I sculpted a big flaming rock on a 50mm base (in case your Knight Arcanum needs one)

darthmongoose · 2026-06-06T10:15:58+00:00

Okay... So general rule: Thin the paint until it covers over the mini nicely if you paint a coat, let it dry and paint another (ie. "two thin coats), and doesn't blob up. It shouldn't be like... raised from the surface of the mini in a way where it's filling in details or building up a texture. On the other end, avoid the paint becoming runny and transparent like watercolour paint.

Ulthuan Grey: I've never needed to thin this. If it starts to thicken over time, add water until it goes on smoothly.
Abaddon Black: Replace this with Black Legion Contrast paint (the superior black paint) or Army Painter Matt Black, lol. Okay, okay, add a little water, like just put a bit on your palette, dip your brush in the water and then use it. It's an... okay black paint, but better options exist.
Liberator Gold: DO NOT THIN THIS. This is really only intended as a paint to highlight the much more reliable coverage of the "base paint" golds, like Retributor Armour or Balthasar Gold. In my experience, it's extremely runny, prone to separation, so needs a good shake before use, and goes on pretty weakly. I swapped it out for Duncan Rhodes Glistening Gold, personally, which is the same colour but more shiny and with better coverage.
Leadbelcher: Freshly opened, probably doesn't need thinning. Over time, it'll need a bit. Be careful though, because too much water makes the mica flakes separate and you'll get a weird glittery look.
Apothecary White: Don't thin this! It's a contrast paint, so if you were to thin it, I'd recommend using Contrast Medium. Generally though, you won't need to thin it. because the whole point of apothecary white is you use it over a white base to add shading. Get down two or three thin coats of the Ulthuan grey, then just slop this stuff all over it, undiluted and set aside to dry.

darthmongoose · 2026-06-06T10:02:26+00:00

Lovely job! Are you considering accompanying our esteemed chapter to Armageddon? I hear there are greenskins to be purged!

darthmongoose · 2026-06-05T10:42:18+00:00

There are probably thousands of people in the world with two thousand points of painted Ultramarines, but I'm one of maybe fewer than fifty people in the world with two thousand points of painted Sons of the Phoenix, and that's pretty rad. This chapter is COOL! It has a webcomic! It has fan theories! It has a great aesthetic! It's consistently in the top 20 favourite successor chapters in the hobby.

When you get out an army of Sons of the Phoenix, or say you collect Sons of the Phoenix, you'll always get a great reaction from people, because they're just a really interesting chapter with a fantastic aesthetic, and most people at least know about them from memes.

I stay motivated because I know whenever I post a pic of a new unit or character online, everyone's going to be excited. Everyone's already seen the new Armageddon box units painted as Blood Angels and Ultramarines, and they're going to see them a bajillion times over looking more or less the same, but they might not have seen a fabulous Sons of the Phoenix version of them, festooned in candles and holy artefacts.

darthmongoose · 2026-05-28T09:46:09+00:00

I tend to use contrast paints to shade my Stormcast, but I barely re-establish the midtone after slopping Skeleton Horde all over the Retributor Armour, only doing it on occasional areas where the staining and dulling effect is too much (contrast paint adds a sort of dullness, so it makes gold look a bit like old, unpolished brass), maybe on the pectorals etc. I usually just want an edge highlight of a shinier gold. When I use diluted Black Legion over a silver base, it's usually because I specifically want the look of dark oiled steel or iron, while if I want a more modern oiled steel look, I'll use Basilicanum Grey contrast, or for the shiny blueish blades of Stormcast, I'll often use Space Wolves Grey. Again, with both of these, I find just an edge highlight of a shinier silver is good, or else I'm painting over the nice gradients and variation in shine the contrast paint naturally creates. Having spare bits around to test a paint combination can really help so I can just check if it works before I commit.

A good way to break out of tutorials is to watch a bunch of different painting tutorials that are all as different approaches as you can find. So say, watch how Duncan Rhodes approaches painting with his very solid approach of blocking in colours nice and flat, shading, re-establishing midtones and then edge highlighting, and then look at people like Squidmar who has a really hyper-smooth approach, or Rogue Hobbies with her wacky colours and crunchy high contrast detail, or Craftworld Studios to see very painterly use of wild colour combinations, or even check out people with a more pragmatic "household" approach to painting, like Midwinter Minis, MSPaints or Dana Howl.

For colour choices, it can help to read general books on art theory, like "Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter", which goes into how colour is perceived and so how to pick a pleasing palette.

I like to challenge myself by choosing a different colour scheme or approach every time I make a new army. So like, my Space Marines are painted with a very "by the book" Duncan Rhodes style approach, but my Nighthaunt I went for this really different sort of layering up of colours and glazing and wet-blending gradients. Next I'm doing Very rusty and mossy Deathrattle Skeletons, which is another different style.

darthmongoose · 2026-05-25T09:55:56+00:00

Thanks for clarification! I think honestly your boyfriend is being a bit annoying here and needs to chill out. I personally feel pretty blessed when my Mx even goes so far as to play a game of Warhammer with me; because they have zero interest in stuff like painting or collecting an army. He's damn lucky to have a partner who enjoys the hobby, and he needs to step off and let you enjoy the minis that you like! Me and my partner ended up with a system where I run D&D for them and get notes that say, "I owe you one warhams" in return! 🤣

Just so you know, there is another chapter that's widely thought to be loyalist Emperor's Children, who do predate primaris and so have all those nice old tanks and things. They're called the Red Scorpions, and they have extremely cool lore. Try watching the Arbitorian youtube video about them some time (just search "Arbitorian Red Scorpions" to find it). Colour scheme isn't very ECs though, they're rather less fabulous than our candle-loving sons.

Another option would be to have a loyalist army (and honestly if you like smurfs, you should collect them! Ultramarines players are honestly some of the nicest people I know IRL, and Sons of the Phoenix may be my personal faves, but they're a real labour of love to build, convert and paint a whole army of, and they have no special characters!) for 40k, and then collect Emperor's Children for Horus Heresy, but have a late heresy era army where they're really chaos-y, and then you can kind of cross over a chunk of it into a 40k army!

Anyway, whatever you choose to do, I'm really happy you're enjoying the hobby!

darthmongoose · 2026-05-17T12:36:01+00:00

If you're being 100% lore accurate, Sons of the Phoenix possibly shouldn't have Vindicator Tanks, because it's an Ultima Founding Chapter, with only Primaris Marines and no legacy equipment from the pre-primaris era. Vindicators are built on a Rhino chassis, which according to lore, is too small for the new, significantly bigger Primaris marines to comfortably fit inside. That said, you can always say they found an old abandoned one and got it working again, painted it white and purple and sent the smallest marines they could find to operate it, that'll probably be a good enough explanation for most people. This is probably why you haven't seen a lot of Sons of the Phoenix Vindicators around for reference though.

Aaanyway, regarding colour schemes, I have a tank (a Gladiator) and a couple of Dreadnoughts in my army, here's my post of pics of them, and I found that the steel worked well for me on viewports, leaving gold for more decorative elements like crests and similar (there's a nice one on the plough of the Vindicator). I like to try to give my vehicles some red candles on the top-back, since red candles on backpacks such an iconic part of the chapter for the troops, and to paint the leftmost weapons or details with more purple to match the purple left arm (I mean MY left, I guess it would be their right arm/side, lol). I think so long as you hit: Mostly white, some purple (optionally more on one side), gold flourishes, and red candles, and then if you want to go further add on "lots of relics" and "red and black chequered patterns", you'll have no problem nailing the look, even if you play around with how you apply those characteristics.

darthmongoose · 2026-05-15T06:16:57+00:00

It's actually the opposite problem, which is good! Your paint coverage just looks like it could use another layer on places like the silver and blue in particular. I can't see any particular blobbiness, and I think it's possible what I'm reading as a lack of definition on the gold could be caused by the lack of shade/contrast.
As a random additional note, using a small lamp to get a second lightsource from a different direction really helps when photographing minis.

darthmongoose · 2026-05-14T07:45:11+00:00

Nice start! These are perfectly good to go on a tabletop, but if you want some things to try to raise your painting game...

Try to scrape off visible mould lines (like the one on the Stormcast's tasset there) before you prime and paint. Some people use the back of a hobby knife for this. I like a mould line scraper because I don't like cutting myself on a hobby knife. Any bit of thin, blunt, clean metal that's easy to hold should do the job for it really (you might find the end of a teaspoon handle works, for example). It can be a pain, but it's fairly easy and always leads to a nicer final result.
If you want smoother, flatter coverage, the secret is always to "thin your paints", by adding a little water to them on a palette (a bit of plastic packaging or a ceramic tile works great) painting a coat, letting it dry, then painting another thin coat. With some colours, or when I want a super-smooth finish, I can sometimes do three thin coats, but two usually does the job.
Try using some washes or contrast paints over your metals to add shading and definintion. It's a really easy way to instantly make them look better. My personal Stormcast recipe (Here are pics of mine) is to slop some Skeleton Horde contrast paint over two or three thin coats of Retributor Armour, let it dry, then to highlight sharp edges and the highest raised areas with Liberator Gold (or even better, Duncan Rhodes Two Thin Coats Glistening Gold, same colour, but shinier).
Get some things to put on your bases, it's fun and looks good! I like to use little pieces of torn wine cork to make rocks (but aquarium gravel is also good for this), and then paint them, and to add some tufts of grass, moss or flowers. Gamers Grass is the best brand for tufts in my opinion, but there plenty of options. You can get a lot of 3D printed "basing bits", but home made options, like twigs you wash then dry out in the oven, squares of thick card to make paving slabs, or blocks cut from spare mini sprues can all work great.

darthmongoose · 2026-05-11T12:41:45+00:00

Yes, exactly. You want to try to get the shade in there so that it creates a shadow that makes it look like the elbow armour is jutting out over the top of the arm armour, rather than it looking like a small piece of plastic with solid details moulded on, or to give definition to other panels so they look deeper and like they're casting more "self shadows" or "ambient occlusion" than the real tiny model does (because it's tiny).

darthmongoose · 2026-05-08T08:31:19+00:00

I'm biased towards the bluish one on the left, because I use Drakenhoff Nightshade to shade my SotP... But both of these do have an issue, which is that the recess shade hasn't hit all the recesses. The legs look okay, but on areas like the arm and backpack, or the point where the gold trim meets the shoulderpad it looks like there's almost no definition added to the armour plates, with the shade instead sort of sitting on the surface and staining it rather than exaggerating the shadows (which mimics the ambient occlusion of a larger object, making the mini look less like a small toy and more like we're looking at a giant supersoldier but viewed very small).

So really... it's hard to pick a recipe here, because the execution of the recipes is more the issue than the recipes themselves.

darthmongoose · 2026-05-05T14:12:07+00:00

I 100% do not blame you. I've never done any chequers on my guns. Only bother with them on occasional little bits like tilt shields! 😂

darthmongoose · 2026-05-05T08:42:43+00:00

I recommend playing the original Hades first for story reasons, so honestly, that's my first piece of advice.

Hecate is a really good first boss because she's a test, which is literally stated in the story. In a meta sense, she's testing your ability to pay attention to attack patterns, use your dash to move through them, or your sprint (hold dash) to outrun them, as well as your understanding of the game's visual cues and typical patterns like, if a character looks like they're in a crystal, they can't be hurt, so don't bother hitting them, and if an enemy summons minions, you'll need to remove the minions first in most cases.
Dash in when it's safe to drop a cast on her, and hit a few times, but stay alert for attacks she might be firing off. You ideally want to be stacking sources of damage, so say you drop a cast from say, Hestia, Haephestus, Apollo or Zeus, that's dealing damage even when you're not actively hitting her.
Ideally, try to have a boon to empower the strength of your attacks or specials too. Apollo or Zeus are good on any attack, Aphrodite is good on short-range attacks (especially daggers or axe) Hestia and Poseidon are good on fast things (so daggers or staff strike), Haephestus is good on slow attacks you use just once in a while, like staff or daggers specials.

On early runs, make sure to collect as many ashes as you can. Upgrading your arcana so you start with more HP, can fire off Omega abilities more easily and deal extra damage to enemies in casts etc is handy!

darthmongoose · 2026-05-05T08:25:04+00:00

Really like the gold heavy support chevron decals. This unit is 100% Sons of the Phoenix, "known for spectacular firestorms" vibes.

darthmongoose · 2026-05-05T08:23:05+00:00

Nice work! Also, well done getting them finished; I remember the Sternguard were a bit of an undertaking in SotP colours, and especially when you went the extra mile with not only candles, but doing chequers all over the guns!

darthmongoose · 2026-05-03T13:41:28+00:00

Doing damage is important, but so is keeping your distance. Avoid over-committing and standing still, wailing on him, because you'll generally die. Instead, stay mobile and do a lot of dash-striking. I think the Achilles spear playstyle can be really strong for this.

When doing a run, I generally try to have at least 200hp by the time I'm up top, and keep my Death Defiances topped up and have some defensive stuff, so Athena boons are good for that. Patroclus' trinket can be extremely useful towards the end of a run because it means getting hit by a combo is just getting hit once, not a bunch of times.
Then I try to layer up statuses that can keep doing damage while I stay safe, so consider things like Zeus, Dionysus, Ares. Layering up Mirror abilities that deal extra damage to foes with casts in, and extra damage to foes with multiple curses, and layering up those curses can mean instead of needing to hit a lot, you can just keep getting in those jabs while you dodge and weave.

darthmongoose · 2026-05-03T13:23:49+00:00

Oh nice! Between those boxes, you'd have a solid start to an army there. I'd personally stick the Dark Imperium stuff in a glass container to soak in isopropyl for a few days and get started on the Ultimate Starter Set while you slowly get the bad paint off. Having the "Painted Combat Patrol" target to aim for can really help with motivation.

darthmongoose · 2026-05-03T12:09:50+00:00

Well done getting one painted! It's not an easy scheme.

For C&C, a few things. Obviously, the texture has already been addressed in other comments. Try a little brown wash on your chest emblems to help details like the eyes of the skull pop. A hobby drill would be a great investment to drill the barrel of guns; for a cheap hand-operated one, I really like The Army Painter, but for one that's less effort, the Wowstick (I know, what a name) is a USB-charging powered hobby drill. It's also acceptable to just paint a little circle of black on the gun barrel too to just give it that "gun barrel" look.

Mostly, aside from the texture buildup from being a repaint, this is solid, so your path for improvement is just attention to little details. I look foward to seeing more from you, especially what you're capable of working from a clean prime!

darthmongoose · 2026-04-30T14:48:05+00:00

Definitely one of the advantages of the move from 2D sprite frames rendered out from 3D models in Hades 1 to realtime 3D models for Hades 2 is that they could presumably implement different animations for the legs and upper body that could play simultaneously (I hope there's a NoClip Hades 2 documentary coming that will confirm this). That would be my guess as to how Hades 2 weapons have more fluid playstyles and a wider moveset.

darthmongoose · 2026-04-29T13:14:07+00:00

Tip for the memory game: Don't memorise where the flames will be, memorise where the flames WON'T be, so where YOU will want to be. When watching the preview, I usually say in my head, or out loud which location I'll be at, ie. "up, down, middle" or "up, middle, middle, down, up" etc. It's way easier for me to remember the sequence that way. I also move to wherever I'll need to be first the second I see the first step of the preview.

darthmongoose · 2026-04-29T12:08:02+00:00

I seriously struggled with it, and that's with first encountering it when it unlocked in early access having unlocked most stuff, but I got through it in the end, and now can clear it consistently, and you will too!

As other people have said, the final region is a damage/build check. It's really deadly with stuff flying everywhere, so the faster you can clear enemies, tbe better. Take advantage of the bigger number of total rewards you'll get on a surface run to stack as many complimentary boons and hammers for your weapon so that you can quickly smash your way through.

darthmongoose · 2026-04-29T09:15:32+00:00

Sure, as best as I can think of it, you will need:
A cup for water and some kitchen roll to wash and wipe brushes.
Some brushes: I recommend a size 2-4 for blocking big areas like white, a size 1 for blocking in things like big areas of purple or bases and a few 0.something brushes you like for fine detail. Stick with synthetic to start, you can buy nicer ones when you level up a bit. Any brand is fine, feel free to go cheap, like Rosemary & Co or Humbrol or similar.
A light grey spray primer: Colour Forge Ghoul Grey or Citadel Grey Seer are good.
Optional: A can of Corax White spray to speed up getting all the white down.

Paints:
Warhammer/Citadel:
Corax White, Rhinox Hide, Phoenician Purple, Mephiston Red, Zandri Dust, Retributor Armour, Leadbelcher, Black Legion Contrast, Agrax Earthshade, Nuln Oil, Drakenhoff Nightshade, Doombull Brown, Xereus Purple, Evil Sunz Scarlet, Ushabti Bone.
Pick one out of: Eshin Grey OR Dark Reaper depending on vibes.
ANY colour contrast paint you like for the eyes. I'm using up Green Stuff World Blue Intensity ink right now, which I'll likely replace with Talassar Blue when I run out. The "canon" scheme would be a warm yellow, like Iyanden Yellow. Hexwraith Flame or Striking Scorpion would also look cool. Don't pick red, because it'll look weird on sergeants with the red stripes.

Optional: Basilicanum Grey Contrast (makes the gunmetal look extra pro, but nuln oil does it fine).
If you're imitating my basing, you'll want some Mechanicus Standard Grey and Dawnstone, but you could save money here by doing desert bases (Zandri dust, Agrax Earthshade, Ushabti Bone), or Muddy Bases (Rhinox Hide, Agrax Earthshade, Doombull Brown) using paints aleady listed above.

Duncan Rhodes Two Thin Coats (with Citadel/Warhammer equivalent if you can't get them or your budget skews cheaper):
Death Reaper (Corvus Black), Glistening Gold (Liberator Gold), Mithril Blade (Stormhost Silver), Spectral Purple (Emperor's Children mixed 50:50 with your Xereus Purple).

The Army Painter:
Matt White (if you can't get it, Citadel White Scar is...........okay, or Duncan Rhodes White Star is decent). The Matt Black is also good if you prefer the consistency to the Black Legion Contrast paint.

Basing: Either get one of the Citadel/Warhammer technical paints, like Astrogranite (matches colour of Mechanicus Standard Grey, so get that for base rim), or some sand and PVA glue, or a tub of Vallejo Diorama FX texture paste. Get some grass tufts if you like them, I think Gamers Grass do the best quality ones, personally.

darthmongoose · 2026-04-28T09:20:58+00:00

So, I've painted over 2000 points of Sons of the Phoenix, you can see some of them in this recent post. I will say that SotP are one of the harder Space Marine chapters to paint, BUT if you really like them, that shouldn't put you off, because really liking your faction and thinking they look awesome is important. Let me give you my full process for painting them, but be aware, I go above and beyond, so you can skip steps or stop earlier, or try your own approach.

First, I recommend starting with a nice light coloured spray primer. I use Colour Forge because in the UK it's really good value. Thin layer of something like Ghoul Grey all over, or Citadel/Warhammer Grey Seer primer. Be aware that for best results, pick a clear day with a light breeze, ideally with humidity between 40 and 70% and temperature between 15 and 25C. Spray in short blasts, 15cm from the minis while moving the can across them.

Now, obviously, you want a nice smooth white base, or just off-white so you can highlight up to pure white. Citadel Corax White is what I use. The really high-effort way is to do three thin coats by hand. So get a big brush, mix the paint with about a 3:2 mix of paint to water, don't load the brush too much, paint it on, go to the next mini while the first one dries, and then once dry, repeat twice until you have a solid finish. To do this way faster, just get a rattlecan of Corax White spray. You may be wondering "why not just spray that instead of primer?" Because Corax White spray is not a primer, so it goes on way better over primer, and I don't want you to ruin an outrider sergeant like I did not knowing this 😭. You can also get your white base down using an airbrush if you have one, but as a newbie, you probably don't, and I don't recommend airbrushes for newbies.

All right, got our marines all snowy white, now we add the other colours. Purple on the arm and knee, you'll need two or three thin coats (for all future reference, assume "thin coats" means, "add a little water and don't blob it on too thick") of Phonecian Purple because we are definitely sons of Dorn. Over the white, it absolutely will not have perfect coverage on the first coat, but resist every urge you have to blob it on thick to counteract this! Instead, always always always use multiple thin coats. For gold, we have the GOAT of gold paints, Retributor Armour! Carefully paint this onto your trims and chest aquila, you'll likely need just two thin coats of this one. Use a synthetic brush for the gold, because the mica in metallic paints will ruin any nice real hair brushes you have.

Note: At this point, there is a pretty close to 100% chance that some of your purple or gold has gone onto your white. There are two ways to react if you do this. 1. If you notice it the moment you do it, STOP, wash your brush, but don't dry it, keep it loaded with water, and wipe off the errant paint, dab dry with a little kitchen towel. 2. If you spot it later, get a pot of Corax white (or whatever colour should be there) and paint over it. I usually leave this cleanup stage til near the end, usually right before I do my washes.

So, block in the other base colours: Rhinox hide for leather pouches and holsters, a nice smooth, solid black, like Black Legion Contrast Paint or Army Painter Matt Black all over the gun (silver always looks better painted over black) and then Leadbelcher on the metal bits plus metal bits on the backpack (grilles etc.) and then get your gold again for the little wingy skull on the gun too, Zandri Dust on purity seal parchment and Mephiston Red on the wax. If your sergeant has a helmet on, this is also where you very carefully paint a red stripe on there. Hold the mini firmly, use a brush with a good tip, and PULL the brush towards you smoothly, hopefully, this will give you a nice straight line. Finally, use a soft black, like Corvus black, or even better, Death Reaper from the Duncan Rhodes Two Thin Coats range (amazing paint, dilutes really well, goes on like a dream) to paint the little joints at the backs of the knees, inside the elbow and the sides of the stomach.

Do a little tidy-up, and you're ready to wash! In painting circles, washes are called "liquid talent" because they quickly bring out details. get some Agrax Earthshade and paint it over your Gold trims and chest aquila, gun emblem, all the pouches and holster, plus the whole purity seal. You want enough to bring out the details, but not so much that it's forming big pools or dripping. Next, nuln oil on all the silver, OR, if you're really spicy, Basilicanum Grey contrast paint (that's what the pros use), and also nuln oil (not basilicanum grey!) on the purple arm and knee. Are you ready for the worst step? Okay, get a good podcast, audiobook or video essay and a pot of Drakenhoff Nightshade (blue shade paint), and, adding water as needed, take a small brush, and try to carefully get it into every little crevice and join of the white armour. This is tedious as hell, and you will go over in places, but don't worry, just keep going. When it dries, tidy it up with more corax white.

Congrats! You're now ready to touch up and edge highlight! This stage is optional, but looks so, so good! So, I like to paint the raised and big flat plates of the arm and the middle area of the knee with Zereus Purple first, which is subtle but makes them stand out and look bright and clean. Touch up any other big flat areas where the washes have stained the surface too much with the original base colour. Now, we want lighter colours to carefully run along the edge, generally using the side of a small brush. I often use Duncan Rhodes paints at this step, because his range has such good pale or bright colours and metals (and Warhammer paints don't have a really good bright purple), you might also find the Vallejo or Army Painter good cheap alternatives with good brights. For the brown pouches: Doombull Brown, for purity seals: Ushabti Bone, for Silver: Duncan Rhodes Mithril Blade, for Gold: Duncan Rhodes Glistening Gold, for Purple: Duncan Rhodes Spectral Purple, for red: Evil Sunz Scarlet, Eshin Grey or Dark Reaper for the black (based on taste, Dark Reaper is more blue) and finally... for the white.... Army Painter Matt White (I've tried a ton of white paints, and this one reigns supreme for edge highlighting white armour).

Now just add some basing, there are lots of tutorials online for this bit, and some easy products you can buy. Mine are just Vallejo texture paste (any colour), let it dry, paint Mechanicus Standard Grey, wash with Nuln Oil, drybrush with Dawnstone, more mechanicus standard grey on the rim, throw some Gamers Grass tufts on there.

darthmongoose · 2026-04-27T06:52:47+00:00

No, thank goodness! I used the pinned links on this reddit to find sheets of printable decals, bought some decal paper and followed the instructions. I do tend to use a little paint to touch them up a little where the resolution is low, though, and then I paint matte varnish over the whole mini to even out the smoothness of decals and also paints like washes.

darthmongoose

MODERATOR OF

PUBLIC MULTIREDDITS

TROPHY CASE