Painting a plastic Sisters of Battle

Blood is the beginning.

Plastic Sisters of Battle were released late last year to much fanfare and excitement. We were fortunate enough to get one of the army boxed sets, but aside from assembling a few for scale comparisons, have not had the chance to do much with them yet. Rather than start with a lengthy conversion, we decided to try painting one quickly, primarily with contrast paints. We have always been fond of the deep red of the Order of the Bloody Rose, and decide to paint one of the sisters in that scheme.

Flesh Tearers Red Contrast paint was a great starting point for painting her armor, but a few additional highlights make all of the difference.

The base was painted following Darren Latham’s final YouTube video.

Having recently painted a few miniatures from Ana Polanscak’s Tabletop Fantasy Miniatures Kickstarter, which featured a predominantly red color scheme, I felt that knowledge could easily be translated to a Sister from the Order of the Bloody Rose. Her armor was painted with a 1:1 mix of Flesh Tearers Red and Contrast medium. This created a good starting point, blocking in the highlights and shadows. To create more contrast, I went back and added undiluted Flesh Tearer Red to the recesses and any areas that I wanted darker. I then mixed a small amount of Black Templar contrast paint in with Flesh Tearers Red and diluted it heavily with water, creating a glaze. I applied this in thin layers to further darken areas. Finally, I did a few edge highlights on the armor, starting with Mephiston Red, followed by Evil Sunz Scarlet. Her eye lens were painted white, followed by a single coat Iyanden Yellow contrast paint. The silver details were painted with Vallejo Model Metallic Air Gunmetal (71.072), followed by a light wash with Nuln Oil. I then highlighted it with Vallejo Model Metallic Air Steel (71.065).

Hess Poison Breath alongside Order of the Crimson Rose Sister of Battle.

Her robes were painted with a coat of Black Templar contrast paint, followed by Lahmian Medium to reduce the shine. Some of the edges were then highlighted with a light grey. The underside of the Robes were painted with a mixture of Apothecary White and Skeleton Horde contrast paints. Since some of these areas were rather large and flat, the contrast paint resulted in visible brush strokes. I minimized this by dry-brushing/stippling light colors like Citadel Ushabti Bone and Screaming Skull. I then lightly glazed the entire surface with Skeleton Horde contrast paint, diluted substantially in water, to unify and reduce the harsh stippling. Finally, her base was painted following Darren Latham’s final YouTube video, detailing how he painted the base for his Lord of Blights. This took advantage of sporadically applying various heavily diluted contrast paints, primarily Black Templar and Wyldwood, in areas, to provide color modulation to the grey stone.

The Order of the Crimson Rose faces off against some bone constructs.

I am pleased with how the first Sister turned out, and starting to paint the next, with the goal of painting a small squad. Perhaps a Kill Team is in order? At this point, I am not sure, but I am having fun painting them, and will see where it takes me! Any comments or suggestions are welcome!

- Eric Wier