In Which I Ramble on Color Schemes

When I first started playing Warmachine and Hordes 4 years ago, one of the things I thought most daunting about the hobby (besides managing everything going on, which I can do in my sleep now) was painting the miniatures. I am NOT an artist. I never was, nor do I really intend to be a hardcore artist. Regardless, though, everything in this game looks better when it's painted. I got tired of being the guy who was known for the armies with that “raw pewter look,” so I finally decided to take the plunge. And when I started? I was bad.

(Circa 2008)

So I looked to a few friends in my group for tips. It took a couple years, but I finally began to get the hang of some of the other techniques besides just coloring in the lines. Drybrushing and washing took a while to learn, but I'd like to think I'm pretty good at it. Some details (particularly faces) are still rough on me, but my painting skill has come a long way since then.

(Finished 4/13/11)

But I'm not here to talk about the evolution of my skills. Today I wanted to talk about something I've been musing over with my Retribution army, which is just now getting its first major dose of paint besides the “battle box.” It got me thinking about how each army has its own divisions and themes. And while it is possible to paint everything in the same scheme, it does have one negative side effect: everything DOES look the same. While it's true that you want a nice, uniform look to your army, not every model uses the same themes.

The Retribution actually serves as a good model for this. I divide the Retribution's troop selection into two distinct themes: on the one hand, you have the heavily-armored Dawnguard. On the other side, you have the Mage Hunters, who have little if any of the armor plating the Dawnguard sport, but a lot of leathers and cloaks. In between, you have the Battle Mages and Houseguard, who borrow some elements from both sides. The Houseguard share a lot of elements with their Dawnguard cousins, but they're not as pronounced as the Dawnguard's. The Battle Mages have a theme of armor plating in common with the Dawnguard, but they also sport cloaks not that different from those on most of the Mage Hunters. It's my plan, because of this, to sport two main themes when I get paint on them. Mage Hunters are going to have a lot of grays, with green cloaks. Instead of the traditional white, my Dawnguard models and myrmidons are going to have a lightish blue theme.

The key, in my opinion, is that while you can have some distinct themes, you still have to tie them together. My main Retribution theme is the light blue (armor), trimmed and complemented by the greens (power nodes, cloaks), and neutralized by the grays (leathers, etc.). Obviously I lean each subtheme of the army towards the respective colors, but to tie them together I bring elements of the others into it. For instance, my Narn is predominantly gray and green as a mage hunter, but his shoulder pads are being done in my blue base color. My Dawnguard Scyir receives similar treatment due to the cloth parts on his model, which are done in Iosan Green. Warcasters and warlocks are no exception, either; I'm currently repainting Kaelyssa in my new thoughts for my mage hunter scheme. That said, she's wearing warcaster armor; despite the presence of leathers and cloak, she's got a fairly good blue presence.

This isn't necessarily restricted to Retribution, either. Circle players can have a basic theme for models more related to the Wolves of Orboros, and a completely different one for their Tharn, using a few greens to tie things together. A Cygnaran army could go completely different routes between its Trenchers and Stormnouns. Cryx can vary between living and undead schemes. Be creative with your variances. You never know when inspiration might strike.