Painting Scythe – Saxony

Since the dog decided to chew on one of the miniatures for this game, and I had to order another complete set, it gave me the opportunity to paint them up without having to take a break from playing the game. This also had the obverse effect of not needing to get them finished in order to get Scythe to the table. Hence, they’ve been sat on my desk for well over a year!

Well, now I’ve finished four of the five factions in the base game, with the fifth under way, so I though it was about time I shared what I’d done. Starting with the Saxony Empire.

All paints used are Vallejo, unless otherwise stated.

The Scythe miniatures aren’t particularly detailed, with some characters better than others, so I didn’t want to spend anymore time on them than I had to, after all, the minis aren’t the main focus of the game. I did, however, take the opportunity to experiment with the mechs, though not so much with the ones for this faction.

I tried to emulate the character artwork, though as you can see below, I didn’t go with a black wolf. I had a few Citadel Contrast paints knocking about and was itching for an opportunity to give them a go, but, as I only had about five colours, the wolf was going to be Space Wolves Grey whether it wanted to or not!

The mini was Zenithal primed – Black, Grey, White – and the the contrast was applied to the wolf directly over this. I then drybrushed it, building up to Ghost Grey through three other greys, and then a watered down Pale Grey Wash was applied. That was that.

So, what was the point of using a contrast paint? Well, it was worth it just to see how it would fair over straight zenithal priming. It worked quite nicely over the black and grey, but didn’t give enough contrast over the white; hence the need to dry brush and add a little wash.

Looking at the artwork, Gunter’s long-coat, jacket, and trousers are all different shades, which I tried to replicate with Cold Grey/German Grey 3:1, German Grey, and Black, respectively. I think it worked okay, and the red lapels with gold trim really draw the eye. Everything was quite basic, but he’ll look fine on the board.

The base was created using Vallejo Earth Texture and a few tiny pieces of slate. The snow is fine white sand, which originally filled the bottom of a glass candle holder, and actually looks quite realistic, as it glistens when the light hits it. You can see some tiny flecks of it on Gunter, as he hasn’t been varnished yet and I haven’t dusted him off!

The mechs took no time at all – Black with a heavy drybrush of Chainmail Silver. For the base I mixed a little sand into the Earth Texture, just to give it a grittier finish – just trying things out really – and the rocks are pieces of cork painted with German Grey, washed with Citadel’s Nuln Oil, and drybrushed with Pale Grey Blue – not that you can see much of them. The snow was added, but this time I also dabbed a little glue over the mech for it to settle on, which is difficult to see on the photos.

Overall, I think they’ll look quite good in play, and they didn’t take anytime at all, though I still have to varnish them yet – I’m waiting for the better weather!