Bringing the Zone Mortalis to life: a painting guide

An Ultramarine company enters the Zone Mortalis

You might well ask "Why TheCrusadeEternal?"  The answer is simple.  First, as a reference to The Great Crusade, Mankind's reconquest of the galaxy before the Horus Heresy.  Second, and more importantly, as a reference to the fact that when painting, nothing is ever finished; there is always one more layer to do, or weathering to be enhanced.  It is a never-ending task.  Just as Mankind's war against the xenos would never be completed.


Death Zone by name, Death Zone by nature.

Nevertheless, this summer I completed the Zone Mortalis project.  Like the Emperor's crusade to reclaim the Stars, it was a long time in the planning.  I have had the tiles for over two years, and washed and primed them straight away.  I then spent two years working out what colour scheme I wanted to employ - I wanted a scheme that would represent a battleship at least as well as an underground bunker.  This summer, colour scheme finalised, I began the project.



Who wouldn't want to wage war on a board like this? 

A word of caution.  The Zone Mortalis tiles make for an inspiring battlefield.  They are Space Hulk made real.  But they are awkward to paint (like all large terrain pieces), soak up paint, tear up brushes and, in terms of time, require devotion and commitment that perhaps surpasses even that the Astartes legions require from their ranks.  Three Winsor and Newton Series 7 Size 3 brushes died in this project (these aren't cast from the lovely smooth resin the Custodes Galatus Contemptor Dreadnought is made from).  Yes, everything was painted by brush (apart from the undercoats).  Each tile took about 10 hours to paint.  I painted 20, in order to allow for plenty of permutations of the 4x4 board, and I have other tiles still to paint.  However, a hard deadline of  the end of August was set, simply because in London, using the varnish sprays can cause heartache when the temperatures dip and the humidity rises (which is most of the year).  And terrain needs a varnish, especially when it is stored in boxes.

For those still interested, here is the scheme....



All tiles were primed with a light grey car primer from a well known
retailer of all things car related.  The walls were then covered in
masking tape and the boards sprayed with Mechanicus Standard Grey.
If I were doing this again, I would prime with Chaos Black and then
base the whole board with Mechanicus Standard Grey.  The light grey
didn't help as much as I thought it would

I painted out of the bottle (heresy!).  This is terrain.  I wasn't going to use
my wet palette.

Resin is rough.  Your brush skips over it.  So you need thin paints.  I watered
mine down to this consistency: if you compare with the previous picture, the paint is
almost one third water I have added.  As a result, they will need a shake every ten
minutes.



The metal plating was basecoated with Dark Reaper.  I wanted the look of an old
WWII battleship, where everything is painted heavily in functional grey/blue.
The walls were basecoated Dawnstone, in order to provide a contrast with the
Mechanicus Standard Grey floor.  This was all accomplished with Winsor & Newton
Series 7 Size 3 brushes, which hold a good point to get into those recesses.  The rough
resin exacts a heavy toll on these brushes and they are good for 4-5 tiles.  Never mind, they
will still serve for putting paint onto my palette.



The walls were shaded with a 50:50 mix of Nuln oil and Drakenhof Nightshade.
With shading you either paint the recesses or you wash the whole thing and tidy
up subsequently.  I chose the latter.  You want to use plenty of shade but don't
be too heavy-handed or it will pool.  The shading was undertaken with the boards
upside down initially, before righting them up.  This avoids too much pooling.



To tidy up the shading, I scumbled the flat panels with Dark Reaper (that's a wettish
dry brush), and then drybrushed Dark Reaper over all the plate sections.



A drybrush of Thunderhawk blue was employed to highlight the edges.



Another picture showing how the Thunderhawk Blue helps to bring
out the details.



Mrs TheCrusadeEternal assisted by painting the metal plate on the
flooring with Leadbelcher (watered down as described and requiring
a good shake every 5 minutes).



A heavy wash was applied of the shade I use on my Iron Warriors: a 50:50 mix of
Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil.  It's almost impossible to be too
heavy handed here.

 

The pipes in the walls were basecoated with Mournfang Brown, and then
two thin coats of Hashut Copper (watered down as described).  As you
will well know, the metallic paints can be gloopy, so watering down is vital.




The pipes in the walls were shaded with Agrax Earthshade.  The cabling on the walls was
painted with a mix of Eshin Grey and Abaddon Black, and shaded with Nuln Oil.  The
cable ducts were painted Leadbelcher. Purity Seal was sprayed on to preserve all this
hard work.
 

A significant commitment.  But worth it.
 



It would be great to add some weathering (chipped paint effects) and
drybrush the floor tiles and wall sections to emphasise the low
lighting.  But not this summer.
 

A detachment of Iron Warriors enters the Zone Mortalis