The stunningly painted box art miniatures from Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon show off the incredible new models like nothing else could, and today we’re talking to Tom and Connor from the ’Eavy Metal painting team to hear all about how they tackled such a monumental project.
Here are some of our favourite moments from the chat, which inspired us to get our paintbrushes ready. Be sure to watch the full video – it’s full of insights.
Ork Skin Tones
Tom: [The skin’s] slightly more naturalistic in this iteration of the Orks, to reinforce their development sculpturally. So they're slightly less saturated, slightly lighter, and they've got a bit more of that natural variation within them.
We made an effort to continue through blending fleshy tones on the elbows, into the ears, around the nose,
making the lips really dark, so that you'd get all of those visual hooks that you would get from natural creatures and humans and animals that come through and make them feel like real, believable entities.
Eddie: But because, obviously, they are Orks, and Orks are quite varied, they still sit quite happily alongside the existing ’Eavy Metal Orks. In your collections, your own painting, you could have some darker Orks, some lighter Orks, some with more naturalistic skin tones if you wanted to, and that'd be fine.
Painters’ Favourite Miniatures
Connor: I think the favourite model-wise for me is definitely the new Intercessors. It's still that core kit that we've seen for a while now, but it's the personality that's been imbued into them. You've got the guy throwing the grenade, the guy with the combat blade, the guy with the auspex… it has that kind of classic Tactical Squad kind of vibe to it, and it feels like each one is also a little individual hero as well, which is what Space Marines are, right?
And then on the other hand, it's probably the Captain as well. There's probably personal sentimental value there, from painting that and spending some months on it, so there's an attachment to that model.
Tom: My favourite model has to be the Big Boss. I think the pose is incredibly mean, it screams Orks. The musculature of the arms, the pacing of the little fun details around the model versus big flat panels, where I can do my chequer patterns and do my glyphs. I think that model has everything for me.
And I think in terms of paint schemes specifically, it has to be the Weirdboy. I think the way that the eye has been rendered, the magic, the subtle freehand on the cloth and the weathering, the way the skin's been treated all over… I just think that it’s an incredible paint scheme.
Future Golden Demon subjects?
Tom: There are the obvious answers in terms of the suite of characters that we have on show. The poses, the character that they have within themselves and the level of detail really lend themselves to that high level painting where you're paying attention to every minute little detail and looking to infuse that story and narrative into that character.
There are pairs of the character models, like the Librarian and the Weirdboy that are specifically designed to stand alongside each other, so for a category such as Duel or Diorama they fit in perfectly. And I think on top of that as well… something that I've been really enjoying seeing at Golden Demon recently is slightly more vignette-style entries. I think the whole box, in a way, lends itself to that where there are so many cool poses and miniatures full of character that you can pair up.
We’ve got one more round table video lined up tomorrow, where we’ll be getting deep into the 11th edition rules with Josh and Kenny from the Warhammer Studio team, so if you’re a fan of hurling handfuls of dice across the table – and we’re pretty sure you are – make sure to tune in.
