The Helsmiths are the duardin who worship the Father of Darkness, and everything about them is forge and furnace. Blackened iron, heavy brass, bull motifs and metal still hot from the crucible. It is a metallic army, which makes it far more forgiving than it looks - dark metal hides a multitude of sins - with one showpiece technique, the molten glow, that repays the effort you put into it.
The signature look
Soot-darkened plate over deep red cloth, brass masks and bull-horn ornament, braided beards so dark they read blue-black, and glowing orange metal at the seams of weapons, engines and forge-braziers. The palette is nearly monochrome until the glow arrives, which is exactly why the glow works.
Blackened iron and brass
- Undercoat black and basecoat armour Leadbelcher.
- Wash the whole plate with Nuln Oil, then a second thinned coat in the recesses only - this is what turns steel into blackened iron.
- Edge highlight with Ironbreaker, and touch the very sharpest corners with Runefang Steel.
- Stipple Typhus Corrosion at the rivets and along the lower plates, then dab tiny points of Ryza Rust into it.
Brass carries the identity. Basecoat masks, horns and trim with Warplock Bronze or Hashut Copper, shade heavily with Agrax Earthshade, then edge with Runelord Brass and Skullcrusher Brass on the raised bull faces. Keep it warm and slightly tarnished - a mirror-bright gold would look like a different army entirely.
Cloth is deep red: Khorne Red basecoat, Nuln Oil shade, Mephiston Red on the raised folds. Beards go Abaddon Black, layered Eshin Grey on the braids and drybrushed Dawnstone, with a final glaze of thinned Thousand Sons Blue if you want that blue-black sheen. The little visible skin takes Bugman's Glow, Reikland Fleshshade and Cadian Fleshtone. Hobgrot Vandalz are the colour relief in the list - Hobgrot Hide shaded Agrax Earthshade does their skin in two coats.
The molten glow
This is the signature effect and it belongs in three places: weapon seams, the mouths of engines, and cracked ground on the bases.
- Paint the recess Abaddon Black, then work outward from the deepest point.
- Khorne Red across the crack, pulled slightly wider than you think.
- Mephiston Red inside that, then Troll Slayer Orange inside that again.
- Fire Dragon Bright at the core, and a fine line of Flash Gitz Yellow at the very hottest point.
- Glaze thinned Troll Slayer Orange onto the surrounding metal so the light appears to spill.
For a fast version, Magmadroth Flame contrast dropped into black cracks and highlighted with Fire Dragon Bright gets ninety per cent of the effect in two coats. The glaze onto adjacent surfaces is the step people skip, and it is the step that makes the metal look hot rather than painted orange.
Speed
A Helsmith force is compact - armoured infantry, centaurs and a few large engines - so the model count is low. Basecoat and wash gets you a respectable dark-metal army very quickly, and the extra hours go into the glow and the brass. If you are short of time, do the glow on the war machines and characters only; nobody looks at a rank-and-file weapon seam.
Tips and common mistakes
- Two washes, not one. A single Nuln Oil coat leaves steel; the second turns it to iron.
- Warm your brass. Under-shaded bronze reads as cheap gold.
- Glow outward from the hottest point. Working dark to light in rings keeps the transition clean.
- Do not glow everything. Three placements per model is the limit before the effect stops meaning anything.
Try the balance of brass and iron in the scheme generator before you commit the cohort.