Painting Sector Mechanicus Terrain

Dead Industrial Atmosphere

Although we have been building and painting miniatures for years, long before even the start of this blog (2013), we have never really painted any terrain, despite collecting a variety of the plastic sets Games Workshop released over the years. Ten years after starting Between the Bolter and Me, we decided we should change that. To our good fortune, Ana Polanšćak from Gardens of Hecate, recently released a tutorial for quickly painting derelict machinery and industrial terrain. The process looked quite easy, relying primarily on using a sponge to apply an interesting pattern of rust, so I found the Sector Mechanicus terrain I had sitting around since the release of Shadow War Armageddon (2017), and decided to give it a try!

The paint scheme did not require too many paints, mainly a dark brown for sponge weather/chipping, and an orange rust color to create a wash. I use a few enamel weather products to add additional weathering and interest.

While I picked out a few details with black paint (cable and gauges), I left a sponge and washes to do most of the work.

Games Workshop terrain has a lot of detail and raised surfaces, making it very suitable to drybrushing or applying chipping using a sponge, like was done here.

Since I used an acrylic paint (Vallejo Game Effects Rust 72.131) to create a wash to apply over each piece of terrain, they all look slightly different. I tried to create it the same way each time, but slight variations in the amount of paint and water, along with the quick drying time gave each piece a slightly different color.

Although I used an acrylic rush wash to give the piece a warmer hue, I used an enamel Light Rust Wash (Ammo of Mig) to add more potent rust to select areas.

This MKVI Space Marine is doing their best to hunt down xenos and heretics through the derelict ruins of Vastarian.

Although I still have a bunch of additional pieces of Sector Mechanicus terrain to paint, I am really happy with how this selection turned out. The process was relatively quick and did not require any particular skill or dexterity. If any of you are looking for a method to paint some terrain quickly, I strongly suggest you give Ana’s tutorial a try!

- Eric Wier