Weather Warfare

There are very much two schools of thought on a Marines look. You have that fresh out of the forges of Mars new plate look, and we have the war torn dirty and grimy look. One of the reasons I'd gone for the lighter green armour was I intended to dull it down with some weathering and battle damage. 

I applied the battle damage first by making thin lines and small marks with a fine brush. I use two colours, a base of either Abaddon Black or Rhinox Hide, I then go over the same marks but slightly off set so the scrape doesn't look so flat with Iron Breaker.

Around the week I was finishing these models Games Workshop released a new set of FX paints in the technical range. They had used some of them on a new 40K board the store had just completed so I could see what they looked like. Out of all of them I really liked Typhus Corrosion and Nihilakh Oxide. These are basically washes, and in essence do what they say on the tin. Nihilakh Oxide gives a nice green oxidisation in the recesses when you apply it to metal surfaces. Typhus Corrosion has a sandy substance in the wash, which clings to the surface you apply it to. I see people using this for oil streaks but I decided to use it slightly differently.

I tend not to paint weathering on with a brush but use varying size of sponge and tweezers. I prefer this way as it much easier to get random coverage very quickly. I did this with the Typhus Corrosion around the feet and lower part of the leg fairly heavily, then lightly over other random bits.

I also gave the Forgeworld weathering powders a go on the bases. Using a combination of Dark Earth, Dry Mud and Faded Green I gave areas of the bases these different tones. I then lightly dry brushed back over them with Ulthuan Grey. Finally i gave the metal parts of the base a dusting with Light Rust.

What I like most about this weathering was it was really quick to achieve, which is a necessity when painting an army the size of a Legion.

Cheers
J