Grand armies, epic battles, and rampaging hordes all must begin somewhere, whether it’s with a suitably epic hero or just a handful of loyal warriors. In our Warhammer 40,000 Arena Challenge, the contestants have begun that very journey. Last time we saw their first test models, and now, with that hard-won painting knowledge in hand, they’ve each started on the rest of their Combat Patrols, Warpaints Fanatic, Air, and Speedpaint at the ready.
While he may have started in the fantastical realms of the Age of Sigmar, our very own one-man assembly line, Oliver, has arrived from a mysterious portal into the 41st millennium, trading in the machinations of T’zeentch for something equally as Machiavellian, but altogether spikier. What fresh horrors await in the grim darkness of the far future? Read on to find out!
Erasmus: For my squad and character, I painted the Repentia Squad. Although not technically a character, I think the Repentia Superior sister is close enough, and I like the cohesiveness of the squad with her steering the "heard".
I was quite happy with my test model, but felt like some areas could be improved, which I believe I managed here. I was able to up the contrast on the black armour and get closer to a NMM (Non-Metallic Metal) look, which I feel looks really great. My marble base was made with Green Stuff last time, but I couldn’t quite get an even surface. I had a friend 3D print me some base toppers this time, which really adds a lot to the look.
I painted my gold and black metal with the new Metallic paints from the John Blanche Masterclass Paint Sets. Both Emperor Gold and Heavy Metal have become quick favourites of mine.
The Repentia sisters have a lot of exposed skin, which can often be quite hard to paint. I used a zenithal prime along with our various Speedpaint skin tones to quickly get a rich-looking skin. Top that off with a single-colour highlight, and I feel like you have a very good skin tone in a short amount of time.
I really look forward to seeing the army come together on their shiny bases!
Lasse: The biggest change I made from my test model was to nail the colour scheme for the bases. Before painting, I put down some Green Stuff to make a more uneven surface. I went with a lot of cold grey/blue tones to really contrast with the mini itself, as well as laying down a lot of Warpaints Fanatic Effects Gloss Varnish to simulate wet mud and finishing it off with some Deadland Tufts. I also tried putting gloss varnish on the blue energy details, but it just didn’t look right.
You’ll also see my Necron Lord here, who’s even more converted than the normal Warriors. To distinguish him, I painted several parts of his armour and weapons with a gold and Verdigris effect instead, but other than that, I used the same techniques as on all my other Necrons.
I really like my progress so far. I like the more alien, robotic look they have, and once I got the process for the rust down, they’re very fast and easy to paint!
You can follow Lasse's progress on his Instagram @fantasticmapsstore.
Bo: I started with my Khorne Lord. If you look at his head, you’re not in doubt about his allegiance, although it does not have a direct effect on the game. I gave him a suitably impressive Demon-Hammer to pulverise the foe into tiny goblets of goo and gore.
His retinue of five Legionnaires was then made to match his colour scheme, working mostly with Fanatic Metallics.
Next up is Fabius himself!
Ian: They say it takes 10,000 hours of practice to be an expert at something. Well, I'm about 10 hours into my Tyranid army. It's safe to say I'm still learning how best to paint my new colour scheme, but that is part of the fun. I started with 10 Termagants, almost to iron out the kinks of the paint recipe. Once I finished those, I tried the Winged Tyranid Prime. This model is my first HQ choice, so I took a bit more time before I get to the bigger bugs.
I’m not completely happy with the teeth, I don't think they are defined enough, so on the next batch, I'll figure that out and will probably go back and update these models. Also, after reading Danni's article on how he used the Blood Effects paints, I'm going to use that on some of my more close-combat-focused models. Thanks Danni!
Tim: Moving on from my test model, I wanted to focus on the speed aspect of Speedpaint. A Kroot army is going to have a lot of models, and spending hours on each one is just not as practical as it would be on an elite army. That's not to say I don't want them looking great—all of these will benefit from some attention later. With that in mind, I grabbed a unit of Kroot and a Flesh Shaper and got started!
Everything was coated nicely in one go. I did end up with a few layers of Speedpaint Nuclear Sunrise to really saturate the armour plates, and I spent a good chunk of the time making sure the pink would really pop on the table. While painting the puddles, I found Speedpaint Murder Scene thinned down with Speedpaint Medium created a great transition between the mud and the Warpaints Fanatic Effects Power Node Glow water.
I'm not as pleased with their skin this time. I will go back in with some purple and blue tones to add more color variation and life to it when I paint the next unit, as well as some highlights with the Teals from our Fanatic range.
I also made some progress on a unit of Rampagers. I can't wait to finish them- the crazed Krootox smashing through enemy lines is a really cool image that I want to see on the game table!
Oliver: Now, I know that I was on the Age of Sigmar team for the challenge for this year, but as some of you might recognise, sometimes the hobby mojo takes you places you hadn't expected...
Thomas and I both felt other projects pull us in, so we decided to swap places.
Last year I had a one-off skirmish game in Warhammer World with some mates where we had to bring a lone ranger kind of unit, and I made this orange Corsair Prince. Since then, I’ve wanted to make an army for him, and now was the time.
The idea is that the more status you have in the Corsair raid, the more orange you get to have on your gear. My Kabalite Warriors will be a bare minimum of orange, but I hope the army will look uniform in the end. Fingers crossed.
You can follow more of Oliver’s progress over on his Instagram @liondalepainting.
You may be wondering where Steffen and Ulrik are with their Adeptus Custodes and Dark Angels? No worries, they're still participating in the Arena Challenge! That dreaded "real-life" and "day-job" thing that all hobbyists are familiar with merely got in the way this month, but they'll be back for future installments. Speaking of which, keep an eye on the Arena Challenge hub in the near future, as our contestants in both the Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000 add even more to their Spearheads and Combat Patrols!
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We encourage you to participate in the Arena Challenge at home by painting your own Combat Patrol or Spearhead with Warpaints Fanatic, Air, or Speedpaint. Be sure to tag your posts with #thearmypainter and #arenachallenge so we can follow along with your progress!
