For this latest painting assignment, 
Editor in Chief Bill 
has sent me a lovely box set of Dark Sword miniatures. This particular one has six top fantasy figs, based on the cracking artwork from Larry Elmore.
Because Bill's an easy-going gent, he doesn't seem to mind me mucking about with his models in the name of experimentation. So for these models, I chose to go to town with Games Workshop's new Citadel washes. When I first used these new washes, I had a bit of a blub over the loss of all the previous inks that I have known and loved for so many years. It's always pretty harsh when a series of paints that you have grown used to become obsolete.
To start off with, I basecoated all the models entirely.
This is just like my White Dwarf magazines told me to when I was twelve. I very rarely do it this way round now!
These guys are basecoated using mostly Citadel Foundation acrylics. Don't expect me to tell you all the colours - it should be fairly obvious.
Next I applied washes to pretty much all areas of the models. On the whole, I used what seemed to be the most appropriate wash for the basecoat. So, the Tallarn Flesh skin has Ogre Flesh wash - this wash is also used over any gold/bronze areas as well. Understandably, green gets a green wash and brown gets a brown wash, etc.… Just to be different, red gets a Leviathan Purple wash.
The thing I notice most about these new washes is that they are reasonably thick. This means that you can be quite tempted to add water to thin them down. Don't - they aren't designed for it. They go on quite light, so if you want the wash colour to be deeper or a little more full-on, then wait for it to dry and pop another layer on.
Here's how the three guys look when washed…
This proves to me that you simply don't get a good enough finish from washes alone (except on the metallic areas, where they rock!).
As a result, I have gone back over all the other areas with a two- or three-stage highlight of the original basecoat, then a couple of successively lighter colours. For example, the flesh has a highlight of Tallarn Flesh, then Deneb Stone mixed in for the next layer.
This finishes off the models. They come out quite well after the highlights. In painting this way, there is something very un-complicated about going about it. On the whole, it was a very satisfying experience.
To see more of my models - that weren't painted using this technique at all - check out pro-painted-miniatures.com