Star Wars Shatterpoint Paint Guide: B1 Battle Droids

First in a new series where I document my painting process for the Star Wars Shatterpoint minis! Hopefully the steps I follow will help anyone struggling to figure out these minis with a jumping off point - and teach me to get more consistent with my own mini photography.

Primer: Zandri Dust (Citadel)

Wash: 50/50 mix Darkoath Flesh/Contrast Medium

Basic to start off with, just a primer of Zandri Dust, followed by a 50/50 wash of Darkoath Flesh and Contrast Medium, to get some shading in while retaining that nice warm brown. Diluting means I don’t have to re-paint the flat panels.

I kept them on separate bases purely for ease of painting, as I found the Battledroids rather delicate, so keeping them apart for the bulk of work was far easier to work with…and repair when my overzealous drybrushing caused a limb I hadn’t fully glued to come loose.

It’s just canon-accurate, these poor lads aren’t the most durable…

Drybrush: Karak Stone, Ushabti Bone (Citadel)

Two sequential drybrushes up next - a heavy drybrush of Karak Stone to brighten everything up, then a lighter drybrush of Ushabti Bone to catch the edges.

If you’re anything like me, you WILL break off a leg during this step. It’s fine.

Edge Highlight: Screaming Skull (Citadel)
Recess Shade: Garaghak’s Sewer (Citadel Contrast)

A brighter edge highlight of Screaming Skull, followed by starting some recess shading with Garaghak’s sewer, which is one of my most used contrast paints since the new range came out last year.

I also added them all to the final base at this stage, as the bodywork is mostly done and I wanted to get a sense of how it looks in the end. If you want to keep them separate until completed though that’s totally fine to do.

Gun/Antenna: Dark Silver (Monument Hobbies), Black Legion (Citadel Contrast)

For the final stages, I based the gun in Dark Silver (which is my favourite metallic for guns, it flows beautifully), followed by a coat of Black Legion and then an edge highlight of Dark Silver again.

In all honesty I’m not sure how helpful the basecoat was, if I do these again I might just go in right away with Black Legion and the edge highlights, I think the effect will be much the same.

I also did more recess shading from the previous step, focusing hard on the eyes and nose bridge too.