How to paint the Heroes from Massive Darkness 2: Hellscape

It’s been a long time coming but having completed both Zombicide: Invader and Village Attacks it was time to make a start on a new boardgame. Whilst Massive Darkness 2 will be a long project, with over two hundred miniatures that I will need to paint, I figured that the sooner I start on it the sooner I’ll finish. And why not start with the player characters?

Feydra (Rogue)

Technically, I painted these all at the same time but for the sake of narrative let’s say I started with Feydra the Rogue. To get things going I primed them with Colour Forge Standard Grey and once said had cured I picked out any skin details with Two Thin Coats Dwarven Skin. With leaned forward pose and billowing cloak, Feydra is a much more horizontal model than most. For this reason I decided to orientate my zenithal highlight from the front, using the airbrush to spray Liquitex Titanium White over the model to set the lights and shadows.

With that done I could make a start on the main colours of the model. I started by giving the armoured greaves a coat of Army Painter Speedpaint Broadsword Silver. The hair and trousers I painted with Black Templar. The cloak meanwhile I painted with Flesh Tearers Red, not very stealthy but it does look great. I finished things off by painting the leather details with Gore Grunta Fur and the daggers with Scale75 Black Metal. For the base I kept things simple, scraping out the last of my pot of Astrogranite. It was more paint than texture honestly. I then washed the daggers, armour and base with Army Painter Dark Tone. To finish things off I painted the rim of the base black.

Sir Ronen (Paladin)

I was tempted to prime Sir Ronen black and do the armour with Vallejo Metal Colours Magnesium, but then I’d have to basecoat the rest of colours and I wanted a quicker process. With that in mind I primed the model with Colour Forge Standard Grey and then used my airbrush to give the model a basecoat of Army Painter Skeleton Bone. I followed this up with a zenithal highlight from above of Liquitex Titanium White acrylic ink also using the airbrush. This didn’t make a huge difference over the Skeleton Bone basecoat but it made a difference nonetheless.

The next step was to carefully paint everything except the robes. I started by giving the armour a coat of Army Painter Broadsword Silver. I had to be especially careful as this particular paint is incredibly high flow. Honestly, this stuff seems to have negative viscosity sometimes. I then picked out all the leather details like the pouches with Gore Grunta Fur and the shield backing with Wyldwood. To cut down on the number of paints, I also used Wyldwood for the sword scabbards. Broadsword Silver, whilst a wonderful paint, can be quite flat so to add some contrast and to shade the robes that I had left Skeleton Bone I gave the whole model a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone. I finished the model off by giving the small section of face visible in the helmet a coat of Guilliman Flesh.

For the base I first painted it with Two Thin Coats Scorched Earth and then gave it a thick layer of Agrellan Earth. The crackle paint can be quite fragile once it dries so to keep the chips locked down I gave the base a few spritzes of Geek Gaming Scenics Matt Sealant spray. To finish things off I painted the rim of the base black.

Gheta (Berserker)

Gheta is covered in a lot of furs, as any good barbarian should be, which is ideal for contrast paints. To get things started I primed the model with Colour Forge Standard grey before giving it a zenithal highlight with Army Painter Skeleton Bone, purely because I still had some in my airbrush from basecoating Sir Ronen.

I started by giving the armour plates and ax head a coat of Army Painter Speedpaint Broadsword Silver. Any leather details I picked out with Gore Grunta Fur. I could then move onto all the furs and to keep things interesting I painted the different furs in Army Painter Speedpaint Burnished Red, Basilicanum Fur and Garaghak Sewer. I then washed the ax head with Army Painter Dark Tone, and the armour and bone details with Strong Tone.

When I did the zenithal highlight earlier I made sure to give the skin a fairly decent basecoat in the hopes that I could then give it a coat of Guillman Flesh and call it a day. Unfortunately, when I did this it looked base. So I had to rebasecoat the skin with Two Thin Coat Dwarven Skin and then give it a wash with Reikland Fleshshade.

For the base I started by giving it a coat of Vallejo Terracotta followed by a thick coat of Martian Ironearth. I didn’t get particularly big cracks but for those that I did the darker Terracotta showed through without me needing to do a wash. I did however seal things down with some Geek Gaming Scenics Matt Sealant spray.

Mathrin (Wizard)

For the wizard I started with a Colour Forge Standard Grey prime before picking out the face and hands with Two Thin Coats Dwarven Skin. He was then given the customary zenithal highlight with Liquitex Titanium White acrylic ink through the airbrush.

The artwork has Mathrin in a bright red robe with teal accents. To replicate this I gave the robe a coat of Blood Angels Red and the skull on his chest a coat of Army Painter Speedpaint Sea Blue. As these paints aren’t quite as intense as some of the other contrast/speed paints they show the underlying zenithal highlight really well. For the remaining details I used Black Templar for the tabard as it provided a nice contrast to the red. The sandals and any other leather details I picked out with Gore Grunta Fur and the staff I painted with Wyldwood. I then painted the horns with Skeleton Horde and his beard with Army Painter Speedpainter Gravelord Grey.

As the bangles and armour straps were a bit too small to paint effectively with contrast paints so I picked out all the jewelry with Scale75 Dwarven Gold and the straps with Two Thin Coats Cuirass Leather. Lastly for the model I brought out the texture of the skin and gold by giving them both a coat of Reikland Fleshshade.

For the base I kept things simple, first giving it a basecoat of Two Thin Coats Scorched Earth followed by a thick coat of Agrellan Earth crackle paint. Like with Gheta, I also sealed the base with some Geek Gaming Scenics Matt Sealant spray before painting the rim black.

Irk (Shaman)

Next up was Irk, the forest sprite shaman. Taking some inspiration from my Plaguebearers, I primed them with Army Painter Angel Green. I then picked out the face with Two Thin Coats Dwarven Skin and the wings with Carcharadon Grey. I then gave the model a zenithal highlight with Liquitex Titanium White acrylic ink through my airbrush.

To take advantage of the zenithal highlight I then gave the carapace a coat of Militarum Green, the wings a coat of Pylar Glacier and the face a wash of Reikland Fleshshade. The carapace turned out really well but the wings were a bit lacklustre, probably because Two Thin Coats Carcharadon Grey is already very close to white. Keeping with the green theme I painted the sword with a couple coats of Scale75 Peridot Alchemy followed by a wash with Army Painter Military Shade. I finished the model off by carefully picking out the eyes with Army Painter Matt Black.

I then basecoated the base with Two Thin Coats Scorched Earth and painted the rim with black. I then gave it a good coat of PVA glue and sprinkled on some Geek Gaming Scenics Base Ready Forest Cover. As with the other bases I then sealed the base with Geek Gaming Scenics Matt Sealant spray.

Nahias (Ranger)

Last but not least was Nahias, the centaur ranger. As the model was going to be mostly brown tones I primed them with some Halfords Camo Brown. I then picked out the human parts with Two Thin Coats Dwarven Skin and gave the model a zenithal highlight with Liquitex Titanium White acrylic ink.

With that done I gave the horse parts and hair a coat of Army Painter Speedpaint Burnished Red. And honestly, it does not show the zenithal or even the underlying brown at all. Oh well, onwards we go. I then painted the bow and shield facing with Wyldwood, and the arrows with Snakebite Leather. Any leather details conversely I painted with Gore Grunta Fur. The hooves I picked out with Black Templar For the metallic details I painted the armour with Army Painter Broadsword Silver, and the trim and sword pommel with Scale75 Dwarven Gold. For the washes, I gave the armour a coat of Army Painter Dark Tone and the skin and gold a wash of Reikland Fleshshade.

Finally, for the base I kept things simple starting with a coat of Two Thin Coats Scorched Earth and painting the rim black. I then dabbed on some PVA glue and sprinkled on some Geek Gaming Scenics Base Ready Patchy Plains, and finally sealed things down with Geek Gaming Scenics Matt Sealant spray.

Massive Darkness 2: Hellscape - Heroes