So diving back into the world of 40k today, I have finished up my first Inquisitor 28 model. This INQ28 Techno-Barbarian was born out of a soup of inspirations (and need to step away from Mansions of Madness a bit!).

The biggest prompt to try this guy was Adam of The Golden D6 got me hooked up to do a paint review of WarColors line of paints. They were super generous and sent me a pile of goodies but specifically, seven different turquoise paints to highlight one of their unique selling points (group colors into shades to highlights). I won’t dive into the paints here as I’m saving it for the review.

So armed with seven types of turquoise and three shades of brass, my primary color selection was chosen for me. The problem? I had nothing painted turquoise! But I did have the free Stormcast that came with the White Dwarf a few months back and a pile of bits.

With his plate armor and stoic pose, I figured a heavy would suit him best. So I fished around and found a big shoota from the Killa Kans and a power fist from the Marines. Using a bit of sticky tack, I started to piece him together.

To cover the Sigmar icon on his belt buckle, I sliced it down and cut up a Marine shoulder pad (for Death Watch I think?). I Tried it down to size and sanded the crud out of it to make it thin enough to fit.

A few extra bits like the heraldry from the Bretonia kit, the sign from the Flagellants, and backpack from a mix of an Ork Big Shoota Boy and a Voxcaster. The only green stuff work I added was to fill in a small gap between the power fist and arm and the straps to hold onto the gun.

The Base Coats

Holy shit! What did I just do?

Yeah, that’s what I was saying too! The armor was painted with the “One Coat” line of their turquoise paints – a heavy pigment paint that covers well. Unfortunately, the shade matches more with the mid-tone of their turquoise line and looks hideous on him.

But, as I typically do, I blocked out all the colors to get a sense of things. Most of the armor will be the turquoise with copper elements. I chose Dark blue as a good accent color with orange as the spot color (split complementaries). Silver and black make good neutrals areas, so they were used to break up large chunks.

Colors

• WarColours Black Copper
• Game Color GunMetal
• WarColours Turquoise One Coat
• Model Color Light Flesh
• Model Color Dark Prussian Blue

The Might Wash

Never go home without buying more brown wash!

In this case, it was Vallejo’s Oiled Earth Wash which not only provides a great shade but also creates a definition between different colors. I also went back and covered the garish one-coat with the base color Turquoise 5 (they number from darkest, to lightest).

Colors

• Vallejo Oiled Earth Wash
• WarColours Turquoise 5

Adding the Layers

Now I’m starting to get somewhere.

Here you can see the different layers of Turquoise paint applied. Without doing any blending, the five levels of the Turquoise color provides an excellent transition from the dark to almost white colors. Some areas ended a bit rough at this stage (his lower left leg for example) but I wasn’t trying too hard either to do any blending – I knew later weathering will end up hiding much of the mistakes.

Colors

• WarColours Turquoise 4 through 1
• Game Color Electric Blue (highlight for dark blue areas)

Adding the Details

At this point, he could have been considered done – but I needed to take a step further.

With the turquoise armor done, I then finished all the metal areas off with layers of Warcolours Metalic Copper and Game Color Gunmetal. The base from Secrete Weapon and painted in similar hues and powders listed later on.

Decals were applied and then painted over to give him some insignia. Someone on Twitter commented that he had a Thunder Warrior look, so I found a heraldry from them that had an eagle head and lightning. I made one from pieces cut from the Knight Titans sheet. The winged sword on his other shoulder is from the Dark Angles sheet, and a skull on his knee completed the set. I painted over all three after they were varnished to tie them into my colors.

Colors

• WarColours Metalic Copper
• Game Color Gunmetal
• Game Color Hot Orange (decals and lettering)
• Game Color Wolf Grey (right shoulder pad)
• Model Color Burnt Umber (lettering)

Beat Up and Finished

To finish the model, I gave him a nice bit of weathering throughout.

Following a multi-step weathering process (scaled down from the Watch This video), I started with an old dry brush to stipple on Burnt Umber. This provided a nice, dark contrast to the blues and whites.

Within each chip, I added smaller chips of gunmetal to show the exposed metal underneath. I followed this up with a stippling of powders made from a mix of flow aid, matte medium, and the powder. The WarColours Brick Pigment created a nice rust look while the Fresh Mud and Grey Ash from Forge World added the dirt and soot look.

When happy, I sealed in the layers with Clear Matte spray. For me, I took a big step in my detailing and highlighted the larger chips. I used Turquoise 1 and White to add a small dot or line at the bottom of the bigger chips. It was a painful process, but I am so happy with the result.

Colors

• Model Colors Burnt Umber
• WarColours Brick Pigment
• Forge World Weather Powder Fresh Mud
• Forge World Weather Powder Grey Ash
• Game Color Gunmetal

I’m still forming the background on this guy but so far have decided he is a techno-barbarian from a high gravity agri-world. As his lord’s champion, Ma’tu prided himself on ending any threat before it could come close enough to spit upon his charge.

As his lord’s champion, Ma’tu prided himself on ending any threat before it could come close enough to spit upon his charge.

In an unfortunate set of timing, Ma’tu had mistaken the advanced of the baron’s new mistress as a threat and splattered her body over a room full of visiting Inquisitors. Embarrassment and fury boiled out of the Barron and ordered Ma’tu immediate dismemberment.

The quick, and lethal response had impressed one of the inquisitors though and had Ma’tu transferred to his keeping instead. There he has stayed as his new lord travels the void in search of heresy.

In the end, I am very happy with my INQ28 Techno-Barbarian and how I pushed my painting boundaries. I know this wasn’t much of a tutorial as some of my other posts have been, but hopefully following the progression was helpful in some way as well.

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