Dust Tactics models are a great place for new painters to cut their teeth, because the models come pre-assembled and pre-primed, meaning you can jump right in at the painting stage with no other preparations. Veteran painter Nam Nguyen will be helping us along the way by providing tips and showing us an Allied unit he completed for this project. This spotlight article offers step-by-step advice for the rookie painter. So, get your brushes and paint ready, and let’s dive in.

Paints, techniques, and brushes

There are many brands of acrylic paint on the market that can be used for painting miniatures. One of the most popular lines is the Games Workshop Citadel Colour paints, and that is what will be used for this session. You can find these paints at most hobby shops, and you can also find brushes and other supplies you may need there as well.

There are only a few painting techniques and a bit of info regarding brushes you need to know about when starting out:

• For this project you need two paint brushes. One standard brush and one dry brush. You can get brushes at your local hobby shop. Games Workshop makes a good line of brushes for beginners, and if you pick up a standard brush and a small dry brush, you will have everything you need for this tutorial.
• Basecoating it the simplest painting technique. Basically, it is covering an entire portion of a mini with a single color, like its boots, face, or even the entire miniature. This coat of paint forms a “base” which can later be altered.
• According to Nam, washing is “a technique used to shade models quickly. A wash is a thin paint that is formulated to flow into the folds on the clothes, gaps in the armor, and recesses on the skin. I apply the Citadel Washes straight out of the bottle to give instant shading to my models.” Washing yields excellent results, so many painters use this technique frequently.
• Drybrushing is a way to highlight a model. Once you have a base coat of color on an area, pick out a lighter color that you would like to highlight with. When you drybrush, dip your brush in the paint, and wipe it off on a napkin or paper towel. As the name implies, you want your brush to be fairly “dry.” Make quick, light strokes over the area you’re painting on, and try to catch only the raised surfaces. This technique works best with a special drybrush, which you can find at your local hobby shop.

Painting your forces

Now that you are aware of a couple of basic techniques, let’s get painting. Here is Nam to walk us through his process:

This is a simple, yet effective painting guide to make your models stand out on the table with little effort.

Models straight out of the box compared to models painted following this guide.

I wanted to paint the bases to match the game board poster so the first step was to use watered down Wood Glue and apply basing sand on the bases of all the models [editor’s note: water the glue down to the point where you can easily paint it onto the bases of the models]. Be careful not to get the sand on the feet of the models. Now you need to wait for the glue to dry before moving onto the next step. Then basecoat the bases with Citadel Codex Grey paint and then drybrush the bases with Citadel Fortress Grey paint.

Although the models are already primed, I applied another layer of paint. I basecoated the Death Dealers with Citadel Desert Yellow paint .

I basecoated the metal areas on The Death Dealers with Citadel Boltgun Metal. I used Citadel Tallarn Flesh paint to fill in the flesh areas, and the goggles, boots, and gloves received a coat of Citadel Chaos Black paint.

Once the paint is dry, it is time to move onto the last step. To finish the models, I washed the uniforms with Citadel Devlan Mud wash and the weapons with Citadel Badab Black wash.

Nam's Death Dealers squad before washing, and Nam's Hell Boys squad after washing.

Thanks for the painting lesson, Nam.

Wow! That was fast and easy. Using just a few simple painting techniques, you too can have your Dust Tactics miniatures painted with just a small investment of time and effort. Keep an eye out for Nam’s next article where he will discuss adding even more detail to your Dust Tactics forces, and visit our Dust Tactics Painting Techniques forum for more paint advice.

Dust Tactics is a tactical miniatures game of brutal combat for 2-4 players. Based on the popular universe created by artist Paolo Parente, Dust Tactics presents an alternate 1940s reality in which alien technology fuels gigantic machines of war, and the world's superpowers clash over rare mineral deposits that could ultimately decide the outcome of WWII.