You’ll never believe me if I just say it, so I’ll have to show you… I didn’t use Dark Reaper in my colour scheme!

I really like the colour scheme on the box art, but still wanted to try my own spin on it. I was already decided on how I’d do the brass armour; Runelord Brass, a wash of the new Targor Rageshade and a highlight of Canoptek Alloy, so all I had to work out was the blue.

I knew I wanted it to be richer and more vibrant than the more drab blue greys I’d used on my Cadian Veterans, so I started with a base coat of Kantor Blue. From there, I applied a wash of Nuln Oil into the deeper recesses of the cloth. Now for the highlights, I played around with some of the “Ultramarine” colour palette; Macragge Blue, Calgar Sky etc. but wasn’t happy with the way they looked. It gave the cloth a bit too much vibrancy.

To tone down the highlights a bit I decided to try The Fang, a paint I’d never actually used before. It was too blue for my Cadians but worked perfectly as a subtle lift to the Kantor Blue basecoat. For a final highlight on the most raised areas I went with Fenrisian Grey. These highlights helped retain the overall rich look of the cloth, but toned it down enough to keep the utilitarian feel of an Imperial force.

The light grey trim on the cloth was simple, but I must admit that I’m not totally sold on my use of it around the face plate of the helmet. I’m going to try using metallics for the helmet on the next member of the team, so I may return to this lad and fix the helmet later.

For a finishing touch on his whopping great axe, I went with a bright spot of glowing energy around the power node. I like this effect on power weapons and it’s quite easy for me to achieve. Maybe one day I’ll try the awesome full on energy glow or even the lightning effect that other people do so well.

Overall though I’m really happy with how he turned out and I’m excited to crack on with the rest of the team.