Another painting tutorial for the Mansions of Madness game. This week I have the Maniacs, crazy ax welding office workers who want nothing better than cut you down a few pegs.

Before we start, yes these are rough sculpts and I did miss a few mold lines. But, I hope that this painting guide will help with any of your projects. Each set of models I am trying out a few different techniques, both to push my own bounds but also to provide a variation in the painting guides.

For the Maniacs, I wanted to see what could be the minimum I do and still have them look good enough for the game. With that said, the main paint is as simple as a solid base coat, dry brush each section and a full-body wash of dark brown. The rest of the model was covered in an obscene amount of blood spatter so it made up for any mistakes along the way as well.

Maniacs Base Coat

Both maniacs got a solid base coat over the white primer. I decided to add some variation with a dark and light skin, each with their own colored shirt. The biggest thing here is to water down the paints a bit and do a second coat where needed.

Paints

• Dark Skin: Model Color Mahogany Brown
• Light Skin: Model Color Medium Skintone
• Pants: Game Color Imperial Blue
• Blue Shirt: Game Color Electric Blue
• Yellow Shirt: Model Color Dark Flesh
• Ax: Game Color Gunmetal

Painting the Jeans

To get a quick denim look without going through all the layers I did on Ashcan Pete, I only did the single layer of dry brush, adding a bit extra around the knees, pockets, and ankles.

Paints

• Game Color Magic Blue

Painting the Shirts

I wanted the shirts to be fairly pale colors, more of a pastel cotton than bright silk. So each was dry brushed with an almost white mix of warm and cool colors. This combination adds more gray to the mix and tones the color back a bit.

Paints

• Yellow Shirt: Game Color Moon Yellow mixed Game Color Wolf Grey (1:1), added in a tiny bit of Electric Blue to cool it down
• Blue Shirt: Game Color Electric Blue mixed with Model Light Flesh (1:2)

The Skin Tones

As I wanted these guys to be fairly quick, I did very little for their skin. I started by re-applying the base coats (the dry brushing is messy) before doing the highlight.

Paints

• Light Skin: Model Color Light Fleshtone
• Dark Skin: Game Color Parasite Brown

The Mighty Brown Wash

Dry brushing is great to get you to fast results, but taking the extra step of applying a wash can magically transform a miniature. It not only creates instant shadows but also tones back the dusty appearance that a dry brush can give.

Typically it is best to do a few, thinner washes by adding clear medium (like airbrush medium) to the mix rather than doing a heavy wash. For the Maniacs, I was ok with a spotty, dirty appearance from the wash.

For one, it added to their crazed look. They are wearing nice clothes, but not have dirt and blood stains all over them. And two, those blood splatters will cover up a bunch of the worst areas.

Paints

• Vallejo Dark Brown Wash

Painting Blood Splatter

Now for the fun, I mean gory part! OK, perhaps I over did it on the blood, but it does add a bit more thematics to their role in the game. The maniacs aren’t tough opponents, but they are scary if they get close enough to swing.

The blood splatter was done in three steps:

1. Dark red was thinned down with medium and applied liberally around the model. A second coat was applied over certain areas
2. Bright red was then added within the dark red areas. Blood dries from the outside in, so the brighter (undried) areas would be in the middle
3. After the model was sprayed with a clear matte to protect the paint, clear gloss mixed with a bit of red was added over the blood areas to bring back the shine

Paints

• Model Colors Red
• Model Colors Vermillion
• Game Colors Clear Gloss and Vermillion (4:1)

Maniacs Showcase

I hope you guys enjoyed this painting guide for the Maniacs and I am always open to comments and criticisms below.

For my 40k readers, don’t worry – I have a post in progress on my Inq28 model that I’ve been painting. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out my social channels and give me a follow!