For Averland!

Who doesn't enjoy seeing a flamboyant pair of yellow and black trousers? Nico Alpaerts is certainly a fan. I can't vouch for his real-world sense of fashion, but I heartily approve of his striking Averland colours. Nothing is more intimidating for your opponents than being confronted with a particularly ferocious-looking pair of trousers. They must prove quite the sight on the battlefield and I suppose you'd certainly know who was on your side in the mêlée.

Nico started his Empire army a few months ago, for a campaign in his local Hobby Centre in Antwerp, Belgium, and since then it's come along nicely. Given that we're looking for Empire models to show off at the moment, it was great to see an Averland force in development. Here's how Nico painted up his miniatures (and we've translated the old colours into the new paints so you can give it a go yourself).

Nico: I actually managed to paint my Averland models rather quickly compared to my usual standard and, all in all, it only took me two weeks to finish them off. After everything was undercoated with Abaddon Black, I continued with the yellow parts. Those were painted Averland Sunset, followed by Abaddon Black and Averland Sunset for the recesses. When that layer was dry, I used Yriel Yellow followed by highlights with a mix of Yriel Yellow and White Scar. Then came the black parts - for these I just highlighted with a mixture of Abaddon Black and Dawnstone, and followed up with a highlight of Dawnstone and Administratum Grey.

For the skin tones I started off using Cadian Fleshtone, a layer of Doombull Brown, and then applied Agrax Earthshade into the deepest recesses. I then highlighted using Cadian Fleshtone and, for the eyes, I used White Scar with a tip of Abaddon Black. The hair was painted using a variety of browns or greys, depending on the 'age' of the soldier.

The weapons and armour were really simple for me to paint. I painting everything with Ironbreaker, followed by a shade of Nuln Oil before highlighting with Ironbreaker and Runefang Steel. Last but by no means least I used purple as a spot colour on various parts of the models.

Using the old paints, it was painting up the yellow sections that took me the longest, but with the new Citadel Paint range, the yellow colours go on way faster and smoother. I already have all the new yellows and I've experimented thoroughly with them on my Dark Eldar vehicles. [Yes, Nico loved yellow and black so much that he started using them on his Warhammer 40,000 army! - Mark]