The Horus Heresy by Games Workshop is immensely popular amongst wargamers. I mean, what's not to love about Space Marines, betrayal, familial drama, and even more Space Marines? It's a rich, deep, and dark setting - a sort of even darker mirror to the 40k universe. This can often lead to one of its more signature styles - grim, dark and gritty. Not everything in the Age of Darkness needs to be so morose however, and Rob Medwell of Medders' Miniatures fame is known for creating beautiful paint jobs for the Horus Heresy with bright, vibrant colours, but that still look right at home within the more grounded setting of the 31st millennium. His secret weapon? Warpaints Fanatic of course, and today we have him here to talk a bit about his hobby journey and how he approaches his Heresy miniatures.
Rob: Hi there! I’m Rob and I’ve been working alongside The Army Painter for the past 2 years using their products to create tutorials. You may know me from painting and gaming in The Horus Heresy but if you aren’t familiar with me or my work here’s a brief synopsis to fill you in!
Like loads of people, I’ve been in the hobby since I was 10. In my teenage years I dipped in and out of it but everything changed with the first Horus Heresy novel, ‘Horus Rising’ by Dan Abnett. That book suckered me into gaming and hobbying in the Age of Darkness and I’ve not been able to escape it since. The past four years have been really transformational for me though. I left my job as a full-time teacher to begin commission painting and content creation and I haven’t looked back since. I’ve been very fortunate to strike up a great relationship with the guys over at The Army Painter and because of this I’ve been able to create lots of tutorials for you to enjoy!
Painting and hobbying in the universe of the Horus Heresy tends towards a less clean style than we might expect from Warhammer 40,000. Battle damage, weathering, and grime are just some of the key features that typically reflect army painting in the 31st millennium. This is something I try to reflect in much of my work as well. A key factor for me is the story-telling and narrative element that you can create with your army. Perhaps you want to create an Ultramarines force after the Word Bearers’ savage attack on Calth? Or maybe you want to create an Iron Warriors armoured company to represent the forces on Tallarn? Even better, you may want to create a Blood Angels force led by the Primarch Sanguinius defending the Eternity Gate! The point is, you can with The Horus Heresy. Your army is the extension of the storytelling. The source material is so rich and plentiful for the Age of Darkness through novels and campaign books that it's easy to create a themed and cool looking army.
If you’ve ever seen one of the armies I’ve created though I never tend toward ‘Grim-Dark’. That’s just not my style. I love armies that look coherent but really pop off of the table with punchy, vibrant colours. Weathering and battle damage shows up great on bright colours and I try and utilise this in all of my painting. So why have I made the change to the new Warpaint Fanatic range? Easy! Because they are highly pigmented colours that really pack a punch. This is perfect for me! As an airbrush user I also appreciate the fact that I can create transitions and contrast by working my way up through the triads. This goes for the new range as well as the Warpaint Air range. With 18 legions it is also easy to pick and choose the colours to represent the panoply of each of the legions from the new range.
Salamanders Leviathan
This Salamanders Leviathan is a great example of using vibrant colours to really show off that battle damage and weathering! Salamanders’ panoply tends towards the darker greens but I really wanted to use greens with a lot of vibrancy. In order to do this I used Warpaints Air Savage Green as a base, followed by a broad highlight of Warpaints Fanatic Greenskin mixed with Warpaints Fanatic Daemonic Yellow followed by a tighter highlight of Warpaints Fanatic Ferocious Green and Daemonic Yellow. Daemonic Yellow helps to maintain vibrancy as we shift through those lighter greens. Sponging on dark browns, such as Warpaints Fanatic Bootstrap Brown, for chipping to show the corroded ceramite underneath works well to contrast against the lightness of the plate.
Thousand Sons Consul
This Thousand Sons Consul was a great exercise in using the new Effects paints from the Fanatic range. The whole model was given a coat of Warpaints Fanatic Mithril. In order to create the glossy red plate of 31st millennium Thousand Sons, I airbrushed Warpaints Fanatic True Blood effects paint over the entirety of the model. This provided a really nice metallic, glossy finish to the armour plate as the True Blood is shiny and translucent. I used those metallics with lots of greens in for the trim such as Warpaints Fanatic Dark Emerald and Warpaints Fanatic Tainted Gold to contrast against the red of the armour.
Emperor’s Children Sky-Hunter
The triad-system is great if you are just learning about colour and want to create smooth transitions when you are layering, blending or airbrushing. Once you have the confidence though, you’ll be breaking those triads in no time and coming up with your own whacky concoctions. This Emperor’s Children jetbike was a great example of where I combined triads together to create a wickedly vibrant pink. Warpaints Fanatic Diabolic Plum (a magenta paint) was the basecoat with two pink paints used as highlights - Warpaints Fanatic Wicked Pink and Impish Rouge. This is another great example of where I think the vibrancy of the new Fanatic range is excellent!
Although I don’t exclusively paint Horus Heresy miniatures, the lore and hobby surrounding the Age of Darkness is my favourite. If you are looking to understand what The Army Paints can offer you and your hobby then make sure you check out my Youtube channel where you can find a varied array of tutorials for your miniatures.
Yours in Heresy - Rob
