How to: Paint Fallen

At the start of the March to War 2018, I finally got round to starting up the small Fallen force which I’d always wanted to make. The Burning of Prospero boxed game seemed ideal for this, as it contained thirty MkIII space marines, more than enough to make a reasonable force. In addition I also had a few MkIV chaps kicking about, and had picked up the Dark Angels Veterans box, so had plenty of bits to play with.

Wanted to put them together in a way where I spent time posing them so that they all looked slightly different, and this was helped later on by painting on different Chapter/Company markings. To complete them all, I used the paints and equipment listed below:

Paints used:
Citadel Abaddon Black
Citadel Mephiston Red
Citadel Leadbelcher
Citadel Retributor Armour
Citadel Rakarth Flesh
Vallejo Panzer Aces Flesh Base
Vallejo White
Vallejo Beige Brown
Vallejo Model Air Rust
Vallejo Dark Grey
Vallejo Model Air Chrome

Undercoat:
Halfords Matt Black Primer

Shades:
Citadel Agrax Earthshade
Citadel Seraphim Sepia
Citadel Carroburg Crimson
Citadel Nuln Oil
Citadel Druchii Violet
Citadel Drakenhof Nightshade
Citadel Casandora Yellow
Citadel Fuegan Orange

Texture Paints:
Citadel Lustrian Undergrowth

Brushes:
Citadel Medium Layer Brush (old and battered)
Citadel Medium Layer Brush (oldish)

Other:
Army Painter static grass tufts
Superglue

All the sprues were painted first with Halfords Matt Black Primer. The golden angel you can see was Retributor Armour, painted while using the last of the paint from the wet palette to save it going to waste.

 

How-to-paint-FallenThe first thing to do, was get them all base coated, and to do that I used Model Air Chrome for the bulk of the silver. Although the covers of Fallen Angels and Descent of Angels may not be too accurate, I liked the look of their gleaming packs, so though the chrome would be the best colour for them. As I’ve said before, Model Air Chrome covers everything and is such a nice paint to use with a brush. For the banner, I wanted to keep it simple and use the colours already on the miniatures. For the most part, the Legions tended to be pretty bland compared to the modern Chapters, so I wanted this to be the case here, which is why there’s a very limited palette.

Model Air Silver: Upper part of backpacks, weapon parts, armour trim, banner pole
Retributor Armour: Angels, ammunition, trinkets
Flesh Base: Skin
Mephiston Red: Trim of the banner, lenses
Rakarth Flesh: Scrolls, robes and parchment
Beige Brown: Rope ties on the robes
White: Chapter icon on the banner.How-to-paint-Fallen

For washing the armour, I used Nuln Oil. It dulls the shine from the armour and the backpack enough that I think it looks worn and weathered in the years since the Fallen turned on their brothers. Once the Nuln Oil was dry, I added Agrax Earthshade in the recesses and around bolts to make them look a little grubby. They’ve been kicking around a while, and I expect their armour isn’t as clean as it once was. I’ve shown a few examples below:

The red of the banner was washed with Druchii Violet,  the robes and skin were washed with Seraphim Sepia, and the ammo and angels were washed with Agrax Earthshade.How-to-paint-Fallen

 

With the shades dry, I reapplied some of the base coats, Rakarth Flesh to the Robes and Mephiston Red to the trim of the banner. Dark Grey was applied to the uppermost surfaces where the light would likely catch them. I tried using a lighter shade to edge highlight, but it lightened the models too much, and I wanted them more muted.

How-to-paint-FallenFor the faces I reapplied Base Flesh, using a slightly more watered down version on the lower miniature and leaving more of the shade, to give the impression of darker skin.I highlighted the skin with Base Flesh and a spot of white, then added a little more white for the next highlight. The eyes were painted using White, with a spot of Abbadon Black for the pupil/iris.

Once the skin was dry, I used Carroburg Crimson to line the wounds/scars, and to add dark, red rings under the eyes.

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For the tempered metal effect on the Meltaguns, I used the same technique shown here, but with a couple of changes to the shades. The shades used, from the back of the melta barrel to the front are:

Agrax Earthshade>Seraphim Sepia>Casandora Yellow>Fuegan Orange>Carroburg Crimson>Druchii Violet>Drakenhof Nightshade>Nuln Oil.

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The robes were highlighted with two mixes of Rakarth Flesh and White, with each mix being lighter than the previous one. Once they were highlighted, Mephiston Red was used to add the trim. This was also done to the section of robe on the Missile Launcher marine’s shoulder. On this section I used Abbadon Black to add detailing, so it looked like it had been written on.

All symbols and iconography has been painted using White and Mephiston Red. Battle damage was then added using a small piece of sponge and some Leadbelcher. This technique can be found here. The smallest brush I used was a Citadel Small Layer Brush, and each of the icons can be freehanded on with a little time and patience. I re-did several of them when wings were different sizes, etc.

With the final icons on, the base was painted with Lustrian Undergrowth textured paint, and tufts of Army Painter static grass were applied.

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With that, the first ten man squad of the Fallen were complete.How-to-paint-Fallen

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