A cold start here in the UK this January. Many areas seeing snow with chilling rain & winds. Talking of Cold, the Astra Miliatarum Krieg range refresh is on the way. As a dedicated Astra…  “Guard” player and collector (forgive me I’m an oldschool) I am very excited for the new models and the new Guard Codex.

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I recently finished listening to the “Dead Men Walking” audio book by Steve Lyons. WOW.. What a book, an epic story of the mighty and brave Death Korps of Krieg.

5 Death Korps of Krieg models from a Kill Team on a white background, painted by Dunk

The Black Library website explains “The Death Korps are unlike any other Astra Militarum unit – batch-bred, born to fight and completely indoctrinated to their cause.” Having finished this story, I was left with an impression of the Krieg as cold and brutal warriors, clinical and objective heroes, who would stop at nothing to “get the job done!”

5 Death Korps of Krieg models from a Kill Team on a white background, painted by Dunk

My approach to painting Death Korps

I have already painted some of the Krieg plastic range and wanted to share with you a quick and easy way to get your troops painted for the tabletop.  

With any fantasy/sci-fi miniatures (regardless of brand or range) you have complete freedom to choose how to paint your models. In this instance, I opted for a desaturated “french blue” as my main colour using dark silvers, black and brown as my other spot colours to quickly add interest to the model picking out weapons, kit and details. The desaturated blue gave me a gritty earthy feel to the model while providing interest to make the model stand out.  

If you are a Guard fan, most likely one of the things that attracted you to the range is the glorious masses of troops. As a hobbyist this means you often have lots of models to paint. Therefore, it’s important to set realistic achievable goals and deadlines to keep ones motivation for the army alive as you prepare your models for gaming. With this in mind, I went with a loose “sketch” style of painting to get my unit cranked out fast.  

“What do you mean by that Dunk?” Glad you asked Stahly! If you look closely at the photos of my models you can clearly see where my shadows and highlights are placed on each miniature. The downside to this is that the finish is not as smooth and refined when looking closely at the models. However, in this instance, I feel the advantages far outweigh this negative. 

Sketching your volumes quickly means you can be looser and more expressive with the placement of your colours getting your models finished in less time. A further advantage is that because the shadows and highlights are so bold when the model is viewed on the tabletop (approx 3 or 4  feet away) the miniature is clearly defined and can “pop” or draw more attention more so than if you had subtle blends that can only be seen close up or when viewed under good lighting.

Next time you start an army project have a think about your preferred approach and style of painting, sometimes a feeling or expression with colour and paint can drive a narrative all of itself.  Garfy and Stahly are absolute masters at planning and executing hobby projects so go check out their recent posts.

Death Korps Sergeant on a purple sky background, painted by Dunk

Happy Painting everyone, now…. where did I leave my shovel?? 😉