The armies for the Arena of Escalation are officially mustering, with the first five taking to the field of battle in our last post. Now, the remaining contestants in the Arena have rallied their Warhammer 40,000 forces by Games Workshop to join the parade grounds of The Army Painter blog, showing what the combined might of Warpaints Fanatic, Air, and Speedpaint are capable of.
The “official” goal for this checkpoint was to add about 500 points worth of models to the army and some have exceeded that, and some have added a bit less, but it’s all part of the hobby journey. The one thing everyone accomplished was to add some awesome looking models to their armies, which is what we all want to see after all!
Tyler: This is the first Astra Militarum/Imperial Guard army I’ve really collected, despite being in this hobby for close to 25 years now. They’ve been an army I’ve always been interested in but could never quite muster the enthusiasm to paint the sheer numbers of models you need for a full force of them. With the painting method I’ve come up with for this army though, using lots of Speedpaint on the infantry and Warpaints Air on the tanks, I’m able to finish them at a pretty reasonable pace. With that in mind, I decided I wanted to make this as much of an archetypical Guard army as I could and include a little bit of everything iconic to me over the years.
That of course means lots of infantry and tanks. One of the first things I wanted to check off was the contents of the Combat Patrol, since then I’ll be able to start playing games with a fully painted force, even whilst I’m still working on the rest of the army - it doesn’t hurt that it comes with some pretty cool models, such as the Command Squad and the Field Ordinance Batteries. Who doesn’t love some big guns? Painting up the banner also gave my army their official name: The Cadian 115th. Outside of that box, some other additions included the tanks I showed off last time, a Heavy Support Squad (with the iconic Cadian Autocannon), and of course, a Commissar, because what Guard army is complete without one?
I also added a Priest, as I had an old metal mini from the early 2000s kicking around which looked perfect for the role, and added a bit of colour variety, and a unit of Ratlings. I’ve always loved the diminutive snipers, and including the more offbeat units was essential to me. It’s part of what transforms the Imperial Guard from a modern army equivalent to something firmly set within the 41st millennium, so expect some Ogryns in the future as well.
Next up are some more tanks, including some fairly large ones. Armoured might incoming!
You can follow Tyler's progress on his Instagram @mengel_miniatures and on Twitter @MengelMinis.
Steffen: I had originally planned to paint a Wave Serpent, some Shroud Runners and my Avatar, but as it usually goes, those plans changed. I ended up painting my Wraithlord instead, and with only a week left to meet the deadline, I decided I didn’t want to rush my Avatar. Even though I had painted quite a lot of it, I decided to do some troops in its place. I had already built a unit of Fire Dragons, so I painted them up to a decent standard as fast as I could.
Since my army is already orange, the colour mostly associated with Fire Dragons, I decided to take inspiration from the old 3rd edition Fire Dragons painted in dark red and green, but twisted the red towards purple and instead of doing a warm gold I did the same green gold I had done on the rest of the army. I basecoated the gold in Warpaints Fanatic Dark Emerald and did a wash of Purple Tone to give it a gloomy alien look. I never got around to highlighting it, but a quick pass with True Brass in the future will fix that!
Now it’s time to really focus on finishing that Avatar, as it is going to be my centrepiece model for the army. The Avatar is one of my favourite models of all time, and I have had the best time painting it so far! After that, I think I will do some more aspect warriors, as I have some cool models that are almost ready to be painted.
You can follow Steffen's progress on his Instagram @artificers_minis.
Lasse: Now that we’re hitting the end of phase 2 you can really start to get a feel for your force and I think it’s awesome to see just how many models I’ve actually painted so far.
I’m really happy that I went back and repainted all my power swords to the “molten-blade” look. It gives the army some more pops of colour and keeps it from being too monotone. I’m also very pleased that my plan worked and the red capes on my Battle Sisters and the blood spatter on my Arco-Flagellants really binds those different units together.
What I’m most happy with is my Morven Vaal. I put in some effort to re-pose her to a more confrontational pose and I really like how well it worked. I also used some slightly converted Repentia for Preachers as I think they fit quite well with the flagellants!
The next step for me is going to be big! Very big! Very big and robotic!
You can follow Lasse's progress on his Instagram @fantasticmapsstore.
Adam: I keep promising myself that I'm going to get this unit, or that unit, or those vehicles painted in a weekend. Gamers at home who have kids and careers will understand the struggle.
Truth is, I kept saying to myself, and others, "I'm just going to Speedpaint this unit..." but I never do. I just can't help myself. That's the beauty in army painting though. It can be as simple or as advanced as you want it to be - as long as it brings you joy. And right now, even as the timer ticks away, I enjoy the added layers and steps I'm applying to this army. I'm really growing fond of it.
You can follow Adam's progress on his Instagram @tacticalpainter.
Sofie: I didn't make it all the way to the finish line this time - life happened, as it does, and that interfered with my modeling and painting. However, the ones I did finish I'm very proud of, especially the tanks!
It was really difficult for me, so the fact that they are standing and got their Golden Armour Speedpaint base, is really a thing. I continued with my color scheme, Purple Swarm and Golden Armour Speedpaint is my go to.
Now I "just" need to finish it all and have it done.
But where are Bo and Caleb I hear you asking? Don't worry, they're still working away on their armies, but as life does, other things got in the way of hobby. They're still planning on having their forces done for the final gaming day this winter, but it may end up being more of a last minute crunch, which Bo says he prefers anyway.
Next up will be everyone's centrepiece model for their collection!
Be sure to check the Arena of Escalation hub for more updates in the future, as well as on our social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X), YouTube, and TikTok. You can also follow along on everyone's personal social media accounts with the hashtag #ArenaofEscalation.
