Warhammer 40,000 - Unbroken
My man looking like Handsome Squidward - Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
This model is another one that’s sat on the shelf for a while now, it being the Year 3 (2023/2024) reward for subscribing to Warhammer+ for a year. The model itself is based on some artwork by Karl Kopinski, much like how Azrakh is based on some artwork by Mark Gibbons. I’ve painted Cadians before, in my vaguely Second World War British scheme but I wasn’t sure what to do for the elite Kasrkin, like our Unbroken friend is. I wasn’t really a fan of the jagged camouflage pattern that Games Workshop uses for their models, so mine sat on the shelf while I looked for a scheme that spoke to me.
In hindsight I didn’t have far to look, Peachy Tips had a decent video testing out the new Army Painter Historical paint sets. In said video he paints up a model in the style of Second World War British Paratroopers. He uses Light Battle Dress, Webbing Green and Mud Splatter from the World War II British set. I didn’t really want to buy a whole set of paints just to use three on one model. Instead I figured I could sub in my own colours, I have plenty of drab and military colours after all. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
First things first, I had to get the model assembled. The model does have a bit of a scenic terrain that he’s standing on, which takes up most of the space on the base. To help blend it in, I applied some texture paste around the edges and in between the paving stones. And to make painting easier, I left the chap separate from the base. Both the model and the base were then primed with Colour Forge Hyrax Brown. This deep brown, equivalent to Citadel Rhinox Hide or Two Thin Coats Cuirass Leather, was ideal given the amount of browns that I was going to use on the model.
Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
I decided to start with the face, beginning the process with my usual basecoat of Two Thin Coats Dwarven Skin followed by a wash of Reikland Fleshshade. From there I layered the raised areas with Dwarven Skin, I then mixed in progressively more and more Scale75 Basic Flesh and Pale Skin into Dwarven Skin to build up my highlights. I had pushed the highlights pretty far, I wanted our trooper to look pretty gaunt, like he’s been fighting for days on end. However I couldn’t go any further lest he start looking like an albino. A good trick for boosting your highlights is to deepen your shadows, darker recesses mean that your highlights look brighter by comparison. For me this meant running a small amount of Guillman Flesh, which is like Reikland Fleshshade on steroids, into the recesses on the face. To reinforce the idea that this Guardsman has been fighting for a while without any downtime I decided to give him some five o’clock shadow, a bit of stubble around the jaw. To do this I heavily thinned some Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone, then wiped most of it off my brush and applied it to the jawline of my model. Doing it in this way means that the Dungeon Stone is basically transparent, and will tint the skin slightly grey. I could then do successive layers to build it up to a level that I wanted. However, it is important to make sure the previous layer is completely dry before applying another, otherwise you risk tearing the paint and it looks awful. To finish off the head, I tidied up the hair with Two Thin Coats Scorched Earth before mixing in more and more Pro Acryl Ivory to build up highlights. I still had the goggles to do but I would tackle them at a later point.
Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
With the head mostly complete I moved onto the rest of the model. Working from the inside out I started by basecoating the uniform with Vallejo English Uniform. The armour I painted with Vulkan Green, this being my substitution colour for Army Painter Webbing Green. To make the camouflage pattern, I painted random splodges (technical term) on the armour with Vallejo Khaki and Two Thin Coats Cuirass Leather, those being my substitutions for Army Painter Light Battle Dress and Mud Splatter respectively. Next I painted all the cables and the power sword blade with Scale75 Thrash Metal. The guard on the sword and the aquila on the chest meanwhile, I painted with Scale75 Old Copper. I then washed the whole model, except the face with Army Painter Strong Tone. Although this nicely shaded the model, it didn’t quite bring the definition to the armour that I had hoped. I therefore reinforced the separation of the panels by running a line of Black Templar between them. At this point, I went back and picked out the lenses of the goggles with Kantor Blue.
Next up was the highlights. I started by mixing Vulkan Green with Vallejo Russian Uniform and edge highlighting the armour and hellgun. It was a nice colour but it just didn’t pop enough, it was too close to the base Vulkan Green to be an effective highlight. To remedy this, I mixed in some AK Interactive Pastel Green. This was a much brighter colour and worked really well for highlighting the green on the model. Next I mixed English Uniform with Army Painter Pale Sand and used that to highlight the uniform. Not wanting to waste this very pale brown colour I then mixed it with some Cuirass Leather and used it to highlight the leather details. All in all I feel I took the long route mixing those colours and still arrived at the same result.
Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
Last but by no means least was the base. I started by overbrushing the ruins and rocks with Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone. Overbrushing is a lot like drybrush except you have a bit more paint on the brush, so you end up more or less painting the rocks Dungeon Stone but it doesn’t get into the deeper nooks and crannies. Next I picked out the pipe with Scale75 Thrash Metal and washed the whole base with Army Painter Strong Tone, followed by drybrushing the stone areas with Two Thin Coats Carcharodon Grey. Next I made up some snow by mixing Army Painter Battlefield Snow with matt medium into a slurry and dabbing this onto select areas of the base. Normally my Imperial models have a tundra scheme but I felt there wasn’t anywhere I could add some plant life to this particular base. Lastly, I painted the rim of the base with Steel Legion Drab.