(Not so) Grey Knights...

'THE GREY KNIGHTS ARE HUMANITY'S GREATEST WEAPON AGAINST THE DAEMONIC ARMIES OF THE DARK GODS. CREATED IN UTTER SECRECY BY THE EMPEROR, THEIRS IS A SACRED DUTY TO DEFEND THE IMPERIUM FROM DAEMONKIND'

Sounds great doesn't it? Noble warriors, fighting the Warp born horrors that even the hardest Space Marine can't defeat... 

Problem is, I can't bear to paint the gunmetal / silver scheme that is synonymous with the GK - hell, it's where their name is derived from!

So, how to paint an army I really want to play.. choices choices....

Referring back to the Codex, I hit upon an idea.  Each 'Brotherhood; (which is comparable to a normal Chapter's Company) has a heraldic scheme, which is shown on a small 'oath' shield.  These schemes vary from Brotherhood to Brotherhood, but are always red and white / grey.  

Using this, I decided I'd base my Grey Knight force on the 3rd Brotherhood, under Captain Stern.  Using a  half white / half red scheme, I've come up with this:

THE SCHEME:

Basecoat:
Building from an undercoat of Halfords Red Primer, I blocked out the white half using Celestra Grey (I use the 'air' version for prefernce') and Khorne Red for the other half.  To shade, I used Nuln Oil into the recesses on the white side, and Reikland Fleshshade on the red (I did consider using Carroburg Crimson, but this would be darker than I wanted to).  The gold details were painted using Retributor Armour, the silver using Leadbelcher and the purity seals a base of Rakarth Flesh for the paper, and Mephiston Red for the wax seal.  the gunmetal areas were also painted with Leadbelcher, and washed with Nuln Oil.

Highlights:
The white half was overpainted with Ulthuan Grey, building up thin coats until I was happy that the colour was good and 'solid'.  The edges were then highlighted using White Scar.  The red half I re-painted the area with Khorne Red, which was then edge highlighted with Wazdakka Red, and then a final thin edge highlight of Tuskgor Flesh.  

The purity seals were highlighted with a 50 / 50 mix of Ushabti Bone & Flayed One Flesh, mixing in more Flayed One Flesh until it was 100% Flayed One Flesh.  Then, using an Artificer XS Brush, I painted thin watered down script on the paper.  The wax seals were highlighted using Evil Sunz Scarlet & Wild Rider Red.

The blade of the Nemesis Force weapon (the trade mark of the Grey Knights) was highlighted using Runefang Steel, and then a wash of Nilakh Oxide to add a 'glow' to the blade.

The final touch was the lenses on the helmet.  I painted these using White Scar, and then overpainted with Waystone Green, which is a translucent paint used to paint gemstones.

NEXT STEPS:

I'm really happy with the end result.  It's a challenging scheme to get right, and will hold my interest enough to paint an entire army.  Talking of which... the list I have to paint!

Draigo

Voldus

Librarian in Terminator Armour

1 Strike Team (10 men, 2 incinerators, Justicar)

1 Strike Squad (10 Men, 2 Psycannon, Justicar with Daemon Hammer)

1 Terminator Squad (5 men, Psilencer, Justicar with Daemon Hammer)

1 Terminator Squad (5 men, Incenerator, Justicar with Daemon Hammer)

2 Rhinos

1 Land Raider Redeemer

2 Dreadknights

Storm Raven 

Dreadnought

I've ordered Forgeworld Doors for the vehicles as I want to make sure they're as good looking as possible!