I made the mistake of watching the Warhammer 40K South Coast Regional Major the other weekend and am hooked.
My brother has played 40K for years, and is in the top 10 ranks in the UK for Chaos Daemons, so luckily I have someone able and willing to teach me.
I had already bought a starter kit a couple of months ago to improve my fine brush skills, so the itch was already there, but the complexity and strategy behind the 40k game appeals to me greatly. It’s something to keep my brain busy!
Using the ForceOrg MOD in Tabletop Simulator, I was able to view every army and pick my favorite, which was Astra Militarum. This is mostly because of the ‘realistic’ looking units and reasonable ease of learning for a new player.
There are a couple of other armies I like the look of, so I may eventually diversify into T’au Empire or Genestealer Cults.
Getting started with some Cadian Shock Troopers, I base coated them in Wraith Bone from a rattle can, which didn’t take as well as the blacks or greys I’ve used in the past, but it was more or less OK.
Following a YouTube tutorial for painting, I used Ushabti Bone for clothing, Vulkan Green for armor, Rhinox Hide for straps, and Kislev Flesh for skin.
Morghast Bone, Steel Legion Drab, Iron Hands Steel, Retributor Amour and Abaddon Black were used for some detail, and I finished them off with a wash of Agrax Earthshade.
Far from perfect, and they need to be based, but I’m happy with the result. For the next lot of Cadians I’m going to spray them before assembly, as there’s some areas of each mini where I just couldn’t reasonably get the paint brush to reach.
I need to work on getting a more consistent coverage of paint, and then I can start thinking of some highlighting and more advanced techniques.