Tutorial - Simple Kroot Carnivore Paint Scheme

This is the scheme that I use to paint my kroot carnivores. It's a pretty quick way of getting them fit for the tabletop and could be easily adapted to match the sept colours of any Tau army.

The scheme is based around a triad of Games Workshop paints from the current range which are used for the skin:

Base - Deathworld Forest
Layer - Straken Green
Layer - Ogryn Camo

Although there are three paints that make up the skin (four if you count the wash) it can be done very quickly. Once the base and wash are dry it takes me approximately 20 minutes per model to finish the skin.

Firstly, undercoat the model black and slap the Deathworld Forest on with a tank brush. I found that it didn't even need to be thinned. Once this is dry, smash the life out of it with a brown wash. I used Devlan Mud (which is from the old Games Workshop range). The model should end up looking like this:

Next, the Straken Green goes on, leaving the darker colours in the recesses. For the very best results this paint would need to be thinned, but you can get away with just slapping it on and they'll look fine for the table.

To finish the skin off, Ogryn camo is used to do some very rough highlights. When I do my Shaper I will take much more care, but this scheme is about production-lining large numbers of models.

Next, the base coat goes on the metal areas and the rifle stock. I used GW Zhandri Dust and GW Chainmail (from the old range), but there are any number of browns and metallics that would work.

The next base colours start to give the model some character and give you a good idea of the what it will look like when it is finished. For a long time I could not decide which colours to use for the little leather robes that the kroot wear, but I eventually decided that using the armour colour from my Crisis Suits and Fire Warriors would be a nice way to tie this unit into the rest of the army. I used the Vallejo Game Colour Sombre Grey, which is the equivalent of The Fang in the current GW range.

I also struggled with the dreadlocks until I hit up on the idea of using Vallejo Game Colour Hexed Lichen which I bought for another project. This is similar to GW Genestealer Purple I think. It is a lot more fun that the brown dreads suggested in the published GW scheme. At this point, the blue doesn't fit with the rest of model particularly well, but this isn't the final colour - the wash that goes on next makes a big difference.

The penultimate step is some washes. The blue leather and the dreadlocks get a blue wash, and the metal and wood both get a brown wash. I used the old GW washes for both of these.

Finally, I mixed the purple with some GW Ceramite White for a very quick highlight on the dreadlocks. The metal stitches get a dab of GW Chain Mail and the base gets sand and static grass. This model is ready for the table..

The blue leather ties them in nicely with my Firewarriors and suits. This would work just as well with other sept colours.

Here is a bonus picture: 40k cat stops play. A regular occurrence in the Wargarage, though she can usually be convinced to sit in an empty box and watch.