Solar Auxilia are the Imperium's professional human soldiery in the Age of Darkness: sealed void-capable carapace, respirator helms, disciplined sections of infantry and a very large amount of armour behind them. The look is deliberately cold and uniform - pale plate over a near-black bodyglove - and it batch-paints beautifully, which is just as well, because you will be painting a lot of them.
The pale carapace
Light armour is the whole scheme, so it is worth doing properly rather than washing a white model brown.
- Undercoat grey, not black. Grey Seer from an aerosol gets you most of the way to the finished colour in one pass.
- Shade with a cool wash. Thinned Drakenhof Nightshade in the recesses keeps the shadows blue-grey and stops the plate going yellow. Apothecary White is the faster route - one coat into the recesses and you are done.
- Re-layer the flats with Grey Seer, then bring the raised plate up with Ulthuan Grey.
- Edge highlight White Scar on the hardest corners only. Do not highlight everything, or the model loses its shape.
Vallejo Off-White and Army Painter Ash Grey substitute directly if you prefer them.
Bodyglove, webbing and kit
- Bodyglove, gloves and boots: Corvus Black basecoat, edged Eshin Grey. Keeping this genuinely dark is what makes the carapace read as pale.
- Webbing, pouches and holsters: Rhinox Hide, shaded nothing at all, highlighted Mournfang Brown.
- Weapons and helm fittings: Leadbelcher, Nuln Oil, Ironbreaker.
- Section and cohort markings: a warm red does the identifying work. Mephiston Red basecoat with an Evil Sunz Scarlet highlight on shoulder plates, banners and stripes.
- Lenses and vision slits: Incubi Darkness into Sotek Green, with a White Scar dot.
Vehicles
The tanks take exactly the same recipe on a bigger surface, and they are where the army earns its presence. Spray the carapace colour, panel-line the plates with thinned Nuln Oil, then weather from the ground up: a Karak Stone drybrush on the lower hull and running gear, streaks of thinned Agrax Earthshade pulled down from every bolt and vent, a stipple of Typhus Corrosion with Ryza Rust dabbed into it around exhausts and tow hooks, and Agrellan Earth on the tracks. Sponge a few Rhinox Hide chips along the leading edges. Stop before it looks abandoned - these are maintained machines.
Preparation, which is the real cost
A large part of the Solar Auxilia range is resin, and resin is where the time goes. Wash every sprue in warm soapy water to remove the release agent, or nothing will stick. Scrape mould lines with a hobby knife rather than filing them, since the seams run straight across the flat carapace where they show worst. Dunk warped weapons and banner poles in hot water and hold them straight under cold. Pin anything heavy. Budget an evening of preparation per section before a brush comes out - the painting itself is quick, the assembly is not.
Tips and common mistakes
- Cool shadows. Brown-shading pale grey armour turns it into bone. Use a blue-grey wash and it stays cold and military.
- Batch by step, not by model. Ten bodies through the basecoat, then ten through the wash. The scheme is short enough that this is genuinely fast.
- Keep faces simple. Most of them are helmeted anyway; one flesh tone, one wash, one highlight is plenty.
- Weather the tanks, not the troops. A little dust on the boots, and save the rust and streaking for the armour.
When you are happy with the palette, open this scheme in the generator to swap paints between brands or warm the carapace towards bone.