Centurion Assault Squad - The Last of my First Born

Following my Bladeguard Veterans being the first project of 2025, I decided to get through the last of my 2022 gifts completed, and with them the last of my first born models.

My Centurion Assault Squad have been sitting and waiting for their time for a while. This is mainly out of fear that I wouldn't manage to get them to a quality I wanted for them. It was also because they took a while to prepare, applying magnets so that they can be modified. However, after a Macragge Blue Primer and some other projects catching my eye first, I finally made it round to them.




My technique here was much the same as with the Vets. A cover of Macragge (for anything the Primer missed) followed by a wash of Nuln Oil which focused on the armour only (not the weapons). After that dried, I applied a drybrush coat of Macragge Blue followed by a lighter drybrush coat of Calgar Blue.

Then, I moved onto the rest of the paints, applying them as follows:
  • Black - Abaddon Black (B), Eshin Grey(h), Dawnstone (h)
  • Parchment - Rakarth Flesh (b), Agrax Earthshade (s), Pallid Wych Flesh (h), White Scar (h)
  • Purity Seals - Khorne Red (b), Carroburg Crimson (s), Wazdakka Red (h), Cadian Fleshtone (h)
  • Aquila/Gold - Retributor Armour (b), Reikland Fleshshade (s), Auric Armour Gold (h), Liberator Gold (h)
  • Brass - Runelord Brass (b), Nuln Oil (s), Sycorax Bronze (h), Runefang Steel (h)
  • Metal - Leadbelcher (b), Nuln Oil (s), Ironbreaker (h), Runefang Steel (h)
  • Red - Mephiston Red (b), Nuln Oil (s), Evil Sunz Scarlet (h), Wild Rider Red (h)
  • Bone Symbol - Wraithbone (b), Seraphim Sepia (s), Ushabti Bone (h), Screaming Skull (h)
  • Green Trim - Waaagh! Flesh (b), Nuln Oil (s), Warpstone Glow (h), Moot Green (h)
  • Helmet Plume - Celestra Grey (b), Seraphim Sepia (s), White Scar (h)
  • Base - Steel Legion Drab (b), Khorne Red (b)(top only), Ardcoat (t)(top only), Martian Ironearth (t), Agrax Earthshade (s), Evil Sunz Scarlet (h), Wild Rider Red (h) (this was done to give the terrain look more of a pop)
  • Wiring - Averland Sunset/Mournfang Brown/Waaagh! Flesh/Mephiston Red (b), Agrax Earthshade (s), Yriel Yellow/Deathclaw Brown/Warpstone Glow/Evil Sunz Scarlet (h), Screaming Skull/Moot Green/Wild Rider Red (h)
As before, I finished the minis with an edge highlight of Fenrisian Grey and the application of transfers (using Ardcoat and Lahmian Medium).

Once again, I feel that these minis look good. A vast improvement upon those that I painted early on (although, last month's Bladeguards are still the best, in my opinion), but I did realise that there is some room for improvement.

First up, much like with the Bladeguard and their shields, I should have left the drill weapons unattached until the end. Also, while all three models were primed with Macragge Blue, I should have primed the weapons seperately with Chaos Black. This is because it became a real hassle to adequately cover all that blue with black (although I'm now confident it has all been covered).

Also, I need to figure out how to use layer paints, particularly how to water them down to that sweet spot between too much water and too little. Unfortunately, I suspect rhis will continue to be a trial and error thong although it was annoying to have the various edge highlights come across as either too wet or too thick.

Still, these Centurions are done now and, while they felt like a bit of a slog towards the end, I can now get them on the table with Uriel Ventris and put his Master of the Fleet ability to the test.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10. Completing my Tactical Squad (Recess Shading & Highlighting)

Image
When I took up this hobby nearly two years ago, the first full set I bought was the Space Marine Tactical Squad. Since then, my building and painting of the miniatures has been somewhat piecemeal. While I immediately built and painted all ten at the time, the paint scheme I used was a little more original as I had planned to create my own custom chapter. However, plans changed and now all of my painted models are Ultramarines, it became a thing that the previously painted needed to be amended, a job that took time as I focused on newer models. Well, eventually, the paint scheme was amended on my Tactical Marines but one thing I had never done to them was either shade or highlight. Again, this became something of a piecemeal effort, leading to only three of the ten being completed by the end of 2023. But now 2024 was here, I decided to make a concerted effort to get this long gestating miniatures finished completely, planning to get the entire unit finished. First up was the power armou...
Read more

6. Completing the Sisters' Rhino

Image
Throughout October, I attempted to focus on one specific model: The Adepta Sororitas Rhino Having bought it back in August, I really wanted to get it completed and ensure I had a fully prepared Combat Patrol for when I finally had the bottle to ask my wife's permission to leave her with the kids and go to my local wargaming club (it'll never happen, I'm too dedicated to doing my bit around the house. But still ...). Therefore, almost immediately, I primed the entire Rhino (including the interior) with Chaos Black spray. However, rather than begin painting immediately, I decided to hold off, painting my Librarian and a few Infiltrators first. The reason; I wanted to make some 'modifications' to my Rhino. This was nothing extreme by any means. However, I wanted to give myself a few different options of display if I wanted to, such as removing the gunner, the hunter killer missile and the side doors. So, with a selection of two differently sized Magnetics, I went to wo...
Read more

Bladeguard Veterans: reaffirming my armour painting

Image
In January, for my first project of 2025, I decided to catch up from Christmas 2022 and finally paint my Bladeguard Veterans. In fairness, there was a dual reason for this as not only did allow my unpainted pile to become a little more recent but it also gave me a chance to effectively reaffirm the process I used to paint battle armour (something which seemed a little all over the place in 2024) So, after a Primer of Macragge Blue (along with using the pot to catch anywhere I missed), I proceeded to wash the armour only with Nuln Oil. Once that was dried, I drybrush a final coat of Macragge Blue before drybrushing over it with a coat of Calgar Blue. This left me with a tone of blue which look visually consistent to how I'd gotten Uriel Ventris and my last batch of Assault Intercessors After that, it came down to painting, washing and highlighting the rest of the minis. Those colours were broken down like this: Joints/Carapace/Flag - Abaddon Black (B), Eshin Grey(h), Dawnstone (h) ...
Read more