Category: Tutorials

Painting My Death Korps of Krieg

I have been asked a couple of times how I paint my Death Korps of Krieg and considering a certain release coming out this Saturday, I figured I would share it.

And if you want to help me and the podcast out, use this link to purchase from Element Games and links to any products will be affiliate links.

I developed the scheme to be different from the army that I painted for Niki, which were very traditionally Krieg with blue French style uniforms.

These are my 510th Siege Regiment, and their uniform is a dark green greatcoat, grey trousers, dark green helmets and tan leather.

Their weapons also have wooden casings as I feel like they would want to ensure their equipment is manufactured as easily and as cheaply as possible.

Anyway let’s crack on, with a squad of Firing Infantry.

We start by priming all the models with black, in this instance I used Wilkos Satin Black.

All the paints I am using are all Citadel, apart from two Vallejo colours.

Step One

The first step is just getting on the base coats which are as follows.

Step Two

The second step is super simple, an all over wash of Agrax Earthshade.

Step Three

The third step is to tidy up the great coat by relayering Death Korps Drab, leaving the Agrax Earthsade in the deepest recesses.

And then do the same to the helmets with German Camo Dark Green.

Step Four

The last step is just some highlights.

And That’s It

It’s a super simple scheme, not a lot to it and it looks nice on the table, dirty and subdued, just like the Death Korps of Krieg.

I like to combo it up with a muddy and wet basing scheme, which is more or less the same scheme as Duncan Rhodes has demonstrated on his website and I think it looks really nice.

If I were to start over, the helmets would be black as the German Dark Camo Green is influenced by the Heer helmets, which is something I was trying to avoid.

I know I am not the worlds best painter, I paint for fun and to a tabletop standard, but I am really proud of these and I enjoy painting them.

Here is the squad that I completed today.

Anyway, I can’t wait to try this out on the new plastic models and will be ordering the new Kill Team box.


Tutorial – My Bases

I have been asked a few times recently how do I paint my bases.

Well it’s a really simple scheme and I base the vast majority of my armies this way. Why, because I have a Realm of Battle board done in this style and keeping them in the same scheme means they look really good on that board.

Anyway let’s dive in, why you guys want to know this, I really don’t know.

Step 1

First step, get some basing material on there, I use a mixture of Bird Sand and Bird Grit from Wilko. £2.50 basically gets you several years worth of basing material.

I apply it by first coating the base in PVA glue, followed by dipping the base in the basing material, tapping off the excess and letting it dry.

Once dry I then apply a second coat of thinned down PVA glue to help keep it stick to the base.

Step 2

Then I apply a thinned down coat of Mournfang Brown, I tend to water this paint down more than normal, this way it runs into the recesses in the basing material much better.

Step 3

After the Mournfang Brown has dried, I then shade it using some Nuln Oil.

Step 4

Once the wash has dried, I then drybrush the base, using first Mournfang Brown, which has a subtitle effect but tidies the base U.K. a bit.

This is then followed by a light drybrush of Tau Light Ochre.

Once this is done I will paint the rim with Mournfang Brown.

Step 5

And finally I will use some PVA to apply some static grass to the bases.

And that’s it, super simple, but I think it works.


Paint Zone Mortalis – Floors

I have been asked by a couple of people, how I painted my Zone Mortalis Floor Tiles, so I will tell you guys how I did it!

First off, this scheme is the result of lots of googlefu and searching Facebook/Twitter/Instagram for ideas.

None of this is my own original thought, but I didn’t make note of posts that inspired me, so if you see a likely candidate, let me know so I can credit them. There are a few people who contributed to this and I am kicking myself that I didn’t make a note of them!

Step 1

The first step is to prime the tile black, for this I have used Wilkos Satin Black spray.

Step 2

In this step I lightly spray the tile with a dark brown, in this case I have used Rust-Oleum Satin Espresso, but you could easily use something like Land Rover Russet Brown from Halfords.

I aimed for about 80% – 90% coverage of this.

Step 3

Next I take some Burnt Siena, I got this from Amazon, and tear up a bit of cheap sponge to apply it, but I use a piece of kitchen towel to take off as much of the paint as possible.

I then apply it rather heavily to the tile.

Step 4

Next I sponge on some Fire Dragon Bright, but much lighter this time.

Step 5

Now I take some Humbrol Maskol, but you could just as easily use Vallejo Liquid Mask, and I sponge this on to the tile quite randomly.

Step 6

Now we give a thin layer of Iron Warriors, I applied this with a cheap make up brush.

Step 7

You can skip ahead now if you don’t want to put any hazard markings on your board.

But I apply a couple of thin layers of Averland Sunset to where I want to put the hazard stripes.

Step 8

Then some masking tape is applied to protec the parts I want to remain yellow.

Step 9

Then a couple of thin layers of Abaddon Black is applied to the uncovered area.

Step 10

At this point I now remove the masking tape and begin to rub off the Maskol, be that with a singer, it my finger.

As it comes off it shows the rust effect underarm the Iron Warriors.

I also paint any details I want to be bronze, in this case I used Balthasar Gold.

Step 11

The final step is to mix Typhus Corrosion 1:1 with water and apply it to the tiles, leaving it to dry for a few seconds before dabbing it off with kitchen towel.


And this is the final stage in how I paint my Zone Mortalis Floor Tiles.

And that how I paint my Zone Mortalis floors, I think it looks ok myself.


Working with Decals

I have been running out of my Blood Ravens Transfers pretty quickly, and Forge World no longer make them.

The first think I was running out of was the basic Chapter symbol, and I found some on eBay a few weeks ago, and they seem ok and it gets me 238 chapter symbols for shoulder pads.

Printing Transfers

But these don’t sort out the other essential transfer I need, basic squad markings, and so I was looking into printing my own, and whilst browsing Amazon whilst very tired at 1am I bought some clear decal paper.

I am quite lucky that I have a colour laser printer, I know not everyone has that privilege, it was pricey but well worth the investment, and to be fair it was made for use at Company of Legends as well.

So obviously the paper I have bought is for a laser printer, but you can grab the same paper for inkjet printers. However if you do this, you need to seal the decals with a fixative spray.

I am not exactly a graphics designer and everything I needed is in fact quite simple, and has already been designed.

So I was simply able to download the tactical markings from Bolter and Chainsword, I did have to do a slight bit of work in Photoshop which was to basically put two of the sheets onto an A4 image as these were designed to be printed on A5 paper.

The symbols themselves are actually too big to fit on Space Marines shoulder pads when printed at the native size, so I am going to be making a new design of my own to get proper sized symbols.

I did have to play with the printer settings a bit, so I set the paper to be heavy glossy, obviously other printer settings will differ. I have a HP Color Laserjet M252dw, so I imagine that other HP laser printers have similar settings.

Applying Transfers

I for applying transfers I have a tried and tested technique that works well for me, especially on curved Space Marines should pads. For this you will need a few things.

  • Ardcoat or another Gloss Varnish
  • Decal Setter, Microset is the most popular
  • Cotton Buds
  • Decal Softener, Microsol is the most popular
  • Lahmian Medium

So my process is pretty simple, I have been asked a few times about it and I do intend to do a video for it at some point.

So the first step is that you need to give the area a coat of Ardcoat, or any other gloss varnish, such as Vallejo Gloss Varnish. This creates a smooth surface for the decal to adhere to with minimum friction and a lower chance of air bubbles. I know some people have been using Stormshield, but I haven’t tried this yet myself.

Applying Ardcoat Gloss Varnish

It’s really important that you give the varnish a good time to cure, if it’s not fully cleared when you apply some of the other stuff it will cause the varnish to peel off. I tend to give it a few hours to cure, sometimes longer because as soon as I have the final colour on the shoulder pads, I apply the Ardcoat.

The next step is to cut the transfer from the sheet, most modern GW transfers are good because the decal is only a small area around the image itself, so you don’t need to be too close when cutting around it.

Cut around the transfer as close to it as possible

However for a lot of other companies, older decals and ones you print yourself, you need to cut as close to the edge of the image as possible.

I then place the decal in water for between 30 and 45 second and put it down on a mat to fully loosen and in the meantime I turn my attention to the shoulder pad.

Dip the transfer in water for about 30 to 40 seconds

I apply a decal setter, at the moment I am using Mr Mark Decal Setter Neo, but I normally use Microset, but I have been having a lot of trouble getting hold of it at the moment for some reason.

What this does is it creates a nice surface that is sticky for decals and helps them adhere more easily, it also mildly softens the decal so it will conform to the surface better and lower the risk of air bubbles.

So I apply a small coat of this to the shoulder pad, and once the decal is loose on the paper, I then move it to the shoulder pad and gently move it off the paper into place.

Apply a decal setting solution like Microset or Mr Mark Setter Neo

At this point I then take a cotton bud, and use that to manipulate the decal to try and curve it on the shoulder pad, as well as drying up the excess moisture, it also helps to force out any air bubbles

So you start in the centre and sort of roll it to the edge, this also helps to force any moisture from out from underneath the transfer.

Using a cotton bud to help curve the transfer on the shoulder pad

I will then leave it a little while before going in and applying a decal softener, I am at the moment using Mr Mark Decal Softner Neo, but I would normally use Microsol. What this does is, well it softens the decal so that it curves better on the shoulder pad, adheres smoothly and is flat for that painted on look.

After the first coat of this is dried, I then repeat this step with another coat of softener, just to make sure that the decals are smooth and flat. Sometimes I have needed a third coat, but not often more than that.

Once this is done I then need to do some work to seal the transfer and matte down the glossy should pad, and the best thing I have found for this is Lahmian Medium, and frankly there isn’t really a decent alternative to this.

I give the shoulder pads two coats of this to the entire shoulder pad and allow it to totally dry between applications and the end result is hopefully a shoulder pad with icons on it that look painted on.

If you are applying decals to vehicles, when doing the Lahmian Medium stage, it’s important that you do the entire panel, if you only do part of the panel, it will stick out like a sore thumb.

And at the end of this you should be left with the decal looking as if it’s painted on and blending in quite nicely.

That’s my method, other people will offer alternative method which is cool, as with many hobby techniques, you ask 10 of us how to do something, you get 15 answers!

If the need any help if any advice just drop me a message or comment below.


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