Unlike many other Legios which were utterly destroyed at Titandeath on Beta-Garmon (or at later battles in the Heresy), Gryphonicus survived. However, M.41 wasn’t kind to them, seeing the complete overrun of Gryphonne IV by Hive Fleet Leviathan. This wasn’t their last stand: Some survived to fight another on the Fortress World of Cadia during Abaddon’s 13th Crusade. As you’re probably aware, though, that didn’t go so well for them either. The fate of those Titans is currently unknown, though we have a sneaking suspicion that the War Griffons fight on somewhere, bloodied but unbroken. The gold Aquilas on the Reaver carapaces are done in Imperial Gold (fitting name) for a slightly lighter tone so that it wouldn’t blend with the trim too much, also then shaded with Agrax. Weapon effects: Most of the time in Titanicus, you’ll be focusing fire on your priority target while trying to deny your opponent the ability to focus their fire. Lust for Glory forces your opponent to split their fire if they want to make the most of their trait – abuse this. Manoeuvre your Titans so that your opponent has to work for their vow by hiding behind cover to dodge arcs, or hide behind cover yourself to make them choose between not capitalizing on Lust for Glory or giving it up entirely. Remove their Knight Banners fast so that your shields only have to worry about one Titan firing at them a turn. You want them to deny them the benefit of their legion trait while exploiting its weaknesses. After googling Slaanesh art (… it was actually art, get your mind out of the gutter), I came up with some eyes and a mouth I liked. Due to the layout of the mirror and to be extra spooky, I decided to have the eye down low and the mouth up top. You can do literally anything and justify it as “Chaos”. I followed the principles for freehand from our own Free-Hand Guide and it was incredibly useful. Who knew GoonHammer made useful content??

Silver: Runefang Steel. This metallic silver paint is perfect for highlighting the edges and details of miniatures, creating a striking contrast against the deep hues of Magos Purple. I love using them as base colours for large armies and glazing over layers on highly detailed miniatures for extra colour saturation. The expansion of the Contrast range with new colours gives hobbyists an amazing opportunity to try different things! I know what you’re thinking. This isn’t technically a Nurgle Daemon. This is a Daemon Prince of Nurgle. Get over it. It’s got the Nurgle Daemon skin we’re looking for. To get the skin to the above-pictured state, I’ve zenithal highlighted the whole model with white ink, anti-zenithal low-lighted with purple ink (i.e., shot purple ink up, onto the underside of everything), then applied Elysian Green straight on (i.e., not at an upward or downward angle, just straight on). Lastly, I mixed 50/50 Elysian Green with Menoth White Highlight and sprayed directly down. You can see the shadows and highlights are somewhat exaggerated and some of the wound recesses are purple too. If you need to shade the colourshift, be very ginger and only fill the recesses, as they can react unpredictably to washes/shades.

Playing Slaaneshi Armies

Emma: Baal Red is a pure, bright red. It’s versatile and easy to blend with other Contrast paints like Magmadroth Flame. I have used it for gemstones, armour plates on Orks , and plasma effects on Chaos Space Marine weapons.

Mentally trace where on the model light rays would fall as they radiate away from the lantern in straight lines Thin down Citadel Wraithbone and add Citadel Lahmian medium so you have a usable translucent beige. Apply this on the flat parts of the skin e.g. the tops of arms, shoulders, cheeks, foreheads etc… If you’re looking to read more about the depraved followers of Slaanesh and her daemons, consider the following books: Lighten the Genestealer Flesh Mix with Pallid Wych Flesh (2:1) and layer carefully on raised areas. I paint the mouth with Contrast Blood Angels Red and do the base coat on the lips with Bugman’s Glow. The horns and teeth are Rakarth Flesh.

I find it really useful to paint the heads as a separate subassembly, it really helps to get the faces right if you have 360 degree access to them, rather than struggling to paint them when they’re surrounded by a high collar. For the human skin highlight the colours are basically just moving left to right from darkest to lightest of this trio of paints. The darker skin is a couple of thin coats of Knight-Questor, then for the last highlight mixing in a touch of Cadian. The medium skin tone started with Cadian followed by mixing in a bit of Kislev for the final highlight of the medium tone. Then I reused that Cadian/Kislev mix for the initial highlight of the lightest tone that was then finished off with kislev. The hybrid skin is a couple of thin coats of Ushabti over the base coat, you can push it a touch further with screaming skull if you want. The saturation is better on the skin and some of the cloth at this stage. I just did more of the same from previous steps trying to darken the darkest areas and brighten the highlights. I also added a little red/Pink Horror on joints (knees, ankles, etc.) to create a more realistic look. Highlight the pink with Citadel Emperor’s Children, highlight the blue with Citadel Baharroth Blue.

We chose to highlight these particular armies because of their distinctive qualities and the possibility for Magos Purple to improve their visual appeal. In the Warhammer 40K universe, there are three separate factions: Drukhari, Necrons, and Tyranids. Each has its unique traits and lore. Magos Purple can give their armor, troops, equipment, and weapons a particular touch that helps them stand out on the battlefield and express their personality. Magos Purple Colour Schemes & Combinations Here I experimented with some various Contrast colours over Runefang Steel Layer on the wings trying to find a new shimmering effect on the wings. I’ve tried Contrast Ork Flesh, Contrast Plaguebearer Flesh, Contrast Magos Purple and Contrast Aethermatic Blue.Decorative Metal (Icons, Leaders’ Weapons): – Base with Balthasar Gold. – Wash with Agrax Earthshade. – Drybrush with Hashut Copper. – Lightly Drybrush with Sycorax Bronze, focused on the edges. To that end, you’ll want to avoid Warhounds to the extent possible – while they can be utterly terrifying in many lists, that threat usually comes from working together with other Titans, whether from piling more shots on the same target or exploiting the Coordinated Strike rule with another Warhound in the same squadron. If you do decide to take a Warhound, consider taking turbolasers – the standard plasma/bolter loadout is decent at most stages, but the inability to call shots with the plasma blastgun can be troublesome, and the increased effective range of the turbolasers will let you hide it from other Titans more effectively while still keeping its prey in its sights. The open sores and entrails are painted with a heavy coat of Contrast Blood Angels Red. I hit every part of the model that’s an open wound or has entrails leaking out. This is the base color, but we’re going to need to make this darker and add more variety.

In most situations, you’re going to want to choose a maniple that will let you swap out a Warhound for a Reaver so you can slap Motive Subreactors on it. Getting free boosts to your movement and maneuvering without having to push is great, and the downside is very manageable – if you’re taking repeated critical hits to your Titan’s legs, you’ve got bigger things to worry about than a point or two of heat. This is great for short- and mid-ranged Reavers, and pairs nicely with a melta cannon and your choice of melee weapon. For other pustules I paint those with Bugman’s Glow, then highlight them with a mix of Bugman’s Glow and Emperor’s Children Pink. I’m also going to hit most of these with Nurgle’s Rot later, but I’ll go very heavy in areas I really want the effect to stand out. Next I start hitting the pustules with Averland Sunset. I want these to be bright on the final model but I’m gonna cover them with Nurgle’s Rot, which will tint them green so I need them to be bright yellow. I add a dot of Flash Gitz Yellow to them as well.

Teal and turquoise are crucial when painting lizards, magic effects, and Space Marines like the Alpha Legion – and Kroxigor Scales fits alongside Leviadon Blue and Akhelian Green to give you even more choice. Purple: Naggaroth Night and then Xereus Purple (I love, love Xereus Purple), washed Druchii Violet, and then re-layered Xereus on the higher parts and highlighted with, fittingly, Genestealer Purple. Emma: Regally vibrant, Luxion Purple keeps a bright tone even in the darker areas of your miniatures – great for Hedonites of Slaanesh and the Emperor’s Children . This is my favourite purple Contrast of all time! Next, we magically cut to a stage where the armor and skin look better. Pay attention to the skin tones. The shadows have been further darkened with purples, reds, and browns, while the highlights have been further brightened with creams and greens. The skin itself is less desaturated thanks to green ink, which is transparent and allows us to tint the color gradient underneath. The wound on the stomach (along with several other points of interest on the skin) has been darkened (reddened) to look inflamed and highlighted with bright pink spots. Gross! Using the general approach of starting with highlights/lowlights, basing Elysian Green, working up to a desaturated cream highlight, adding green saturation via an ink, then painting the details works for any other Nurgle model too, such as Plaguebearers and Nurglings. Try to make your darks super dark and your brights super bright, while choosing colors that create visual interest, and it’s hard to go wrong.