Vault Games Painting Guide: Stormtroopers from Star Wars Legion

Star Wars: Legion dropped just a few weeks ago and we’ve been getting a lot of questions about painting your new batch of Star Wars plastic figures. Welcome to the first in our painting guide series for Star Wars: Legion, where myself, the Vault Minis-Man, will step you through how to paint the figures in your box. Let’s start with the Empire’s countless blaster fiends in white armour, the Storm Trooper

To begin with, you will need the following:

• Citadel Painting Handle
• Corax White Spray
• Abaddon Black
• Mechanicus Standard Grey
• Steel Legion Drab
• White Scar
• Troll Slayer Orange
• ‘Ardcoat
• Nuln Oil
• Citadel Sand
• Some PVA Glue
• Your Paint Brushes

And, if you are more of a drybrusher, you can use Praxeti White as the dry but, for these guys, I didn’t drybrush at all.

To start with, you’ll want to undercoat your modes with the Corax White Spray. The White Spray from Citadel can be a little tricky so make sure you get a nice even coat and everything is undercoated properly. This undercoat is key to the model so make sure you get it right.

Now, you need to darken the areas of the model that are meant to be black. We’re not starting with black though as we want to still see some depth to the model. So, let’s paint the black areas of the armour in Mechanicus Standard Grey.

Now we start the shading. Shading (or washing for the classic painters out there) the stormtroopers requires two passes. The first is a general black wash using Nuln Oil to give depth to the paint job. Then, once that dries, you want to do a second pass with Nuln Oil on the pieces of the model that were painted grey (the gun, the eyes, and the areas between the armour). This is going to darken them to almost black but keep the higher parts of the model in the dark grey, cheating in the highlights for you.

Next, the armor. With the shadows darkened and the black pieces pretty much done, we need to give the armour that trademark bold white colour. To do this, grab some White Scar paint and thin it out on your palate. You don’t need to make it too thin to achieve the smooth armour look but you need to make sure the paint isn’t going to dry and gunk up on you. Once you have it thinned, apply it to the white armour areas, keeping a nice consistency and leaving room for some of the shading along the edges. Depending on how thin you’ve made your paint, you may need to do two or three coats to achieve the final solid look.

Next, it’s time to shine up that armour trooper. To get that glossy look, use the ‘ardcoat technical paint. This technical paint dries glossy so make sure you only run your brush over the required parts of the model.

The leader mini includes a sweet shoulder pad so, to get that telltale commander orange, use the Troll Slayer Orange. To get the solid even consistency, make sure you thin it in the same fashion as the white Scar. Aso, you’ll want to use the Abaddon Black to cover the edges of the shoulder pads, as well as cover up any white that may have slipped onto the darker areas.

With the model itself finished, let’s move on to the base. To start with, paint the top side of the base with Steel Legion Drab to give it that generic brown look. This will help hide the base if the sand doesn’t stick properly or comes off during the course of playing the game. Also, to remind everyone that this is an imperial model, paint the edges of the base with Mechanicus Standard Grey.

Finally, it’s time to base the model. Grab some PVA glue and place a few blots on the base of the model. Using s brush, spread the PVA around the top of the base, covering the areas you want to stick sand to. Once you’re happy with the coverage, dip the model’s base into the Citadel Sand, ensuring you cover it entirely. Once you pull the model out, give it a few shakes in the container to remove any loose sand and there you go. You have a based model. If you find some sand sticking to the boost of the model, you can use a small brush to wipe it off.

So there you go. That’s how you can paint your stormtroopers. All you need to do is replicate this process for the rest of the squad.

Join me next week as I take through the process of painting up your Rebel Troopers.

If you would like to paint your models like this, the Citadel paint range is available in store so drop in and grab your paints and brushes. Also, if you want to learn how to paint, we run painting workshops every Sunday.