The march of the monsters (and tanks) continues apace for the Arena of Escalation, as our remaining contestants show off the centrepieces they’ve added to their growing Warhammer 40,000 armies by Games Workshop. No army is complete without a mini that draws the eye, and in the words of a true dude, really ties the room together. You can check out the entries by Steffen, Oliver, Erasmus, Sofie, and Jonas in part 1 of our centrepiece showcase here.
Armed with Warpaints Fanatic, Warpaints Air, and Speedpaint, our contestants added a variety of centrepieces to their collections, some monstrous, some mechanical, and some a little unassuming - such are the vagaries of the dreaded “real life” impeding upon our precious hobby time.
Adam: I know I promised to save Angron for last, but just look at him! This miniature is unreal. For months, it’s been sitting on my desk, practically calling to me - “For Khoooooorne!” So, like any dedicated Warhammer player, I threw caution to the wind, grabbed my primer, cranked up the airbrush compressor, and got to work. For Khorne, of course.
This model is nothing short of spectacular. It’s dynamic in all the right ways - imposing both on and off the tabletop - and just as tricky to paint as everyone warned me it would be. I started by breaking it down into subassemblies, then applied my first base layer of Warpaints Fanatic Terrestrial Titan before heavily utilizing Warpaints Air Fluo for that blazing, fiery effect on the wings. After, I dry brushed the wings with Terrestrial Titan to bring out the details, I re-basecoated the model and took a deep dive into wet blending—a technique I’ve always struggled with. Inspired by Factory Team member Sam Lenz, I gave it another shot. While I’m far from mastering it, this miniature’s expansive surfaces offered just enough space to practice and were surprisingly forgiving.
For the metallics, I experimented with the new Fanatic Metallics, applying them in a quasi non-metallic metal (NMM) style. To tie it all together, I used Speedpaint glazes, layering Tyrian Navy, Purple Swarm, and the ultimate glaze, Warrior Skin, to create depth and cohesion.
A fun thing I did was magnetize Angron's shoulder pads. A) because his muscle tones are too cool not to show off! And, B) because I can put them on mid-game to signify to my opponent when the Wrathful Devotion rule is in play. One last thing: if you think Fanatic reds lack saturation, you clearly haven’t used Dragon Red. This was my go-to for Angron’s skin, and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. What do you think?
You can follow Adam's progress on his Instagram @tacticalpainter.
Lasse: This is my centrepiece and I’m quite proud of it! An Imperial Knight, heavily converted to fit into a Sisters of Battle army. It was quite an undertaking just to get this model assembled. Many extra bits were needed (don’t ask me how much it ended up costing...) and fitting everything together was the hardest assembly job I’ve ever tried.
When it was finally ready, I replicated my standard paint scheme, just on some much bigger surfaces, which was a challenge when you don’t have an airbrush and aren’t super experienced in wet blending. By going over the white armour plates several times I managed to get some decent blends, and I took the easy way out with all the mechanical parts, giving them a heavy basecoat of Speedpaint Enchanted Steel followed by a wash of Warpaints Fanatic Dark Tone before a haphazard drybrush of Warpaints Fanatic Shining Silver. The rest of the details were done rough and quick, and I may want to go back and tidy everything up. Maybe.
I re-posed the Knight and made a base with quite a large level difference and some cracked pavement around its feet. All in all, I’m super pleased with how it turned out and I hope it will give my Sisters some much-needed long-range firepower in the games to come!
You can follow Lasse's progress on his Instagram @fantasticmapsstore.
Tyler: Since I’m collecting an Astra Militarum army, there could only be one real centrepiece model for the collection - a big tank! The obvious choice would be a Baneblade or one of its counterparts, but since I’ll be flying with this army to Denmark soon, I opted for something a bit more compact and carry-on friendly, a Rogal Dorn. This newest addition to the armoured might of the Guard kind of sits halfway between the Leman Russes of old and the super-heavies like the Baneblade. I’m also a big fan of the design. It still looks suitably 40k, but also has plenty of more real-world aspects to it.
I assembled mine without the track guards because I wanted it to look a little more stripped back. As far as painting goes, I stuck with the same method as how I painted my other vehicles. After priming, I gave the tank a solid coat of Warpaints Air Militia Green, followed by Warpaints Air Army Green, and then Warpaints Air Drab Green all through my airbrush, to create a nice fade of dark to light. I then go back with the Militia Green and Drab Green and tweak the fade till I’m happy. I want it to lean more towards the darker side with Militia Green in the end. This is finished off with an all-over coat of Warpaints Fanatic Military Shade, also through my airbrush, to tint it all slightly and more closely match the armour on my grunts.
After that, I switch to my tried-and-true traditional brushes, block in the rest of the colours, and then add weathering, some washes, and a healthy drybrush to pick out the edges. The transfers also do a lot of work breaking up all the flat surfaces.
The Rogal Dorn only took me four days to paint, so I also managed to sneak in a Leman Russ Exterminator to balance out the fact it isn’t a super-heavy. I originally planned to finish my second Rogal Dorn as well, but couldn’t quite fit it in before the deadline. It’s not too far off though and should be rolling off the tank factory assembly line fairly soon.
You can follow Tyler's progress on his Instagram @mengel_miniatures and on Twitter @MengelMinis.
Thomas: For my Arena army, I wanted to include some Bullgryns, but I wanted to build them like robots and have them be a part of a small Adeptus Mechanicus detachment with my Engineseer and servitors.
I found a great build on Instagram and I basically copied the recipe for the Bullgryns, and then made the servitors as well. The servitors were built from the Corpse Grinder Cult from Necromunda, some Leagues of Votann torsos, and just bits from my bits box for the rest.
I wanted them to stand out from the rest of the army, but at the same time make them fit in. I also painted these a bit grittier, simply because I felt like it!
You can follow Thomas' progress on his Instagram @coltaupainting.
Danni: So, while everybody else is working on their centrepiece I began my Combat Patrol. I'm almost done assembling it and ready to start painting. It was a bit overwhelming in the beginning, looking at all those sprues and all the different build variations, but I pulled through and only made a few mistakes along the way - but hey, you live, you learn. I’m sticking to my tried-and-true colour scheme of black and yellow. I’m looking forward to painting my Cthonian Berserks though, as I can focus on some skin colours, which I haven't tried much of before. For some of my units, I will try swapping out black for Warpaints Fanatic Death Metal to give them a more elite-looking status.
You can check out Danni’s true centrepiece model, the Hekaton Land Fortress, which he actually completed for a video a few months ago!
You can follow Danni's progress on his Instagram @beertasticbear.
