How to Paint Everything – Crimson Fists Space Marines

RichyP gives us a method for speed painting Crimson Fists, with this 90-minute model that offers a fast, easy way to paint the army.

Step 0

Prime the model black

Step 1

Paint all the armour plates in VMC Dark Prussian Blue

Step 2

Wash the model in Nuln Oil

Step 3

Edge highlight the armour in Macragge Blue.

Step 4

Add a smaller edge highlight of Russ Grey

Step 5

Paint wraithbone over the areas that will receive Contrast paints (face, purity seal, and Ork head in this case). Paint the chest eagle, weapon and ribbing in VMA Steel and the fist + wax seals in Mephiston Red.

Step 6

Paint the flesh in Darkoath Flesh, the Purity Seals in Skeleton Horde and the Ork head in Warplightning. Wash the metals in Nuln Oil.

Step 7 – Detail bits

Paint writing on the seals in Chaos Black. Edge highlight the reds in Cadian Flesh, Highlight the face in Kislev Flesh and using Ulthuan Grey add some markings to the armour. Wash the eye sockets in Drakenhof and add a small line of Wraithbone in the middle. Now spend 10 attempts at getting the pupils straight (repeat the Wraithbone, Drakenhof combo if you mess up) using Eshin Grey.

Crimson Fists were my first army when I got back into 40k in 2008. I played Blood Angels as a kid, and I wanted something different for a new army – but apparently not so different that they weren’t Space Marines. Inevitably I now have a Blood Angels army anyway, but also over the years I’ve accumulated somewhere around 12,000pts of Crimson Fists.

As you might expect, the painting techniques and colours used have changed a lot, not least because GW have gone through one or possibly even two changes in their range in that time, and I am a corporate whore who mostly paints with GW paints.

The modern iteration of the scheme is as follows:

1. Prime black
2. Two layers of Kantor Blue on the armour
3. One layer of Khorne Red and then another layer of Mephiston Red on the red bits (left gauntlet, shoulderpad)
4. Leadbelcher basecoat then Ironbreaker layer on the metals – gun, chest eagle, and in this case the soft bits of the armour
5. Rhinox Hide then Steel Legion Drab on the leather (pouches etc.)
6. Purity seals in Waagh Flesh, Warboss Green, and Skarsnik Green on the wax, with the parchment being Rakarth Flesh and then Ushabti Bone
7. Gun in VMC Black
8. Eyes in Warpstone Glow, Moot Green, and then dotted with Gauss Blaster Green
9. Astrogranite Debris on the base

Then wash as follows:

1. Glaze Drakenhof Blue over the blues
2. Reikland Fleshshade over the reds, and over flesh if there is any
3. Nuln Oil over black and metal
4. Agrax Earthshade on the base
5. Seraphim Sepia on the pouches, and purity seals if there are any

Then it’s highlighting time!

1. For the reds, I re-layer some Mephiston Red, then hit the edges with Wild Rider Red
2. For the metals, I hit high points with Ironbreaker
3. The gun gets an edge highlight of Russ Grey
4. The pouches get an edge highlight of Steel Legion Drab, and seals get an edge of Ushabti Bone

That’s all nice and easy! The challenging bit comes after that – the armour. There are a lot of edges to Mk 10 power armour, never mind Gravis, so this takes a fair amount of time. My first layer of highlighting comes from hitting all the edges with Altdorf Guard Blue, and then following up with a thinner highlight of Calgar Blue. This takes forever, but it also makes the edges really sharp – it’s very ‘Eavy Metal although naturally not as good.

The other thing I’ve been doing recently is adding little individual badges and things to the models – you can see a few on the photo, on the knees of the three guys on the right. This helps break up the model, adds some points of interest, and some variety in the painting. SRM wrote an excellent article on heraldry which you should definitely read – I’ll certainly be applying more of it to my models in future.

Crimson Fists are my ride-or-die army. I may have blood pouring out of my eyes over the recent FAQ, but they are the army I started in 4th Edition and keep coming back to almost 15 years later. The last two years I’ve been working on perfecting my Crimson Fists scheme – it’s based heavily on a few different versions of the GW painting guy with some other companies thrown in! I typically try to stay Codex-compliant wherever I can. If I name a paint here without giving the company name, it’s because it’s part of Citadel’s paint line.

I typically block out each color with their basecoat, then wash, then highlight each model so I’ll be giving instructions in that order. 

1. Prime black. I use Stylnrez Black from an airbrush but anything works.
2. Airbrush the entire Kantor Blue Air (unless they have a great big power fist or something, try to miss that.
3. Airbrush the underside of the model with Night Lords Blue – this acts as a kind of undershade. It’s not as apparent on infantry but it does wondrous things to vehicles as you can see in HTPE: Astraeus!
4. Paint two thin coats (or more as needed for power fists) of Khorne Red on the model’s left hand. If it’s a veteran (including most characters), also paint their right hand!
5. While your Khorne Red is out – give the eye lenses a first coat of red. 
6. If the model is wearing cloth, I use Khorne Red here too.
7. Paint bolter, belt, and any holsters with Corvus Black. If you haven’t used it yet, Corvus Black is a very very dark grey that you can shade or highlight in whichever direction you like.
8. Bust out your favorite metallic – I mostly use Steel from Vallejo’s incredible Metal Color Airbrush line. Many of the paints in that line are difficult to handbrush, but Steel always works well for me.
9. Lastly, I check for any Purity Seals. I do the wax seal in the same old Khorne Red – it’s usually far enough away from any other instances of the color that it works well to continue the spot highlight. The parchment I paint in Rakarth Flesh.

There’s probably some cleanup to do after the initial basecoat, but this typically gets you into a “he looks like a Crimson Fist!” spot. 

Onto the shades…

1. I use a weird one here – Mr. Hobby’s Mr. Weathering Multi-black. I do a very careful wash of the entire model – wherever I want it to be darker, and then immediately clean up with the Mr. Weathering Solvent before it can dry. This stuff gives you a ton of control so you don’t get a blotchy wash, just dab off your brush and continue pushing it around.
2. Since most people don’t have that, feel free to use Nuln Oil or whatever your favorite dark/black wash is. You’ll want to wash the recesses of the model, anywhere you painted metal or black, and in the flexible ribbing of the model’s joint armor.
3. I like to then use Carroburg Crimson over the reds typically, though I used to use Reikland Fleshshade and there isn’t a major difference since Khorne Red is such a strong tone.
4. I cover the purity seals in Agrax Earthshade typically as I like the shading to be a bit starker.

And then highlights!

1. Two step highlights for the armor – Alaitoc and then Hoeth Blue. Fairly standard scheme – I don’t do as well with fine-lining so I make a strong effort to hit what I feel are the key parts of the armor your eyes look at. You are likely more talented than I, so go nuts!
2. Wazdakka Red and Squig Orange for the red. If you don’t enjoy the orange tint, you can stop with Wazdakka or find an even lighter red to highlight with. Note: I shade ALL of my Khorne Red this way, no matter where it appears.
3. The black parts of the model get an edge highlight of Dawnstone.
4. A bit of Vallejo Model Air Silver for highlighting gunmetal…

And finally, I do the base and varnish the model! My favorite varnish right now is Vallejo’s Mecha Color Matt. Since the model featured in this post features a lot of gold – I use Scale75’s Viking Gold and shade with GW’s new Cryptek Armourshade Gloss.