A New Legion: Praetorians of Terra

The Praetorians of Terra

For the past couple of months I have been test painting some models for a Mark III armoured Imperial Fists detachment.  It took a fair amount of experimenting to settle on a paint scheme and the bases but at last I have painted the first ten models and I'm not too disappointed.

Yellow Peril

Why paint the Imperial Fists?  For several reasons.  First, I think the most inspiring display from Warhammer World that I have seen pictures of was the Battle of Phall (maybe the Battle of Calth is close behind); sadly I never saw the display in the flesh.  Second, two of the Horus Heresy novels I enjoyed the most were "Praetorian of Dorn" and "Pharos"; I had had no real exposure to the Imperial Fists before then, other than the "Flight of the Eisentein," in which they don't come across too well.  Third, the idea of a grudge battle between the IVth and VIIth Legions is very appealing, although I have a long way to go before I have a force ready to take on Peturabo's sons.  Finally, I'm expecting them to feature heavily in the Siege of Terra novels; I have the first four releases but I am waiting until at least 3/4 have been released before I start the series.

I also wanted to try some new techniques, such as painting the dreaded yellow and practicing my airbrush skills (without which I wouldn't have tackled yellow in the first place).  I also wanted to experiment with an oil / pin wash, which is what I have used.  And I wanted to see if I could use Contrast Paints; here I have used them for the black metal effect.  I also wanted to try to paint a realistic marble effect at such a small scale.

I love these Big Meks Workshop bases

So plenty of reasons to paint the VIIth Legion, although for a slow painter like me, embarking on a new legion is a daunting task, especially when the XIIIth Legion would benefit from some reinforcements to be able to compete against the Iron Warriors.  Troops, particularly, take a long time to paint for their points, so the thought of painting some more Tactical squads is pretty daunting. In the end, I didn't fancy the idea of painting the detailed shoulder pads - I guess I will have to flog these on ebay - and opted to use the transfers.  These have come out well, thanks to the Micro Sol and Micro Set combination I use to melt the transfers to irregular surfaces.  Of course, these take a fair amount of time, too, for 10 troops.  I can't wait to paint vehicles again.

My first oil wash did not turn out too bad

The bases are from Big Meks Workshop.  I wanted a city ruins theme to mirror that I have used for the Iron Warriors, given both legions are specialists in siege warfare, but obviously something different.  Moreover, with the Siege of Terra background, I like the idea of using the same bases for my Legio Custodes.  The only downside is that these bases take a fair amount of painting, especially as I wanted a marble tile effect for my Legio Custodes.


The paint scheme I have used is the following:

1. Yellow Armour
• Averland Sunset Base followed by an Yriel Yellow overcoat
• Dorn Yellow highlights for the edges and rivets
• An oil wash of a mix of Abteilung Brown Wash and Brick Red
2. Armour trims
• Iron Warriors metallic (ironic, don't you think?), a Nuln Oil detailed wash followed by a highlight with Leadbelcher
3. Black metal trims on Pauldrons and the Respirator pack
• Leadbelcher basecoat, followed by a thin coar of "Black Templar" contrast paint, and then Leadbelcher for the highlights
4. The bases (a scheme based on Rob Paints Models' tutorial)
• Base coat the stone with Steel Legion Drab (through the airbrush) and then a thin coat of Karak Stone
• Wash with Agrax Earthshade (using Rob's technique of wetting the model first), and then another one of Reikland Fleshshade.
• Drybrush the stone Karak stone, and then Rakarth Flesh
• The marble tiles are basecoated with a 50:50 mix of Eshin Grey and Black, with a Nuln oil wash.
• The tiles are edge highlighted with Mechanicus Standard Grey
• The marble effect is painted on using a mix of Administratum Grey and Lahmian Medium, with some highlights of Ulthuan Grey and Lahmian Medium
• A light dusting of Karak Stone was airbrushed onto the marble tile in patches to tie the marble into the ruins, and then onto the greaves and boots of the marines to tie them into the bases.

I am pleased with the black metal effect and the marbling on the tiles