you from taking some truly terrifying firepower in the form of the lascannon or missile launcher! From time to time, I like to mix things up and try something I havent tried before so the next gang I play will have a heavy bolter, simply because I havent used that one yet. Many things in Necromunda are beyond a players control. You cant predict which territories youll get, for example, nor will you be able to determine how many gangers that have to roll on the serious injuries chart will survive. However, what you can do is take steps to tilt the odds in your favor. For example, keep your gangers searching for a bio-booster at the trading post. This handy piece of equipment can keep your gangers from succumbing to their wounds, meaning youll keep them on your gang roster longer! Other important pieces of equipment include the isotropic fuel rod, which is very useful for turning a low-value territory like Slag or Old Ruins into a thriving Settlement! Also, you can easily pick up the commonly available and cheap clip harness (at only 10 credits each) to keep your gangers a little more safe if they often go climbing around on the towers and bridges.

Know Your Role, Know Your Goal A gangs role is defined by what the gang is really good at. For example, its easy to focus your gang on either shooting or hand-to-hand combat. Some gangs do better at one than the other. For example, Goliaths tend to be better at hand-to-hand, while Van Saar gangs are typically better at shooting. However, the role of your gang will evolve as your gang roster expands and changes with time. You may find that your originally shooty gang is much better suited to stealthy sneak-up-and-whack-'em actions, or that your hand-to-hand gangers have developed a proficiency for sniping from afar. Sometimes a single gang can field more than one group with different specialties say, three or four gangers who do well at hand-tohand fighting and another group of five that excels at long-ranged firepower. The key here is to play to your gangs strengths! First, you need to identify what your gangers do well. Go over your gang roster before each game and set aside the models representing each ganger into groups. This way, you know whos a shooter, whos better at fighting hand-to-hand, whos got Stealth skills, and so forth. Plus, going over your gang roster a couple of times before each game will help ensure that you dont forget any vital information in the heat of battle! Once youve figured out where your gangs role lies, try and maximize your advantages in that area. For shooty groups, make sure you have decent firing arcs and positions where you can see over cover. For hand-to-hand fighters, find a way to move up to engage the enemy without getting shot up. For stealthy types, look for good places you can hide and ambush the enemy, and so forth. After identifying your gangs role, figure out your gangs goals. Every time I play Necromunda, I have a short-term goal and a long-term goal for my gang. Its important to keep these goals in mind as you play determining what you need to do to achieve these goals and acting on that is how your gang can grow to dominate the underhive! A short-term goal is something your gang needs or wants as soon as possible in order to keep fighting. Some examples of short-term goals include replacing a captured or killed ganger, gaining enough experience for another advance, or earning enough credits to pick up a hired gun. The long-term goal is a little different. In the long term, all gangs want to succeed and survive, but when I say long-term goal in the terms of a campaign, I mean that a player should be thinking about where he wants his gang to develop over the course of more than just one game. Long-term goals should be focused on benefits that will continue to accrue throughout the campaign. Some long-term goals include saving up enough credits to purchase a special or heavy weapon at the trading post, getting all your Juves enough experience to become gangers, or finding a way to turn a low-value piece of territory into something worthwhile. Know When to Walk Away Knowing when to Bottle out is, in my opinion, of vital importance. No Gang Leader wants to admit that he is beaten, and no Gang Leader likes to run away from his rivals but there are times when you just dont have any choice and times when theres nothing else you can do to save your gang from disaster. Consider your goals (outlined in the section above). Calculate how many gangers you need in order to achieve those goals. Now you have determined your acceptable losses. Once a number of gangers have gone out of action that come close to or meet that limit, its time pull out and cut your losses. After all, youll still get your chance to achieve your goals after the scenario is over when you are adding up experience, searching for rare items, or collecting your income. Bottling out before you exceed your casualty limit ensures that you dont end up losing more men and materials than you can afford. Many stubborn Gang Leaders unnecessarily stick it out to the bitter end, ending up with heavy losses in both personnel and ready cash. Dont be one of these foolhardy Gang Leaders!

Prioritize What takes place after the game is almost as important as the game itself. I am, of course, speaking of collecting income, adding experience, rolling for serious injuries, and searching for rare items at the trading post. Each of these parts of the game brings its own risks and rewards, and knowing how to navigate through these complicated charts can send your gang to the top or keep them sliding towards the bottom. Many comments have already been made in the sections above, so try to keep them in mind when you finish a game and begin working with these concepts! During a Necromunda campaign, I believe it is crucial to keep ones priorities straight. What I mean is, winning the campaign is more important than winning the scenario. Winning the scenario is more important than taking out the other gang. When you are attacking the other gang, go for its Heavies, its leader, and its gangers dont worry about the Juves or hired guns. The point of this prioritizing is to maximize your ability to win the campaign while at the same time attack your opponents ability to survive and recover from each scenario. First, you want to remember that a campaign is won mostly by what happens after the game in the rare items, skills, or injuries your gang accrues. You can boost your credits and your experience by winning the scenario, so always read the scenario carefully to determine what you need to do to win. Victory is not always gained by wiping out the enemy gang! If you are lucky enough to kill some of your opponents gangers, you remove his ability to collect income from his territories. Slaying his Heavies is an even harder hit, taking out an expensive model and any expensive equipment the model was carrying. Taking down the enemy leader will usually reduce his ability to make Bottle checks and will also remove an expensive model. Just remember that a smart opponent will be trying to return the favor! So, why ignore the Juves and hired guns? The answer is simple Juves and hired guns cost credits to upkeep and contribute very little to the gangs overall success. Of course, once those Juves become gangers, theyre fair game! And, from time to time, I have been known to target a particularly annoying hired gun, but only on occasion (don't go overboard). Wrapping up In conclusion, Ill simply say that following these ideas arent a sure path to victory theres just no accounting for bad luck! However, this article should help give you a leg up on the average. As a general note, Ive found that giving each model in your gang a name is lucky its the "Ganger #6" type that I most often see taking the hits. I suppose the one final caution I have for you is to always keep your eyes open nothings worse than being surprised by the model you didnt see sneaking around the back of the water tower!

Painting a Doomseeker
No Slayer army worth its salt would venture into the Chaos wastes without a few of these maniacs in tow. While Doomseekers might be a bit expensive, the damage that they can do to the opponent's army will more than balance out the cost. Not only are they powerful in battle, but Doomseekers are quite fun to paint! 1 Prime the model with Chaos Black Spray Primer and, when dry, paint the base Scorched Brown (whatever paint scheme you have for the base, you should start
it now). At this point, you can drybrush the entire model with Scorched Brown to bring out the highlights if you like. As it is far easier to hide a bit of slopped Elf Flesh on metal than it is to hide Mithril Silver slopped on Elf Flesh, work with the metals first. Paint all the chains and weapon blades Chainmail (or Boltgun Metal). Apply Shining Gold to the bracers, rings, chains, and decorations. Clean up any mistakes (metal on the hair or body) with Chaos Black or Scorched Brown.

2 Continue to work with the metals. Apply a watered-down Black Ink (or Brown Ink or a mix of the two) wash on all the Chainmail and Shining Gold areas. This

stage is time intensive carefully paint every individual chain link with Chainmail. Be careful to avoid the gaps between links where the black ink had settled or you'll have to go back and clean it up. Once this is done, carefully apply Mithril Silver to the top of the chain links whose edges face outwards. Apply Chainmail to the high spots of the weapons and Shining Gold to the high spots of the bracers, rings, and decorations. Finish all the metals by touching up the blades of the weapons with Mithril Silver and the corner and highest spots of the jewelry with Burnished Gold. Give the base a drybrush of Bestial Brown (or whatever comes next for your base) and then take a breather.

3 Now that the metals are done, clean up any slop with Scorched Brown. Drybrush the base with Vermin Brown and then very lightly with Bleached Bone (work in

Snakebite Leather if you want the base is really up to you). Once this is done, carefully paint the boots Chaos Black. Apply a base coat of Scorched Brown to the pants (or don't if your drybrush was thick enough) and paint all of the exposed skin with Dark Flesh. A couple of coats of carefully applied Blazing Orange on the hair and beard will put you on the home stretch.

4 Apple a watered-down Chestnut Ink wash to the hair and beard to add shadow between the strands. Next, lightly drybrush Fiery Orange on the easily accessible

parts of the hair and beard. The parts of the hair and beard that are too close to other parts of the model will have to be painstakingly painted with a steady hand and a detailed brush you can do it if you take your time. Check to see if the drybrushed areas need a few coats of Fiery Orange and carefully apply them if they do. Once the hair is done, apply a few coats of slightly watered-down Dwarf Flesh to all of the exposed body parts. Leave the Dark Flesh in the nooks and crannies, though.

5 Time for details! Highlight the boots with Codex Grey. Do the same on the pants with a lighter shade (or shades) of brown. Carefully apply Elf Flesh to the

heightened features of the flesh like the nose, ears, muscles, and cheeks. After the flesh is done, the body rings might need to be touched up. Apply Scorched Brown under the rings for a shadow effect and reapply Burnished Gold to the metal. Paint slightly watered-down Skull White on the teeth and the eyes. Use barely any paint in favor of multiple passes to avoid huge mistakes. Once the sclera (white of the eye) is to your liking, dot your eyes with Chaos Black (or a dark color of your choice). If your Doomseeker has gems on his belt, bracers, or weapons, check out this step-by-step painting article for info on how to do these fine details. Just for completeness, my base color for the gems was a 1:3 Skull White to Midnight Blue mix.

Painting a Teutogen Guard

The Teutogen Guard is the best the elite Knights of the White Wolf have to offer. This unit's devotion to protecting Ar-Ulric is unrelenting, as is its service to Middenheim. Thus, the paint scheme for the model below relies on pure, strong colors that befit a proud Templar of the White Wolf. 1 Prime the model with Chaos Black Spray Primer. Basecoat the metallic areas with Boltgun Metal. Make sure to leave black showing between the plates for
emphasis and depth. Drybrush Boltgun Metal over the chainmail sections. Again, make sure to leave the recesses black.

2 Basecoat the wolf fur with a 3:1 mix of Codex Grey to Chaos Black. Make sure you get into all the recesses or the black primer will make the cloak look too dark

for a White Wolf. Basecoat the beard, hair, belts, pouches, hammer haft, fangs, and hide (inside of the cloak) with Scorched Brown. Try to leave some black near the belt and pouch for shadow. Don't forget to basecoat the fangs above the helmet and the hair over the cloak on his back. Basecoat the face and lips with Dark Flesh. This area is really tricky with the beard and helmet, so feel free to go back with Scorched Brown and Boltgun Metal to clean things up as needed.

3 Time to paint the face a challenge with the helmet blocking the sides and the beard in the way. First, overbrush with Dwarf Flesh. Next, drybrush with Elf Flesh.
Leave plenty of the darker layers showing for shadow. Paint the eyes with Skull White with a fine detail brush. Be VERY careful. Paint the pupils as you see fit. I used Regal Blue. You can also get the fangs right now. Paint them with Bestial Brown and then overbrush with Bleached Bone. Finish by drybrushing the fang tips with Skull White. Leave some of the brown showing along the edge for definition and shadow. After painting the face, clean up the beard with Scorched Brown if needed. Next, drybrush the beard with Bestial Brown. Finish up by highlighting with Bleached Bone.

4 Overbrush over the fur's Codex Grey/black basecoat with watered-down Codex Grey. Leave some of the darker color showing through, especially in the folds of

the cloak (and any other place of natural shadow). Next, drybrush Skull White on the fur and you have your White Wolf pelt. Clean up the tanned hide with Scorched Brown if you messed it up while working on the fur. Then, paint the hide with watered-down Bestial Brown (it doesn't have to be an even coat you want the skin to be organic-looking). Next, overbrush with Bleached Bone. Leave some of the brown showing through in the areas of shadow, but remember that the hide should be pale. Drybrush the edges of the hide with Skull White to get a nice border around the edge to replicate the tanned look.

5 Finish any details that are left. For the belt and other leather equipment, highlight with Bestial Brown and then lightly edge with Bleached Bone. Hit the belt

buckles with Boltgun Metal (except the wolf buckle). Paint the hammer head decoration and wolf buckle with Shining Gold. Highlight these items with Mithril Silver. Then, apply a wash of watered-down Chestnut Ink to bring out the definition in the gold. Mix in a drop of Gloss Varnish if the ink is pooling on you. Highlight the armor with Chainmail. Edge select areas with Mithril Silver to emphasize the natural lighting and you've completed your Teutogen Guard.

Painting Archaon on Foot

Whether you plan to use this model to represent Archaon himself or some other Chaos Lord, a little bit of time is all takes for this fantastic centerpiece model to look great. We chose to paint Archaon's cloak and shield blue, but any colors would work. Below, you will find a simple-but-effective color scheme using 18 colors (plus Chaos Black and Skull White). 1 When you assemble the model, leave the shield separate for easier painting. Prime the model with Chaos Black Spray Primer and let it dry thoroughly. Paint the
Chaos star on the shield with Shining Gold and drybrush the chainmail areas with the same color. Paint the armor plates with Tin Bitz but leave some black lines showing in-between the plates and in the recesses. Paint the sword hilt, shield, and cloak Regal Blue. Paint the helmet horns, skulls, and fur cloak with Bestial Brown. Finally, paint Scab Red on the flames on the sword and on the Eye of Sheerian in the helmet. (Click here to see the shield.)

2 Paint Boltgun Metal on the armor plates but leave some Tin Bitz showing in the recesses. Apply highlights of Ultramarines Blue on the shield. Paint Bleached

Bone on the skulls and Bleached Bone streaks on the horns. Apply Chestnut Ink to the chainmail areas, the gold areas on the shield, and the fur cloak. Apply very thin Blue Ink to the cape and sword hilt. Paint Blood Red highlights on the flaming sword and Eye in the helmet. (Click here to see the shield.)

3 Wash the cloak with a very thin wash of Regal Blue to dull down any shiny areas left by the Blue Ink. Similarly, wash the fur cloak with very thin Bestial Brown to
get rid of any luster left over from the Chestnut Ink. Lightly drybrush Shining Gold on the chainmail areas and the Chaos star on the shield but make sure that some of the Chestnut Ink shows through. Apply another coat of thinned Bleached Bone on the skulls. Paint Scorched Brown streaks on the helmet horns. Paint Chainmail highlights on the armor plates but leave areas of Boltgun Metal showing. Paint highlights of Blazing Orange on the sword flames and Eye. (Click here to see the shield.)

4 Paint highlights of thinned Ultramarines Blue on the cloak and sword hilt. Paint highlights of Golden Yellow on the sword flames. Apply subtle drybrushed

highlights of Burnished Gold on the chainmail areas. Also apply small highlights of thinned Burnished Gold to the Chaos star on the shield. Paint final highlights of Mithril Silver on the armor plates. These highlights should be very thin and subtle. Paint streaks of Snakebite Leather on the helmet horns and the claws on the fur cloak. Drybrush the same color on the fur cloak. Drybrush the chains attached to the skulls with Chainmail. If you like, you can paint Scab Red designs on the skulls. (Click here to see the shield.)

5 Apply highlights of Ultramarines Blue mixed with increasing amounts of Bleached Bone to the raised areas of the cloak. When all highlighting is completed on the
cloak, apply a 4:1 mix of water to Blue Ink to the cloak to help blend the highlights together. If necessary, paint another set of Bleached Bone streaks on the helmet horns to tidy them up. Paint Bleached Bone highlights on the claws on the fur cloak. Drybrush the same color on the fur cloak. If you painted Scab Red designs on the skulls, highlight them with Blood Red. Paint a "reflection" on the Eye of Sheerian by applying a small dot of Bleached Bone to the gem. Glue the shield in place. Finish the base as you like. We added sand, bits of slate, and static grass for a nice effect. Now that your model is painted, he is ready to lead your Chaos army to victory. Onward to Middenheim!

ONE-HIT WONDERS
of the Warhammer World Crush a Unit with Just One Hit
The Warhammer world is a violent place. It is no secret that anytime you line up your army against an opposing general, he is doing all he can to wipe your forces off the table. As all veteran Warhammer players have learned, often the hard way, some weapons, monsters, or units are more formidable than others. However, in the whole bloody Warhammer world, there are only a few things that can obliterate an entire enemy unit all at once. We're talking about the kind of war machines that can render a unit of 20 infantrymen into a bloody crater or the kind of monster that turns several ranks with a standard into a mass grave in a single turn.

Want to reduce the enemy to a pile of bodies? Want to turn the battle around with one fell swoop, shot, or charge? This article contains some of the most feared units, war machines, and monsters in the Warhammer world.

Sure, even the lowliest unit of Gobbos can parley its numerical advantage into a victory if the opponent rolls poorly...but you can't count on that kind of luck. This article is about unit-killers that are more or less built for the job! NOT included in this article are: Characters or Magic Items of any sort, or pure psychology like Fear or Terror. Sure, Archaon can rip through a unit like a buzzsaw;Fear can wreck an entire army; and some spells can lay waste to entire flanks at a time other articles can deal with those tactics! This article is a list of Core, Special, or Rare choices from any of the Army books that can, in 1 turn, lay a whuppin' down fast.

Giants
They are big; they are dim; and they can hit an enemy unit with the lumbering might of a landslide! Though the rules for Giants in Warhammer are quite funny, when your favorite unit is about to be charged by one of the enormous lummoxes, then you ain't laughing! The devastation of the highly dreaded Jump Up and Down special attack (which inflicts 2D6 S6 Attacks) is enough to make even the toughest and most heavily armored foe tremble. However, Giants aren't the brightest or most predictable creatures, and their random attacks are what keep these formidable monsters low on the top five list. There are hordes of forlorn Chaos and Orcs & Goblins commanders out there who tell tales of certain victory until their Giant chose to pick up a single victim and stuff him in his vast (and smelly) trousers. A terrible fate to be sure, but one that is unlikely to devastate the rest of a unit.

The Hellcannon
As this living war machine has just made its debut in the Warhammer world, it is quite possible that you have not yet witnessed the aftermath of a successful Hellcannon volley. If you plan on playing in this summer's Storm of Chaos campaign, rest assured you will see what the Hellcannon can do! First off, as the Hellcannon is one part war machine and one part Daemon, it is perhaps the only war machine that has an impressive stat line for hand-to-hand combat! There is nothing wrong with 4 S6 Attacks or a WS4. However, the Hellcannon really earns its rightful place among the top five unit killers due to its ranged attacks. A blast from the Hellcannon delivers a small-template worth of S10 hits that each cause D6 Wounds! Models partially covered by the template are hit on a 4+. Since no troop type no matter how tough or well-armored stands much of a chance surviving an S10 hit, the Hellcannon almost guarantees a handful of casualties per strike. Though other war machines may cause more hits, they will have a tougher time wounding their victims than a Hellcannon.

What's more, after hitting a unit and inflicting casualties, a Hellcannon strike also places the large template over top of the initial blast. Any unit (or part of a unit) that is under the larger template must immediately make a successful Leadership test or it will Flee. On top of all these impressive abilities is the Hellcannon's malign intellect that allows it to reroll the Scatter die each turn (if the firing player so chooses). This reroll makes the Hellcannon uncommonly accurate. Add to that the fact that the Hellcannon can also unleash a short-ranged Spew Ichor attack or engage in close combat. Altogether, this arcane living weapon is an immense threat to the rest of the Warhammer world.

The Flame Cannon

The technologically advanced Dwarfen engineers created the Flame Cannon, a device that blasts a gout of flame capable of rendering all in its blistering wake into a bubbling pile of goo. Every Dwarf General owes it to himself to have one of these infernal devices in his arsenal a Dwarf army shouldn't leave home without one. When asked about the Flame Cannon, longtime Dwarf player Jeremy Vetock said, "For most battles these days, so long as they are 2,000 points or less, I only take one war machine, and that is nearly always a Flame Cannon. My Dwarfs can take on anything at least until they get flanked and lose their rank bonus. The best way to NOT get flanked? Destroy a few enemy units before they get to you! My Flame Cannon almost always does an excellent job in this role!" A Flame Cannon shot uses the Flame Template, and anything fully under the template is hit automatically, while those partially under are hit on a 4+. That means that, against a large unit, you can hit over a dozen models! All hits are S5, and they cause D3 wounds. Even units of Trolls or Ogres will become weak-kneed when fired upon by the Flame Cannon.

Even better for Flame Cannon aficionados, any unit that takes even a single casualty from a Flame Cannon attack must make an immediate Panic test due to the horrible and agonizing effects of the weapon! This ability magnifies the impact of the Flame Cannon even a weak hit can still cause the foes to turn tail.

The Helblaster Volley Gun

The multi-barreled and death-dealing pride of the Empire's School of Engineers is without a doubt the Helblaster Volley Gun. A whirling cavalcade of gunfire is just the thing to reduce an approaching enemy unit to the consistency of a steaming bowl of stew. A Helblaster Volley Gun has nine barrels and normally fires volleys from three barrels at a time. Each barrel gets a roll on the Artillery die and will cause the results number of hits. Hits are worked out at either S5 with a -3 saving throw modifier (short range of up to 12") or S4 with a -2 modifier (long range of between 12" and 24"). The modifiers are due to the armor-piercing nature of the shots. What all that means is that, at close range and with NO Misfires, an Empire player can expect between 6 and 30 S5 hits! Ouch!

While, most times, a Misfire roll will end in grave misfortune, a 6 on the Helblaster Misfire Chart means that all the remaining barrels cook off and fire. Thus, even if you Misfire, you could do as many as 30 S5 hits to the enemy. Even with half the barrels and half the luck with the dice, the Helblaster has the kind of unit-smashing prowess that is very difficult to surpass.

Chosen Chaos Warriors/Knights

While the middle section of the top five may be full of war machines, the true test of unit-mauling ability is the deep-rooted respect, admiration, and downright fear a unit commands. No single war machine, monster, or troop type in the Warhammer game elicits more bowel-loosening horror than a charging unit of the Chosen of Chaos! Chosen are particularly favored Chaos Warriors or Knights (we'll include both of 'em in the "most-dangerous unit killer" category!) that have exceeded their already impressive baseline stats with an additional Attack and the full benefits of Chaos Armor. Add in the possible upgrades from the various Marks of the Dark Gods, and a unit of Chosen can simply become meatgrinders against even the most expensive enemy elites. Providing an example of how fearsome the Chosen can be, famed Chaos Warlord John Shaffer from the White Dwarf team listed his top unit-killer as a regiment of Chosen Warriors of Khorne with additional hand weapons. Why? With 4 Attacks each (Frenzy!), a frontage of six, and a unit Champion, the front rank can muster 25 WS5 Attacks! Few units can stand up to that kind of buzzsaw effect. Often, the combat is long over before it is time to add in the benefits of ranks, Unit Strength, and a standard.

Joe Sleboda, a long-time GW Staff Champion, Grand Tournament winner, and all-around Warhammer ace, selected Chosen Knights of Khorne as his number one unit killer because: You can't "magic" them to death. You can't make them run. You can't kill enough in combat, even with weapons that ignore armor saves, to prevent the return Attacks from whomping you. Each normal guy has 3 S5 Attacks (plus the Chaos Steed gets 1, too), and the Champion has 4 Attacks (better than an Elector Count!). If they charge, it's over. A Dragon, a Steam Tank, a Special Character on his Chariot of Heavenly Bliss it doesn't matter. Chosen make enough high Weapon Skill and high Strength Attacks that any other battlefield factor is pretty much irrelevant.

Jeff Hall, the Events Coordinator at GW US and a man who has both run and played in more Grand Tournaments than any other, had this to say about Chaos Knights: A fast-moving unit of S5 models that have great armor can really send your opponents running! Plus, the ability to turn them into Chosen, which adds another Attack, brings even more death! There you have it our battlefield tour of one-hit unit manglers is complete. It seems only fitting that both quotes about the top unit-killer were related to Khorne. We like to think the Dark God of battlelust and fury would be pleased with his minions' top ranking!

Honorable Mention
In the right situation and under the guidance of a skilled tactician, any unit, war machine, or monster can mean near-instant doom for your foe. However, this article isn't about flank-charging Snotlings or the one time a unit of Skaven Slaves rolled enough 6's to win the day. This article is about consistent and feared unit-killers that, the minute they are placed on the battlefield, are labeled as serious trouble by your opponent. The following (in no particular order) did NOT make our top five, but were mentioned enough by veteran players that they earned an Honorable Mention on our One-Hit Wonders List.

Stegadon
Why If the Impact Hits or the Stegadon's own 4 S5 Attacks aren't enough to break a unit on the charge, then the extra Attacks from the Skink crew might just do the job!

Saurus Calvary
Why The 2 Attacks of Saurus Warriors is compounded by adding the speed, extra saving throw, and additional S4 Attack of a Cold One.

The Black Coach

Why A Terror-causing, Wound-gaining, S5 and T6 Chariot is truly hell on wheels! Yes, the bad pun was intended.

Bone Giant
Why A Terror-causing behemoth that can use the Unstoppable Assault rule to gain extra Attacks is something to write mummy about.

Screaming Skull Catapult

Why The Screaming Skull is just like a regular Stone Thrower (which just missed the top five list!) with the additional psychological bonus of causing a Panic test! Even better, by taking the Skulls of the Foe upgrade, you inflict -1 to your enemy's Leadership!

Skaven Warp-Lightning Cannon

Why When things go the Skaven way, this Clan Skryre war machine can devastate several units with a single shot! However, true to Skaven engineering form, its effects are often random. Still, when this machine pays off, it can pay off big! Fwzzzzzt!

A Unit of Tomb King Chariots

Why Chariots can cause wicked Impact Hits upon striking a unit, and they just missed making the top five list. However, a full unit of Tomb Kings Chariots can cause enough Impact Hits to wipe out a unit in one swoop (despite being Light Chariots with fewer Impact Hits)!

Bretonnian Grail Knights

in Lance Formation Why The thunderous charge of S6 Knights with a 2 Attacks each and special rules for extra models getting to fight AND counting ranks at three wide instead of the normal four is plenty enough reason to put these virtuous warriors on the Honorable Mention list!

Skaven Warpfire Thrower

Why This ingenious flame-throwing device can spew out enough S5 hits to dissolve a unit in one shot! Anyone fortunate enough to survive in a unit hit by a Warpfire Thrower must immediately make a Panic test due to the gruesome effects of the weapon! The short range of this Clan Skryre killing machine is perhaps the only reason this lethal device didn't make the top five. Still, its cheap points cost means that you can have several of the wicked things in your arsenal!

Shaggoth
Why This beast is a WS6, S5, and 5 Attack killing machine! Plus, he causes Terror, is Immune to Psychology, and can be made into a Character and given Marks of Chaos to add to his already impressive killing power!

Ask The Scenery Guy

All Your Scenery Questions Answered! From time to time, we receive mail from Games Workshop hobbyists asking how we produce scenery and tabletop terrain for our web and White Dwarf articles, Grand Tournaments, and Games Days. Scratch-built terrain is one of the most rewarding aspects of the hobby, second only perhaps to finishing that brand new army you've been slaving over for months on end! In fact, we've received so much mail that we decided to compile these letters and start a column, aptly named "Ask the Scenery Guy."

NEW 40K SCENIC TABLES

If you'd like to ask a question or request a step-by-step scenery project, you can reach the Scenery Guy at:

blackgobbo@games-workshop.com or Black Gobbo c/o Games Workshop, Inc. 6721 Baymeadow Drive Glen Burnie, MD 21060-6401

Instead of taking an e-mail from a reader, we thought it would be exciting to show you some brand-new scenic gaming tables that our hard-working US Studio constructed for the revised Warhammer 40,000 rulebook. Jason Buyaki, Chad Mierzwa, Chris McPherson, Stuart Spengler, Jason Foley, and Ernie Diaz produced four tables, and we at Black Gobbo managed to capture images of the tables in various stages of construction. Over the next few pages, you'll be able to check out these masterpieces in detail. Maybe they'll spark a few ideas of your own.

Learn about the revised Warhammer 40,000 and download a rules update here.

Ruined Tau Outpost

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Abandoned Industrial Complex

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Space Hulk Scion of Grief

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Mold Glades of Liberty V

Click on the images to see larger pictures. Essential parts of this table are Chad's gigantic mushrooms that form a surreal fungi forest. These pieces were all made of sculpted insulation foam.

As a looooooong-time Imperial Guard player, I've always been a big fan of the tanks. I mean, who wouldn't get excited by the thought of tons of armor and enormous cannons rolling along, ready to pound and grind the enemy into oblivion? The Armored Company list (in White Dwarf 294) gives all you Imperial Guard players out there a chance to build a larger variety of tanks that give you more tactical options compared to your regular footslogger list. If you don't already know the love of a good,150-model army, then the Armored Company list provides you with a REALLY different approach to your 40K gaming. Forge World, the high-quality resin model arm of Games Workshop, makes some absolutely spectacular tank models and variants designed for the Armored Company list. If you're like me, though, you may enjoy constructing your own variants, too. In the war-torn far future of the 41st millennium, there are very few armored fighting vehicles that are exactly the same, so why not mix and match? A converted Conqueror here, a Forge World Vanquisher there, and so on. The following pages give you a few ideas for making your own tank conversions with a few additional sprues, a bit of plasticard, and a hint of hard work. DESTROYER TANK HUNTER: The Destroyer is rarely seen on the battlefield, because its massive Laser Destroyer is too complex for all but the best Forge Worlds. Still, few vehicles are better at seeking out and eliminating enemy tanks. For the conversion below, you will need the following items:

Item Name Demolisher Siege Tank boxed set Basilisk Frame E sprue

Part Number 47-11 99399999045

You will also need a few hobby supplies, like a hobby knife, plasticard, clippers, green stuff, sculpting tool, super glue, pin vise, files, a thin paper clip, and a handful of patience. Take your time and be safe! Assemble the Demolisher hull as normal, but leave off the hull-mounted lascannon and the plating that surrounds it. For the turret socket, trim down the turret base piece and add the hatch and seal ring (with a gun mount) from the equipment sprue. Cut down the Basilisk barrel to an appropriate length. Next, get ready to cut some plasticard and check out the images below for the rest of the instructions.

Construct the weapon housing out of plasticard (match the underhull).

Apply green stuff to fill in gaps in the plasticard and sand it down.

You'll need to "borrow" another oil drum from another equipment sprue.

Attach two strips of plasticard to serve as the armor skirt frame.

Cut a sheet of plasticard and give it two vertical v-gouges to show plates.

Add rivets and glue the whole armor skirt in place.

Mount the Basilisk barrel on the Demolisher Cannon Barrel.

Add a plasticard band and rivets. Attach shaved plasticard strips.

A top-down look note the Demolisher Engine Cover behind the hatch.

(click on the images above for larger versions)

SALAMANDER SCOUT VEHICLE: The Salamander is the eyes and ears of an Armored Company. This light tank is well armed for its size and capable of providing fire support to other scout units. What's more, its souped-up engines allow it to make a quick escape if heavier tanks are sighted. For the conversion below, you will need the following items:

Item Name Imperial Basilisk boxed set IG Heavy Weapon Sprue

Part Number 47-08 99380105003

You'll also need to grab a control panel from one of your Space Marine buddies' Rhino Hull Sprue 1 (99390199004). Since many Space Marine players glue their Rhino hatches shut, it shouldn't matter to them if you cut out the control panel.

You will also need a few hobby supplies, like a hobby knife, plasticard, clippers, green stuff, sculpting tool, super glue, pin vise, files, a thin paper clip, and a handful of patience. Take your time and be safe! First, assemble your Basilisk hull as normal but leave off the back weapon assembly (hey, you can save these bitz for other tank conversions). Cut down the Basilisk crew platform to fit inside the hull. Attach the Rhino control panel inside the hull on the driver's bulkhead. Assemble your gunner from the Cadian Heavy Weapon Crew Sprue (from the boxed set) and your commander by mixing that sprue and the Imperial Vehicle Equipment Sprue. Next, get your plasticard ready and see the images below for the rest.

Attach two plasticard strips to the crew platform to serve as supports.

Glue the platform into place beneath the Rhino control panel.

Cut plasticard sheets to form the armor shield. Note the strips at the base.

Cut out the gun mount from plasticard and add it in the shield slot.

Add rivets around the strips at the base of the shielding.

Glue the autocannon to the mount. Add the gunner and commander.

Cut out the engine exhausts from the 'dozer blade support strut.

Make the driver from the heavy weapons sprue & put him in the hatch.

Here's the final product add vehicle bitz as you like.

(click on the images above for larger versions)

LEMAN RUSS CONQUEROR: Though a less-common variant of the Leman Russ, the Conqueror has proven itself on the battlefield as a solid "breakthrough" tank. Its Conqueror Cannon offers a higher rate of fire and more accuracy than the standard battle cannon a useful asset when leading assaults. However, the tank trades armor-piercing punch for this mobile accuracy. For the conversion below, you will need the following items:

Item Name Leman Russ Battle Tank boxed set Basilisk Frame E sprue

Part Number 47-06 99399999045

You will also need a few hobby supplies, like a hobby knife, clippers, green stuff, sculpting tool, super glue, pin vise, files, a thin paper clip, and a handful of patience. Take your time and be safe! Assemble your Leman Russ as normal, minus the battle cannon barrel. Replace it with the barrel from the Basilisk, but cut it down to a reasonable size for a Conqueror. See the photos below for instructions on the rest of this conversion.

Drill small holes in the barrel for gas exhaust tubes. They also make up for some of the lost tubing on the side.

Attach the storm bolter from the equipment sprue to the light compartment on the side of the turret.

You'll have to trim off the magazines for the storm bolter to fit on this compartment.

This top-down view of the Conqueror gives you an idea of how it all goes together. Attach the 'dozer blade if you like.

(click on the images above for larger versions)

Middenheim: The Outer Walls

Click on the images to see larger versions.

Middenheim: The Inner Walls

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Middenheim: Under Construction

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Middenheim: Under Construction (Part 2)

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Middenheim: Under Construction (Part 3)

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Middenheim: Under Construction (Page 4)

Click on the images to see larger pictures.

The most practical dimensions for a wall section are 12" long, 2" wide and 4" high. Basically, the wall section is an oblong block standing up on one edge. It can be solid and made out of a chunk of polystyrene or wood, hollow and made out of cardboard, or it could even be a cardboard box that is of suitable dimensions. The ideal materials for making a sturdy box-wall section are polystyrene ceiling tiles, cork tiles, thick cardboard or sheets of balsa wood. For added strength glue the section on to a strong base made of either wood or thick card. (You should cut out all the bases for the project at the same time to ensure that the dimensions of the sections are the same and that all sections fit together.) If the materials you are using are thin, strengthen the structure with buttresses, especially on the inside of the walls. Buttresses can be made from strips of extra card, wood or tile you have left over from earlier modeling projects, glued vertically to the wall at intervals of a couple of inches. It is a good idea to strengthen a hollow wall section internally with similar buttresses. Using corrugated cardboard will give you a sturdy castle construction. However, you will see unsightly holes along the sides because of the way the card is made. Simply run a strip of tape over the edges to cover up the holes. Masking tape is ideal for this. Folding thick cardboard to make edges can lead to uneven folds. To get round this cut the cardboard to the desired length and then stick the two pieces together with white glue. This will not only give you sharper edges, but a more sturdy construction as well. The front of a wall section should have raised battlements which screen and shelter the defenders. On most castles these are roughly the height of a defender, with rectangular gaps at regular intervals through which the defenders can shoot. The style of the battlement can by defined by the castles defenders. Bretonnians, for example, would have square-cut battlements, while Lizardmen would have zigzag battlements. If you want simplicity do not bother with indented battlements at all and just have a raised battlement over which your models can shoot. When gluing the basic box structure together, you can use tape to hold things in place as you apply white glue. White glue is the best kind of glue to use for the materials mentioned here. Work upwards from the base and take your time, allowing parts to dry before adding more onto them. Remember, the principles of building real castles apply to your model as well, so build for strength, thickness and durability. Build it big but do it slowly! The basic structure of the wall must be thick and strong enough to withstand the wet plaster or paint that will be applied to it. When dry, this layer will make the section even harder and stronger. Take your time doing this, and be prepared to do only part of a section at a time. Leave it to dry thoroughly, but not in a place that is too warm or damp otherwise the section may warp. Steadily drying the section over a day or so is best. Nothing should ever be made too wet or soaked when modeling. When the section is textured and thoroughly dry it can then be painted.

The gate section is essentially a wall with a hole in it. The hole is the gate and its shape, just like battlements, can characterize the castle. So, an Empire or Dwarf castle would probably have a rectangular gate with a drawbridge, while a Bretonnian or Elf gate would be arched or maybe even have a pointed arch. The main thing to remember when making gate sections is to run battlements over the top of them so that they can be defended. The gate section is made in the same way as a wall section, except that it can be made a bit longer if you wish, to allow for the gate. The gate is either cut out of a flat wall section or made by putting two half-size wall sections on the same base with a 2-4" gap between them for the gate. The battlements are then run across the gap like a bridge completing the gateway. The inside of the gate passage, which is as deep as the thickness of the wall section, is covered in the same way as walls to look like stone. You may wish to model or sculpt an archway to shape the gate. This can be cut out of card, put onto the front of the section and then textured. Card blocks can be added to give the appearance of an archway with a keystone, resting on pillars or blocks on either side of the entrance. The final feature that will complete the gateway to your fortress is the gates. These can either be timber gates made from balsa wood that has been cut to the shape of the gateway, or cardboard strips stuck together vertically to represent planks. Gates may also be covered in iron or bronze metallic paints to indicate carved or studded metal. Hinging the gates to the gateway passage walls is the tricky bit. There are various ways this can be done ranging from taping the edges to making hinges from paper clips. Instead of gates, you could have a drawbridge or portcullis to close the gateway. The drawbridge can be made from a flat piece of card or balsa wood taped or hinged to the base and raised by hand or by a drawstring pulled through a hole in the battlements above the gateway. A portcullis is made from balsa wood or cocktail sticks glued together into a grid and painted to look like iron or wood. This is raised or lowered to open or close the entrance to the castle, so you will need to make a groove in the battlement above the gateway where it will fit into when drawn up. You'll need to decide whether you want round or square towers for your fort. Round towers are typical of Bretonnian and Elf castles, while square towers are more commonly found on Empire, Dwarf and Lizardmen forts. Square towers have the advantage of fitting neatly up against wall sections, while round towers will obviously not do this so well. Round towers on the other hand can be easily made out of cardboard tubes without too much construction work before they are textured and painted. Square towers, however, need to be built in a similar way to the wall sections described already. The best way to make round towers is to use a cardboard tube that is higher than your wall section. Mount the tube on a base that fits up against the wall, perhaps at an angle to allow the wall sections to change angle either side of the tower. A Pringles or poster tube cut in half is ideal for this. Do not bother to go to the trouble of building a battlement on the top, just roof it with a tall cone made from card and paint it as if it were a tiled roof. Texture and paint the tube and draw or paint on arrow slits and a doorway at the level of the wall sections. Square towers can be given battlements by cutting a crenellation into the top edge. The towers should of course be taller and thicker than the wall sections, but are constructed in the same way. Good dimensions for a square tower would be about 4-6" square and 6-10" tall but these may vary according to the size of your castle. To build a tower, first make a square or oblong box and secure it firmly to a base that has been cut out to enable the walls to fit as closely up to the tower as possible. Remember, because of its shape, the walls will join it at right angles, whereas with a round tower the walls will join together at various different angles. The top of the tower must be flat to provide a platform for your models to defend from. This platform can be covered with squares of card to represent flagstones or strips of card or balsa wood to represent planks. A square of card can also be applied and painted up to represent a trapdoor. Attach any battlements in the same way as on the wall sections, all around the four sides of the tower. To finish off, texture and paint the tower in the same way as the wall sections. Paint on arrow slits or narrow windows and doors at the level of the wall ramparts. By far the easiest way to give your castle a stone wall texture is to paint it with watered-down all purpose filler. Alternatively, textured masonry paint will look good. Applying textured paint or filler can be a very messy job. Make sure you cover your work area and use an old brush. We added some sand to the paint to give it more texture. A sturdy wooden stick is handy for stirring in the sand. To begin painting your castle, give the entire section an undercoat of black paint. You can paint this on with a brush but black aerosol spray is far quicker and gives a more even coat. Next, paint on the first layer of color. For most castles the best paint to use is dark grey. However, a Chaos castle would look better in dark red or brown and a High Elf fortress would be more authentic painted in a yellowy-brown color.

When the dark grey coat is dry, mix a lighter shade of grey using an old brush, then wipe the brush on a tissue until it is almost dry. When you draw the brush gently across the model, it leaves a trace of color on the textured surface of the castle walls. Repeating this process all over the model creates natural highlights and you end up with realistic looking castle walls. Make sure you dont press the brush too firmly: the idea is to cover only the top of the raised texture with paint, not the entire surface. If you like, you can repeat this process using another lighter shade for an even better looking finish. The gate is painted in much the same way as the walls. First a black undercoat, which when dry was painted over with dark brown. Then, just as with the walls, we drybrushed a lighter shade of brown over the top. This brings out the natural grain of the balsa wood.

This guide shows you how to make a convincing stone Here, we're going to make a stone watchtower that's At this stage, carefully glue the main bits together with effect on dense polystyrene or Styrofoam. The about 10 cm square at the base and about 25 cm high. white glue. It's important to clean up any excess glue on techniques described here will work best on the dense After measuring and cutting out the main body of the the outside of the model as the glue will set and show blue or pink insulation foam, as well as the denser tower, it's important to make sure that the joins of the up later when you go to paint the model. Leave the grades of white foam, although the foam used for a lot offoam pieces fit as well as possible, as you don't want model alone for a while so it dries completely (overnight packaging isn't dense enough to take the texturing any seams spoiling the stone texture effect you are is a good idea). methods described here. Many building suppliers can about to create. provide blue or pink insulation foams.

After the glue has dried, take a very fine grade of sand paper and sand the entire surface of the tower. There are two reasons for this sanding. First, you have to clean up and hide any of the join lines that you have between the pieces of foam. Second, sanding adds a slightly rough texture to the foam that is perfect for creating the stone effect we're after!

Once the shape has been sanded and dusted off, you can start to plot out the stone pattern. Start by drawing your horizontal lines first make sure that they are evenly spaced. Use a ball-point pent to make these marks as the ink has less chance of bleeding through the paint (when you do get around to painting it). The key to laying out the pattern is to ensure that the stone pattern "makes sense," especially on the corners.

Once you have all of the horizontal lines all the way around, you can start to plot the vertical lines of the individual stones in an overlapping brick pattern. The image above shows you the cornerstone pattern for the edges of the walls. We decided that we would make the corners look as though they we reinforced with larger stone blocks. You can try this pattern on your own model, or keep to a smaller brick pattern throughout...it's up to you.

With a hobby knife (we suggest you use the type that have replaceable blades), slice along the horizontal lines of your stone block pattern. You have to be very careful, as you have to cut as cleanly as possible (replace the blades as blunt blades will start to tear the foam) and keep the depth of your cut to about 3 mm.

Once you have cut all of the horizontal lines on your Once you've cut all of the lines of your stone pattern on model, start cutting all of the vertical lines. At this the model, get a graphite pencil with a good point and stage, you have to be very careful to avoid cutting into firmly work it into the cuts you've just made. In a gentle the stone blocks above and below the vertical lines you motion, follow the line with the pencil to make the are cutting. "mortar" of your stone texture. Start on the horizontal lines first.

After you've done all of the horizontal lines, pencil in the After all the lines have been penciled in, find a rough vertical ones. This penciling is the most time-consuming stone with lots of nice, sharp features and press this step of all, but the effort is well worth it because this steprock into the foam to give the stone blocks a really makes the bricks look right. roughhewn texture.

Make sure that you get every brick with this technique it is the secret to making your foam squares look like blocks of stone. Another tip is to rotate the rock or grab a different one to keep the texture varied across the tower.

After you've roughed-up the stone block pattern with the The final stage of creating the stone texture is to rock, you should have a wall that looks a bit like that in randomly push in a few of your stone blocks. This the image above. The foam shape should feel very technique adds irregularity to the wall. To see the rough and irregular. finished result, look at the stone block in the green circle in the picture above and to the right.

Okay, time for paint. In this example, we undercoated the model in Chaos Black paint from the pot (spay will melt the foam), and then heavily drybrushed with Codex Grey. Next, we applied two successive highlights of Bleached Bone mixed with Codex Grey and then just a very light highlight of Bleached Bone.

We added set of stairs leading to a door (which was Above you can see the completed base of the watch from the Warhammer Fortress). We simple cut out the tower. We used more insulation foam for the hill (we rough shapes and then worked them down with a hobby shaped it with a foam cutter, a hobby knife, and sand knife into the stairs you see above and to the right. Of paper). We glued this to a Masonite base with wood course, we used the stone texturing techniques glue. We painted it, making sure that the steps demonstrated above. matched the tower scheme. Lastly, we brushed on wood glue and applied static grass.

The battlements of the Watchtower were made of thin pieces of foam. We drew out the crenelated pattern and cut out the embrasure (the open spaces). Again, we textured the stone. For the battlement floor, we used a single sheet of balsa and cut lines into it to give the illusion of planks and floorboards.

After you've tried making stone walls, you can get In this example, we chose to paint the cobblestone ambitious and try a few of the examples on this page. pattern with Bestial Brown (after a Chaos Black Above is a rough cobblestone pattern. Rather than usingundercoat). We then added three highlights with a ruler to create the pattern, draw a random pattern onto successively lighter mixes of Bestial Brown and Skull the foam and proceed as normal. White.

In this example, we created the floor of a ruined temple. We carefully drew onto the sanded foam and then applied the same texturing technique from before. To enhance the ruined look, we gouged out and broke off some of the tiles.

As for painting this example, we basecoated it with Here, we wanted to make a boulder effect, which Chaos Black. Next, we drybrushed Scaly Green, involves a bit more sculpting with a hobby knife. We followed by a highlight of Goblin Green. We accented used the same technique to apply the stone texture, this highlight with successively lighter mixtures of Goblin but this time with a pointy rock. Green and Skull White.

Paint really reveals the texture on this example. The pointy rock made for a rough look. Now that you have the idea for this technique, feel free to push the envelope and let your geological imagination run wild!

Fire is just one of many ways to add a bit of coolness...er...hotness to your models and scenery projects. This addition could take the form of a flamer burst from a Guardsman, a terrain piece with a burning roof, flames from a wizard's fingertips, or a gout of deadly dragon's breath. Though it may seem like modeling fire would be difficult or require loads of time, the reality is much different. It's pretty simple once you learn the technique. Rob Hawkins, a member of the US Hobby Team, is an expert modeler, talented painter, and experienced general. You've certainly seen his work somewhere if you've visited this web site or picked up White Dwarf. Well, it turns out that he is a pyromaniac of sorts not in a harmful manner, of course! No, Rob enjoys MODELING fire rather than the real thing. Thus, he has several neat methods for creating this effect. We here at BG managed to pin him down and pry some tips from his brain for the good of hobbyists everywhere. Select an item from the links below, and you'll soon become a keeper of the flame! PUTTY AND FLAME EFFECTS: Putty is the main method Rob uses to create fire. It only took him 5 minutes to sculpt the flaming skull below, and all he used were a pair of clippers and a hobby knife (watch your fingers)! Check out the images below to see the process and then give sculpting flames a try. After a few attempts, it'll come easily. Once you get the basics of the putty technique for flames, you can try your hand at more elaborate projects like the ones featured at the bottom of this page.

Shape a small amount of putty with clippers.

Then, jab the putty with a hobby knife.

Flame on!

The flames on this heavy flamer depend on a paperclip understructure to maintain their shape.

A simple flaming sword conversion.

Fire makes this scenery element even better.

TOPKNOTS ON FIRE: When Rob needs a bit of fire in a hurry, he looks to the clump of hair follicles known as the topknot. This page illustrates how plastic topknots simulate flame quite well, and the conversion is very simple. All you really have to do is find some topknots and glue 'em in place. They are also a great foundation for a larger flame just add some putty! You can find topknot bitz on Warhammer Orc, Goblin, and 40K Ork sprues. Some horses' tails work well, too.

As simple plastic topknot at the end of this warpfire thrower makes for a rad conversion.

PLASTICARD AND FLAMES: If you don't trust yourself with putty or sculpting just isn't "your thang," try plasticard instead. As you can see below, a tiny piece of plasticard cut properly can go a long way. If you don't know what plasticard is, then head here for more info on plasticard. A tiny bit of plasticard makes this Bretonnian archer's arrow look a bit more potent.

SMOKE MARKERS: Smoke markers aren't exactly flames, but they are certainly related to fire. Smoke markers are great for marking destroyed tanks, keeping track of how a fire is progressing though an Empire Coaching Inn, and a myriad of other uses. It's a good thing then that smoke markers are a snap to make. Below, you'll see how aluminum foil and steel wool can be used to simulate smoke on the tabletop. In addition to these easy-to-find materials, all you really need are some super glue and some spray paint!

40-mm round bases with just aluminum foil, aluminum foil and steel wool, and just steel wool.

Paint any of the three markers above with layers of spray paint to acheive a color gradient.

PAINTING FIRE: There are many ways to paint flames. Heck, which primer you use (Skull White or Chaos Black) is often debated. If you have a technique that works, stick with it. If not, we asked Rob how he went about painting his flame-ridden army so you can get some ideas for your own painting projects. It turns out that he starts off with Skull White in order to get a brighter finish. Below, check out the progression Rob uses for his flame scheme. Most of this paint work is done with rapid drybrushes, so the going is quick and easy. However, towards the final steps, you'll have to put the drybrush down and paint a bit more neatly so as not to obscure your deeper shades of orange. 2:Blazing Orange > 3:Fiery Orange > 4:Golden Yellow

GALLERY OF FLAME EFFECTS: In order to help you branch out and appreciate the many uses of modeled flame, we've put together this small gallery. Along with a few more of Rob's sizzling creations, you'll also find some other folks' work for variety.

Victoria Lamb's Seraphim Putty Flame Duel

Jarett Lee's Salamander Putty Flamer Blast

Dave Taylor's Guardsman Putty Flame Pilot Light

Tim Lison's Champion Plastic Top Knot Flames

A sampling of putty work from Rob Hawkins's Vampire Counts army. Nearly every unit is on fire somehow!

THE WARHAMMER 40,000 REVISION AS SEEN BY ONE EXCITED GAMER

By: Ty Finocchiaro

In case you missed all the buzz, there's a revision to Warhammer 40,000 just around the corner, and "revision" is certainly the word to focus upon. I just blew through a copy of the new rulebook and can honestly say to everyone out there that the rules have been streamlined quite nicely. There's nothing to worry about. The game still plays like Warhammer 40,000 in fact, even more like 40K should play. It's fast. It's brutal. Now, I'm not gonna sit here and claim to be a rules guru, so don't expect a fully detailed, point-by-point debriefing on what's what. You'll all get your chance to analyze this sucker for yourself in just a few short weeks. Instead, I just wanted to convey what I one dorky gamer got excited about from reading the book. Why should you care? Well, you certainly don't have to. However, when the time comes and you've read through the book, you'll be doing the same thing with your friends! So, here's five items, in no special order, that got me psyched. Maybe, just maybe, you too will get a teenie bit excited about these rule revisions.

Rapid Fire: Rise of the Tactical Marine Like It Should Be.

Rapid Fire has always been a bit of bummer for me. Terminators got to do it a bunch, but overall, my poor Tactical Squads rarely got the chance to unleash bolter hell upon their foes. Sitting in one spot while the enemy was within a foot was a rarity. After all, why sit here when I could just butcher the foe in close combat? The bolter played second fiddle to the bolt pistol and chainsword. Well, never again shall I weep for lack of Rapid Fire opportunities. Now you can always Rapid Fire within 12", even if you move. Huzzah! I foresee lots of intense firefights. The only downside to this rule is that you can't Assault after Rapid Firing. That's fine by me, as having the ability to perform both in 1 turn would be just too much.

Torrent of Fire: Die, Mr. Lascannon. Die.

Man, I can't tell you the number of times I've been shot at by one lascannon-wielding jerk cowering within a squad. No matter what I did to his squad, the lascannon guy managed to somehow survive and then repeatedly blow up all my favorite models. After 3 turns, it was just Mr. Lascannon, all alone and surrounded by his nine dead squadmates, but he was still capable of burning holes through my tanks. Well, try all you want, Mr. Lascannon, but you can't hide anymore. In the revised rules, if you manage to saturate a squad with enough fire to inflict a wound on each member of the unit, the shooting player may single out a model that MUST make a save (i.e., Mr. Lascannon). My joy knows no bounds on this one, folks.

Vehicle Weaponry: Tanks Are Good. Finally.

How tanks function in 40K has always been a point of contention. Why can't I just move my tank 6" and fire a bunch? Is that too much to ask from my highly trained vehicle crew? What exactly is the gunner doing while the driver hits the gas? Tanks just weren't all that effective and ended up being semi-mobile bunkers for the most part. Booooring. Thankfully, the revised rulebook fixes this issue by splitting weaponry into two categories: "Main" (Strength 7 or greater) and "Defensive" (Strength 6 or less). Vehicles can now move up to 6" and let 'er rip with ALL of their Defensive Weapons and ONE of their Main Weapons. For something like the Land Raider Crusader or a Predator with Heavy Bolter Sponsons, this revision means EVERYTHING SHOOTS! So "hooray" for tanks being the cool, armored, dealers of death that they truly deserve to be.

Close Combat: You're Gonna Need Three Hands for All Those Dice.
The Close Combat Phase of the game used to make my head spin at times. Varying armor saves, how many Attacks per model, models within 2", one unit fighting two enemy squads, characters, and different Strengths made life tough. Plus, these affairs used to last turn after turn after turn. It really bogged the game down and made for serious brain freezes. The revised rules have simplified things by making close combat brutal. All models get their full complement of Attacks even if they are not in base contact so long as they are within 2" of an enemy. This rule translates into buckets of dice, which in turn yield massive casualties. A large mob of 30 Slugga Boyz can throw 120 dice if conditions are favorable. That's insane!

Sweeping Advance: Lotsa Models Bite It at Once.

To make close combat even more brutal, there's the updated Sweeping Advance rule. Instead of rolling 2D6 and comparing scores, units roll a D6 and add their dominant Initiative value. Before, the chances of pulling off a successful Advance were pretty random. Now, you can just about bank on Genestealers absolutely shredding squads foolish enough to turn and run. This simple mechanic helps end close combats quickly. Now, troops charge into combat, decimate the front rank of defenders, and then run down their fleeing comrades all in 1 phase. Even if you don't plow through the enemy in one go, next time around more of your models will be engaged, and another bucket load of dice gets thrown. Models will be literally pulled from tabletops by the handful. It's gonna be a great time for close-combat themed armies.

THE END IS NIGH: EMPIRE FLAGELLANTS

Back in the days of Fifth Edition Warhammer, when Flagellants were a bit cheaper, a bit stronger, and not restricted to units of 30 or fewer, I heard many a tale about power gamers who cheesed out and fielded a single, enormous unit of Flagellants. These giant units of Flagellants were sometimes 80 or 100 strong and could often constitute half the points value of an entire Empire army. Such regiments certainly went against the spirit of the old Empire army list and are, I'm sure, the reason that the Flagellants' unit size is restricted in the current Army book. However, the fact that the cheese heads were tempted to build such armies indicates just how effective Flagellants can be.

Inexplicably, however, I'm seeing fewer and fewer units of Flagellants in Empire armies at tournaments and other events, which indicates to me that their use is in decline. I'm not sure why this is so baffled by it in fact. Even in the hands of a reckless or inexperienced commander, Flagellants with their Toughness of 4, 2 Attacks, and effective Strength of 5 on the 1st turn of combat are an effective hammer with which to bludgeon the enemy. On the other hand, under the command of an experienced general, Flagellants can win battles by tying up the enemy's most powerful units or holding strategic areas of the battlefield. On the next few pages, I discuss a few ways that I've found success with my Flagellants.

Neutralize and Delay

Perhaps the most common way to use Flagellants is to put them in harm's way to bog down the more powerful elements of an enemy force. Because of the Crazed special rule, Flagellants are Unbreakable. Thus, they can face down powerful enemies, even those that cause Fear and Terror, and hold until the last zealot falls. A clever Empire general can use his Flagellants to neutralize or delay the enemy's expensive and potentially game-winning models. The two basic approaches for tying up enemy units with Flagellants, the tar pit and the speed bump, are discussed below. The Tar Pit. The so-called tar pit is one way to use Flagellants to delay and neutralize the enemy. The tar pit should be used against points-heavy and powerful units or models. We're talkin' Chaos Knights, Greater Daemons, Giants, Vampire Counts on Zombie Dragons, and tricked-out Dwarf Lords associated with units of elite Dwarfen infantry as well as formidable but not quite as powerful units such as Empire or Bretonnian Knights, big units of Black Orcs, and other large blocks of elite infantry. By engaging these powerful units in combat, a large unit of Unbreakable Flagellants (say, at least 20 strong) prevents the enemy's powerful models from riding roughshod over the rest of your troops. Sure, you may lose 20 or 30 Flagellants, but their loss is well worth preventing big, scary enemy units or models from massacring half your army. There are a few factors to consider with the tar pit tactic.

Use the tar pit only against models/units that cost more points than your Flagellants. For instance, tying up a 314-point unit of Knights of Chaos for several turns is certainly worth sacrificing a 232-point unit of Flagellants. However, committing that same unit of Flagellants to tie up a potentially powerful Chaos Chariot worth only 120 points isn't worth it. When setting up a tar pit, try to charge with your Flagellants rather than wait for them to be charged. Getting your Flagellants to charge isn't always possible, as often you'll be trying to tie up troops like heavy cavalry, which are faster than your Flagellants. However, because they are armed with flails, Flagellants are most effective in the 1st round of combat. Thus, it's better when they attack first in the 1st turn before they take any casualties. With a frontage of six, a Prophet of Doom, and the Strength bonus of the flails, a unit of Flagellants will dish out 13 Attacks at S5. Although the Flagellants have a lowly Weapon Skill of 2, with a bit of luck, they can really bring the hurt to enemy units with this many high-Strength attacks. In short, if you charge and get a bit lucky, your tar pit can grow some teeth (to mix a metaphor). Do a little math in your head before you pick an enemy unit for the tar pit. Some units are very powerful and can kill Flagellants so fast that the enemy won't be slowed down for very long. For instance, units that can make a lot of attacks such as Frenzied troops, strong warriors (like Saurus or Black Orcs) armed with spears or additional hand weapons, or Pikemen can sometimes kill off a unit of Flagellants of even moderate size in a turn or 2. For instance, let us consider a small unit of five Chosen Chaos Warriors of Khorne with additional hand weapons and full command. The Empire player, seeing a small but powerful unit, moves a unit of 14 Flagellants into the Warriors' charge arc and within 8" of them to set up the tar pit. The Chaos Warriors, because they are Frenzied, are forced to charge the Flagellants in the Chaos turn. With a frontage of five, the Warriors will get 21 Attacks. On average, 14 of these Attacks will hit, and half the hits will wound. With just average luck, the Chaos Warriors will kill the Flagellants in 2 turns. With good luck, the Warriors could wipe out the Flagellants in a single turn and get an overrun move to boot, which would put the dreaded Chaos Warriors closer to your battle lines and completely defeat the purpose of the tar pit!

Thus, when setting up the tar pit, try to send the Flagellants against only those enemy units that will likely be tied up for 4 or more player turns (i.e., 2 full turns). Otherwise, your troops' sacrifice is wasted, and a lot of Victory Points will go to the enemy unnecessarily. Some Empire players will use the tar pit tactic only when they're likely to tie up a higher-point unit for the remainder of the game. I think that approach is a little conservative, but the spirit is essentially correct.

Neutralize and Delay

The Speed Bump. The speed bump is a tactic similar to the tar pit. Like the tar pit, the speed bump ties up enemy units. However, the speed bump is used for short-term rather than long-term delays. Set up speed bumps with smaller units of Flagellants perhaps 10 or so strong. Below, I describe some ways to use (and avoid using) the speed bump.

Use a speed bump to set up a flank charge. Lure an enemy unit into charging your unit of Flagellants (this part is easy if the enemy unit in question is Frenzied). Even if the enemy is powerful, your unit of Flagellants will not break. Just make sure that at least one model survives until the next turn. Again, do the math beforehand. On the next turn, charge the enemy unit in the flank with a second unit. Empire players should be very accustomed to this style of fighting, as it is very similar to a parent regiment fighting with a detachment. It's basically the same kind of maneuver, except that one of the units is Unbreakable, which makes the tactic a safer bet. You can use a speed bump to give another of your units time to escape from a powerful enemy. Use the small unit of Flagellants to shield the escaping unit and then get the escaping unit out of the enemy's charge arc. If you have a shooty Empire army, you can use a speed bump to slow down an enemy unit for a turn or 2, while your missile troops and war machines target other units. In addition, aside from the enemy unit actually engaged with the Flagellants, other units within 8" will be prevented from Marching, which will give you more time to shoot at the enemy. Beware of overruns. All of the speed bump tactics listed above will be defeated if the Flagellant unit is wiped out in a single turn. Again, do the math in your head. Use the speed bump tactic only when it is reasonably likely that the Flagellant unit will survive more than a single turn of combat. It's a very bad thing when your speed bump is destroyed in the 1st round and the enemy overruns. Not only have you wasted your Flagellants and given Victory Points to the enemy unnecessarily, but you have helped to bring the enemy closer to your lines, which is what you were trying to avoid in the first place!

Guard Duty
Because they are Unbreakable, Flagellants make excellent battlefield sentries. They will stand at their posts regardless of the enemy facing them and can often deter any would-be attackers from even attempting to attack or occupy what the Flagellants are protecting.

Using your Flagellants to guard one flank (usually the weaker flank) of your battle line is a tried-and-true Empire tactic. Often, the presence of the Flagellants alone is enough to deter your enemy from attacking your weak flank. This deterrent allows you to use your hardest units offensively, because you don't have to hold anyone back to guard your flank. Instead of guarding your flanks (or perhaps as they guard your flanks), Flagellants can protect your valuable and vulnerable artillery and missile troops. If you're fortunate enough to have a hill or other defensible area conducive to missile fire in or near your Deployment Zone and a large number of missile units and/or artillery pieces, it's certainly a good idea to concentrate your missile power in that area and use your Flagellants as guards. However, a large unit of Flagellants is wasted guarding a single war machine or unit of Crossbowmen, Archers, or Handgunners. Generally, use your Flagellants for this type of guard duty only when the missile troops and artillery cost more points than the Flagellants guarding them. You can use your Flagellants to guard, take, or prevent the enemy from obtaining scenario objectives. For instance, if you're playing the Capture scenario from the Warhammer rulebook and the objective is a bridge in the center of the table, park your unit of Flagellants on the bridge. Even better, park your Flagellants on the enemy's side of the bridge and maneuver another strong unit onto the bridge itself. That way, even if the last Flagellant falls toward the end of the game, your second unit can still claim or contest the objective. Variations on this tactic can also be used in other types of scenarios. For instance, in the Breakthrough scenario, a large unit of Flagellants deployed in a single rank could cut off access to a large section of your Deployment Zone and thus prevent your opponent from fulfilling his mission objectives. Similarly, in a siege game, a unit of Flagellants deployed in front of a castle gate will require any unit armed with a log or battering ram to fight a long and bloody battle before it even begins to assail your castle's gate. Beware of flyers when using your Flagellants as guards. Flyers can easily swoop around your guards and attack the troops or objectives behind. If you've committed your Flagellants to guard duty and your opponent has a powerful flyer or unit of flyers, make sure that you destroy or neutralize it. Otherwise, you'll have given your expensive Flagellants a mission they cannot fulfill and wasted them in the process.

The Big Sticks

Don't underestimate Flagellants as offensive weapons. They need not be resigned to duty as tar pits, speed bumps, or guards. They have 2 Attacks and an effective Strength of 5 on the 1st turn of combat. Aside from characters, they are the only troops with Toughness 4 in the Empire army. A good-sized unit of Flagellants with ranks can take on many average troops and win. Flagellants can completely terrorize weaker troops like Goblins, Skinks, and Clanrats. Even if the dice go bad on a particular round, you have little cause to worry, as the Flagellants are Unbreakable and can weather the storm. Most enemy units do not have that luxury. One caveat: beware of Weapon Skill 5 or higher. Against troops with high Weapon Skill, the Flagellants with WS2 will need 5's to hit. Thus, if you choose to use your Flagellants offensively, avoid the Chaos Warriors, Swordmasters of Hoeth, and Longbeards gun for the average Joes and the wimps instead.

The Psyche-out
Don't overestimate your Flagellants either. Your Flagellants are Unbreakable, not invincible. Against elite troops or powerful models, Flagellants will generally fall in time. Even when fighting middling troops like Orc Boyz, Halberdiers, and Chaos Marauders, Flagellants will often lose the fight when their dice are slightly below average, though it will take several turns. Take this fact into account as you plan your battles and don't rely too heavily on your Flagellants. However, many of your opponents will fail to realize that Flagellants, like all troops, have their vulnerabilities, and you should discourage your opponents from thinking of your Flagellants as anything but invincible. Every Warhammer player has a story to tell about the time his 500-point ber-unit of nasty death was held up for a whole game by a small group of Unbreakable troops. These anecdotes can work to your advantage. Part of the Flagellants' power is in the psychological effect they can have on your opponent. If your opponent believes them to be invincible, then a unit of 10 or 15 Flagellants can easily hold the weak flank of your army (because your foe will never charge them). Like the Empire's other Rare choice, the Helblaster Volley Gun, your unit of Flagellants can have a profound effect on the battle even if it never kills a single enemy model.

The End Is Here!

Well, that about wraps it up for Flagellants. They are fantastic troops that I almost always field in my Empire army. Just remember the basic Flagellant roles tar pits, speed bumps, guards, and big sticks and avoid overruns, and you should have success with your lunatic zealots. Those of you who really dig Flagellants might want to check out the alternative list for the Sigmarite Army in the back of the Empire book. This list allows you to field multiple units of Flagellants as Core troops, a perfect force for rallying behind Valten and fighting the Storm of Chaos! Finally, remember to shout "The end is nigh" and "Doom" when you're using your Flagellants. It'll bring you good luck!

MIXING PUTTY: It seems like a no brainer, but I've definitely seen some poorly mixed putty in my day. A bad mix is just plain bad news. The goal here is to mix both colors in even amounts without mixing foreign objects, like sand particles, into the putty. Of course, there are instances where you may want to alter the mix a bit to extend (more yellow) or accelerate (more blue) the putty's drying time. Oh, one more thing: some people find that green stuff irritates their skin, and they use latex gloves as a result.

Cut off an approximate amount of putty with a hobby knife. Employing a knife ensures a proper 50/50 mix.

Wet your fingers a bit in order to keep the putty from sticking to your fingers as you mix it.

Use both hands to twist and knead the putty effectively.

After about a minute of mixing, your green stuff is all set.

PUTTY AND WATER: I really can't stress the importance of water enough when working with green stuff. Keep a small dish of H 0 handy whenever you work with green stuff. Water helps keep your sculpting tool from sticking to the putty and thus ruining whatever it is that you're working on. Also, water is necessary to smooth out any rough spots or fingerprints that mar a particular area.

Let's just say you want to add putty to this leg socket for a future conversion idea.

Once you've applied the putty and shaped it to fit, you'll probably notice all the yucky fingerprints.

Wet your finger and then run it over the area repeatedly.

Note how all the ridges and such have been eliminated.

VARIOUS TOOLS: Having the right tool for the job certainly applies when working with putty. Though the basic sculpting tool is quite a useful hunk of metal, there are times when a specially shaped tool can make or break a project. There's a huge array of picks, blades, and scoops out there if you look around. However, simple objects you see everyday are often quite useful. Stuff like pins, paper clips, a 20-mm base, clippers, or a strange-shaped rock can be used to complete a specific task.

A samplin' of the tools I regularly use when sculpting.

FILLING GAPS: The ugly truth about assembling any multiple-piece model is that gaps are impossible to avoid. Occasionally, a piece will fit in such a way that a massive gap results. This gap is a bad thing, especially if you plan on devoting a chunk of time to painting the model nicely. In these situations, you're going to have to fill that gap with some putty. This process really isn't all that tough. Just take your time.

This gap is going to show after you paint the model.

Roll a very small line of putty to fill the gap.

Carefully lay the putty along the gap.

Jam the putty into the gap with the sculpting tool.

Go back and scrape off excess putty.

Smooth the area with your finger and some water.

This gap has been filled nicely.

THE NO-STICK METHOD: Water is a key element in making sure your sculpting tool does not get stuck in the putty as you work. However, there are times when you'll need to work on a piece of putty in a manner where it has to lay flat on a surface while you work. When it comes time to pull the putty up, you may find that it has permanently bonded to your table, desk, book, or whatever it was you were working on. To ensure that your creation does not stick, employ a thick plastic bag (like the ones we use to ship bitz to customers like you) or some wax paper.

Water and a plastic bag will make your life easier.

Apply some water to the surface area.

Slap a bit of putty down and flatten it out.

Sculpt or cut the putty as you please.

Wait until the putty hardens a bit then carefully peel it off.

A freed piece of flattened putty, ready for use

BUILDING ARMATURES: Just as our skeletal system supports our fleshy bodies, armatures can form a basic support structure under sculpted putty. If you are sculpting an arm, leg, or tentacle from scratch, it is a good idea to build an armature before any actual sculpting takes place. You can make armatures out of anything. Paper clips are good for appendages, while hunks of wood, rocks, moldable wire mesh (found at art stores), and foamcore are better suited for adding bulk to larger projects. Here's how to build a simple armature for tentacles.

Drill holes for the armature. Make sure these holes are large enough to accommodate your armature material.

Shape the armature with a pair of pliers. This structure will be the basic shape for the putty.

Clip off your armature.

Glue the armature into place.

The finished armature awaits some putty.

CUTTING PUTTY: Some people only think of putty in terms of sculpting it when it is still malleable. However, once putty has hardened, it can be cut and drilled like wood just watch your fingers. You can carefully cut putty into small slivers, perfect cubes, rectangles, and all sorts of shapes. So don't toss out any excess putty. Let it harden and then think of uses for it down the line.

A hunk of hardened putty may seem useless, but it isn't!

Try cutting it up or gouging letters and sigils into it.

Here's a bunch of cut-up putty that'll be used to dress up a model's base as some cobblestones.

FILING PUTTY: Much like cutting up putty after it's dried, filing putty should have a place in your skill set. By combining cutting and filing techniques, you can make your own bolters, armor plates, and shields! Filing putty is also useful when filling gaps, as it may be necessary to blend the putty into a gap seamlessly.

This rounded putty end is about to be filed.

After a bit of work, the previously rounded tip is now flat.

Experiment and try out new shapes!

LONG HAIR: Sometimes a head-swap conversion might necessitate a bit of hair transplant. Other times, you might just want to add a long, shaggy mane to a model. Whatever the reason, it's good to know that sculpting hair is a breeze after some practice. For this example, we'll add a bunch of hair to a crazed Flagellant to make him look even crazier.

Nope, this guy's hair isn't long enough. It just won't do!

Roll a few small lines of putty.

Place these rolls onto the model where you want hair. Yes, it looks like a bunch dreadlocks right now, but not for long.

With the blade end of a sculpting tool, press into the putty in one direction to create the flow of hair.

Now, use a hobby knife to create fine lines of hair. You can even separate a few ends for a more realistic look.

The Flagellant has been transformed into a proper, long-haired lunatic. You could do the same with his beard!

FUNGUS, BOILS, AND SORES: Sculpting strange fungal growths, boils, and sores is fun and easy. Half the time, it's just a matter of going with the flow and trying out some strange techniques with various tools and objects. However, layering putty is an important step for these additions, so pile it on. If you are a Nurgle player (guilty as charged), then these sculptures are going to become your bread and butter. Here, we'll add some crud to the head of an archive Great Unclean One instead of the horns it normally bears.

Horns are no fun let's make a pile of pus and goo instead.

Add a long blob of putty.

Drop another hunk of putty on top of the first one.

Stick on two more little blobs this process is "layering."

Blend the bottom of the sore into the head.

Use a pin to create gross pores of various sizes.

I think I'm going be sick.

Create ridges with the blade end of a sculpting tool.

Refine the ridges with a hobby knife.

Yeah, I'm definitely going to be sick.

EASY CHAIN MAIL: Extending a coat of chain mail or reconstructing an armored arm you've converted is not that hard to do because chain mail is simple stuff to make. The process involves either randomly jabbing at putty with a pin or carefully making rows of rings with a pin. Here, we'll transform a boring old rag on a Plaguemarine into a tabard of chain mail.

This rag just ain't doin' it for me.

Add a small blob of putty to the tabard.

Press the blob to fit the surface area of the tabard.

Flatten the putty and trim any that overlaps the edges.

The putty is now all set for chain-mail action.

Dig up a pin with a small point.

Jab at the putty from directly above with the pin.

The tabard is nearly done.

With the tip of your sculpting tool, jab at the putty again.

By using two sized "jabbers," the putty looks like chain mail

PURITY SEALS: There are a few plastic purity seal bitz out there, but not too many. Besides, purity seals are simple enough to make out of putty and paper, and they look just fine. With this technique, you can create a fanatical Space Marine Veteran who is absolutely decked out in purity seals. The purity seals shown here were completed before priming for demonstration purposes. You may want to make them separately, paint them, and then glue the purity seals onto your models.

Start with a tiny ball of putty, and I mean tiny.

Place the putty on plastic and flatten them with a base.

Your seals are now ready for their indentation.

Grab a pin vise bit or similarly small cylinder.

Wet the bit and push it into the seals on the plastic sheet.

They might not be perfectly round, but hey, it won't matter.

Let the putty cure a bit and cut up some thin paper strips.

Wrinkle the paper strips and glue them in place.

Peel your seals from the plastic bag.

Glue the seals on top of the paper strips.

That's one dedicated Space Marine, but he could certainly do better. Time to make 30 more!

ADDING FUR: Much like hair, fur is pretty easy to do and has plenty of practical uses. It's really just an exercise in mashing putty around until it looks like fur. I know that sounds stupid, but it's the truth! Here, we'll fill a gap and add some fur to a Chaos Hound. Note: The blob of green putty visible underneath the Hound was used to prop up the model for photographic purposes. However, I somehow forgot it was there despite it being glaringly visible in every picture. Please ignore it!

With the rear leg finished, it's time to fill that arm gap.

Lay a blob of putty over the area that is to become fur.

Create grooves with the blade end of a sculpting tool.

Sculpt the fur so that it matches the surrounding fur.

Make sure the fur adheres to the shape of the body.

Add fine detail with a hobby knife.

Behold: fur and gap taken care of in one fell swoop.

POUCHES AND BAGS: Little details like pouches and ammo bags can be added to just about any model. They also add a bit of a personal touch. Once you complete a few, you may find yourself unable to stop adding such items to every one of your models. Here, we take a Flagellant and add several belt pouches.

Roll a small ball of putty between your fingers.

Press the putty to the waistline of the model.

Here's a close up to show the placement of the putty.

Add a few well-placed wrinkles to the top of the pouch.

That's about it one pouch complete.

The top of these pouches poke out from under the rope.

BANDAGES AND WRAPPINGS: This type of putty work can be used for tons of stuff. An injured fighter in Mordheim can be given a head bandage, and weapons can be wrapped with camouflage, to name but a few uses. This project hardly involves any real sculpting it's mostly just simple putty work.

Roll a long and very thin line of putty on a plastic bag.

Thick wraps use a thick line of putty. Otherwise, keep it thin.

Wet a base to be used as a press.

Press the putty flat with the base.

The left half has been flattened.

Let the putty cure a bit and then peel it from the plastic.

Here's the amputated leg of some unfortunate dude.

Wrap the putty around the area you want bandaged.

There ya' go, buddy! Right as rain!

If you want to texture the bandage a bit, go right ahead.

A few fine lines make the bandages look tattered.

SIMPLE TENTACLES: Tentacles are a staple for the Chaos player. You can wrap a tentacle around a new weapon or just have six or so sprouting from the side of a Champion. Any way you use them, tentacles add that special touch to units of Chaos Warriors and their kin. Here, we'll add three tentacles to a Chaos Hound. How to make the paper clip armature shown in the first picture can be found here.

The armature is dry and ready for some putty.

Wrap putty around each of the armatures.

The rough shape of things to come. I'll briefly show you a few different tentacle tricks. Try one, none, or all of 'em!

You can make smooth tentacles by rubbing your finger over the appendage with water repeatedly.

See, nice and smooth.

A rougher, more fleshy tentacle requires a sculpting tool.

Random jabs with a sculpting tool do the trick nicely.

Elongate a tentacle with your fingers.

Add a tiny curve to the end of thin tentacles.

Simple patterns can be made with your sculpting tool.

A few lines of well placed dots created this effect.

Who needs a hind leg when you have three tentacles!

Technique 1: Overbrushing
Overbrushing is an easy way to paint basecoats and highlights on chain mail, scale mail, hair, fur, and other heavily textured surfaces like a model's base or groundcover. This technique makes use of a brush that is more heavily charged with paint than a drybrush. Pull the loaded brush over the surface of the model to deliver pigment to the detailed peaks while leaving the darker color completely undisturbed in the recesses. The line between overbrushing and drybrushing tends to become blurred in some instances. Sometimes, the first application of paint on a model that you "drybrush" is, in reality, really an overbrush to deliver a heavy application of paint. Subsequent layers are delivered by drybrushing with a decreasingly charged brush. Another way to distinguish the two is that overbrushing doesn't produce the classic "dusty" appearance you achieve with drybrushing.

Overbrushing Is Easy Just Follow the Steps Below to Find out How to Do It:
1. 2. 3. Load up a large or small drybrush or tankbrush (depending on the size of the area you are painting) with paint. Make sure that it's a lighter shade than the base color. Wipe a tiny amount of the paint away on a sturdy paper towel or soft rag. This step is pretty much a judgement call, but you want to remove enough paint so it won't flow over the model. Pull the flat of the brush across the details of the model. This technique will deposit the paint on the raised surfaces but not in the recesses. Repeat this step with a lighter tone if you like or follow the instructions for drybrushing on the remaining layers.

Step 1: Load up brush.

Step 2: Wipe away a little paint.

Step 3: Deposite paint on model.

Technique 2: Drybrushing
Drybrushing is a simple way of adding highlights and picking out details on raised areas of a model. It's also a very quick way of finishing a model such as a vehicle that has wide surfaces or a creature that has a large percentage of its body covered in hair. Drybrushing and overbrushing are similar techniques, but the latter makes use of more paint on the brush and thus has a slightly different style of application. Overbrushing results in a slightly different appearance and that also makes the technique stand apart from drybrushing. Most painters blur the line between the two methods, however what may begin as overbrushing might become drybrushing as the paint thickens and dries on the brush.

How to Drybrush Models in Three Easy Steps:

1. 2. 3. Load up a large or small drybrush or tankbrush with paint. Make sure that it's a lighter shade than the base color. Wipe most of the paint away on a sturdy paper towel or soft rag. Continue wiping the bristles on this surface until the brush, while applying pressure, leaves only a faint mark. Lightly stroke the brush over the surface detail of the model with a "back-and-forth" motion.

Step 1: Load up brush.

Step 2: Wipe away excess paint.

Step 3: Deposit paint on model.

Tips and Hints:

Drier brushes will leave a slight dusting of color on the higher details of the miniature while wetter brushes will deposit more pigment on the surface and may leave streaks. Repeated applications will amplify the drybrush effect. This repetition, combined with other, lighter colors, will increase contrast. The drier the drybrush, the quicker your brush will wear down and become splayed (this advice is more of a warning than a hint or a tip). Large armor plates (such as tanks and other vehicles) benefit from a larger brush to avoid streaking. Most any surface can be drybrushed, but fur, hair, chainmail, and other heavily detailed surfaces garner the best results.

Examples of Excellent Surfaces to Drybrush

Orc skin

Tank armor plating

Fur

Dirt

Technique 3: Washes

Washes allow you to shade a lighter base color quickly, and the technique adds a level of realism to areas such as skin, hair, fur, and metal. A wash basically stains an area on the model and then sinks into the detailed crevices of a miniature to create shadow. The more ink in a location, the darker it will appear. A wash can be controlled to a certain degree by adding more water to the ink to make it more fluid and less dense and dark when dry. You can also add in white glue to enhance the gathering quality of the ink or add a little liquid dish soap to break the surface tension of the ink to keep patches or "tide marks" (right) from forming when the ink dries. Of course, you can combine more than one of these controls to the mix to make full use of an ink wash's powers.

Here's How to Use a Wash Successfully:

1. 2. Charge up a brush (preferably an old one or your transfer brush) with an ink of your choosing. Deposit the ink in a puddle on your palette. Consider adding other ingredients to your ink. Decide on the effect you would like and use the formula below to create it. a. Add water and white glue so the wash gathers better and produces a stronger contrast when dry. b. Add liquid dish soap and water to the ink to reduce surface tension to keep the ink from staining the surface with unsightly patches or "tide marks." c. Add other pigments to the ink. Try adding black to another ink to darken it. For example, a good mixture for greasy metals is Chestnut Ink + Black Ink + Water + Dish Soap (3:1:5:1). Apply the ink mixture to the area you want to wash, taking care to stay "in the lines." Also, make sure that the paint you are applying the wash over is completely dry. The excess ink will flow into the recesses and collect there, instantly darkening these areas to create shadows. Let the wash dry thoroughly before moving on to the next stage in painting your model. Be careful add too much ink (and not enough water and white glue or dish soap) and the result may appear gummy.

3.

Step 1: Charge up brush with ink

Step 2: Mix in other ingredients.

Step 3: Apply wash to model.

Try Applying Washes to:

Large expanses of skin (including horses or other steeds). Large expanses of metal (a knight's plate mail, steed's barding, or Necron's carapace). Weapons of all types both fantastic and futuristic. Animal fur, fur on capes, and manes of hair. Just around the rivets on vehicles to create localized rust. Gold metallics, as they become much richer after receiving a Chestnut Ink wash.

Technique 4: Staining & Glazing Staining

So, what's the difference between glazing, staining, and washes? Washes are typically used to shade or tone select (and usually small) areas of a model, such as weapons or the fur on a fur-lined cape. Staining almost always affects approximately 80% of a model (or more), although it can be used to great effect on smaller surface areas as well. Typically, staining is used over a white surface or a surface that was primed black and then drybrushed white. Inks are ideal for staining as they do not necessarily need to be diluted with water before they are applied.

How to Stain a Model:

For a white undercoat: 1. Mix an ink with a bit of water and a drop of white glue on your palette (4:2:1). 2. With a large brush, apply this mixture over all the white areas you want to stain. 3. Set the model down and allow it to dry completely before moving on to the next stage. For a black undercoat drybrushed with white: 1. Mix an ink with a bit of water and a drop of white glue on your palette (4:2:1). 2. Use a large brush to apply this mixture over the areas you drybrushed with white paint. 3. Set the model down and allow it to dry completely before moving on to the next stage.

Here's an example of a horse that has been undercoated white with spray primer and then stained with a mixture of Chestnut Ink, Black Ink, white glue, and water. Note the smooth finish and lighter tone overall.

Here's another example of a horse that has been undercoated black with spray primer, drybrushed with white, and then stained with the same mixture inks, white glue, and water. Note the deep shadows.

Glazing
Glazes are used to intensify or restore strong color by applying a layer of ink. This technique works well on gems and other decorations that you want to stand out. Glazes can also be used to tone down or unify layered areas on capes or other sections of clothing. In the end, all of these techniques are interchangeable, and to be entirely honest it's hard to differentiate between all of them. All three use ink to recolor the pigment beneath.

How to Use a Glaze:

1. 2. 3. 4. Apply a base color over either a black or white undercoat depending on your preference or needs. Drybrush or paint a dramatic highlight over the basecoat. It can be a few shades lighter than the basecoat. Mix a little dish soap and water into the ink and paint it over the base color and highlights. Set the model aside and allow it to dry completely before moving on to the next stage.
Glazing is one of the best methods of creating a strong yellow color that has some depth to it. Begin with an orange and then drybrush with white to create highlights before finally glazing the whole area with Yellow Ink. This glaze creates a strong yellow with shading and highlighting. Additional glazes of ink can be applied to create a more intense color if necessary.

Technique 5: Layering
Layering is a technique for representing shade and highlights by painting successive gradations of color from dark to light. The easiest form of layering is a twotone process over a black undercoat. This approach allows you the option of finishing models quickly to get them on the tabletop for battle. It's perfect for building large armies in a minimal amount of time. Under close scrutiny, however, this layering technique tends to fall apart as our eyes aren't that easily fooled up close. Once you feel comfortable with the two-tone process, try painting your models with the more advanced multi-layering technique. This technique adds more layers between the darkest and lightest tones by mixing the two extremes together in different proportions.

The Two-Tone Process over Black

If you're looking to finish an entire army, this one is the technique to learn. It's a technique that's fast, less labor-intensive, pretty easy to learn, and looks decent from an arm's-length distance. Most miniature painters that "paint-to-play" learn this style of layering, and some individuals have refined it to a point where they can use the method to paint individual models for display purposes. The entire model is developed over a black undercoat by applying two successive layers of paint, starting with the dark shade and finishing with the lightest. Now, although this technique is called the "two-tone process," there are some exceptions. In the case of faces, an additional layer may be added for more realism. The face is, after all, the focal point of the model and deserves the extra attention.

Here's How You Layer with the Two-Tone Process over Black:
1. 2. 3. Undercoat the model with Chaos Black Spray Primer. Paint a deep blue over the cloak but leave the black undercoat showing in the deepest recesses for the darkest levels of shadow. Apply a lighter blue color over the high relief on the cloak but leave a line of dark blue between the black and the lighter blue.

Step 1: Undercoat model black.

Step 2: Paint dark blue.

Step 3: Paint light blue.

The example above uses blues, but you can do this technique with any color as long as you start with the darker layer. This technique is actually good practice as you move towards multi-layering you can extend the two-tone technique with one additional layer to produce more subtle effects.

Faces Are Very Easy to Paint over a Black Undercoat. Here's How:
1. 2. 3. Paint Dark Flesh over the black undercoat and leave the eyes and any extremely deep creases black. Paint a layer of Dwarf Flesh over the face but leave Dark Flesh in the creases such as the eyes, mouth, nose, etc. Paint the highest points on the face Elf Flesh generally, the bridge and wings of the nose, the chin, the top of the cheekbones, and the jaw line.

Step 1: Dark Flesh over undercoat.

Step 2: Dwarf Flesh on Dark Flesh.

Step 3: Highlights with Elf Flesh.

The Multi-Layering Technique

The multi-layering technique is much more time consuming than the two-tone process over black, but the result of your painstaking work is a reward in itself. The most difficult thing about all layering techniques is the choice of color. It is very important to choose shades that work well together over your undercoat color.

Paint an Area of a Model Green in Five Stages with the Multi-Layering Technique:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Paint Paint Paint Paint Paint

the first layer with Snot Green. the second layer with a 2:1 mixture of Snot Green and Goblin Green. the third layer with a 1:1 mixture of Snot Green and Goblin Green. the fourth layer with a 1:2 mixture of Snot Green and Goblin Green. the fifth and final layer with Goblin Green.

Each layer builds on the previous one but does not completely cover it. This limited overlap allows the layer beneath to show through and creates depth and shadow with each pass of your brush. The example above was achieved through the use of colors straight from the Citadel range. Try mixing up your own pigments and layering with those.

The Dramatic Layering Technique

An Example of Dramatic Layering The dramatic layering technique is a slightly simpler approach to layering that nearly cuts This Chaos Warrior was painted with the dramatic layering technique almost the out the process of mixing paint altogether. The tricky part is picking out colors that work whole way through to its conclusion (minus the ink washes on the metallic areas and well together despite the differences in shade. This technique also rarely uses more than the drybrushed fur on the cape). The red armor is a good example of the technique. three layers an excellent proposition for speeding along with your army painting while The armor was given a basecoat of Scab Red (over a black undercoat) with a highlight of Blood Red over that basecoat. Finally, a tiny bit of Fiery Orange was maintaining quality!
used to accentuate the edges of the plate mail.)

The best way to get started with the dramatic layering technique is to take a look at the Citadel Colour range and work out dramatic contrasts picking out a "root" color, a midtone, and one of the lightest colors in the series. Many people find it quite difficult to get good results with very bright colors with this technique because the colors are hard to tone together. A way of getting colors to tone together better is to mix a little of the adjoining color(s) into the paint for each layer. This mixing draws the colors together so the contrast won't be as apparent to the casual viewer.

Paint an Area of a Model Brown with the Dramatic Layering Technique:

1. 2. 3. Paint the first layer with Scorched Brown. Paint the second layer with Snakebite Leather. Paint the third and final layer with Bronzed Flesh.

As with multi-layering, each layer builds on the one beneath it but doesn't cover it completely.

Tip 1: The Secrets of Spray Primer & How to Undercoat Models

Once you've assembled your miniatures and allowed whatever adhesive you've used to set fully, it's time to undercoat your models for your painting "canvas." It's best to make sure that there's no debris on your miniatures before you start applying the spray primer, as the primer will seal in whatever is attached to the model and that might ruin the surface. Sometimes, curls of plastic from trimming your figures or even dust and hair can be resting on your models either from exposure or a slight static charge. Give your models a light brushing with a Tank Brush or give them a good blast of air from your lungs. In the case of plastic model kits, it's best to wash the plastic with soap and water before undercoating the miniature with spray primer. Plastic sprues are coated with a mold-release agent during the production process. This agent causes a chemical reaction when the primer is introduced, which pits, scars, or even "fuzzes" the plastic figures. In summary: you will cry great buckets of tears when you find that all your hundreds of plastic Imperial Guardsmen that you painstakingly trimmed, assembled, and converted are completely fuzzy and devoid of detail because you didn't clean them first. That is, unless you're into that sort of thing. Sometimes, you may find that your metal model The Great Thing About Spray Primer... components are covered with a thick layer of talcum-like powder. If this powder is present, it's As an aside, it's advantageous to use spray primer to undercoat a model instead of regular acrylic paint applied by hand. Primer is specially formulated to bond to always a wise idea to scrub the pieces down metals and plastics. Acrylic paint, being water based, has trouble adhering to with soap, water, and an old toothbrush. The smooth plastic and metal. To get a proper undercoat by hand, you'll need to apply a few layers. In doing so, you run the risk of obscuring detail. It goes without saying powder, a casting byproduct, may make it extremely difficult for superglue to form a bond (but we'll say it anyway) that undercoating your models with spray primer is much during assembly and the spray primer may reactfaster than doing the whole process by hand. Also, subsequent layers of paint flow more smoothly on miniatures that are spray primed as opposed to those done by strangely to this fine layer of dust. hand.

Now is the time to decide whether you want to give your models a textured base before spraying on the undercoat. Some painters prefer to leave the base free of sand so that they can easily access the model's feet while others use white glue or super glue to attach the sand and pebbles to the model's base before they undercoat the figure.

Both approaches have merit, but the US Studio staff finds that applying the base texture before undercoating has its advantages. First, it speeds up the painting process. Some painters even drybrush their textured bases first to avoid slopping paint on the model's legs and feet when it nears completion. Second, the primer seals in the basing material. Spray primer comes in a variety of colors. The most commonly used GW primers are Chaos Black and Skull White. White primer works exceedingly well for models that will be receiving a light color scheme or large vehicles that will have a bright color scheme or camouflage pattern. Chaos Black, on the other hand, is more widely used by painters who want good results quickly, are painting a large number of models at once, or enjoy the fact that black primer provides instant shading for the darkest recesses of the miniature. As a word of warning, some colors do not cover a black undercoat well without an intermediary coat. Chief among them are yellows, reds, and any paints that have these pigments in their makeup such as the lighter fleshy colors. GW also produces spray primer in chromatic colors such as Ultramarine Blue, Blood Red, and Bleached Bone. These primers provide shortcuts to painters sitting down to a table full of power-armored Space Marines. It's always a good idea to give your models a preliminary coat of Skull White before applying a bright-colored spray paint because it will make the colors much more vibrant.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Priming Models

Undercoating miniatures with spray primer really isn't all that difficult, but it does require a bit of finesse, patience, and even atmospheric conditions to achieve good results. The first and most frustrating obstacles to watch out for are extreme temperatures and periods of high humidity. Both of these can affect the quality of the spray and can lead to "fuzzy" basecoats. The second thing to be careful of is where you spray and what objects are close by. The spray particles get everywhere. This fact means that spraying next to Dad's car is a really, really bad idea. The last two things to consider sort of go hand in hand. Spray only in wellventilated areas. The fumes of the spray primer are toxic. What's more, NEVER spray the primer near any open flames. The spray is also combustible. This danger also applies if you are undercoating models while smoking! The following instructions are printed on the GW spray primer can labels, but we have repeated them here because they are important to your success in undercoating your miniatures:

Follow these steps:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Ensure the model to be sprayed is clean and any mold lines have been removed with a craft knife or a file. Make sure you protect the area you're spraying with newspaper. Make sure to spray in a well-ventilated area, such as an open garage or outside if the weather warrants it. Place your models on an upturned box or a piece of thin cardboard so you can turn them without touching them. Touching your miniatures while they are still drying will result in unsightly fingerprints that are very difficult to hide. Shake the can vigorously for 1 full minute before doing any spraying and shake periodically in between sprays. Hold the can about 12" from the model and spray evenly across the surface of the models in short bursts. For the best results, apply two thin coats rather than one heavy coat that may obscure the detail of the model. Allow the first coat to dry completely before adding the second. If you are working with chromatic spray primers, you'll achieve a brighter, more even finish by applying a coat of white spray primer first. If the surface bubbles or runs, you are spraying too close to the model, or are applying too heavy a coat in one pass. The undercoat should be dry to the touch in approximately 30 minutes and ready to paint in just over an hour. For the best results, however, allow the primer to dry overnight before painting. If the nozzle becomes clogged, twist a full turn. Under no circumstances should you stick a sharp object into the top of the can to clear a blockage. Replace the nozzle with a gentle twisting motion, making sure the nozzle is facing away from you if it pops free from its seat. After use, turn the can upside down and spray until only air comes out of the nozzle. This step prevents paint from drying in the nozzle while the can is not in use.

Tip 2: Retouching the Undercoat

No matter how hard you try, there will always be areas on the model that didn't pick up their fair share of the spray primer. These areas are usually recessed details or extreme undercuts that get a dusting of primer but not enough to cover the bare metal or plastic fully.

Here's How You Can Retouch Areas That Didn't Receive Enough Spray Primer:
1. 2. 3. 4. Add some water to appropriately colored paint (see Thinning Your Paint by Adding Water for helpful tips). Liberally paint this thinned mixture over any areas the spray primer has missed the excess should run into any unprimed recesses. This thinned paint should not obscure any details. Allow this hand-painted undercoat to dry completely before proceeding. If any areas still need a proper undercoating, repeat the steps above after the first coat dries.

Tip 3: Thinning Your Paint by Adding Water

Why would you want to thin your paint? Well, most acrylic model paints (including the Citadel range) come out of the pot way too thick. Their covering power might be mighty, but you will run the risk of obliterating the finely sculpted detail with viscous pigment. Two or more coats of watered-down paint are always easier to work with than thick paint straight from the pot. It may take longer to cover the model to a point that you're pleased with, but the overall effect will be much nicer.

Thinning Your Paint with Water Is Very Simple Try These Steps Below:
1. 2. 3. Load up an old, mid-sized brush with paint and deposit a pile of pigment on your palette. A brush dedicated to the task of moving and mixing paint is a valuable tool. This brush will save you a lot of money instead of ruining your nicer brushes with this task. Dip your transfer brush into your pot of clean water make sure that the bristles are fully charged with water. You'll see a large drop of water dangling off the end of the brush if you do it right. Put this water-loaded brush tip into your pile of paint and mix the two together. The proper consistency is something akin to whole milk not quite the thick paint that came out of the pot and not quite flowing water. Continue adding water (and maybe paint) until you get the proper consistency.

Tips and Hints:

If your mixture begins to thicken on the palette, you can always add more water as you continue painting. Try thinning your paint with a mixture of water and an ink to enrich the tone.

Tip 4: Mixing Paint and Working with Test Cards

Mixing paint provides you with a much larger palette than you can achieve by only working with the same standard colors straight from the pot. The majority of painters (even the most competent ones) mix paints by adding only white or black. This method works well for some colors, but you may find that adding white or black to many of the pigments result in a chalky or dingy effect. For example, adding a tiny bit of a strong green to a red will result in a darker, richer red instead of a muddy burgundy (which is what you get by adding black). Mixing your paints isn't as hard as you think. Try these mixtures to darken or Black lighten the following colors: Adding white to black creates a very artificial grey. If you also add a little of any mid-brown color, or even a neutral mix of green and red, the grey will appear warmer and less mechanical.

1. Adding white to black. 2. Adding a mid-brown to black. 3. Adding a neutral mix of green/red to black.

Chaos Black

White Adding any color to white will create a shade, but most people would add black or grey which can look unnatural. Adding a mix of grey and brown, or even a neutral mix of red and green can achieve a more neutral shade. Shades of white and brown tend to work better with neutral or yellowish browns rather than red-based browns that will look pink.

Green Greens are rather like blues in that they need to be shaded with deeper versions of the same color rather than black. You can also deepen a strong green by adding a little red. Greens are very easy and pleasing colors to mix into lighter shades you can add yellow, white, or even grey to make different shades without compromising the underlying color.

1. Adding black to white. 2. Adding a mid-grey/brown to white. 3. Adding a mid-grey/red-brown to white.

Skull White

1. Adding black to green. 2. Adding a red to green. 3. Adding a yellow to green.

Snot Green

Blue Blues need to be shaded with deeper blues rather than black, as adding black will make the blue look very grubby. Adding white can lighten blues, but intense blues become chalky if you add white. It is better to lighten strong blues with a light blue first.

Yellow Yellows need to be shaded by mixing in yellow-based browns, oranges, or reds basically warm colors. Adding black to yellow produces an olive green this effect is something to be careful of when mixing black into any yellowish browns, too. To lighten yellow, simply add white.

1. Adding black to blue. 2. Adding too much white to blue. 3. Adding a light blue to strong blue.

Regal Blue

1. Adding black to yellow. 2. Adding red to yellow. 3. Adding white to yellow.

Sunburst Yellow

Red To darken a strong red, add a strong green. Add a tiny amount and judge the

Brown Browns can be quite hard to mix into light and dark colors. Yellow browns can

effect a little green darkens a lot of red. You can also darken a red with a dark red-brown (Dark Flesh), in which case the result is a rather brownish red. Red can also be darkened effectively with black to produce a distinct "burgundy" color. Lightening a red is more difficult add yellow and you get orange, add white and you get pink! For most purposes, strong reds are best lightened with orange or yellow, but be wary of overdoing it.

be lightened by adding white, and darkened with deeper red browns. Red browns can be lightened by adding a light yellow brown or darkened by dark red browns or, if very dark, black. Adding white to red browns makes them unpleasantly pinkish. Neutral browns can also be lightened with grey, but beware if they are yellow based as grey may make them appear green. This effect is especially apparent when painting horses!

1. Adding a strong green to a strong red. 2. Adding a dark red/brown to red. 3. Adding black to red.

Blood Red

1. Adding white to yellow/brown. 2. Adding a deep red/brown to yellow/brown. 3. Adding a light yellow/brown to red/brown.

Bestial Brown

4. Adding an orange to red 5. Adding a yellow to red. 6. Adding white to red.

Blood Red

4. Adding black to red/brown 5. Adding white to red/brown. 6. Adding a yellow-based grey to a brown.

Dark Flesh

Mixing Chart
This chart shows a series of colors that can be harmoniously intermixed or used as harmonious layers. Note that it is not necessary to use the whole series you could pick a dark, middle and light color out of a longer series (for example: Scab Red, Blood Red, and Fiery Orange). The extreme left and right parts of each series show a color that can be mixed to darken or lighten the series further.

There Are a Few Other Things to Keep in Mind While Mixing Your Own Colors: Mix up enough paint to cover the whole batch of models on which you are currently working. Make sure to use plenty of water as you mix the paints. If you begin to run out of paint, create a similar mixture on a separate palette before the original mix dries out completely. Dry paint is always a slightly different color than wet paint. Then mix both together on one palette so that they match a little bit better the slight bit of variation will be hardly noticeable. If you'd like to mix up a large batch of paint to keep around for an extended amount of time, store your mixture in small, sealable, clean containers. Empty paint pots are available as part of the Citadel range just for this reason.

Test Cards
A test card displays a combination of sample color swatches and is most often found at home improvement centers for use by do-it-yourself house painters. It serves as a visual, note-keeping reference card. The best material to use as a test card is simply a sheet of white illustration board available at art and craft stores. However, when you need to make a test card in a pinch, a simple piece of white paper will work just as well if you don't mind the warping. Simply paint a swatch of your mixed color at the top of the card with the proportionate drops of the colors that made up the mix beneath it. Write down the names next to the drops and

perhaps the ratio of the mixture at the bottom of the card (e.g., 1:2:1).