Necromunda - House Ko'iron Ministorum Delegation
A couple of times now I have mentioned putting together a small Adeptus Ministorum crusade force. Such a force would obviously need some kind of leadership, and when I saw the House Ko'iron Ministorum Delegation revealed for Necromunda I knew they’d be perfect.
Getting started with assembly, the first thing I had to do was to give the parts quick wash. As the parts are resin there can sometimes be some mold release agent left on them, which can cause issues with paint adhering. After a quick scrub in some cool soapy water I was good to go. Overall assembly wasn’t too bad, about par for the course for Games Workshop kits: minimal instructions and most of the parts fit together.
I left the Prima Materis separate from his chair to make painting easier but otherwise everything was fully assembled. Once they were done everything was primed with Colour Forge Standard Grey. I then picked out all the skin with Two Thin Coats Dwarven Skin and the two bodyguards were given a zenithal highlight with Liquitex Titanium White acrylic ink to bring out the details. The plan was to paint the Prima Materis and their chair with more traditional basecoats and washes while the bodyguards would get the slapchop treatment.
Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
Being the biggest lump of resin I started with the Prima Materis’ chair. I painted the majority of the chair with Scale75 Black Metal. The engine block and the cables at the back of the chair I painted with a couple coats of Scale75 Thrash Metal. I left behind the metallics for the time being to paint the robes of the skeletons with Archive-X Caboose Red and the padding on the chair with Vallejo Scarlet Red. The bone details and candles I painted with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. The skirt around the base of the chair and the wings of the cherub I painted with Pro Acryl Ivory. I then picked out the rosary on the back of the chair with Black Templar and the tassels around the skirt with Flesh Tearers Red. I then went back and picked out all the trim and the icon with Scale75 Dwarven Gold. Being the top dog of my Ministorum force entitles him to as much gold bling as he can possibly fit on his chair.
Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
I still had some work to do on the chair but I took this opportunity to paint the cherub’s skin. I had already basecoated it with Two Thin Coats Dwarven Skin so to bring out the texture I gave the cherub a wash of Reikland Fleshshade. This darkened the skin a lot so to brighten it back up I layered the raised areas with Dwarven Skin. To build up the highlights I mixed progressively more and more Scale75 Pale Skin into the Dwarven Skin. This did unfortunately desaturate the skin quite a lot so to bring back some warmth I gave the skin a coat of Guilliman Flesh. I then made the skin look a bit red and sore around the bionics with a thin layer of Army Painter Red Tone.
The chair still needed some work, washes and highlights and so forth. But for the moment I switched my attention to its occupant. To get things started I painted his robes with a coat or two of Vallejo Scarlet Red and the undersuit with Pro Acryl Ivory. His mace, which I assume he hasn’t the strength to actually wield, I painted with Scale75 Thrash Metal. After that it was a case of, much like the chair, bedecking him in as much gold as possible. So things like his extravagant headdress, the trim on the robes, the jewellery and the casing on the bolt pistol I painted with Scale75 Dwarven Gold.
Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
I then needed to paint the skin of the Prima Materis, including the hand that’s molded onto the chair. The process was much the same as I had done for the cherub; from the Dwarven Skin basecoat I washed the skin with Reikland Fleshshade before layering back up again with Dwarven Skin. Then I mixed in Scale75 Pale Skin into Dwarven Skin and used this to build up the highlights before using a coat of Guilliman Flesh to bring back some warmth to the skin. The Prima Materis might be somewhat decrepit but he isn’t dead. Yet. So to desaturate skin and give him a bit of a deathly pall I added some Army Painter Purple Tone to the deepest recesses of the skin.
Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
As mentioned above I intended to paint the bodyguards in my slapchop adjacent style. With that in mind I paint their coats with Black Templar and shawls with Flesh Tearers Red. Any leather details I picked out with Garaghak’s Sewer. From there I painted the jodhpurs and the relic one of them is carrying with Pro Acryl Ivory, and the candles with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. For the metallic details, I picked out anything silver like the haft of the weapons and any chains with Scale75 Thrash Metal. And then, just like everything else, I loaded them up on gold detailing. Using Scale75 Dwarven Gold to paint the trim on the boots and hat, and the decorations on the weapons.
Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
In one way or another, everything was now basecoated. So it was time to move onto the washes, highlights and any final details. To start with, anything that I painted with Pro Acryl Ivory, such as the skirt around the chair, I gave a coat of Sonic Sledgehammer’s Marine Juice. I just love the way it looks over near-white colours. The candles meanwhile were given a wash of Seraphim Sepia. For the silver details, and the red details on the Prima Materis and his chair, I first gave them a wash of Army Painter Dark Tone. This was then followed up by a second wash of Army Painter Strong Tone on the silver parts to make them look rather grimy. And while I had it out, all of the bone detail got a wash of Strong Tone as well. I then gave the skin of the bodyguards and all the gold a wash of Reikland Fleshshade, which as you can imagine, took a while. The shading turned out a bit lacklustre on the icon on the top of the chair so I reinforced it by glazing in some Guilliman Flesh toward the outer edges. To make the Ministorum symbol stand out a little more I ran some Flesh Tearers Red into the recesses around it.
Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
Moving onto the highlights, I started giving the bone details a quick highlight with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. I used the base colour as I didn’t want the bone details to pop too much on the model and outshine the gold. Speaking of, I highlighted all of the gold details with Scale75 Elven Gold. I didn’t highlight the silver details but I did heavily thin some Two Thin Coats Dry Rust Brown and run that into some of the recesses to give the impression of rust. The juxtaposition of shining gold and rusted metal always amuses me.
For the various flames, I first basecoated them with Army Painter Matt White before giving them a coat of Iyanden Yellow. While the yellow was still wet I quickly dabbed on some Gryph Hound Orange near the tops of the flames. The flames on the candles were a bit too small for contrast paint so instead I picked them out with a dot of Yriel Yellow. As a final detail I picked out the gems and lenses with Evil Sunz Scarlet.
Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
As these models are to fit into my existing forces, I didn’t want to use the Necromunda bases they came with. Instead I dug out some regular bases and used them. To get my basing scheme started I covered the flat areas of the base with Vallejo Dark Earth texture paste, which I then washed with Army Painter Strong Tone to bring out the texture. I then dabbed on some patches of PVA glue before sprinkling on some Geek Gaming Scenics Base Ready Patchy Plains scatter. I then sealed this down with some Geek Gaming Scenics Matt Sealant. For the snow I mixed some Army Painter Battlefield Snow with some matt medium until it was the consistency that I wanted. I then dabbed this on in patches. Lastly, I painted the rims of the bases with Steel Legion Drab.
I’m really pleased with how this has turned out. I should probably think of a name for him. Perhaps something like Piotr Hermitage, as a nod to Peter the Hermit who led the People’s Crusade at the beginning of the First Crusade, in 1096. I’ll also have to think up some rules, in case he pops up in one of my games.