Not a hill to die on.
Following on from my Warriors of Rohan paint guide, here’s the other faction included in the War of the Rohirrim launch box: the Hill Tribesmen. Looking more rough than the noble and well maintained Warriors of Rohan, the Hill Tribesmen present a different, and in my opinion more complex challenge. There’s greater build variety here, including different weapons, shields, and even burning torches to consider, so there’s scope to be more creative, but also more room to be overwhelmed by choice.
In this article, I’ll be looking at painting a basic foot soldier equipped with a sword and shield. I’ll make reference to how to apply this to those with bows and spears as we go. Once again, contrast paints will make up the bulk of this guide as they will create a solid looking model without a huge amount of work.
Undercoat: Grey Seer Spray
Contrast Paints: Black Legion, Snakebite Leather, Ratling Grime, Wyldwood, Cygor Brown, Garaghak’s Sewer, Skeleton Horde, Guilleman Flesh, Bassilicanum grey, Gore-Grunta Fur.
Base Paints: Iron Warriors
Shades: Nuln Oil
Optional Extras: Stirland Mud Technical paint, Ork Flesh, Warboss Green Layer paint, Rynox Hide Base paint, grass tufts, Ironbreaker Layer paint, Terminatus Stone Dry paint.
Brushes: Size 00, Size 3, base brushes, Army Painter Small Dry Brush and Games Workshop Texture Spreader (both optional)
Priming the models
Much like before, use a Grey Seer undercoat with a spray can. A good spray all over will do the job. Make sure you’ve got complete coverage, but don’t drown the model. You want to keep those nice details. Just like before, I’m doing the models separately to the bases, so a little blue tack to keep the models upright during spraying is helpful if you aren’t using the bases too.
Leathers, Wood and Cloths
There’s a lot of clothing to think about here, so trying to identify which layer is which is a little tricky. You can use these paints in a variety of combinations and still get a good result, so feel free to play a bit fast and loose with this guide and mix things up between models. These are wild men living in the hills. There’s no dress code. I used a size 3 brush for pretty much everything here.
First up, use Black Legion to paint the shoes on all the models. Nice and easy! Once dry, the trousers and leg wraps are painted using Snakebite Leather. It’s not a huge problem if you get some of this on the boots as the darker paint will hide the errors well. Still, try to be careful.
Next is the underclothing. These are the skirts and sleeves that you see on most of the models. Note that not all of them have sleeves, so take a good look at your model before slapping on the paint. For this section we’ll use Ratling Grime. This is a very thin paint, so it shows the undercoat too. This is fine as it gives a worn and weathered impression to the clothing which fits with the theme. Do keep in mind that being so thin means this paint can run easily, so don’t overload your brush and take your time. I also painted the wrist guards using this colour, but you could use Snakebite Leather again if you’d like.
Once dry, move onto belts, sashes, and other body wraps. I went with Cygor Brown here to give a darker leather effect. Be careful with this one, as due to the darker shade it can make a mess of the next step if the paint ends up where you don’t want it. If you make a mistake, either use a clean, wet brush to wick away some of the pain, or wait for it to dry and repaint the area with a grey base paint and try again. I used a size 00 brush for the belts as some of them are very thin. If you have a model with more underclothing here, you might want to use Garaghak’s Sewer to paint these and provide a bit of colour difference. More Ratling Grime or maybe Snakebite Leather are fine too though.
The final part of clothing is the fur that the soldiers wear. There are a lot of options to go for here, but I’ve picked out Skeleton Horde for the same reason I used it for the Warriors of Rohan’s hair. It’s a nice, natural looking yellow shade. Get this on the furs and you’re ready to move on. Don’t be afraid to be brave here though if you want to go for a wilder colour. Try not to go with anything too strong though, as it may overwhelm the colour scheme.
Skin and Hair
Models have a variety of different heads, so there’s again some scope for creativity here. I’ve kept things simple and used Guilleman Flesh across all my models. Try to avoid getting this on the hair and beards as the colour we’ll be using for those may not play well with this skin tone. Using a size 00 brush is highly advised. For the bald models, move the paint around carefully to avoid a patchy finish. If you find the paint pooling in a spot, use your brush to move that excess paint into a better position, or clean your brush and use it to wick some of the colour away. If you’re quick it won’t cause a problem.
For the hair and beards, I’ve gone with Basillicanum Grey. This is another thin paint, but it will give a great contrast between darker and light parts of the models’ hair. Slow and steady here to avoid getting it onto the skin and furs. If you’re feeling brave, you could try very lightly painting the eyebrows of the model. I’ve given this a go but I feel I’ve been a bit too heavy handed, so this is very much optional.
Weapons and Equipment
Shields, bows, and spear shafts should, unsurprisingly, be painted in Wyldwood. Nothing fancy here, and using that size 3 brush will be fine for the most part. If there are arrows, you can use this for those too, but use Gore-Grunta Fur for the flights to provide a little bit of variety. Arrow quivers can be painted in Cygor Brown again, but watch that you don’t get this onto the furs as it’s a very dark colour and errors will stand out.
For arrow tips, swords and spear tips, good old Iron Warriors is the choice. This is a base paint, so add a little water to it on a palette to smooth the paint out and give you a nicer finish. You can paint the whole of the swords in this colour, or you can do the bladed section in metal and use Black Legion for the handles. I went with the latter as I felt the additional variety looked nicer.
Much like with the Warriors of Rohan, it’s a nice idea to add some Nuln Oil shade to the metal work to give a little more depth. This being a shade means it’s a very thin paint and doesn’t require too much. You can put it across all the metal and be confident that it will look nice. At this point, your model is pretty much finished and you can stick it to your base. See my Warriors of Rohan article for ideas on how to make those bases look nicer.
Optional Extras
Purely optional, but I feel they make the model look a little more detailed. Ironbreaker is a metallic layer paint. Add a little water to it on a palette and use this, with a size 00 brush, to highlight the shaper edge of any blades. This can be tricky, but even with a little care it can look really nice.
Finally, Terminatus Stone can be used as a drybrush. This is a dry paint, meaning you can’t use it to paint with directly, but is perfect for dry brushing. Get a little of the paint on your small drybrush, and wipe most of it off on a piece of tissue paper, working the paint into the bristles. Now, gently brush the paint back and forth across the shields and clothing to highlight raised areas. It becomes quite simple with a little practice and can improve the look of a model well!
With that, it’s time to put these Tribesmen up against the arrogant Warriors of Rohan in mortal combat! The fate of Edoras will be decided!
