This article is part of a larger series on how to paint BattleTech. To return to that series, click here.
This article covers painting the Alpha Regiment from Wolf’s Dragoons for BattleTech. The Alpha Regiment uses a “Rust Red” base as their scheme, which allows for wide interpretation of color. I went with a vibrant orange as a base, which I tone down later with an application of wash.
This paintjob is a “tabletop ready” paintjob, specifically designed to be vibrant at a distance, quick to paint, and with the ability to be tweaked for more or less detail, as you want. I give some tips on how to downgrade or upgrade the paint job, depending on funds and time you have available.
On the table for this tutorial, is a bounty hunter Clan Timberwolf, and an Inner Sphere bounty hunter Marauder from the Legendary MechWarrior’s III catalyst games force pack. A King Crab also makes an appearance for some comparison stages.
Paints Used
Airbrush
Badger Air Synylrez Grey Primer
Vallejo Game Air Dead White 72.701
Vallejo Xpress Color Intense Phoenix Orange 74.478
Vallejo Premium Brush Color Satin Varnish 62.063
Brush
Vallejo Xpress Color Hospitallier Black 72.484
Vallejo Model Air Gunmetal 71.072
Citadel Shade Nuln Oil (New Edition)
Base
Vallejo Earth Texture Acrylic Dark Earth 26.218
Citadel Layer Dawnstone
Citadel Layer Ulthuan Grey
Army Painter Dark Tone Wash
Any Opaque Black Paint
Cockpit
Vallejo Model Air Silver 71.063
Citadel Technical Waystone Green
Misc
15/16 OD x 7/16 ID Stainless flat washer (18-8 304)
5x2mm Rare Earth Magnets
Preparing the Miniature
Before you get started painting, make sure the model is clear of any strong flash or mould lines, primarily on the top surfaces. This isn’t a necessary step, but it helps pay dividends later to prevent washes from creating false armor lines by accidently tinting a mould line.
I generally glue a 15/16 washer and magnet on the bottom of the BattleTech miniatures at this stage, as I transport them on metal shelves, and the washers help stabilize the taller mechs..
I also slather on some texture paste to the base of the model at this stage (prior to priming) to add some texture and contrast to the rest of the model. Texture paste is relatively inexpensive (one tub lasts for hundreds of mechs) and provides for a quick and easy method for simple basing.
Apply with a brush you don’t care much about, and clean off the brush in running water (not your paint water) when you’ve finished. If you use your paint water, rinse it out and start with fresh water before applying any other paints.
Air Brush Stage
Prime the model with Badger Air Synylrez Grey Primer, allowing ample time to fully dry.
Spray Vallejo Game Air Dead White 72.701 on the upper 3/4 of the mech, allowing the underside panels to remain mostly gray. This helps provide a bit of depth on the model. You can of course just completely coat the model in white paint, or just use white primer instead of these two separate stages. Each will slightly change how the model works.
I do not recommend dry brushing the grey model with white, as you need the white panels (non slapchop) to help make the orange pop.
Spray Vallejo Xpress Color Intense Phoenix Orange 74.478 over the model. This paint is not meant to be used via the airbrush, so depending on your airbrush, you may need to thin it slightly. Mine didn’t require any thinning. You will slowly build up the orange on the model until you are happy with the vibrancy. You’ll notice immediately how much brighter the orange is on the white panels as opposed to the mostly grey ones. Make sure the model is completely dry for the next step.
Spray Vallejo Premium Brush Color Satin Varnish 62.063 over the model. We are varnishing the model at this stage for two reasons:
- The Phoenix orange paint is extremely thin, and comes off easily with aggressive brush work.
- The Phoenix orange paint dries very matte, and we want some slickness for the wash in later stages.
Depending on your skill level and what effect you are trying to achieve, you could utilize a more gloss varnish for oil/enamel washes instead.
Alternate Rattle Can Stage
Instead of using an airbrush, use a rattle can white primer (any) with a rattle can bright orange paint. You can either utilize a rattle can spray varnish, or use the Vallejo airbrush varnish with a brush. (Just clean the brush immediately afterward!)
Brush Work Stage
You are now ready to put basic details on the mechs. Alpha Regiment uses black as their secondary color, so you can proceed at this stage in one or two ways.
Paint Vallejo Xpress Color Hospitallier Black 72.484 or your choice of black paint on the model. I prefer thinner black paints as it gives me a bit of leeway with undoing a mistake. The varnish layer overtop of the orange gives you a few seconds of “oops” time to undo errors.
or
Paint Vallejo Model Air Gunmetal 71.072 on the metallic bits of the model. Gun barrels, weapons, joints, cockpits, exhausts, anything you want to pull out additional details. I find it most useful to do the metallic bits first when I haven’t figured out where I want to put the blacks yet.
Now paint the other color you didn’t do in the previous step. The model will look a bit oddly vibrant without a lot of cohesion at this point. That’s alright. The next step unifies all the work we’ve been doing.
Wash Stage
Prepare two brushes. One brush to apply wash, and one brush to absorb excess wash. make sure you have a paper towel nearby to dab off excess wash.
Apply Citadel Shade Nuln Oil (New Edition) all over the model. Work in sections, starting with the primary torso. The newer formula of nuln oil (2017/2023) comes in a smaller container, and is formulated to flow easier resulting in less pooling of surfaces.
Concentrate on trying to reduce pooling on the top most surfaces as a priority. Depending on your humidity, you will not have a lot of working time, so its a bit of a dash to make sure excess wash is pooled up. (You won’t have this problem with enamel or oil washes; see below.) If it looks like the wash is partially dried in a section, leave it alone. Trying to fit excess pooling can result in it looking worse then if you just left it alone. This is for tabletop, not competition, always keep that in mind! Allow the model to dry completely (at least an hour) before proceeding.
Advanced Methods: Oil/Enamel Washes
Prior to the wash stage, you can varnish the model with a gloss varnish and then apply a enamel or black oil wash to the model. This will allow ultimate control of the various surfaces and recesses that the washes dye. When fully dry (give it at least an hour or two), use white spirit and firm (makeup style) q-tips to remove excess wash on the flat panel surfaces until you get the work you are looking for. This is a lot more time and material intensive, so it is listed here as an advanced option.
Basing Stage
Now to the easy part. Apply Citadel Layer Dawnstone to the base.
Dry brush Citadel Layer Ulthuan Grey after the Dawnstone is dry.
Apply Army Painter Dark Tone Wash to the base once the drybrush is dry.
Finally, rim the base with your opaque black paint of choice.
Cockpit Stage
Carefully paint Vallejo Model Air Silver 71.063 onto the cockpit sections. This is an extremely bright metallic, so be very careful when applying it. Any mistakes will have to be cleaned up rapidly. Need some help figuring out what is a cockpit on your mech? Check out the Camo Specs Cockpit Guide!
Paint Citadel Technical Waystone Green onto the silver cockpit sections. This is a technical paint, which is gloopy and very glossy. You will need to plot it into place, wait a bit, then do an additional layer, until you like the look of it. The paint requires a strong bright metallic under it to shine through, so there is leeway with mistakes if you get it onto surrounding areas.
Enjoy Your Model Stage!
You did it! You have a fully painted Wolf’s Dragoon, Alpha Regiment model! Hold your model high, impress your other miniatures with it. Post it on reddit and hope someone likes it. The possibilities are endless!
Lightbox Photos
This scheme is quite vibrant, but even more so in lightbox photography. Here is a selection of mechs painted in this scheme.
Here is how the scheme looks on the table under normal lighting.
Upgrading the Paintjob
The easiest way to upgrade this paintjob is to move from an acrylic wash to an oil or enamel based wash. This will allow you large amounts of time to deal with pooling or excess wash dyeing of the armor panels by using white spirit to remove excess. You can either make your own oil washes, or purchase a premade oil wash such was soilworks oilwash darkstains. The cheaper option is to make your own, but its more difficult to maintain consistency across models without lots of practice.
From that point, highlighting armor panels, adding decals, hazard strips, laser/ppc colors/glows, weathering powders, and additional small details will bring the paintjob to a higher level. At some point I’ll revisit some of these models and showcase the difference between the quick paint job for quickly finishing a galaxy that looks great on the table, vs painting a single model or star/lance for paint judging.
Finishing Up
This article showed you How to Paint Wolf’s Dragoons in an Alpha Regiment scheme. The method used allows for a rapid and quick tabletop paintjob, that looks great at the star/lance level on the table. It’s also easy to upgrade the paintjob and take it to higher levels for those who field smaller armies. Thank you for reading this tutorial, and if you have any questions, please leave a comment below. My website, if you are looking for more mech photos, is Greggles.art.
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