How to Paint Everything: Rockfish's Green Guard

Hey there! If you've got the knowledge of the ancients and also peeped a few recent Hobby Round-ups you'll know that I've done two schemes for guard, one is my older totally loyal regiment and the other is my speed paint/physical disability accommodating green guard!

Chimera. Credit: Rockfish

I moved on from my last scheme because unfortunately the amount of airbrushing involved was triggering issues with my back injury and I had a random burst of inspiration for how I wanted to try doing a scheme and it worked for guard, so here we are!

The Recipe

We kick of the scheme as ever for me in the airbrush booth, keeping it simple though it's only two colours, Vallejo UK Bronze Green primer followed by a zenithal of Model Air Green Zinc Chromate.

After that I get into the 'prep work' as I'd call it, while this includes base coats it also has washes and free hand, basically anything before I apply the dirt to the models.

For vehicles that means putting on Leadbelcher washed with thinned Black Legion for steel, Warplock Bronze and Agrax Earthshade for the iconography, then base coating any scrolls in Steel Legion Drab, leather/leather in a dark brown of choice, Black Legion for rubber, and the tracks in Vallejo Track Primer.

I usually do a little bit of freehand with whatever comes to mind and Mephiston Red for the text, Have fun with it and don't worry too much about it being great quality, it's whatever a crew paints on and you'll only get better with practice!

You'll need a few more colours on the infantry -- Athonian Camoshade on the cloth, Screamer Pink washed agrax for sashes and Flesh Tearers Red on rank/role indicators -- but after that it's time to get mucky!

This involves making a pseudo wash by thinning Dryad Bark down with water quite a lot, it should stay where you set it but run into recesses easily. Then you go around applying it anywhere water settles or anywhere that creates visual interest and helps define panel lines, you aren't looking for realism but readability in other words making all the details of the model defined from a distance. After that you go through with more conventionally thinned mournfang brown and define the panel shapes even more, I focus this into little L shapes in the 'puddling' corners of the previous Dryad Bark coat. Note that I don't apply this to any cloth, or 'soft' surfaces, as this creates a material difference between the armor and fatigues, this again isn't realistic but instead focused on readability.

After that we get into highlights! Starting off with an area where infantry and vehicles differed, the main green panels for vehicles get drybrushed Krieg Khaki considering the zenithal lighting then the sharpest and highest points get a dry brush of Dorn Yellow, where as the infantry are conventional edge highlights of Ogryn Camo and Krieg Khaki.

Most of the rest of the highlights go on as you would expect:

Metal gets Leadbelcher and Brass Scorpion for the steel and iconography respectively
Red is Mephiston Red and Evil Suns Scarlet edge/crude soft highlights
parchment is highlighted up with mixes of Steel Legion Drab and Zandri Dust
cloth is mixes of the base coat and Zandri Dust
the sash with the base coat and Squig Orange

The only other weird one is my black highlights aren't fully settled, usually on the bigger ones I drybrush on a transition from Corvus Black -> Eshin Grey -> Dawnstone and brush on some subset of those for smaller areas but it varies a bit.

There are usually a few random details after that, glowing non-plasma stuff is AP Fanatic Alien Purple mixed up through white, then plasma glow is Baharroth Blue glazed down with Ultramarines Blue Contrast then worked back up with white mixed into the base.

The main blue lenses are a sequence of blends and paints that depends a bit on the size of the lens, with the default colors being Kantor Blue, Caledor Sky, Calgar Blue, Fenrisian Grey and finally white. In turn the the spotlight lenses are Ushabti Bone washed with Seraphim Sepia, and then doing a gem effect highlighted up through Screaming Skull and white.

Tempestus Scions. Credit: Rockfish

With that the infantry just need the bases finished off, I use vallejo dark earth washed with agrax then completely drown the base in various tufts once the varnish is on. Currently I am using this pile of gamers grass tufts and laser-cut plants:

6mm Dry Green Wild Tuft
4mm Green Wild Tuft
4mm Light Green
6mm Mixed Green Wild Tuft
6mm Strong Green Wild Tuft
Dark Green Shrubs
Monstera
Elephant Ear
Banana Leaf

With that you're all done! Despite how much is going on, I can usually finish a guard tank in a evening or two at most so it's a nice and quick scheme that I find a ton of fun!

Gallery

Tempestus Aquilons. Credit: Rockfish

Chimera. Credit: Rockfish

Rogal Dorn. Credit: Rockfish

Ursula Creed. Credit: Rockfish

Cadian Command Squad. Credit: Rockfish

Leman Russ Demolisher. Credit: Rockfish

Manticore. Credit: Rockfish

Cadian Shock Troops. Credit: Rockfish

Basilisk. Credit: Rockfish

Hellhound. Credit: Rockfish

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Tags: 40k | imperial guard | Warhammer 40k | How to Paint Everything | htpe