+ inload: Legion IV +

+ Updates on the Iron Warriors +

Meanwhile, during the Siege of Terra... 

+ A Leviathan Dreadnought is the only thing in the Legion that comes close to dwarfing this Primarch! +

+ So, 2016 is firmly with us; and here in the UK we're about to be plunged into the deep cold. Time to wrap up warm and get some building and painting done. So far in 2016, iron has been the theme. + 

+ In addition to the Iron Warriors here and in the previous inload, I've been painting dwarf warriors for a game Bob Hunk is setting up – keep an eye out for these Tallowland dwellers over the next week or so – and also some of my new Unification Wars/11th Legion project, which is plodding along behind the scenes. +

+ As you can see, Perturabo himself is kicking along:

+ A lovely model, and one that's proving an interesting challenge. Metallics have always been a bit of a bane for me – hence my attempt to learn to paint them a bit more convincingly through building a bit of the IVth Legion. + 

+ The main problem I'm finding with the Primarch is balancing the grimy, desaturated aesthetic of the army with the striking qualities you want from a centrepiece. Almost inevitably Perturabo is going to end up as a focal point for the army, and so I need to make him striking. Using more of the accent colour (gold) is an obvious way to do this, but it's a warm colour; quite at odds with the cold palette which helps set the Iron Warriors as 'villains'. Using rich, warm gold, as on my Ultramarines...:

+ Warm colours are inviting and positive, cold colours more threatening and sinister. +

+ ...would not work, as large areas of gold would draw the eye away from the less intrusive cold areas, giving Perturabo entirely the wrong feel. Instead, I've mixed the gold with silver ink, which gives a fantastic sparkle and also neutralises the hue. +

+ The other big problem I've found is that the scheme doesn't allow for much differentiation between armour and weaponry; so after a few slightly awkward experiments, I've ended up using different tones to differentiate – using sepia (to knock back and tone down) on the brass ammunition belts to differentiate them from the decorative gold trim – and black wash on the wrist-mounted guns, again to make them stand out from the heraldic silver armour. Whether this ends up the approach in the final version is still up in the air, but it seems to be working. +

+ When stuck with colours decisions like this and you're not stuck with self-imposed palette restrictions, traditional heraldry offers solid advice. Boiling it down to bare essentials, heraldry regards gold/yellow and silver/white as metallics, and all the other heraldic hues – red, green, blue, black – as colours. You can put a colour on a metal, or a metal on a colour, but not a colour on a colour or a metal on a metal. It's worth noting that the Iron Warrior scheme includes yellow (gold) as an accent colour rather than as a secondary – which is black. That give a metal primary (silver/white armour) with colour secondary (black shoulder pads) and metal accents (gold/yellow trim). You'll notice that the colour sits between the metals. +

+ Looking at how I've painted Perturabo so far, I'm starting to think that I need colour barriers between metal areas:

+ Here, for example, the belt works well. It's metal (gold) between two areas of colour (black/Charadon granite): the loincloth and the soft ribbing of the abdomen. The kneepads and collar details, however, are metal on metal; so I think I need to add borders around them. This will make the model more striking. +

+ One area I am pleased with so far is the head. I've gone for a Darth Vader-style pallor, which I think fits the character of the bitter Lord of Iron. I'm glad I trimmed away some of the excess cabling round the cheeks and forehead, as I think it opens up the sculpt a little. Having such a bright, pale skintone also creates a strong contrast with the dark recesses of the Logos (Perturabo's specialist Terminator armour), drawing the eye on a figure that otherwise lacks a good focal point. +

+ I'll also be altering the paintscheme on Forgebreaker, the storied warhammer made by Ferrus Manus for Fulgrim; and later used in the fateful duel that saw the Xth Legion Primarch beheaded. Perturabo inherited it and adapted it – hence why the standard sculpt has a different look. I want to really emphasise that this isn't Perturabo's own hammer, and so have converted it to use the sculpt from the Ferrus Manus model (I had it spare from my Roboute Guilliman conversion). To further strengthen this idea, I'll be using a scheme more suited to the Iron Hands (or possibly the Emperor's Children, as it was made for Fulgrim) on the hammer – the gold and silver used here makes it look too much like its been made for Perturabo . +

+ Scale shot + 

+ As you can see, Perturabo is massive – he absolutely towers over his marines! +

+ Not a huge deal more to do on him, so I hope to have him finished fairly soon. +