Citadel Washes, cont'd

Now for a few pictures of the results. (Please ignore the unpainted parts and glue. These are works in progress.)

First up is the color I like the best. This is Citadel Gryphonne Sepia (Sepia) over Citadel Skull White (White). I used two coats of wash and I think it turned out very well. Still a little blotchy - still practicing my technique - but the coloring is just what I want for the flesh. The armor is an olive green wash over White. I made the olive green wash by mixing Citadel Thraka Green (Green) wash with Citadel Devlan Mud (Mud) wash. The bronze (sword and helmet) is Ceramcoat Expresso (Expresso) with highlights using Citadel Foundation Iyanden Darksun (Darksun) , then washed with Mud. Finally, the tunic was painted in White, washed in Vallejo Flesh Wash ink, then highlighted in White. I think the contrast between the Flesh Wash and the White is too stark to work.

Next up is a Citadel Ogyrn Flesh (Flesh) wash over Mud wash over White. When the first coat of Mud went down, I thought it was turning out too dark - at least for Sea Peoples. So I used Flesh for the second coat and I like the effect. The armor is Sepia wash over Privateer Press Yellow ink over White. The Yellow ink was downright fluorescent initially, so I had to tone it down with a wash in addition to picking out armor details. The tunic is a White highlight over Sepia wash over White.

Third on the block is Flesh wash over White. This is good for your bronzed warriors. The olive green wash for the armor can be seen a little better here. The tunic is also White highlight over Sepia wash over White.

Finally, for the sun-burned warrior set, we have a Flesh wash over Citadel Dwarf Flesh. This really turned out bad. Although you can see the wash did a nice job of shading the Dwarf Flesh color, it is really too subtle for anything other than a camera on magnification. The armor was Mud wash over White and the tunic White highlights over Mud wash over White. Again, the contrast between Mud and White is too great to use that combination again without layering in other colors.

Don't be put off by the close-ups and the apparent sloppiness of the paint jobs. With a naked eye these figures look quite good.

So, is it worth it? I suppose it depends upon what you are looking for? Me, I wanted:

• A better looking flesh color for Caucasians. That means a little bit of very light skin patches, here and there.
• Shading for well-defined figures, but not too subtle, nor too stark a contrast between light and dark.
• An easy painting method, but not necessarily quick. (Although quick would be nice.)
• A method for picking out details in armor and clothing. Again, not too subtle nor too stark a contrast.

Painting with Citadel washes - at least for bronze and textile armor and flesh - produces the results I want. If you paint in batches, having to wait for the first coat of wash to dry before starting on the second is not a problem. By the time you've washed a few figures the first is dry enough to apply another coat.

Again, I think you cannot be sloppy and apply large amounts of wash using a large brush. You need to use smaller brushes in order to push the pools of wash into the proper spots or disperse them where you don't want pooling. This is not dipping by any stretch of the imagination.