Bot War – Mercenaries

The artwork for Ammodump has flames on multiple areas, but this was something I didn’t think would work well against the olive green armour I have chosen. There is a large blank space on the chestpiece which I may need to freehand some sort of military emblem to help fill the void.

1/3 of the a way through April, 7 bots “done”….. Still plenty to go.

Another day another bot.

Today I pushed Redoubt through to his near complete state. It took a bit longer than I expected as there was a lot of details on the legs which took a while to shade and panel line. It’s been fun painting these bots though as some are formed from other older bot wars minis no longer in production that I have painted before, most noticeably the original Builders team, so there is a familiarity to certain torsos, heads, and legs. I really like the idea that bots are constructs that share similar components, taking certain parts to carry out a specific role on the battlefield.

Anyway, 2 more to go from this batch and I really need to start building the next ones.

Managed to finish up Stomp and get Demolition done as well tonight. Was a good friday painting session so took a little group shot of the first 5 Mercs.

I’ve not yet worked out how I want to paint the weapons or caterpillar tracks, but I’m sure by the time I finish the other 3 I’ll have a better idea.

Stomp is up next.

When the Mercenaries were originally released as promos this was one bot that I just had to get, it has an iconic look that would give any fan of 80s transforming robot cartoons (especially Japanese continuities) 6 shots of pure nostalgia.

As 60mm tall he is certainly a lot bigger than yesterday’s bot, so I managed to get about 2/3 of the way through him tonight with the aim to finish him tomorrow night. Fridays usually mark a big push for me in painting challenges as I switch off the work laptop and push through for a good few hours. I’m hoping to get Stomp finished tomorrow and also push through another bot if I can.

Short and sweet post tonight as it’s been a long day, as a result I chose to pick the smallest of the current batch, Arsenal.

At only 25mm tall he still towers over the 10mm human infantry.

Today I focused on Dragline. As with Blockade I took this model to around 80% finished and will refine once all bits are finished.

I used the same P3 paints as before and got some more practice in with how best to apply them. They’re a pretty solid triad, and the final edge also works well. I did find the Sewer Water stained a bit more this time so I need to watch out for that. I did also struggle with some of the moulding in the mini, metal isn’t my favourite material, and there are some parts which lack the crisp definition of resin.

Overall though I’m really haply with the scheme and where its going, as you cna see in the shot of Dragline and Blockade there is a good consistency with the scheme. Hopefully I can make it work across the rest of the bots.

Toady I have focused on painting Blockade.

Using the 4 P3 colours selected yesterday I painted the shadows in Thornwood Green, then layered over Traitor Green and glazed Bog Moss as the highlight. Edges were painted in thrall flesh.

To help with some depth and increase contrast I glazed in some Secret Weapon Sewer Water to the recesses.

The grey parts were edged with P3 frostbite, however I will go back and work on this as the basecoat was a bit rough.

I finally added in some P3 Beaten purple as a small spot colour with Beaten Purple and frostbite mixed to make a small highlight. This will also be refined as I work through the faction.

The ugly stages continue, sorry, but these stages are necessities to be able to get the bots to a point where I can then start to work on them individually.

For my painting today I just started blocking in some of the other colours that will feature on the bots, namely the light greys and dark greys.

The light grey is Vallejo Game Color Extra Opaque warm grey. This paint is featured on every single one of my Bot War minis, and almost always as part of the internal frame or under armour which gives my whole collection some cohesion. Applying this now at such an early stage will really help me understand the armour shapes and colour. When a whole model is in one colour it can get a bit confusing and you can lose focus of the overall shape. It also helps to create a more honest colour for the green armour as the colours that surround it can change the way our brains read the green.

The next colour I used was vallejo model colour German grey, this was used to block in some of the darker areas such as internal parts of the caterpillar tracks, weapons, tyres etc. This was done for the same reason as above to help break up the sections of the model for me to know what needs to be worked on and to also provide a truer colour for the green armour.

The last thing I wanted to do today was to plan out the next stages for the actual armour.

Ever since I started painting Bot War I have been getting more and more Privateer Press Formula P3 paints, and they almost always get used on my bots. I like their consistency, their opacity, and they have a nice vibrancy which I feel suits the 80s cartoon inspiration for the minis.

So the colours I’ve picked out to use with the creed camo+snakebite leather base are:

• Thornwood Green
• Traitor Green
• Thrall Flesh
• Bogg Moss

This gives me a decent colour range to play with, with the Bogg Moss being the most saturated of the 4. I may add in another saturated green as I start to figure out my scheme.

Tomorrow I shall start to have a play with these paints and work out the direction to take the armour in.

The first of the ugly stages. With the initial 8 bots built I set about applying my usual primer methodology. I like to use Badger Stynelrez Black for a solid base for a couple of reasons.

Firstly it is self-levelling, meaning it will evenly flow across the model and seep into the recesses, and is it dries it slightly contracts to provide a tight covering which I’ve found rarely obscures details. This is very similar to how Citadel rattle cans work, and is in my opinion a superior way to get that initial coat down.

Secondly I find that it is slightly tackier than say Vallejo surface primers, which when working with metal models gives me a confident solid base that can help with the models resistance to a tumble during the painting process until I can apply that final varnish topcoat.

Next I apply a lateral airbrush layer using Com-Art Opaque white. This is not a zenithal prime as that would only be directly down from the top of the model, a common misconception, instead a lateral is where the angle of the spray moves further down towards a horizontal position to give more coverage of the lighter colour but still retain the black undercoat from the lower angles and in deep recesses.

Com-Art opaque white is an airbrush paint, and requires no thinning or additives to use, just pop it in the brush and spray. I came across this paint after trying many times to get inks working the way I wanted, but they would end up too glossy, or too runny. This paint gives a great coverage that can be controlled easily so you can be as heavy or light as required. It just works.

With the black and white down I can now turn my attention to the first basecoat colour that will set up the whole faction’s overall tone and scheme development.

Now the experiments begin.

The Mercenaries faction is a range focussed force, utilising special rules and abilities that are designed to pound on the enemy from afar. The look of the bots are very militaristic, sporting heavy guns, missiles, blasters, tank treads and heavy armour. With these playing and design features it was clear I needed a force that looked like they were all about combat, so I wanted to l lay down my first colour as a browny green that I can then deepen further through more browns, and then lighten with sandy greens to give off a military feel.

To create the first colour I mixed up 2 Citadel Contrast paints, using 3 parts Creed Camo to 1 part Snakebite Leather. This was then airbrushed over the whole model and left to dry.

I really enjoy airbrushing contrasts paints, when applied over a lateral primer with white as the top layer they give a good saturation layer and instant blend as it meets the black undercoat. Not as strong an effect when compared to applying it with a hairy brush, but by using an airbrush you use a whole lot less paint and get a really clean application, so very minimal blotchiness that you often see from the “one thick coat” method.

This basecoat will be left to fully dry overnight ready to be further progressed tomorrow.

Nice and  straightforward for Day 1, get some bots built.

I was fortunate that I had already washed and cleaned up some of these bots during the February challenge so that I had more bots ready to go if I finished everything I had planned.

This set was the original wave of mercenaries released over a couple of years as Exclusives and promos:

Stomp

Blockade

Dragline

Demolition

Arsenal

Ammodump

Redoubt

Splashdamage

Earlier today i decided to post in the Bot War facebook group, it was a simple post showing off my Mercenaries faction in their packets and a message saying how i wanted to get them painted this month ahead of the global campaign that starts in July.  I was then challenged by Anthony (Traders Galaxy & Bot War mastermind) to do just that, paint up everything in that photo in April and post daily progress.

Challenge accepted !

So i have a couple of reasons for accepting this challenge:

1. The time limit: i am no stranger to completing month long painting challenges, in fact i have several Golden Buttons for documenting previous ones, and i recently completed one in February which saw me paint a whopping 48 models from scratch over the 28 days, and i also finished off another 15 bots plus a titan class bot that i started in the last weeks of January.
2. The painting: its only 20 models, over 30 days. Not all of these bots are a full size bot however, 4 of them are symbiote sized meaning they are very easy to paint and i could theoretically get all 4 done in an evening. These mercenary bots are also hybrid sculpts of different bodies, some of which i have already painted so i have an idea of how to approach the, and can reuse the same techniques for painting things like caterpillar tracks

Im feeling pretty confident about this, and after having a relatively relaxed March im geared up and ready to attack more of my backlog !

The Bot War rages on !