+ Once more with steel +

+ Steel Legion reporting for duty, sah! This handful of brave lads in khaki is the first group polished off for my contribution to the Ashes of Armageddon project [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. +

+ For those brave enough to stumble along with the repainting of this army, you'll know that they started off in a polar desert scheme, with the bases textured but only base-painted. +

+++

+ Finishing the Bases +

+ Most of the work, then, was bringing up the bases to scratch. I used acrylic sand texture medium to fill in the gaps in the larger gravel/paste I'd used, then dipped the bases in water before painting them with Skrag brown. Once dry, these were drybrushed successively with Balor Brown and Ushabti Bone. +

+ At this point I finished off the rest of the model as described below, before coming back to the base to repaint the rims with Rhinox Hide, and adding static grass tufts to a few of them. The tufts were lightly drybrushed with Ushabti bone to rob them off that slightly glossy synthetic look. +

+ The result is a significantly better base than before – and while I'm pleased with the individual details, I think this simple stage, more than any other, is responsible for improving the look of the army overall. It took two evenings to rebase the whole army (~70 figures) – so not a huge time investment for the result. +

+ If you decide to spruce up an existing army, then I suggest your start with the bases. You might find that's all you need. +

+++

+ Painting the figure +

+ The coats had been painted to a decent standard, and so a coat of the contrast paint Aggaros Dunes was a quick and easy way to tint the existing shading and highlighting. As with the bases, this was a batch process, and this was still quicker – each figure took around thirty seconds to repaint. +

+ From here, it was a case of refining and improving – but since I have five dozen to do, I wanted to balance the finish against the time available. The finish is not highly refined, but I think it looks decent, even quite close-up, as here. Certainly en masse and at tabletop distance, they should look good. +

+ The process was simple: using the existing highlighting (left over from their previous uniforms) to guide me, I used mixes of Balor Brown and Ushabti Bone in various proportions to develop them further and neaten things up. Once that was dry, I added Army Painter Mummy Robes (a lovely warm off-white) to the same mix and ticked in some highlights to sharpen things up a little. As this was fabric, I didn't want to push these highlights too far – older sculpts like this tend to be a bit softer in detail, and I wanted to make sure the contrast between areas that should be sharp (like the rifle) had some 'space' to work in. +

+ To break up the uniformity of the single-piece sculpts a little, I've given some figures cloth helmet covers – treated like the other fabric – while most have dark grey uncovered helmets, which were painted Charadon Granite before being successively highlighted with Army Painter Dark Stone and then the same with a little Vallejo Cold White added. +

+ The rifle – already painted with Charadon Granite and Boltgun metal – was given a wash of Nuln Oil. Once dry, I highlighted it with Army Painter Dark Stone. On the example above, I used Mummy Robes to add a few kill markings. (... judging by the number, he's either a very talented shot, or a liar!)

+ That left just tidying up existing details – and things like the water canteen, straps and equipment received unifying washes of Agrax Earthshade before I picked out highlights using the mixes remaining on my palette. +

+ And to finish? The best bit: details. The leather got a soft-stipple highlight of Calth Brown, then I dived in on the skin. The Steel Legion figures have very little skin showing, and even that it quite hidden away, so I left it fairly simple: a layer of a pink-yellow-white mix (varying the proportions from figure to figure) over the ears, neck and visible part of the face. +

+ Once dry, I washed this with Reikland Flesh Shade before re-establishing the detail. I then thinned down a very dark brown mix of Abaddon Black and Rhinox Hide to outline the shape of the visible face – this helps it read out of the similarly-coloured rebreather (and in the case of those with helmet covers, the helmet, too). +

+ I used the same mix to paint the eyes, and once dry, touched in tiny dots of white mixed with a hint of Balor Brown (to stop them looking too bright). +

+ The finishing touch was to paint in the goggles and army badge. The latter was easy – Warpstone green for the field and off-white for the bolt symbol. The goggles were a mix of Sotek Green and Dawnstone that was then gradually highlighted up with the addition of more white. A direct light reflection added a little 'ting!' as the final pop. +

+ As noted for the helmet variation above, I'll be throwing in some different goggle colours and similar details. It's perhaps no substitute for a proper conversion, but you'd be surprised what a different a spot of colour and personalisation makes for overall visual variety and interest. +

+++

+ Steel Legion 7th Army +

+ I'll be using these models to represent one of the Regiments of the 7th Army from the boardgame Battle for Armageddon. +

Counter from Battle for Armageddon

+ The idea for the green icon came from the counters in the game – the 4th–7th are all marked with the icon above. I thought it'd be fun to tie that into the colour scheme. +

+++

+ The rewards of defeat +

+ The 7th are – as you can see from the campaign map below – poised to get a kicking from the Evil Suns; and possible Ghazghkull himself! In all likelihood, the army will be destroyed in short order in campaign terms. +

+ So why would anyone pick a soon-to-be-gone army for a project like this? Well, I wanted to show the narrative opportunities that this gives – and how it can help you to develop a story for your models. Life is cheap in Warhammer 40,000, but there's a big difference between that as a concept and declaring the the model that you've spent ages converting and painting is dead. We've all had that game where the army commander turns out to just be knocked-out or teleported away – but doing this too much makes things feel valueless and a bit comic-booky. +

+ How do we square that? My answer is that the figures don't necessaruly represent individuals, but rather archetypes. The models above might be from X Regiment and Y Company – but for the purposes of the project, they can happily fit in for any member of the 7th Army; or, given that the green colour is also used for the 4th, 5th and 6th armies, any of them, too. +

+ The 7th army, like all the counters in the boardgame, represents around a hundred thousand or more individuals. The loss of the counter in the game is thus not the end. While the Army might cease to exist in strategic terms (at least 'til it's rebuilt), hundreds or even thousands of survivors might be able to regroup, or be absorbed into other armies. +

+ The scale of loss is thus brought home, but you can continue to use and enjoy your figures in game... and I'd argue that you'll instantly and organically have generated a far more interesting back-story, with built-in villains and motivations. +

+++

+ Map campaigns and ready-made narrative +

+ To illustrate this idea, let's imagine the 7th are attacked by the two stacks of Evil Suns counters bordering the region they're in. +

+ Instantly, you've got a story. The 7th have allies – the Styx Secondary Border Defence Force – a base, and villains. You'll spot that the orks have to attack over a river – so there's instantly a game scenario for you. Whatever the result, whether they throw back the first attack but then crumble under the second, you'll have a natural story created. +

+ If you retreat, then that adds to your officers' story – how does he or she feel about it? Do they want revenge – and if so, against which ork army? Are the soldiers relieved, frightened, or eager to retake their base? How badly were they defeated? +

+ Even if the counter is destroyed, you'll see narrative possibilities. How did your Regiment, out of all that were lost, survive? Are they fight-capable, or are they going to need to change to guerilla tactics? +

+ The above also applies equally to the orks, of course – for every story, there's a flip side. If you play out the game against your mate, you'll find you've instantly got a set-up for your next meeting, a rival for your commander, a wrong to be righted or a victory to be celebrated – so much more rewarding than an everyday 'pick-up-and-play' game. +

+ To summarise, trying to come up with compelling stories can be tricky; so a method like this project uses – using a boardgame to create organic prompts and throw up ideas. If you choose to get involved – and I hope you do! – than I hope this helps to reassure you that defeat can be every bit as enjoyable as victory.+

+++

+ A few final shots of the figures, just because. +