Paint a Trench Pilgrim Warband in 2 Hours

Want a Fully Painted Warband in 2 Hours?

Here’s how.

Step 1: Metal First

Army Painter Broadsword Silver speed paint on all the metal bits for the warband. Super fast, pretty straightforward.

I do metal first because I want to clean my water cup so it doesn’t get all those metal flakes in the other paint.

Molotow Liquid Chrome

Quick minute to show you how cool liquid chrome is on these guys. Very specifically and carefully using it in select spots.

This stuff doesn’t come through on camera, but it genuinely looks like real metal. You don’t want to go overboard with this. I’m stippling it on the mask, putting edge highlights on the gun in a few areas, hitting the little plugs on his chest.

It really pops.

Step 2: Clothes and Capes

All clothing painted Battleship Gray (Army Painter speed paint). All capes and hoods painted Blood Angels Red contrast from Citadel.

Over a zenithal highlight without slap chop, you still get really high contrast. This red is just perfect.

Being Sloppy on Purpose

On this nun, I’m purposely painting it sloppily—splashing on the legs, getting it on arms and head—to show you don’t have to be careful with this method.

Freehand Crosses

While I have the red out, going back to the ecclesiastical prisoners. My brush is still raggedy.

Don’t be scared. Hold your breath and freehand some crosses on this dude’s chest. Using the very tip of the brush, almost stippling, carefully and slowly painting these crosses.

The Liquid Chrome Effect

On the helmets, I’ve stippled liquid chrome. It looks like if you took metal and sharpened it or scraped off the top layer.

Step 3: Streaking Grime

This whole video series is really just a review on how good streaking grime is.

Slather everybody up. Not being careful at all. Covering everything.

Step 4: Makeup Sponge Time

By the time I finished the last model, the others were ready for the makeup sponge.

The trick: go up and down, think about how light would hit. Take it off shoulders, head, and arms more than the underside of the robe.

Don’t go side to side—it’ll catch on arms and bust them off.

The Sloppy Nun

Remember the nun we were very sloppy painting red? After blending and removing streaking grime, you can’t tell there’s red on the pants. Red was all over the side of those pants, all over the armor. Gone.

Using Streaking Grime on Skin

On the big guy, using a different sponge on the skin to push streaking grime down toward shadows, then removing from the tops. Creating shadows and texture in muscle lines.

On big flat areas, I’m stippling and wiping the sponge. You can polish the skin tone—the pressure creates a glossy shine from that enamel.

(I got too crazy going side to side and busted the bell off.)

Step 5: Silver Dry Brush

Final step: Mithril Silver dry brush over all metal areas. I’d normally let streaking grime dry more, but it’s not a huge deal.

Even go over gold parts—gold shimmers in real life, so hitting gold with a dry brush of silver only makes it look more realistic.

The Results

Here’s the completed warband together. Including an hour on just the shrine, this whole thing only took 3 hours. Pretty crazy, pretty fast, and looks awesome.