Contrast Paints on English Civil War Minis

I took the speed of my recent Napoleonic Contrast Paint efforts and combined it with my recent ECW miniature painting. Will this mix be chocolate and peanut butter... or breakfast cereal with water?

Early Success

I primed the figures with GW spray Wraithbone. This primer is slightly off-white and leans toward ivory. After the primer dried, the shoes, straps, pants and socks were quickly painted with a large brush. Each only required a single coat of GW Contrast Paint.

The details are really popping and there is a pleasing vibrancy to each miniature. The figure on the lower left had some Contrast red applied, then covered up by Wraithbone. Errors in painting are quickly fixed by applying the primer color to the offending area and painting on the proper color more carefully. Games Workshop makes this easy by offering Wraithbone in spray cans as well as paint pots.

Mixing Contrast Paints

The first red I picked (CP Flesh Tearer's Red) didn't work out. It was too dark. I ended up using a solution of CP Blood Angels Red 2:1 CP Flesh Tearers Red. Contrast paints are like any others: you can mix them to get what you want. For the pants I mixed Basilicanum Grey with Creed Camo, Wyldwood, and Black Templar to get muted, desaturated colors. To lighten a color, just thin the color with Technical Contrast Medium to let the light primer show through.

The speed of the Contrast Paints is already apparent. Click on the photo above and look at the leather on the bag on the red-coated figure. It's amazing. It's perfectly shaded and highlighted. The linen socks look great. I'm more than halfway done and I'm only a few hours into this unit.