Painting Gaunt pirates for Imperial Space - Plague Gen 3 minis for Deadzone from Mantic Games

Plague Gen 3 Mutants miniatures for Warpath from Mantic Games painted as a Gaunt Pirates for Imperial Space

I painted a team of Plague Gen 3 Mutants miniatures from Warpath as Gaunt Pirates, for the Forlorn Stars (Imperial Space) games. I made photos, and took notes of the painting progess.

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Paint scheme: Gaunt pirates, Setting: Forlorn Stars (Imperial Space)

Miniature: Plague Gen 3 Mutants, Range: Warpath, Company: Mantic Games

Paints used: Pentart acrylic paints, Pentart acrylic metallic paints, Company: Pentacolor

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Concept

As the deadline for a Deadzone demo was closing, I wanted to finish my Plague forces. I had a couple of Gen 3 Plague infected humans, glued and primed in green.

Because I prefer to have minis that can be used in several game settings, I though I'd paint them with a yellow colour, so they could be used as Gaunts for Imperial Space, and Necromutants for Mutant Chronicles Warzone.

Gaunts wear bright colour, Necromutants wear dark, so I thought I'd go for the middle, with high contrast, dark colours - black, with red and purple.

Choice of miniature

image © Mantic Games

I wanted to paint the Plague Gen 3 Mutants minis from the Deadzone Ed1 base set.

Modifications

None.

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Painting

Paints used: Pentart acrylic paints, Pentart acrylic metallic paints, brushed on, Company: Pentacolor

Base coating

There was a green base coat (probably primer) on them when I got the miniatures.

Painting

I painted the faces and appendages with yellow drybrush. I thought the green basecoat will make this look nice. Then painted the hair with a black paint.

I created two groups with similar equipment, and painted the pants of one group red, and the other purple. I've painted the commanders pants into a red and purple camo colour.

I've collected the minis with close combat weapons and close combat stance into a group and painted their armbands red. I've gathered the others into a shooty group, and painted their armbands blue.

I've painted the weapons with metallic silver. At first I thought I'd give their weapons a proper paintjob, but then I got lazy. I'll make them more distinct when I feel the urge. I've put some colours on them with an almost dry brush, so they would look discoloured by use, or dirty. I've painted the barrels of the bigger guns black, so they would be more visible. In the end, I used a black drybrush on them to make the details visible, and also to make them look dirty and used.

They are not soldiers in uniform, but a ragtag bunch of pirates, so I've chosen random colours for their weapons, equipment and boots.

As the Gaunts are not mutants like the Stage 3s and the Necromutants, I had to make something about the protrusions all over their body. I thought they could wear a hide of an animal. I wanted to avoid typical hide colour, so I searched my metallic paint collection, and chosen copper (a reddish metallic colour). I've painted their backs and shoulders with it. I planned to paint the spikes white.

I gave the whole bunch a brown wash from diluted brown paint, because the green was somewhat visible on several models. A wash with black, or a factory-made brown wash could probably make a difference, but it didn't really change the minis.

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Next time I started to finish the coats. I knew they used some kind of animal hide - one that has a reddish metallic skin, with white spikes protruding out of it. I decided that the pirates have a pet from the species they used as the armour, so I searched my collection for a fitting miniature. I've found the Rahdox for the Project: ELITE Board game. Originally I've imagined a wolf-like creature, but this strange thing probably fits the sci-fi theme better. I've named the creature Rock Churn.

Inspired by the colour scheme of the Rahdox artwork, and the similar Rainbow Dinosaur paint scheme from Papo, I've painted yellow dots on the copper base colour. I've made similar dots on the pirates. Then I followed with purple over the yellow dots, first on the creature, then on the pirates. I then painted the spikes white on the pirates, while I first added a very light green on the Rock Churn, then followed with white details.