Silver Skulls "silver"

[TEB]

I hope this is the correct place to ask this...If not, my apologies.

 

This is a bit of a fluff heavy question so ye be warned;

Recently started a Silver Skulls project and ran into a little design/color problem.

I use the Army Painter metal spray as a base color which is perfect for a nice light metallic color (don't want the models to be too dark overall)

but it's so close to mithril silver there's almost no contrast with the iconic silver helmets...

Of course I could darken the base metal with washes but will be quite time-consuming to keep consistent and even harder on large surfaces like tanks.

The other (and preferred) option is to make the helmets (and aquilas,logos) white.

The metallic/ non metallic contrast works nice while keeping the overall color scheme bright.

Going for the 4th company by the way, with green company colors/eyes and seals.

Silver/metal and red is a little bit too common for my taste.

 

But the big Fluff question is; will Silver Skulls without actual "silver" helmets still be Silver Skulls? :D

 

And while most will be thinking "do whatever ya like, there your little dudesmen", for a self-professed fluff bunny like me creating a good looking and original paint scheme BUT still have them be instantly recognizable within the "official" colors is most of the challenge.

 

I'm quite interested to hear what the hardcore marine (fluff) fans think of such a color switch. :)

Thanks

[Hemal]

I would mix a little white to mithril silver to add that contrast, and also possibly "dip" the models in a light grey shade to get the shadows right.

[Bannus]

Or you could opt for the alternative color scheme employed by the Silver Skulls during the Armageddon 3 War:

 

Their armor was all silver (not just the helmet), with black shoulderpads and chest eagles (the squad icon is in the company color).

 

A simple - yet characterful - solution.

[Pyroriffic]

In terms of anything 'official'... Fourth Company have yellow right shoulder pauldrons, although that's in The Gildar Rift and not in any codexexexexexexex.

 

Just so you know... if you're looking for something canon. :)

[Kurgan the Lurker]

Well in RT days depending on your copy of the RT book or the print quality of your White Dwarf they either had a pure silver kind of look:

or a blue steel kind of look:

2nd edition they went to a more chainmail silver with black insets, brass bolter metallics and company colors (presumably) on the bolter casing:

3rd edition they went to a darker metallic -- not quite bolt gun metal but not chainmail either (a mix perhaps):

5th Edition they go to this really dark metallic for everything but the helmet that is pure silver:

Personally I like the 5th edition look the best. You could easily do the same with your mithril silver issue by giving them white helmets.

[TEB]

First of all thanks for the replies guys.

 

I did my homework finding all the different edition variants up front and came to the same conclusion that I liked the 5th edition version the best.

But what works as an illustration does not always work the same as a painted model...and like I said, I wanted a brighter metal base color.

 

Here's my quick test model to show the metallic/ non-metallic contrast:

 

 

http://brassmonkeystudio.com/images/SilverSkull_testmodel.jpg

 

While I like the result (which is also very quick to paint as a bonus) I simply wondered if it was still a "Silver Skull" or if I had strayed to far from the original paint scheme.

 

4th company having yellow shoulder pauldrons?...I haven't read Gildar Rift (yet) but I take this more as artistic freedom then "official" colors. :)

As a second founding chapter of the Ultramarines I kinda assumed they'd be pretty strict on the codex company colors.

[Kurgan the Lurker]

White is an equivalent for silver in heraldry.

 

Not sure why 4th Co. has yellow. That is usually 2nd Co. with 4th being Green. I assume there will be an explanation in the story.

[Pyroriffic]

The Skullies are gradually deviating from the norm. It's part of who they are. There's a couple of observations on this in the assorted short stories in Hammer & Bolter.

 

They've had a lot of shift-arounds in companies due to various issues (which are in some future stuff waiting to be finished). And yes - it's to an extent more artistic licence than anything.

 

Key word is 'usually'... :P

[Honda]

A friend of mine has done Silver Skulls recently (do a searchy on GAR), and he solved a similar problem by going with slightly dark, using P3 Pig Iron (a great metallic), then highlighting with P3 Platinum. Helmets were mostly P3 Platinum, but then he applied Asurmen Blue wash. They turned out quite nice.

 

That being said, I think your mock up looks great and think an army of those guys will look awesome.

[Pyroriffic]

http://brassmonkeystudio.com/images/SilverSkull_testmodel.jpg

 

He's lovely! Immensely better than my first attempts. (Admittedly, they are my first attempts ever, but still - he's rather awesome.

[TEB]

Thanks for all the positive replies and tips.

Gives me more motivation to start painting those Silver Skulls. :D

 

Pyroriffic, so you're the writer of those short stories and Gildar Rift?...

Now your replies start to make a lot more sense! ;)

 

I don't think I can wait till december to check if I'm painting my Silver Skulls "correctly" though. :(

 

The main reason for using green as a company color is to avoid the commonly used silver/red combination.

The grey Knights, Fire Angels, Doom Eagles and probably others all use this as their base colors.

I was contemplating using yellow because a black/yellow combination always looks good but I wanted to avoid any resemblance with the Iron Warriors,

especially since their symbol is extremely similar.

Also, green details and eyes gives them a more mysterious and "ghostly" feel in combination with the white...or at least I hope so. :P

[Vodunius]

2nd edition they went to a more chainmail silver with black insets, brass bolter metallics and company colors (presumably) on the bolter casing:

The text that accompanied that picture in Codex: Ultramarines stated that it was the squad badge that was in the company colour.

Its not so evident from the quality of that scan but the chest eagle and helmet were also in silver rather than chainmail same as in the 5th edition scheme.

[Xenith]

Excellent looking marine.

 

As per Kurgan, white/silver (along with yellow/gold) are interchangeable in the world of heraldry.

 

I believe the lack of metallic paint in ye old days meant that yellow represented gold (the colour 'Or' -> Aurum -> Gold) and white represented Silver (Argent? -> Argentum -> Silver).

[Pyroriffic]

Pyroriffic, so you're the writer of those short stories and Gildar Rift?...

Now your replies start to make a lot more sense! ;)

 

I don't think I can wait till december to check if I'm painting my Silver Skulls "correctly" though. ^_^

 

Yes, yes I am. :)

 

But as I've always said, if you're happy with a colour scheme and you're enjoying doing it, surely the world is your mollusc? :)

[TEB]

Its not so evident from the quality of that scan but the chest eagle and helmet were also in silver rather than chainmail same as in the 5th edition scheme.

I did notice that actually...and it's not only the quality of the scan that makes the difference between the metal and silver helmet hard to see.

Same can be said for some painted examples in the 5th edition codex where it's not very clear that the helmet should be significantly lighter.

 

http://brassmonkeystudio.com/images/silver_skull_devastator.jpg

 

It's more clear on this one;

 

http://www.brassmonkeystudio.com/images/silver_skull_sternguard.jpg

 

But even here the difference is minimal while the metal of the body is quite dark.

And because the head is such a focus point on any model I opted for white instead of silver for extra contrast.

[Inquisitor Engel]

3rd edition they went to a darker metallic -- not quite bolt gun metal but not chainmail either (a mix perhaps):

Isn't that a Battle for Macragge 2-piece Marine, making it 4th Edition?

[TEB]

Actually it's an Assault on Black Reach marine and coincidentally exactly the same model I used for my mock-up.

 

Pyroriffic wrote:

But as I've always said, if you're happy with a colour scheme and you're enjoying doing it, surely the world is your mollusc?

 

I warned up front it was quite a specific/irrelevant fluff question :)

But a lesser used chapter that has (or will get) a wealth of background information for inspiration is a challenge for an hobbyist like me.

If I wanted total freedom I'd simply start a DIY Chapter.

 

For example:

"The two immense Dreadnoughts who marched with them did so without comment, hissing hydraulics and mechanical clanking accompanying their movements.

The casing of the venerable warriors was etched in beautiful filigree work that depicted the honour tattoos they had worn in life.

Each deeply worked groove had been crafted with care by the chapter’s artisans."

 

Great design inspiration and makes me wonder what kind of tattoo style Silver Skulls would use. ;)

[Honda]

In the case of my friends, he opted for a Maori style of tattoo. They are quite nice looking.

[Pyroriffic]

Great design inspiration and makes me wonder what kind of tattoo style Silver Skulls would use. :D

 

The Silver Skulls are generally tribal in nature, so there's a wide range of different designs. In the short story Cause and Effect which is in Hammer & Bolter Issue 8 features First Captain Kerelan, who has a very specific facial tattoo, for example. Some have proper designs, others use patterns. Scout Sergeant Attelus has a system of complicated tally marks.

 

Every warrior's design is almost unique to them, although there is some tribal crossover.