Iron Snakes: Sternguard Progress (extra pictures added)

Hi folks,

For those who have been following my blog during the last year, you will know I have been working very hard on a squad of Iron Snakes Sternguard. I don't think I had any idea of just how intricate this project would be, or how time consuming.

But now I can feel it in my bones...

I'm getting close.

As I take this short break in painting to blog (and watch the cricket), I have 6 combi-plasma guns  and two plasma guns drying with block colours completed.

A poor man's wet pallet. Works a charm, though.

The past couple of nights I have been adding the verdigris detail to the torso. I start off with a 3:1 Scorched Brown (goodness know what they call this now, it is a warm dark brown): Kabalite Green which I paint on half the area of each armour piece. I then ramp it up to a 1:1 then 1:3 mix which I apply by drybrushing consecutively. I then mix Kabalite Green and White in a 1:1 and 1:3 ratio and pick out the extreme edges. A careful Kabalite Green glaze at this stage keeps the highlights neat and knocks them back a little. The armour piece is finished off with an Auric Armour Gold highlight. I am not too happy with this gold; I prefer the old Shining Gold which was a touch more red/warm. So, here is what 6 hours of drybrushing verdigris buys you:

Here are some extra shots of the Veteran Sergeant and the verdigris I have painted on his shield. It probably provides the clearest representation of the technique I am using, it is such a nice large space. I am hoping the other blank shields can turn out the same.

Oooh, missed a bit on that purity seal; thanks high resolution camera! 

To finish this squad off I need to black wash and highlight the weapons with Auric Armour Gold, add some verdigris and blue OSL to the plasma coils. I also need to paint the front facing of those four plain Siege Mantles you can see in the photos. There is one other thing I need to fix up, which may just be me being a bit of a pain. The shield I have painted with a bull image has a very large white space on it that just looks too flat/empty. I am going to add some purity seals there to add some contrast to colour and texture. Of course, then I have to assemble all of those many pieces I have been slaving over!

Spot the offending blank spot...

See you across the table,

M4cr0