Warmachine: Cryx - Bile Thralls

By Anthony Karl Erdelji

I had the chance to view Warmachine a year before its actual release. At that time the only models completed were for the Cygnar and Menoth factions. However sitting alone on a display shelf was an amusing-looking armored turkey,  a Defiler. At that moment I knew I would be painting Cryx. Unfortunately it took me over two years to get around to actually painting them, but finally I have the time to build my own Warmachine Cryx army.

As I have mentioned many times in the past the key to painting an army is uniformity. This means using the same colors throughout the entire army. The difficultly lies in what colors work on one miniature may not work as well on another, despite both being for the same army, clan or squad. This is why it is important when beginning to paint an army to experiment by testing colors on not just one mini, but two, three or four from different squads or types. Unfortunately, sometimes I do not take my own advise, and it bites me in the end. 

My idea at the start was two-fold. First, to have all the metal extremely oxidized or rusted, using various shades of brown. Second, to have the flesh on each squad somewhat human, but with a slight inhuman hue. For example, the Bile Thralls would have bruised purple skin, the Mechanic Thralls would have sickly green skin, and so on. This idea instantly posed a problem since I only had three different skin colors planned, and the addition of any more fleshy models to the Cryx line would leave me in a jam. There was second problem with this idea, but you will learn of that later in future chapters. For the moment, let's start painting.

My preferred painting method is layering, which is thinned paint brushed on in many layers to represent light on the model, working from the darkest shade to the highest highlight. Each layer is thinned roughly 1:3 paint to water, but this will vary depending on the color of paint and its application. Depending on your brand of paint, you will have to adjust the ratio to suit your own painting style. The darkline and deep shade layers are thinned only at 1:1. These two layers require an abrupt contrast between them. The final edging layer is thinned only 1:1 or 1:2, again because contrast is key at this step. For a lengthier explanation of layering, read my Highlighting and Shading article.

First on the painting block are the Bile Thralls, and a problem. Ideally at this stage I'd take a few models from the entire Cryx range, experiment with some colors, and when I was satisfied with the results on one model I'd try it out on a few others to make sure that the paint concept is easily enough to repeat and that it works on the various type of models in the army. I, er, did not do that. My first "test" Bile Thrall came out, what I believed, perfect the first time. Thrilled with the results I dove headlong into painting the entire squad!

Keeping with my tinted flesh concept, the Bile Thralls would have purple-blue bruised skin. This color would match their bloated and very fleshy look. Starting from the darkest shade and working up, the first layer of an equal mix of Vallejo Model Color (VMC) Violet Brown and Vallejo Game Color (VGC) Royal Purple. This layer serves as a darkline, visually separating the flesh from other parts of the model.

Next is a mixed of VMC Violet Brown and VGC Pale Flesh with a tiny touch of VGC Royal Purple. This layer is only slightly thinned to provided good coverage, leaving the previous darkline layer only  where the flesh meets a non-flesh item. 

Another shade layer is added, the previous mix with more VGC Pale Flesh added and in very tiny drop of VGC Royal Purple, just to give it the slightly purple hue.

The main color of the flesh is VGC Pale Flesh mixed with a drop of the previous shade. This color should be slightly darker than straight Pale Flesh.

The next highlight layer is pure VGC Pale Flesh. After this highlight step we go in two different directions, working off of VGC Pale Flesh. The flesh is highlighted once more by adding VMC Ivory of VGC Pale Flesh. The skull is highlighted three times more by adding VMC Light Sand to VGC Pale Flesh, adding more VMC Light Sand for each step. My idea for the skull is that it is covered with tight skin, rather than being bare bone, so there should be some of the flesh color still evident on the skull. The eye sockets, nose cavity and teeth are painted VMC Black, then the teeth are picked out with VMC Ivory. The skull is now done.

Moving back to the flesh, things get a little chaotic. To enhance the bruised look several spot washes were applied. In separate stages, very thin VMC Dark Sea Blue, VGC Royal Purple and VGC Dark Green were brushed on various parts of the model, concentrating on folds in the flesh or the assorted boils and wounds. The idea is to just tint parts of the flesh, not apply a complete overall wash on the model. Thin your paint to a high degree, then wipe your brush on a paper towel before starting the washes. This allows for precise application of the wash. If too much color was applied, or I did not like a particular color in a certain location, I reapplied the VGC Pale Flesh and VMC Ivory highlight over the wash and wet-blended both together. This helped to soften the overall look.

The gun and armor is an interesting mistake. My plan was for to make them look like highly oxidized bronze, but I used too much red in the mix. However I liked the look so I decided to keep it. I call it "rusted bronze."

The gun and armor are first basecoated with VMC Extra Dark Green. Next is VGC Dark Fleshtone, thinned well. Allowing some of the VMC Extra Dark Green to show through the VGC Dark Fleshtone is not only fine, but desired. They are highlighted twice by adding VMC Orange Brown. I finish them with a heavy wash of VMC Extra Dark Green. The wash will darken the color, so straight VMC Orange Brown is used to pick up some of the edges and rivets. The gun-goo is VGC Camouflage Green with VGC Pale Flesh added for some highlights.

The tubing is fairly easy, requiring no mixing of paint. The entire length of the tube is painted with VMC US Olive Drab. Next the ridges are picked out with VMC Camo Orange Brown. The ridges are then highlighted with VMC Green Ochre, and finally with VMC Beige. The gloves start with a coat of VMC Camo Black Brown and VMC Extra Dark Green to provide a good darkline. Over this is applied VMC Extra Dark Green mixed with VMC Russian Uniform. To this mix more VMC Russian Uniform is added for the next highlight. Two additional highlights are added by mixing in VMC Green Gray, the final highlight being applied on to the knuckles and the sharp edges of the gloves.

At this point the Bile Thralls are virtually done, but there are a few protruding metal plugs on their armor and flesh than need to be paint. While painting the Bile Thralls I was well aware that a majority of the other models in the Cryx range are covered with more metal parts, requiring the addition of more metal colors. The small plugs on the Bile Thrall would allow me to experiment with a few colors that would be more important on later models.

Since my attempt and oxidized bronze on the armor and weapons did not achieve the desired results, I decided to have another go at it with the plugs. These small areas on the Bile Thralls allowed me to play around with some different colors, so when it came to painting the Bile Thrall leader I had an idea of what would work. In this example VGC Charred Brown and VGC Filthy Brown was used. These colors were too close to those used on the armor, but since they are so small I left them as-is, rather than repainting them until I got the perfect color. This "good enough" concept is not typical with me, but it speeds up the painting process. After painting several of the plugs I concluded an overall darker color would be necessary.

The final concept for the Bile Thrall leader was inspired by my error when painting the "rusted bronze" on the other models. If rusting bronze works, then why cannot I once again mix up metals and oxidizations? This time I would try for a dark bronze, but give it a bluish oxidation normally only found on copper.

The shoulder pads start with a base of VMC Dark Sea Blue. Over this is a mix of VGC Charred Brown and VGC Black. Next is a layer of straight VGC Charred Brown,. The first highlight is a achieved by adding VMC Flat Earth, and the second and final highlight by adding VGC Filthy Brown to the same mix. Finally, a heavy wash of VMC Dark Sea Blue to give it all a light deep blue hue. Notice the gold buckles on the headpieces? At this point it is just an extremely tiny portion of a single model, but later you will learn of the difficulties the addition of this color will cause.

For the moment the Bile Thralls are done. They were fun to paint and a good start to the army, but it is a long road we must travel. This squad is just one part of a much larger and highly diverse collection. With my paint scheme mostly set in stone, how hard will it be to use only these colors on the rest of the army? You'll find out in the next chapter.