Imperial Guard Pilot

Another relatively quickly painted model today. But while it took me less than a week to paint, I built this pilot nearly two years ago!

I’ve already discussed the build in the previous post, but as it was so long ago I’ll do it again. The model is built out of bits from the old Command Squad and some tank commander (Leman Russ, I think?). I wanted to tell a story with the figure: perhaps a Sentinel pilot who lost his walker and got injured, trying to leg it back to the friendly lines after bandaging his arm. I’m very happy with the model, the only bit that’s a bit off is that the arm sling is floating a bit around his neck. I think this is because he’s not wearing a flak jacket, so not much I could do without resculpting the thing. I hope it’s not too obvious…

The paint scheme is inspired by the classic Armageddon Steel Legion, but as the model is Cadian, I had to do some adapting. The main references were Codex Armageddon and Tyler Mengel’s tutorial. The shoulder pads and pants were painted a greenish gray, and the leather cap as dark brown. I tried to keep the color palette close to the source material, but I don’t know if the inspiration is clear as the model lacks the signature coat, gasmask and helmet, which messes with the color balance. To be clear, I think the color scheme works well, it’s just that the model might not immediately read as a Steel Legionnaire.

My favorite part to paint was once again the face. Glazing on some stubble was as satisfying as ever, and I even tried to make the eyes look more tired by coloring the eyelids a bit. After I painted the face to look a bit weary, his bare arm looked too clean. I proceeded to try painting an impression of hair. I used Drakenhof Nightshade to paint tiny lines on the arm, after which I re-highlighted it. I don’t think I was entirely successful, but it doesn’t look terrible either. I’ll have to keep experimenting…

I also think that the bloody bandages came out nicely. I used Vallejo’s Hull Red (a brown-red) and black to paint the majority of it, and added just a couple of dots of Blood for the Blood God to imply that some fresh blood is still seeping trough. I also had to weather the model so that it would fit the narrative I wanted to tell, so I painted on some dried blood drips and tried to make the clothes look dusty, like he had had to scramble around in the wasteland. Still, I tried to keep it subtle. I know, that’s what I’ve been saying with most of my recent models, but this time I think I pulled it off fairly successfully!

I followed Duncan’s tutorial on the ash wastes base. Ever since I saw it I thought it looked amazing, and have been waiting for an opportunity to use it. And what better model than a Steel Legionnaire? But in any case, when I say followed, I mean the painting part. My base was built before the tutorial was released, and is just regular sand and stones. I actually have the “Dry Ground” texture paint, so it’s a shame I didn’t use it for this. Some old metal junk would’ve been cool too for the added color, but the 25mm base isn’t really ideal for elaborate bases. I think the first gray wash I did was too heavy, which made the base more gray than in the tutorial, but I still very much like how it turned out and will surely use the tutorial again.

As for the bingo card, the pilot could be used for multiple squares, but I’ll go with “accessories themed to match my army”. I’ve always kinda picture him as the original pilot of my Astra Rodentia Sentinel, and could be used as an objective marker of some sort. I don’t know if this is a 100% appropriate model for the square as my rats are not much of an army and I’m not too familiar with the rules, but I figured that this is my best chance to score one of the more exotic squares.