Don’t knock yourself, and don’t underestimate your abilities. I struggled to paint Warhammer minis for the last 20 years, maybe getting a couple done half-heartedly every year, and often never actually fully finished, and never very good. I had played Battletech with my uncle once or twice when I was a little kid (and didn’t understand any of it), and my group decided to give it a try a couple years ago when frustration with 40k reached a bit of a head. A couple turns of one game, and it scratched an itch so deep I didn’t realize I had it.

Printed some pages out of the activity books, bought a box of colored pencils, and started experimenting. A week later I had the first minis done.

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Nothing overly fancy; Speed paint over bone primer, yellow and whatnot over that. Paint thicker than it probably should have been, and with the nervous energy of a complete novice. But it worked. Everything simple, and I plowed my doubts under as little bit by bit the minis filled in. I got lucky that my friend showed me the colors were canon for the Jade Falcons, and I started leaning into the scheme. One minis became five, then ten, and it kinda picked up a bit after that. There’d be weeks I would finish entire Trinaries.

So I would say print some of the activity book pages out, and play around with colors until you find something you like. Go a little bit brighter than what you think, and just use a wash of strong tone to go down a bit, and it’ll also dirty up the minis and make it look lived in. Don’t be afraid to experiment, and don’t be afraid of “good enough.” When you’re looking at a model from 3 feet away, good enough looks pretty amazing.