BA Assault Squad Sergeant

I had to take a breather from my Death Company (which I was trying to speed paint...bad idea) to strip them and re-prime, so I opened an assault squad box and cracked open the codex. After looking at the options, I decided to make a squad of 5. 3 with bolt pistols, 1 plasma, and a sergeant with a storm shield and power weapon. I assembled them and primed them with Army Painter Dragon Red. At that point, I decided to speed paint the sergeant to see what happened.

More after the jump (click)


As you can see, it needs a little touch up, and I need to clean up the wash, but I like the grimy patina to him; he matches the tac squad I did earlier.

Total time (excluding primer drying time) from sprue to picture, 30 minutes.

All the parts are from the normal assault Squad box except for the base, which is from Dragon Forge, and his right shoulder pauldron, which is from a Death Company sprue. IT worked quickly, but I tried to be as accurate as possible. I used multiple identical brushes to save on cleaning, but I am usually very meticulous with them.

Here are the steps I took. After the primer dried, I quickly went over the model with watered down Mechrite Red to even it out. At this point, the arms and head were not attached. I then picked out the metal parts with Boltgun Metal and Chainmail. Chaos Black went on the chest Aquila (what little you can see of it, and a few gold accents were applied. The head was basecoated in Iyaden Darksun and then covered in Golden Yellow. It was then attached.

The shoulder wings were based in white, then washed with Asurmen Blue, and then drybrushed with white again. The blade of the power weapon is a swirl of Ultramarine Blue and Mordian Blue. I didn't add the power "lightning" yet as I want to address that in another post.

The shield is was finished with Blood Red and Chainmail, and a Micron was used for the purity seal text. Everything was washed in Devlan Mud except for the weapon blade and the shoulder wings. The base was primed with Army Painter Bone spray primer, and then basecoated in Dheneb Stone. The mud is Scorched Brown and the base was painted in Chaos black. The whole base had two coats of wash: Devlan Mud, and then when completely dry (a hair dryer helps), Ogryn Flesh on select parts of the stone. The model is pinned to the base.

Click to see high resolution (don't laugh at my mistakes)

I added a little vegetation, and it was done. Total time, 30 minutes. I don't necessarily endorse going this fast, but I have to tell you that in real life, it doesn't look bad. In the harsh light of these magnified photos, you can see all the littel errors, but I would defy you to pick out many of these in the real world. There are a few things I have yet to do to call this done, but I plan on doing the final touchups and sealing in one fell swoop.

If you have other techniques to make this go even faster while minimizing the loss in quality, I'm all ears. Thanks!