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It turns out, it is even harder to find schedule overlap for a 40k group than it is for a DnD group, if that's possible. The folks I play with do not meet up nearly enough to scratch the 40k itch, so instead I've turned to the hobbying side of the game. When I'd played previously this is an aspect of 40k that I had largely sidelined, but I've found it to be quite fun!
I painted up a Sentinel using what has always been kind of my standard technique. I primed it, then gave it a couple of base coats using the main color scheme, then painted in details like the camo pattern, then did some washes, and finished with dry brushed highlights. It came out pretty well, but it was time intensive and I feel like dry brushing highlights wasn't sufficient. To make it look as good as I want I would have to paint on the highlights and frankly this process is already too time consuming and I just can't bring myself to add even more steps. I cannot imagine doing that for massed hordes of guardsmen especially.
So I've been experimenting with the slap chop technique. First, I tried using it by just diluting my regular acrylic paints. The details came out really well, but the colors were very muted. That isn't necessarily bad and it was very quick, but I personally prefer a more vibrant color pallet. Typically, the technique uses specialized transparent paints, but I didn't want to invest a bunch into a specific painting setup only to realize that I didn't like it. So I bought some greens and flesh colors from two different brands and my next step is to test them on a couple of different models and do a side-by-side comparison, then assess whether I want to try using slap chop on the rest of my infantry or just grind through the more standard technique. I will post when I've come down on a final decision, but it might be a while, as I don't have nearly as much time to paint as I would like.
On a related note, I've also been thinking about some conversions. It used to be that guard units were a particular kind of generic. GW sold troops from a variety of different regiments, but you played them as an "infantry squad." GW didn't even sell some elite units, like the veteran squad. You just said "these guys are this elite unit" and so they were. Now GW seems to be leaning more into what-you-see-is-what-you-get (wysiwyg). If you have Catachan guys they are Catachan squads. GW *has* noted that, because many players still have models from regiments that don't have a data sheet, units from one regiment can count as units from another, as long as its clear to the opponent and the models have the correct equipment.
My problem with this is that, when I last played, the only plastic (and therefore affordable) guard kit was the Catachans. The group that I play with is very cool about proxies, but I still think it would be cool/sporting to make sure my guys are more or less differentiable at a glance. So I've been thinking about how to convert my old Catachan Devil's Squad to use as a counts-as Kasrkin squad (or maybe even scions, flavoring deep-strike as a kind of popping out of cover, they were there the whole time! thing). I have, however, not been very inspired, and am having trouble thinking of cool things to do to make the Catachan models *look* elite. The only things I've thought of so far are: putting more effort into the paint job so they look better, adding some wiring and charge packs to make their weapons look more like hot-shot lasguns, and adding some plant tufts to the models to make them look extra camouflaged. Whatever I do, I need to decide on a painting method first. But I'm excited to give it a try!
I painted up a Sentinel using what has always been kind of my standard technique. I primed it, then gave it a couple of base coats using the main color scheme, then painted in details like the camo pattern, then did some washes, and finished with dry brushed highlights. It came out pretty well, but it was time intensive and I feel like dry brushing highlights wasn't sufficient. To make it look as good as I want I would have to paint on the highlights and frankly this process is already too time consuming and I just can't bring myself to add even more steps. I cannot imagine doing that for massed hordes of guardsmen especially.
So I've been experimenting with the slap chop technique. First, I tried using it by just diluting my regular acrylic paints. The details came out really well, but the colors were very muted. That isn't necessarily bad and it was very quick, but I personally prefer a more vibrant color pallet. Typically, the technique uses specialized transparent paints, but I didn't want to invest a bunch into a specific painting setup only to realize that I didn't like it. So I bought some greens and flesh colors from two different brands and my next step is to test them on a couple of different models and do a side-by-side comparison, then assess whether I want to try using slap chop on the rest of my infantry or just grind through the more standard technique. I will post when I've come down on a final decision, but it might be a while, as I don't have nearly as much time to paint as I would like.
On a related note, I've also been thinking about some conversions. It used to be that guard units were a particular kind of generic. GW sold troops from a variety of different regiments, but you played them as an "infantry squad." GW didn't even sell some elite units, like the veteran squad. You just said "these guys are this elite unit" and so they were. Now GW seems to be leaning more into what-you-see-is-what-you-get (wysiwyg). If you have Catachan guys they are Catachan squads. GW *has* noted that, because many players still have models from regiments that don't have a data sheet, units from one regiment can count as units from another, as long as its clear to the opponent and the models have the correct equipment.
My problem with this is that, when I last played, the only plastic (and therefore affordable) guard kit was the Catachans. The group that I play with is very cool about proxies, but I still think it would be cool/sporting to make sure my guys are more or less differentiable at a glance. So I've been thinking about how to convert my old Catachan Devil's Squad to use as a counts-as Kasrkin squad (or maybe even scions, flavoring deep-strike as a kind of popping out of cover, they were there the whole time! thing). I have, however, not been very inspired, and am having trouble thinking of cool things to do to make the Catachan models *look* elite. The only things I've thought of so far are: putting more effort into the paint job so they look better, adding some wiring and charge packs to make their weapons look more like hot-shot lasguns, and adding some plant tufts to the models to make them look extra camouflaged. Whatever I do, I need to decide on a painting method first. But I'm excited to give it a try!
