The Silent Host: Contemptor Dreadnought - Heraclitus the Red-Handed

Interred within the mighty walking tomb of a Contemptor-class Dreadnought chassis, the warrior once known as Heraclitus the Red-Handed rages against the dying of the light. Unleashing simmering resentment at being denied the peace of death upon those who oppose the Silent Host, Heraclitus is a force to be reckoned with. Here's how I painted him.

PAINTS USED

Base Paints:
Thousand Sons Blue
Leadbelcher
Kantor Blue
Abaddon Black
Balthasar Gold
Mechanicus Standard Grey
The Fang
Rhinox Hide

Washes/Technical:
Nuln Oil
Agrax Earthshade
Casandora Yellow
Agrellan Earth
Soulstone Blue

Layer Paints:
Ahriman Blue
Stormhost Silver
Caledor Sky
Hashut Copper
Eshin Grey
Tyrant Skull

Step One: Basecoating
After priming with grey, the first step is to get all the base colors blocked in. This is done, counter-intuitively, using the paints listed in the Base Paints section. The first pass isn't too neat, and then I make a second run that tidies things up. This photo doesn't look THAT tidy, but most of what's "missed" will be hidden on the tabletop, or even close up IRL in normal lighting conditions. This section takes me the longest and I hate it so much. It's very rewarding, though.

Step Two: Washes
Washing is easy, especially since the Silent Host only uses two washes on 90% of the units. First, I wash everything except the copper bits with a 3:1 mix of water and Nuln Oil. Then I wash the copper sections AND any exposed metallic sections (the leg gear-things, for example) with pure Agrax Earthshade. This leaves everything messy, so it'll have to be cleaned up with the base paints again.

Step Three: Post-Wash Cleanup
Ironic that the post WASH step is cleanup, but washes by their nature tend to leave coffee-stain looking marks, especially on smooth surfaces. So we clean this up with the base paints. This step is boring but doesn't take long.

Step Four: Edge Highlights and Layers
Edge highlighting and layering is fun. For the Silent Host, layering is mostly done on cloth, which this model doesn't have. What it does have is a ton of edges. Contemptor dreads have real nice hard lines, which makes the whole process easy. As the name suggest, edge highlight involves highlighting the edges with the various layer paints. Thousand Sons Blue with Ahriman Blue, etc. Generally I go pretty light on edge highlights and only hit edges that are 90 degree angles or close to it.

Step Five: Various Cleanup
There's a few gems on this model. I hit those with Soulstone Blue to make them look like...gems. I also touched up a few missed spots here and there.

Step Six: Basing
This is pretty simple. Paint the base with Rhinox Hide. Let dry. Slather on Agrellan Earth and stick a couple skulls or other bits into it. Let dry until it cracks. Wash with Casandora Yellow. Let dry. Drybrush with Tyrant Skull until the base looks like a dusty salt plain. Paint the bitz in the base, drybrush those with Tyrant Skull. Glue the model on. Be done.

I paint to a more-or-less tabletop standard, which means nothing too fancy, but more detail than someone who just wants to meet three color minimum at a tournament.

The arms aren't done yet because I'm not sure how I'm going to handle the "Red-Handed" part of Heraclitus' name. Maybe metaphorically.

More shots of the final product below - click to expand.