Warhammer 40,000 - Bayard’s Revenge

Having had a blast painting up a Black Templar previously, to the point that I am seriously considering starting a Black Templars Primaris army. As such I cracked out Bayard’s Revenge, the model released for Warhammer Day 2022 which celebrated 35 years of Warhammer 40,000. As this model is effectively three in one, it made sense to split the painting into three parts. Fortunately the assembly of the model supports this, aside from the Templar’s right heel being part of the Ork’s Powa Klaw for some reason.  

Black Templar

Something compelled me to prime the Emperor’s Champion in grey, I’m not quite sure what though, as a black prime would make more sense for both the metallics and, you know, all that black armour the Black Templars are famous for. 

Regardless of my reasoning, I started by giving the model an even coat of Army Painter Air Raven Black. Which, despite its name, is more of a very dark grey. I have maintained that painting something pure black is not a great idea. As black is as dark as it gets already, you can’t really wash or shade it, you can only highlight. Thus if I had used a purer black I wouldn’t be able to recess shade between the armour panels later, and with nothing to differentiate the panels the model just becomes an indeterminate black mass. 

Once I had a nice smooth finish on the Raven Black, I did a recess shade between the armour panels with Black Templar contrast paint. Additionally, I used Black Templar to paint the joints between the armour as well. In hindsight I should have used something like Army Painter Speedpaint Broadsword Silver to break up all the black. To finish off the armour panels, I highlighted the edges with Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone. 

Whilst I had the Dungeon Stone out, I used it to paint the areas on the shoulder pads and the crosses on the waist and helmet that would eventually be white. After which I gave these areas a couple thin coats of Ulthuan Grey. The Templar symbols I first washed with Black Templar contrast paint to bring out the texture before highlighting it with Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone like I did for the armour panels. The skull and crossbones that form part of the symbol I base coated with Army Painter Skeleton Bone and then washed with Army Painter Strong Tone.

And while I had the Skeleton Bone and Strong Tone out, I used the former to base coat the loincloth and the parchment on his back pack and the latter to shade them. I then used Skeleton Bone again to layer back up on the loincloth. To finish them off, I used Vallejo Pale Sand to edge highlight the cloth and parchment. 

Moving onto the leather belt and pouches I painted them a dark brown (Rhinox Hide specifically) as I felt that the vibrant orange-red of Skrag Brown that I usually use for leather would be too vibrant for a model that’s predominantly dark colours. To keep things simple I gave leather a wash with Army Painter Strong Tone and left it at that. 

For the sword, I quickly base coated the handle with Screamer Pink and washed it with Nuln Oil before moving onto the metallics. For the silver details such as the chain on his wrist, pipes on his helmet and vents on the backpack, I first painted with Scale75 Thrash Metal before giving a wash of Basilicanum Grey. I then layered and highlighted with Thrash Metal again. For the gold areas such as the sword hilt, I base coated them with a couple of thin coats of Scale75 Dwarven Gold. I then washed these areas with Reikland Fleshshade before highlighting them with Scale75 Elven Gold. The weapon wielded by an Emperor’s Champion is the Black Sword, hence I painted the blade with Scale75 Black Metal which I then washed with Nuln Oil. 

Ork

Normally when I paint a miniature I will do all the base coats, then do all the washes before finally doing the highlights, as opposed to the Emperor's Champion above where I finished each section before moving onto the next. Additionally, I wanted the Ork to really contrast against the dark colours of the Emperor’s Champion, so I gathered all my bright and vibrant colours and primed the Ork the same grey that I did for the Space Marine.

I started by painting their skin with a couple thin coats of Warboss Green and their trousers with Vallejo Heavy Goldbrown. To keep things bright, I painted the main housing of the Powa Klaw with Mephiston Red and the leather straps with Skrag Brown. The boots I painted with Corvus Black and the teeth with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. The metal details such as the armour plate and the claws on the Powa Klaw I base coated with Scale75 Thrash Metal.

With the base coats done I could move onto the washes. 

I gave the skin a coat of Athonian Camoshade, it dulled the skin down quite a bit but it is my only green wash. I don’t paint a lot of Orks. The metal details and the boots I gave a wash of Nuln Oil. The leather straps and trousers I then washed with Army Painter Strong Tone, and to really make the metal details look grimy I also used Strong Tone to get them a second wash. 

To begin the highlights, I first needed to layer the skin and trousers with their respective base coats. So for example, on the skin this meant painting a thin coat of Warboss Green on the raised areas like the muscles. With that done I could then begin using lighter colours to really bring out the texture of the model. It was at this point that I realised I could use the same colour for each of the highlights: Yriel Yellow. For the yellow trousers this makes sense, using a brighter yellow to highlight the raised areas. However, yellow also works really well for green skin as mixing green with white just desaturates it making your Ork look lifeless. Whereas, mixing Warboss Green with Yriel Yellow created a nice punchy and vibrant green that I could use to highlight the highest areas of the skin. To help tie things together, I used the same approach to highlight the leather, mixing the base colour Skrag Brown with Yriel Yellow and using it to add tiny scratches along the edge of the leather straps. To really hammer the point home, I mixed Mephiston Red with Yriel Yellow to make a nice bright orange and used that to edge highlight Powa Klaw. Lastly, I edge highlighted the metal areas with Scale75 Thrash Metal. 

The skin was looking nice and vibrant at this point but it needed a few more details to really make it pop. Namely, the flesh needed a few more flesh tones in order to properly read as flesh. To make the scars stand out a little more I painted them with a thin line of Kislev Flesh. As the lips, nose and ears tend to be areas where the blood flows quite close to the surface (in humans at any rate), I figured these might benefit from a slightly warmer skin tone. To do this, I thinned some Cadian Fleshtone until it was almost a wash consistency and applied it in multiple thin layers to the lips, nose and interior of the ears. I heavily thinned some Screamer Pink and ran it into the recesses between the lips and teeth to give the impression of gums. Finally, I used Mephiston Red to paint the wound in their chest and their eyes. 

Base

Unlike the two adversaries locked in combat, the base needed some prep work before I could prime it. Whilst the rock formation took up most of the base I managed to find some space to stick some skulls down. The skulls and rock formation were then blended with the base with Vallejo Red Oxide texture paste. Once that was fully dry I then primed the base black. 

Like I did with the Castellan I used Daler-Rowney FW Red Earth acrylic ink through my airbrush to quickly lay down the colour. Red Earth might be an opaque ink but it still takes a few layers  to really build up a solid coat, I used this to add some variation to the base. I then picked out the skulls with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. I then washed the base with Army Painter Dark Tone, once that was dry I then gave it a coat of Matt Varnish to knock back the gloss finish of Dark Tone. The base was then drybrushed with Ryza Rust. Lastly, the rim of the base was tidied up with Matt Black and the model assembled.