Painting Space Hulk Quickly - Genestealers

So, in the what minis are you painting thread there are a few folks trying to get through their Space Hulk sets. Since I'm in the process of painting up a set for a buddy when he gets back from Iraq, I thought I'd share some quick, easy tips to get this thing done.

First, the materials. I don't mix paints, so forget all those ratios you read about in White Dwarf. Also, any brushes will do. I've been using the same brushes for nearly 15 years, and over half of them are 'craft' brushes from your local hobby shop. I don't even use 'real' primer anymore, but house/auto primer from Home Depot or Lowes. Way cheaper. You can use any substitute for the paint colors I provide below, but if you don't have the new GW washes you are doing it wrong. These puppies have the perfect mix for quick shading. Gone are the days of using woodstain (the dip) or miraclewash (paint mixed with future floor wash). GW has found the perfect mix for washing with. Ignore Army Painter materials it's simply overpriced woodstain for suckers.


I prefer the grey primer on the right, but my Home Depot doesn't carry it anymore. For this project, I'm using the grey auto primer on the left.


The eight colors you will need are (from top left): Shadow Grey, Space Wolf Grey,
Sunburst Yellow, Blood Red, Skull White, Chaos Black, Codex Grey, Mithril Silver, and the washes Badab Black and Gryphon Sepia (not pictured - sorry!).

Three step process. I don't have time for more than that.

STEP 1 - PRIMER.


This is actually a painting step for me. I choose a primer color that will also make up the majority color of my models. I also look for a color that works well with black/dark shading. These genestealers are grey. If you want yours a different color be sure to substitute the appropriate color and find suitable shades (one darker and one lighter). My darker color is Shadow Grey and my lighter color is Space Wolf Grey.

Anyway, spray them suckers.



STEP 2 - PAINT, but just a little!




I only painted their 'back shells', 'tails', and 'klingon nose ridges' Shadow Grey. I painted their talons and teeth the lighter Space Wolf Grey. Sure I could paint their underbellies, put some striping on their shells, etc. But screw it. I paint for table top gaming, not award winning. A drop of Sunburst Yellow for the eyes and some Blood Red along the tongue. Skull White on the base skulls for the one, black for the metal parts of their bases. Notice I hardly put any paint on the model. Less is more. These few parts I painted will 'pop' out in game play.

Also, be sure to always paint 'inside - out' that is paint the inner parts first (space marine helmet) then the outer parts over it (the talons). Additionally, don't sweat any gaps you leave the wash should fill it in. I hardly ever go back and do any touch up and none in this example.

STEP 3 - WASH/DRYBRUSH


Now run that Badab Black wash over the WHOLE MODEL (except the skulls on the base, use Gryphon Sepia for that!). Be sure to cover every part. You may need to dry your brush a time or two if the wash looks to pool up. I notice this with the eyes. The black totally covers the eyes, so I 'dab' the center with the tip of a dry brush to pull in some wash and reveal that yellow pupil.

Your model will be sopping wet now. Let it dry, then dry brush some of that Codex Grey on the edges of the black base. Be as clean or as sloppy as you want here. Dry brush an even thinner line of Mithril Silver on the finest edge of that. Done.







Terminators next...

Looks great!

Thanks for this Jack!

A few things I forgot to mention.

I never try to paint my models the same color scheme as in the studio pictures. Why create that comparison with professional work? If you blaze your own color scheme and patterns, you're never 'wrong'. Much easier mentally.

Be sure to paint these in an assembly line. That is, when you open one color line up the minis and paint them all using that color. Then when going to the next color go back to the first one which should be dry by now. This goes by so much quicker than constantly having to open and close paint pots over and over again.

Also, if you really wanted to afterward, you could clean up the bases by drybrushing a little Skull White on the skulls, or tidying up some of the Codex Grey on the bases with your Chaos Black. Maybe even wash parts of the base with Devlan Mud or something to give it a bit of a 'rust' look. It's all up to you if you want to take it a step beyond the speed process I've provided here.

I went with the genestealers first because they're appeared easiest to paint so I would have more immediate success. This is great encouragement when painting a large group of minis. You need to feel like you're making headway.

Nice work Jack, I think that's the route I'll take for the Genestealers, after I've finished with the Termies).

Nice work Jack, I think that's the route I'll take for the Genestealers, after I've finished with the Termies).

Great tips. My Gene-stealers are already more than halfway finished, but I have barely started on the Terminators. They do indeed look more difficult to paint than the Gene-stealers, and I think that the official paint jobs look too cluttered anyway. I will probably deliberately paint over some of the details in Terminator red, to blend in with the armor.

If interested, and you're up for waiting, I'll try to get a Terminator tutorial out this weekend.

damn, you put a lot of work in this, ie used lots of different colours. I guess I would've gone for one colour, with ink/wash and highlights. Then one or two colours for some details.

r.e.s.p.e.c.t.

I've found that the problem painting any colors, even details, after washing is that if you make a mistake it's visible. It requires clean-up. Heck, I'll even go a bit heavier on the wash to cover a mistake. The worst it does is provides a 'black line' effect which is great for tabletop gaming anyway.

After washing I don't do any painting unless it's a light drybrush highlight.

Jack Hooligan wrote:

If interested, and you're up for waiting, I'll try to get a Terminator tutorial out this weekend.

Sounds great. Waiting won't be a problem, I started painting these figures last fall and then kind of lost momentum around Christmas time. Every time I play, I regret that I haven't finished painting them yet.