Tactical Squads One and Two

Over the weekend I wrapped up the painting of my first squad of Tactical Marines; Squad Agorastocles. They are 5th Squad, 5th Company, with their company colors displayed in light blue over the left knee pad. Sticking with the Codex Astartes, I also went ahead and painted the sergeant's head red.

I am currently in the process of painting my second squad, Squad Antamonides. My process for painting these guys is a bit arduous, as I had selected a rather dark color scheme and need to make multiple base coats and build the purple up from near black to something a bit more vibrant while staying dark. It begins with two base coats of Naggaroth Night, followed by a dry brushing of sorts of a base of Xerues Purple. Following that I apply Nuln Oil to all the recesses, and selectively dry brush Daemonette Hide onto raised edges. The subtle color changes from near-black purple up to a lighter color of Daemonette Hide give the appearance of a gentle transition of shading and looks, at least to me, more organic.

The picture to the left is the squad after their initial basing of Naggaroth Night. They're clearly a step up for black, but still very dark. The second layer is required to brighten them up a bit, much to the part of covering up areas where the black primer still bleeds through.

This is my first time sticking to a painting regimine. In the past I just wanted to play the game, and would often buy my next unit before I'm finished building the one at hand. This time I'm taking a more disciplined approach. I WILL NOT play the game with anything but finished painted minis. And while painting like this is relatively new to me, I'm going to force myself to stick to it. It's time consuming, and a bit boring, but I'll force my way though. I'm also finding painting to be rather frustrating, as the air here in Denver tends to dry up my palette much quicker than I would like... But whatever.