Warmachine: Cryx - Mechanithralls

By Anthony Karl Erdelji

Next onto the painting table are the Mechanithralls. The Mechanic Thralls (McThralls) are a logical step in this Cryx project. They have a little less flesh than the Bile Thralls, yet they are covered with a little more metal. From here one can work up to other models that are mostly encased in metal.

Those that have read the previous chapter on the Bile Thralls remember that my paint scheme for this army is to give the fleshier units pale skin with a touch of living human color. The Bile Thralls had bruised, purple skin tone. My idea for the McThralls was to give them sickly green skin.

My first attempts involved replacing the Vallejo Game Color (VGC) Royal Purple used in the Bile Thrall flesh mixture with green. I tried several different shades of green, but none gave the somewhat human look I wanted. Next I tried a completely new flesh mixture using green a various stages during highlighting or shading. Once again the results were less than spectacular. At every turn I was ending up with a nice green skin, but they did not look of a living person.

After nearly a dozen attempts I finally figured out why my green skin was giving me so many problems. The purple skin on the Bile Thralls worked because one's skin CAN look purple under "physical duress". Skin may also look more red or blue depending on temperature, but nothing will make skin look green. I was trying to give the skin a realistic greenish hue, yet a green hue immediately suggests an inhuman look. In order to get my human-ish skin tone concept to work I would have to look for another color for my McThralls.

My next idea was to paint the McThralls as something closer to a more natural living flesh tone. The Bile Thralls were bruised, but the McThralls would be bloodied! One could easily imagine that the McThralls  may be immediately raised from the dead on the battlefield, leaving little for decomposition to take hold. Now my McThralls would be red to my Bile Thralls purple.

The skin starts with a darkline base of Vallejo Model Color (VMC) US Olive Drab. Leaving the darkline layer in just the deepest recesses, the basecoat is a mixture of VMC Flat Earth with an equal amount of VGC Elf Flesh, with a tiny touch of VMC US Olive Drab.

The first two highlights are the previous mixture mixed with more VGC Elf Flesh at each step. Remember to keep your paints thin.

The third highlight is a mix of VGC Pale Flesh with an equal amount of VGC Elf Flesh. Next is a fourth highlight layer using he same mixture, but with more VGC Pale Flesh added. Finally, some VMC Ivory is mixed in to highlight the skull.

To give the flesh a bit of color, a spot wash of VMC Cadmium Maroon is applied in the recesses and areas of damage. A second spot wash of VMC Violet is applied over the same areas, but mainly concentrating on the damaged areas. The exposed muscles (not yet painted) are based with VMC Hull Red. They are then drybrushed twice by adding VGC Scar Red at each step, and then a final drybrush with VMC Dark Flesh added.

When painting an army I like to keep all the weaponry all the same color, so the fists were painted just like the guns of the Bile Thralls. The fists are first basecoated with VMC Extra Dark Green. Next is VGC Dark Flesh tone, thinned well. Allowing some of the VMC Extra Dark Green to show through the VGC Dark Flesh tone 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 dark brown metal only hinted at on the Bile Thralls would take much more precedence on the Mechanithralls. It starts 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. On some of the larger pieces, such as with the leader, the last highlight mixture is reapplied in vertical streaks. This is done in a continuing attempt to suggest weather effects on the metal.

On the Bile Thralls I experimented with some yellow-gold metal. With the McThralls I continued to experiment  with this color, but little success. The yellow did not visually work with my corroded earth tone paint scheme. I ended up going with rusted steel. I was worried that with the red rust the steel would look too much like the fists, but the results were better than I expected.

The steel starts with a base of VGC Dark Flesh tone. Next is a layer of very thin VMC German Grey. This is highlighted twice by adding VMC Dark Sea Grey. It is finished with a wash of VGC Dark Flesh tone. The tubing is based with a shading mix of VMC Extra Dark Green and VMC Camo Black Brown. Next is a second mixture, this time VMC Extra Dark Green and VMC Russian Uniform. They are then drybrushed with straight VMC Russian Uniform, and once again with VMC Green-Grey.

Anther squad closer to completion. I have some "nice" bloody models and the metal colors are starting to fall into place. The pale and injured McThralls sit nicely next to the bruised Bile Thralls. I am disappointed the green skin concept did not work, but I am already thinking of trying it again on some models that have a little less flesh.

I did have to go back and repaint the yellow-gold metal parts with the new rusted steel concept, but luckily it was not a major color on any of the models. The below on the left is of a Mechanithrall with yellow-gold bits. I think you would agree the model on the right looks better with the rusted steel bits.