Lazy Cadians

I may have moaned on the Bunker about how much I hate painting Guard infantry.  I have definitely moaned to my fellow Bunkerites about it in person, extensively.  But I worked out a method to paint them moderately quickly, and churned out three infantry squads, a command squad and a couple of heavy weapon squads.  Grudgeingly.  I upped my “infantry” quota with some more interesting Ratlings and Ogryns, although it was pointed out to me that this really doesn't count.  And then the new Caidans came out and they look gorgeous and I love them and…  they’re so much more difficult to paint.

I got my way through one command squad to give Captain Founder a much deserved glow-up, and got as far as building and spraying one infantry squad and just burned out, as the layers and layers of Castellan Green I had to apply just burned out my already tenuous enthusiasm.  I think I got as far as painting the green on one dude.  Hobby enthusiasm moved on, and I’ve been working on other things.  That’s pretty much where I left things at the end of my Oops New Army article.  

Captain Founder, Hero of Lachesis

But time is a circle, or something, and as I mentioned in my last post, we planned a Fury of da Beast campaign for the Easter weekend and having played a lot of Raven Guard recently, I decided to pick up my Imperial Guard/Knights army again.  The enthusiasm got my Knights painted, but I was also eyeing up expanding the Guard when the new reveal showed the Hippogryph and the Centaur.  Reader I must tell you, I fell instantly in love. 

Of course I haven't been able to get my grubby mits on them yet, so I have been channelling that enthusiasm into eating some greens.  Back to the grindstone with some Cadian Shock Troops!  

Now the worst part of painting the Cadians is the green.  Castellan Green, despite being a Base paint and a lovely dark green, can’t cover for shit, and it takes at least three or more thin layers of fiddly bullshit to get clean coverage.  But, after a bit of time and a fresh perspective, I considered how Charlie had adjusted his Scions scheme to use Contrast paints to get a quick “most-of-the-way-there” layer on the black.  

So, starting as before from a Zandri Dust spray followed by a Terminatus Stone drybrush, I did a quick neat layer of Creed Camo Contrast paint.  Contrast is so easy to use, it goes on straight from the pot and flows nicely around the shapes.

Next up the layer of Castellan Green.  With the Creed underneath it covered easily, smoothing out the blotchy Contrast into a nice layer. The fiddly details that you need to be careful not to flood were already darkest and needed the least attention.  In a couple of places I needed a second layer of Castellan Green, but only on the very smooth shoulder pads and helmets, which was seconds of work.

Then a quick and easy drubrush of Nurgling Green.  

With that success under my belt, I decided to try the same thing again with the brown, and tested out all the Contrast Browns I could find.  

None of them were a good match, but then I found Wyldwood which I had misplaced after using it on some Tyranid scenery, and that was the best option.  

Same again, the Contrast gets most of the way there acting as the first thin layer, then a single layer of Thondia Brown to smooth it out.

And finally a drybrush of Golgfag Brown.  I didn’t worry too much about the hard to get to parts like chest straps, as they will be contrasted against different colours anyway, and mostly focussed on texture within brown areas such as the gaiters and backpacks.  

After that it’s just finishing up some details.  Any cloth that wasn’t fatigues, e.g. the pack rolls or the Sergeant's soft hat, got Deathguard Green with a Nurgling Green drybrush, the metal is all Leadbelcher and the flesh is mostly Cadian Fleshtone or Catachan Flesh.  The melta barrel is Balthasar Gold and the plasma glow is Corax White and Tesseract Glow (although that happens after the final wash).  Finally I hit the entire model with Agrax Earthshade watered down 50:50 (roughly) with water.  

Laid out like this it seems like a lot of steps, but all the contrast steps are being used instead of one of the “two thin coats” as an easier and quicker way to get most of the way there, leaving just one thin coat required to finish up.  There is no edge haggling required, all the highlights are drybrushes, and there’s just the one wash for everything which can be done quickly and messily.  

TLDR:

1. Undercoat in GW Zandri Dust
2. Drybrush Terminatus Stone
3. Basecoat armour/weapons Creed Camo Contrast
4. Basecoat armour/weapons Castellan Green
5. Drybrush armour/weapons Nurgling Green
6. Basecoat webbing Wyldwood Contrast
7. Basecoat webbing Thondia Brown
8. Drybrush webbing Golgfag Brown
9. Basecoat Other Cloth Deathguard Green
10. Drybrush Other Cloth Nurgling Green
11. Basecoat metal Leadbelcher
12. Basecoat flesh Cadian Fleshtone/Catachan Flesh
13. Apply Agrax Earthshade to everything

They really are gorgeous models though; even now, years after release, I can't help but stare at them and all their sexy poses and wonderful bastard-to-paint details with admiration.  

Cadia Stands