CheapHammer 40k: The 2nd Ed Revival Project Pt. 6 – Second Marine Combat Squad

…Or “An Odyssey in Edge Highlighting And Going Partially Blind”…

As Jim has raced through his Greenskin horde with impressive and ever improving results, I seem to have gone backwards! *gnashes teeth*

With these two combat squads I decided to deviate slightly from the template laid down by Duncan on Warhammer TV (at the risk of being burned as a heretic) and try something a little different – after priming with cheap black £1 spray paint, I gave these lads a base coat of Vallejo German Grey and darkened them down with a couple of thinned black ink washes. When these dried, I hit them with a drybrush of German Grey giving me a nicely modulated basecoat…

…Which I then proceeded to ruin..

Now, I’ve seen edge highlighting done well in the old ‘Eavy Metal pages of White Dwarf, I’ve seen it done well on Warhammer TV and on the display stuff at Warhammer World, but I’ve seen a LOT more examples of it done badly and hamfistedly (many of them my own work, it must be said, and I will name no names otherwise), and it seems to me that the problem lies in thinning the paint for the highlight enough and being patient enough for the colours to modulate subtly.

Now, to give them their due, GW seems to have thought this through with their colour selection, as Duncan and Peachy’s videos show the various shades blending together beautifully, but they also tend to use a minimum of two dozen colours every time they paint something. And GW paints ain’t cheap.

So, using what I had to hand, I tried to blend some highlight colours – I took the base Vallejo German Grey, dialled in a little of the light blue grey Crown house paint (water based, so probably still acrylic in nature) to gradually lighten it, took up the old Windsor & Newton series 7, drew breath and started.

The next layer was for the super high exposed edges, and for this I blended in a little bone craft paint to lift it still higher. I also hit the recessed parts with pin washes of black ink to give depth, and went to bed pretty satisfied with my work.

Looking back on it the next day though, I found myself considerably less satisfied – the highlights look blocky and heavy handed, the washes a bit unsubtle, and disturbingly I found that if I bring a model too close (ie less than about 6 inches from my nose) my vision starts to get a bit blurry, so I’m starting to ponder glasses or one of those magnifying glass/ holder things I’ve seen. Any thoughts, internet?

Anyway – pics, see for yourselves and see if you agree with my assessment.

Combat squad headed by Veteran Marine as I only had three sergeant models.. note the sponge chipping – think I went a bit heavy handed there, oh well..

This was the squad I felt I went a bit too heavy with the pin washes… still, they look ok from two feet away!

Ready for action!

Group shot of the entire force

Time to kick some greenskin ass!

Next up, Jim’s got the rest of his ladz based, varnished and ready to rock, so it’ll be time to throw down for the third and final game of the campaign! Stay thrifty out there, we’ll see you soon.