+ inload: Gaugamela +

+ Titans! +

+ Gaugamela, the third Warlord of the Sons of the Temple (Legio Sumer-Nikator) is on the painting table. We last saw him when building the Reaver Maniple, at which point he looked a bit like this:

+ Fist and plasma here – these have since been returned to stablemate Manifest Law +

+ The head is from the wonderfully affable Artisans of Vaul, who you can look up on Facebook. The designs are available – nice and affordably – from the 3D design-sharing site CGTrader, through this node [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. To forestall any cries of anguish that (like me) you don't have access to a 3D printer, Artisans of Vaul have also licensed the designs out to Battle Bling and goldiesprints.co.uk. I've ordered a couple of additional bits from the former, and will doubtless pop up a mini-review soon in case you'd like to check things out before buying. +

+++

+ Just add weather +

+ Spool on an evening's painting work, and he's starting to look rather less factory-fresh. Prior to the stage below, the orange parts of the armour received another layer of Citadel's much-missed Solar Macharius Orange; the white parts a couple of layers of Mummy Robes (from Army Painter's Warpaint range – this colour's fast becoming a favourite for white); and the blue parts Vallejo's Prussian Blue. +

+ This initial weathering/toning is produced with a variegated wash of Citadel's Dryad Bark brown paint mixed with Daler Rowney's sepia ink. This is then heavily diluted with flow medium, water and granulation fluid. It's the combination of sepia and granulation fluid that causes the particles to gather, creating the instant 'sooty muck'. +

+ The wash is applied panel-by-panel with a 12mm (½in) flat brush, which I then quickly rinse and dry before using it to lift off the excess. This is done by drawing it slowly down the panel from top to bottom. The excess fluid is drawn up into the brush hairs by capillary action, allowing you to reinstate midtones/highlights as you wish. The advantage of using a large brush is speed; the advantage of a flat brush is that you can use the corner of the brush head to lift out fine details. +

+ There's no perfect consistency to the wash mix; in fact, I think it's more effective and realistic if it varies across the model. Try different proportions of the constituent parts for different effects. More paint and ink will create heavier results, while more water can cause backruns. +

+ The heraldic shield was an off-the-cuff idea to replicate the heraldry of Hofmeister – a lager that, like the Titan above, has enjoyed a resurrection and vast improvement from its 80s roots! I think the heraldry the beer uses is the coat of arms of Bavaria (where it's brewed) – and if you're ever stuck for heraldic ideas,  I thoroughly recommend looking at British county flags or the medieval states of Europe for inspiration. +

+++

+ Some Things Are Best Left Forgotten +

+ ... but not the Silver Stars. I've been beavering away on these; but much of my hobby time has been taken up with editing and sorting out the War of the False Primarch. If you're in the mood for some longer-form reading, go check out these recent articles:

• Index Astartes: Death Eagles
• The Extinction Armada