# painting power swords and axes



## captain wood (Dec 4, 2010)

i have just bought my sanguinary guard and iwas woundering on how to paint a power sword and the axes. (i know this gets asked a lot by noobs and yes i havent botherd to ask anyone i know on how to paint them only becuse they dont know either) note i have no money till next week but i read that i can use hawk turquoise and ultra marine blue paint.


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## Stella Cadente (Dec 25, 2006)

power swords can be anything you want, I prefer silver myself and then giving them a wash of any colour, or just straight purple, but you can just paint them plain silver if you want, there is no set way to paint them.


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## normtheunsavoury (Mar 20, 2008)

I think what you're after is how to paint the lightning effect shown on the minis on the box. 
I would start by painting it on roughly first, straight over the primer. Start with white, then ultramarine blue then highlight with the hawk turquise. then add a few very light highlights with skull white.
Then, paint in the rest of the sword, bolt gun metal, chainmail and a final highlight of mythril silver. Use the metalics to tidy up the lightning effect. 

Hope that helps.


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

Besides what has been said above this Power weapon tutorial may also be of interest to you. Obviously the colors can be swapped out for whatever floats your boat.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

I always preferred the "glowy" look myself-- that way, both you and your opponent can quickly pick out the guy with the power weapon in the squad. Also, it frees up all the cool swords and axes that are normally power weapons for use on other models-- just don't paint them to look glowing, and they can just be regular close combat weapons. I've always preferred Space Marines with regular swords to chainswords for some reason. 

Anyway, I paint all my powered weapons (whether that be a sword, axe, mace, or claw) to look sort of lightsaber-ish, and do it in blue. Power weapons are described as being sheathed in a "crackling blue energy field." Obviously, you can substitute the blue for any color you see fit, but the basic idea is the same no matter what. 

I start with a dark blue basecoat, and while it's still wet, I start mixing (this is wet blending, by the way) lighter shades of blue in on the model as I move further away from the pommel/knuckle/what have you. I then apply an edge highlight of the lightest blue I've used mixed with a bit of white, and once the blade itself is dry, apply that same mix very thinly in lines to create the "field" effect. 

*Edit* This Canoness shows the effect better than the previously posted Marine. Not the greatest example, but it's the best one in my photobucket for some reason...


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## captain wood (Dec 4, 2010)

Stella Cadente said:


> power swords can be anything you want, I prefer silver myself and then giving them a wash of any colour, or just straight purple, but you can just paint them plain silver if you want, there is no set way to paint them.


thanks for the help


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## captain wood (Dec 4, 2010)

normtheunsavoury said:


> I think what you're after is how to paint the lightning effect shown on the minis on the box.
> I would start by painting it on roughly first, straight over the primer. Start with white, then ultramarine blue then highlight with the hawk turquise. then add a few very light highlights with skull white.
> Then, paint in the rest of the sword, bolt gun metal, chainmail and a final highlight of mythril silver. Use the metalics to tidy up the lightning effect.
> 
> Hope that helps.


cheers i might have to buy some mythril silver would look nice mixed


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## captain wood (Dec 4, 2010)

The Son of Horus said:


> I always preferred the "glowy" look myself-- that way, both you and your opponent can quickly pick out the guy with the power weapon in the squad. Also, it frees up all the cool swords and axes that are normally power weapons for use on other models-- just don't paint them to look glowing, and they can just be regular close combat weapons. I've always preferred Space Marines with regular swords to chainswords for some reason.
> 
> Anyway, I paint all my powered weapons (whether that be a sword, axe, mace, or claw) to look sort of lightsaber-ish, and do it in blue. Power weapons are described as being sheathed in a "crackling blue energy field." Obviously, you can substitute the blue for any color you see fit, but the basic idea is the same no matter what.
> 
> ...


your sister of battle model ( i dont know what type it is) is cool your sword looks amasing and yes the lighting marks would be helpfull. is there a tutorial on how to do that or should i go free lance?


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

I'd just go with trial and error. Getting the sort of "fluid" energy effect isn't anything precise-- just play with the paint on the model while it's wet.


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