Tuesday, April 7, 2015

How To Paint Citadel Miniatures


I'm a sucker for painting guides. I figure at the very least, I will have some nice photographs that I can use as inspiration for my own painting, or in the case of miniatures I'm painting just to fill out hordes, a paint by numbers guide so to speak.

Games Workshop, perhaps the largest hobby entity for fantasy and science fiction wargaming, often gets berated for a variety of reasons.

One of those reasons should not be making things too difficult to enter the hobby.

Now too expensive on the other hand...

The How To Pain Citadel Miniatures is a spiral bound book with the ability toe sit the book directly standing so that you can keep the book open directly while painting. This is an innovation that no other painting book has.

The book is loaded with numerous photographs of the different ranges that Games Workshop is known for: Warhammer, Warhammer 40K, and Lord of the Rings.

The art is clear and easy to follow along.

The information is easy to read and easy to follow along.

The book includes a DVD that repeats the information in the book, but with narration and someone actually performing the activity.

The use of this book is clear for individuals who are interested in the Games Workshop version of the hobby.

This isn't to say that someone new to painting miniatures won't learn.

The start of the book starts before even touching a model. This includes having the right tools and a good place to work that is both comfortable and well lit.

In terms of the models, it covers preparing the models. This includes removing product from frames, cleaning them with blades, repair work if necessary with liquid green stuff, as well as assembly with glue. Very simple, standard stuff that is good to have said regardless of who says it.

One of my favorite bits, is using a 'painting stick' with double sided tape used to hold miniatures that are then spray primed. A quick easy way to handle the priming method.

It includes a detailed breakdown of what the different pants, at the time of the writing, are.

Base Paints: High concentration of pigment allows a good base coverage. The base paint provides a foundation for future work. Not that long ago, these would have been part of the Foundation Line, a game line of paint in direct response to the excellent Privateer Press Paints.

Layer: Paint stacked atop the base paints that are meant to bring out the color of a model.

Drybrush: A new paint that I'm not aware of any other company using yet. It is thick paint that is easy to prepare for drybrushing and is easy to use.

Many of the standards for painting miniatures are here. This includes thinning you pant and using multiple thin coats to get a thicker, richer color, then just using one thick layer which may obscure details. These bits are good advice for almost any pant set from any company for any painter.

Shades: The shades are washes that darken the color they are put on. You can achieve some interesting effects by using colors that might not normally go together. One example is Reikland Fleshshade over Steel Legion Drab followed by Tallarn Sand and Karak Stone and Terminous Stone to achieve a Kahaki color.

Glazes: Different than shades, the glazes are thin color that generally have two purposes. One is to cut down 'glare' from highlights taken too far. The  second is to tint the color to whatever you're glazing it to. One of the examples is using the different glazes over silver painted chaos warriors to show their particular devotion to one of the four ruinous powers. For example, green for Nurgle or Red for Khorne.

Texture: Mud in a bottle! You slop this onto the base and it has enough material in it to present some  texture that can be washed and drybrushed for a quick nice looking base without too much work.


After discussing the different types of paint, and how to use them, the book breaks into the basics of painting, layering, drybrushing, washing, and using those techniques together. Since many of the paints are designed specifically to do one of the things, it works well.

To provide further examples, the book includes eight different groups of characters painted using the methods provided: Tyranids, Harad, Space Marines, Gondor, Orcs & Goblins, The Empire, Tomb Kings and Dark Eldar.

This is an excellent visual reference for anyone wondering how to paint one of those particular figures. For example, the Tomb Kings are given a rich coloration in gold and purple. The men on Gondor painted in this example, could be useful for Wood Elf Waywatchers.

The book closes out with a color guide taking different types of colors through the range. Perfect for sticking with an established pattern throughout an army. For example, if you want to do Space Wolves, you follow the guide for the following.

Basecoat: The Fang
Wash: Nuln Oil
Layer: Russ Grey
Layer: Fernisian Grey
Drybrush: Etherium Blue.

In some gases there are up to six steps as the final step is a glaze to mute an edge highlight.

Not covered in this volume, are the technical paints that came out after the book was done, nor the edge highlighting paints, which are based in color, on the drybrush paints, which are meant for a final highlight.

In addition to the book, the DVD covers almost everything the book does. This allows you to follow along in terms of cleaning, assembly, and painting of miniatures. The DVD clocks in at just slightly over 130 minutes.

Let me be clear. After reading the book and watching the  video, you will probably not be winning any Golden Demon awards.

You will know how to assemble miniatures.

You will know how to base coat.

You will know how to layer.

You will know how to base.

You will know what the specific Citadel Paints are and how they work: Wash, Glaze, Drybrush, Texture.

You will have an idea of how to place highlighting specific to the Games Workshop paint range and have a lot of options for how to do that.

While Games Workshop may be hated in many circles, this is a great product for someone fresh to the hobby who wants an all in one introduction.



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