I always go a bit blank when I think about what to put here – what can I say that I haven’t said in previous months? Do I address current events? September was an eventful month in world news, not least of which being the local news of Queen Elizabeth II passing away. Or do I stay away and just share my enthusiasm via the usual superlatives? After all, your hobby that I get to showcase every month is always wonderful to see.
I’m blank. So instead of me writing a fancy intro, drop into the comments and let us know what your favourites are from this month’s showcase! And as always, don’t forget to drop into the PaintSlam discord ot share your hobby! <3 Onwards, to the showcase!
The Fireclaw is a huge, terrifying machine-beast that makes its home in the Frozen Wilds of the Horizon Zero Dawn setting. With it’s large claws, rotary blades and spewing jets of flame, it’s not a creature you want to bump into on your trek across the tundra. This bear-like creature is one of the toughest opponents you will face on your adventure, so prepare well… by reading this painting guide!
In case you’ve been exiled from your tribe for years like Aloy and aren’t aware, the Fireclaw is a monstrous machine from the Horizon Zero Dawn video game. The game was released in 2017 to rave reviews with over 20 million copies sold as of November 2021! The follow up, Horizon Forbidden West, followed in early 2022 to much fanfare and the franchise has even expanded to comic books, a planned television series and, of course, the fantastic board game via Steamforged Games.
Steamforged Games have taken everything that made the video game so special and distilled it perfectly into a table-top format. The expansion pack miniatures (they aren’t so miniature!) being my personal favorites. The Fireclaw, Stormbird and Thunderjaw look simply incredible!
I’ll be working closely from the image above for reference, if you are also painting a Fireclaw I would recommend having various images of the creature on standby to help identify areas of different material and colour.
The first step, as you may have guessed, was to prime the model. I have used a neutral grey primer for this miniature, as there are a lot of grey and black tones across the Fireclaw. Although a smooth coat is preferred, if there is a little roughness, it can help make the model look a little weathered so it’s not neccessarily a bad thing in this case. You can see that the weather seems to have caused a little texture on the primer on the arm here – but I quite like how it works on this model.
This model also comes pre-assembled in the box, and attached to its base. This makes it an ideal project for a hobbyist who doesn’t enjoy the often complex assembly of hard plastic wargaming kits. All of the Horizon Zero dawn models come either pre-assembled or in easy push-fit sets.
With the primer dry and ready to go, I began by picking out various areas of the “flesh” with Vallejo German Grey. This went onto areas like the muzzle, inside the mouth, the various softer areas like the waist and any areas of internal machinery poking out between armour panels. Remember to keep your paints thin and work in layers if the colour of the primer still shows through. I use a wet pallette to help my paints stay thin and usable for longer, but if you use a dry palette remember to add a little water to your colours.
After filling in much of the body with the darker grey, I set about picking out the sinewy cable “muscles” along the neck, arms, torso and legs. This is a sort of coppery colour, so I used Tin Bitz from the Nostalgia ’88 range. This gives a great metallic dull copper effect, without being overly bright.
To further distinguish various areas, I used Contrast Basilicanum Grey to filter a mid grey between the primer colour and the German Grey. This was applied over the feet, claws, wrist “saws”, and various other small details. This just helps break up more of those flat areas and vary the tones, implying different types of metal being used across the body.
Next up, it’s time to get MESSY! It’s time to go over everything, including the “bear” (heh heh) grey primer with Nuln Oil. This is a thin shade paint which slightly tints the surfaces but most settles into the recesses creating clear definition between each area and panel on the model. As you can see, it’s pretty much liquid talent in a bottle!
With the Nuln Oil dry, my next step was to drybrush. I went over everything but the copper with Mechanicus Standard Grey as a strong drybrush, then a lighter drybrush of Dawnstone. We don’t want to go too light, as most of these areas shouldn’t draw the eye compared to the brighter parts to come.
To bring out the more metallic parts of the model, a heavy overbrush of Leadbelcher was applied over the claws, feet, spinning blades and face, as well as a few key areas which looked like moving parts or joints. This is similar to a drybrush but with a little more paint left on the brush so it catches the majority of the area, just leaving the recesses darker. I then apply a little more Nuln Oil over these areas just to bring the shininess down slightly.
Time to start getting some colour down on the main armoured panels across the Fireclaw. There are mostly on the legs, arms, upper back, and the face. For this I used Squig Orange, which is a reddish, subdued orange tone. Orange paints tend to struggle to cover well, so build up over multiple layers. If it looks like the leg armour in the picture above where you can see the grey still showing through, wait until the layer is thoroughly dry then apply another thin layer. You may need 3-4 coats to build up a nice solid colour.
I applied a coat of Fuegan Orange shade over the orange to punch the colour slightly and get some shading into the recesses. After this I spend a little time going around the model with grey to clean up some areas where the orange spilled out of the lines!
To highlight the orange and create more depth, I made a roughly 50:50 mix of Cadian Fleshtone and Squig Orange, and drybrushed this over all of the orange areas. This catches the raised details and adds a lot of visual interest to the coloured areas.
Now comes a fun part, weathering the orange areas up a bit! As you can imagine, creatures like the Fireclaw get dinged about a bit in combat and from just life in the Frozen Wilds! So here I take Thondia Brown (you could also use Rhinox Hide or any other darker brown for this) and do dots and dashes along the edges and raised curves where paint would be likely to get chipped off. You can also add scratches here and there too. I thinned it down a little and painted it into some of the recesses to help convey depth, then painted the top of the base brown in preparation for the basing later.
To prepare for the glowy green and yellow-fire effects, areas like like the cabling, “eyes”, heat vents, and shoulder fire sacs are painted with Corax White. This will give a super bright effect once we add some Contrast paints to these areas!
A bit more bright colour! I used Karandras Green contrast on the arm cables and fire sacs on the shoulders. The “eyes” got painted with Aethermatic Blue, and then the heat vents and neck cables recieved a coat of Iyanden Yellow contrast. I also thinned the yellow down and applied it around the stomach area where the majority of the heat vents are.
I used Phalanx Yellow to highlight some of the yellow areas, then used Warboss Green on the green areas to smooth off the colour towards the centre and reduce any patchiness, with Moot Green used as a highlight on the cables. Looking at the concept art I noticed the orange panels did have some subtle variance, so I used Berserker Bloodshade over some of the panels to darken them slightly and bring them closer towards red tones.
Now we’re in a good place with it, I pick out some extra details like the yellow stripes on various parts of the body, and on the blades at the forearms. I also use Corax White to paint on some of the symbols here and there around the orange areas!
At this point I noticed the black areas needed a little more work – they’re a sort of carbon fibre texture in-game, but because replicating that would be extremely difficult, I drybrushed on a mix of German Grey and Leadbelcher, with a final stipple of the same mix to add texture and a shine to these areas.
Then I took Mythril Silver, and dotted it into the edges where the brown had earlier been used to create weathering, indicating “bear” metal showing through.
After this I decided to work on the base a bit, so I used Geek Gaming Scenics scrublands from their base ready sets, then added a bit of Valhallan Blizzard texture paint.
At the back of the model, there’s a power pack of some kind. I wasn’t able to find any clear pictures of this, but it had coils and exposed vents, which I painted Enchanted Blue and highlighted with a mix of that paint and Vallejo Verdigris paint to create a gentle glow effect! For the final step I painted the edge of the base with Corax White… and called it done!
Check out the final piece below!
And there you go! I’m equal parts proud and terrified of this very angry boy! Thanks once again to SFG for providing the Fireclaw Expansion for me and contacting me to create what I hope is a fun painting guide for you all. And don’t forget to check out the Horizon Zero Dawn core games over at the Steamforged Games website!
Above: The core set! I’m a big fan of the included game boards which show the routes the creatures traverse, just like in the video games!
Games Workshop very kindly furnished me with a copy of the Leagues of Votann army set, a (sort of) brand new faction for Warhammer 40k to paint up, with a suggestion to do them in one of the schemes presented in the Codex itself. As you can see above, I managed to paint most of the set in time, I’ve just got 10 more of the Hearthkyn Warriors left to finish up.
You can see my work, and that of other painters from around the Warhammer Community, in the blog post here!
I wanted to give a little advice on how you can paint your Votann the way I did – it’s a little different to the way they do it in the official tutorials on Youtube as I was kind of working by eye from the Codex and obviously putting in my own touches here and there too.
So, let’s take a look at the various areas now!
The biggest and most prominent feature of the models is the striking orange armour. This is what gives the Trans-Hyperian Alliance such a unique look, even amongst the other factions of 40k where orange is rarely featured.
I began over my White Scar primer with the contrast paint Magmadroth Flame. This was then given a shade of Nuln Oil to deepen the darkness in the recesses, as Magmadroth Flame is a very solid, flat orange right out of the bottle unlike many other Contrast colours. You could instead use one coat of Gryph-Hound Orange if you want less steps, but you’ll get a less even orange to work from.
Next I used Fire Dragon Bright in thin layers, building up over the darker orange until it was nice and smooth, but leaving the darker colour in recesses and areas of heavy shadow.
To highlight, I mixed in a little Phalanx Yellow for edge highlighting, before using pure Phalanx Yellow for the very top dot highlights in key areas.
For the dirty greatcoat of the Kahl, I began by painting the whole thing with Black Legion contrast paint. This is a fantastic paint that covers excellently in one layer to give a smooth, consistent black. I then used Mechanicus Standard Grey and Dawnstone for highlighting the edges and raised folds.
To dirty the coat up, I took Steel Legion Drab and used a drybrushing technique over the lower third of the coat, being heaviest towards the very bottom. This builds up into a convincing grimy dirt texture and helps ground the model.
The battle damage was simply dots and scratches with Thondia Brown paint. If you wanted to make it more realistic, you can use the lighter orange/yellow mix to highlight the lower part of every brown scratch to create the illusion of depth, but I was rushing to get as much painted as I could for the article ^_^;;
For all of the golden details, I began with Retributor Armour paint, then applied Agrax Earthshade over the top of this. I then highlighted with Liberator Gold.
For the white stripes, I used Corax White. Thinning the paint so it goes on smooth, paint in the outline of the stripe first, then fill it in. Two or three thin layers will get you a lovely smooth white finish. Then, take Fire Dragon Bright and add dots and scratches to the edges and a few of the flat areas to create a realistic worn-off paint effect.
I painted the trousers and belts with Vallejo German Grey (Corvus Black from GW would likely be much the same), then shaded with Nuln Oil. This was highlighted with layers of thinned Mechanicus Standard Grey and Dawnstone just like the greatcoat.
For the black weapons (also the armour panels of the hoverbikes!) I began with Black Legion contrast paint all over. This was edge highlighted first with Stegadon Scale Green, then a lighter highlight with Thunderhawk Blue. Finally, a few spots were highlighted with Fenrisian Grey.
For the skin, I used Guilliman Flesh contrast paint all over to begin with. I then raised up with highlights of Cadian Fleshtone and Kislev Flesh. To help the skin look more alive, I thinned Volupus Pink contrast paint down a lot with water and applied it to the nose and cheeks to create a reddish tone to the skin.
The power axe was painted with Vallejo Game Colour Turquoise. I created highlights by mixing in a little Game Colour Verdigris a tiny bit at a time to create a gradiated stripe texture on the blade, and a nice edge highlight. These colours were also used on lenses and plasma weapon bits too.
August is finally behind us, and as we look forward to the month of September and all it holds (Leagues of Votann, anyone?) let’s take a look at what amazing hobby you folks in the PaintSlam Community got up to over the course of August! We’ve got forest critters, mechs, tanks, dwarfs, assassins… if you can think of it, someone has painted it! Enjoy!
Games Workshop very kindly sent me over a box of the new Warcry: Heart of Ghur set, and I am pleased to share my Horns of Hashut warband with you all here. I went for a deliberately 90s retro style, to harken back to the days of the Chaos Dwarfs who were well known for their affiliation with Hashut.
If you’d like to learn how I painted these models, keep reading!
BRASS:
I start with an even basecoat of Retributor Armour. Then I apply an all-over wash of Reikland Fleshshade. Next, Guilliman Flesh contrast paint was dotted onto the upper centre of each of the skirt panels to create extra shadow. Highlights were then painted on the edges with Liberator Gold. Areas like the chains and any rings are picked out in Stormhost Silver, then given a shade of Nuln Oil.
HORNS:
The horns, boots and bombs were all painted Abaddon Black. These then get highlights of Dawnstone with a light drybrush, followed by a more targeted edge highlight where needed. For the horns only, I then apply a thin glaze of Terradon Turquoise contrast paint to add a bit of coolness.
LEATHER:
All the red leather was first painted with Mephiston Red, then given a shade of Agrax Earthshade. Highlights were painted on the raised areas using Evil Sunz Scarlet and Troll Slayer Orange, with a few spot highlights of Phalanx Yellow.
SKIN:
For the tanned skin, I began with a basecoat of Bugmans Glow, then shaded over it with Darkoath Flesh contrast paint. Highlights were then painted on using Bugmans Glow and Cadian Fleshtone.
WEAPONS:
The black weapon shafts were painted the same way as the boots and bombs. The grips were painted with vallejo Goblin Green, washed with Nuln Oil, then highlighted with Goblin Green and Moot Green. The prongs were painted Mephiston Red, then heavily washed Basilicanum Grey, creating darker areas towards the shaft. Highlights were gradually glazed towards the tips of the prongs ending in orange and yellow.
BASES:
The bases were painted entirely with Goblin Green, then PVA glue was used to attach grass flock to the top for an old-school grassy field appearance.
I hope this was helpful to you, and I’d love to see how you paint your Horns of Hashut!
July was again another amazing month of hobby from the #PaintSlam22 community! I know I say that every month, but that’s only ‘cuz it’s true!
We’ve officially crossed the halfway point of the year, so great going to everyone for continuing to paint hard into 2022! Especially if, like us, you’ve been hit by the scorching ball of fire in the sky. Still, before this turns into despair over the climate, I think it’s best to move on to your awesome hobby. We all need a diversion from the sense of impending doom sometimes! Enjoy the gallery below!
