Dead Man's Hand: Cowboys

Dead Man's Hand: Cowboys

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  • Published
    21 Dec 2024
  • Updated
    05 Jan 2025
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Here is how I painted my Cowboys for Dead Man's Hand. Unlike my gangs so far, I played with much loser rules with their clothing. In my mind, this is a disparate band of ranchers that have banded together, so wouldn't have any kind of uniform. They do however all have brown leather hats, so they are identifiable on the table.

Dark Brown Leather

  1. Basecoat the leather area with Rhinox Hide .
  2. Glaze most of the leather with thinned Mournfang Brown . Use quite a small brush and drag towards edges in rough lines. This should create some extra texture.
  3. Add a chunky edge highlight of Skrag Brown to all edges.
  4. Highlight everything again, this time with a fine line of Skrag Brown and Ushabti Bone mixed 1:1. This is a good mix to throw in occasional fine lines as scratches too.
  5. With pure Ushabti Bone , selectively highlight corners and exposed edges of the leather. Put a dot of this colour where the additional scratched above meet edges too.
  6. Add a little pure white (like Dead White ) to your Ushabti Bone and add dot highlights to corners.

Skin

  1. Basecoat with Kislev Flesh .
  2. Wash with Reikland Fleshshade , then re-establish with Kislev Flesh where needed.
  3. Mix the Kislev Flesh 1:1 with Pallid Wych Flesh and highlight selectively.
  4. Finish with specular highlights of Pallid Wych Flesh .

Rugged Skin

  1. Basecoat the skin 4:1 with Cadian Fleshtone and Screaming Bell .
  2. Highlight with Cadian Fleshtone .
  3. Apply fine highlights of Kislev Flesh .
  4. Selectively with 1:1 Kislev Flesh anf Pallid Wych Flesh .
  5. Add specular highlights of Pallid Wych Flesh .

Lasso

  1. Basecoat with the admittedly complicated mix of 2 parts XV-88 , 2 parts Zandri Dust and 1 part Doombull Brown .
  2. Wash with Agrax Earthshade .
  3. Pick out raised areas with 1:1 Karak Stone and Zandri Dust . I did this with a mix of traditiona edge highlighting and overbrushing.
  4. Mix some Screaming Skull into the above paint and pick out a few selective highlights. You may even want to add a few specular highlights of pure Screaming Skull in places.

Blue Cloth

  1. Basecoat with Night Lords Blue .
  2. Shade recesses with thin Corvus Black mixed with Black .
  3. Apply chunky highlights with 2:1 Night Lords Blue and Administratum Grey .
  4. Highlight again, but with fine lines of with a 1:2 Night Lords Blue and Administratum Grey .
  5. Selective highlights of Administratum Grey .
  6. Add very small/specular highlights. For this, I like to mix a little White into my Administratum Grey .

Dark Brown Cloth

  1. Basecoat with a mix of 3 parts Stormvermin Fur , 3 parts Rhinox Hide and 1 part Black . This should leave you with a desaturated colour similar to Rhinox Hide .
  2. Shade with Corvus Black .
  3. Mix Deepkin Flesh into your base mix, slowly. Highlight quite generally at first, then add a little more Deepkin Flesh and highlight more selectively. repeat until you are happy with the cloth.

Dirty White Cloth

  1. Basecoat with 1:1 Karak Stone and White .
  2. Soft shade with Karak Stone .
  3. Shade the deepest parts with a small amount of 1:1 Karak Stone and Dryad Bark .
  4. Pick out raised details with White highlights.

Green Cloth

  1. Basecoat with 1:1 Loren Forest and Ionrach Skin .
  2. Soft shade with thinned Loren Forest .
  3. Deep shade with Loren Forest . mixed with a little Dryad Bark , where needed.
  4. Highlight with Ionrach Skin .
  5. Selectively highlight with Deepkin Flesh .

Blue Cloth

  1. Basecoat with Thunderhawk Blue .
  2. Shade recesses with thinned Dark Reaper .
  3. Mix a little Black into your Dark Reaper then shade the deepest recesses.
  4. Highlight all of the raised edges with 1:1 Thunderhawk Blue and Karak Stone .
  5. Mix your leftover paint 1:1 with Grey Seer , then selectively edge highlight.
  6. Add very small highlights with 1:1 Grey Seer and Screaming Skull .

Tan Leather

  1. Basecoat with Steel Legion Drab .
  2. Shade recesses with 1:1 XV-88 and Rhinox Hide .
  3. Define deep recesses with fine lines of Rhinox Hide .
  4. Add highlights of Baneblade Brown .
  5. highlight again, this time with fine lines of Karak Stone .
  6. Mix a little off-white into your Karak Stone stone and then selectively highlight. I used Ivory but you could easily just use Wraithbone or similar

Steel

  1. Basecoat with Leadbelcher .
  2. Wash with Nuln Oil .
  3. Highlight with Ironbreaker .
  4. Add fine highlights with small amounts of Vallejo Model Air Silver RLM01 Metallic .

Arid Basing

  1. Basecoat with Zandri Dust .
  2. Wash with Agrax Earthshade .
  3. Drybrush with Zandri Dust to re-establish the base colour (if needed).
  4. Repeat with a lighter drybrush of Ushabti Bone .
  5. Drybrush very lightly, essentially dragging your drybrush over the details with a single pass of Screaming Skull .
  6. Wash the rocks with Reikland Fleshshade .
  7. Pick out prominent details and add general highlights to the rocks with Pallid Wych Flesh .
  8. Finish with a few small White highlights on large rocks.
  9. Finish with a nice Steel Legion Drab rim.

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Aspiring miniature painter and biscuit enthusiast. Here to share my hobby and help where I can.

Citadel Painting System 32
Base 13
  • Corvus Black
  • Dryad Bark
  • Grey Seer
  • Ionrach Skin
  • Leadbelcher
  • Mournfang Brown
  • Night Lords Blue
  • Rhinox Hide
  • Screaming Bell
  • Steel Legion Drab
  • Wraithbone
  • XV-88
  • Zandri Dust
Shade 3
  • Agrax Earthshade
  • Nuln Oil
  • Reikland Fleshshade
Layer 16
  • Administratum Grey
  • Baneblade Brown
  • Cadian Fleshtone
  • Dark Reaper
  • Deepkin Flesh
  • Doombull Brown
  • Ironbreaker
  • Karak Stone
  • Kislev Flesh
  • Loren Forest
  • Pallid Wych Flesh
  • Screaming Skull
  • Skrag Brown
  • Stormvermin Fur
  • Thunderhawk Blue
  • Ushabti Bone
Vallejo Game Color
Base 1
  • 72.001 Dead White
Vallejo Model Air
Base 1
  • 71.063 Silver RLM01 Metallic
Vallejo Model Color
Base 3
  • 70.918 Ivory
  • 70.950 Black
  • 70.951 White
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