The Seraphon are the protectors of the Great Plan – refugees from the World-that-Was, they floated through the void for aeons until they discovered the Mortal Realms. Under the guidance of the Slann Starmasters, they battle the forces of Chaos to maintain the balance of the astromatrix.
Whether they’re celestial Starborne or junge-dwelling Coalesced, the Seraphon are a varied army comprising saurians of all shapes and sizes. They look fabulous, and to find out how this huge range was painted, we got in touch with Max from the ’Eavy Metal team.
WarCom: How did you approach painting a project with as many varied miniatures as the Seraphon?
Max: Narrative is at the heart of so many of our paint scheme decisions. For the Seraphon it came down to the distinction between the Coalesced and the Starborne. The new miniatures are the most lifelike and believable incarnation of the Seraphon to date, and they needed a paint scheme to match.
The basis of the Saurus Warrior scheme remains the same as it has for many years, with a primary bright teal colour for the skin and darker scales. The difference this time is that we looked a little bit more at how nature could inform the painting and add some vitality. We started by blocking in the teal colour all over, and then glazed down to the darker colours on the scales, which makes the transition more natural.
We also implemented countershading, which is when animals are darker from above, and paler below, which you can see on the Saurus Warriors. We blended these transitions but the miniatures and our paint schemes are designed to make this approachable for any level of hobbyists – you could achieve a similar effect with Contrast and targeted drybrushing!
WarCom: Can you talk to us about how you drew a distinction between Coalesced and Starborne?
Max: The Starborne are the cosmic cousins to the Coalesced. They’re still hulking reptilian warriors, but they’re infused with the energy of Azyr. To represent this, we painted some miniatures with a bright cerulean glow emanating from them, and we drew the rest of the palette from astronomical photography – lots of deep purples and dark blues.
This purple is the primary colour representing the Old One Tepok,* so you can see purple tones and hues across the celestite found in weapons and accessories wielded by the Seraphon, and also in the shading and glazing on the gold medals. Counter to that, you can see red come across in spawnings blessed by Sotek, the most warlike of the Old Ones. These colours appear in the head markings and skink handprints on the Kroxigor Warspawned.
WarCom: New to the Seraphon stable are the Raptadon and Aggradon mounts – how did you approach these units?
Max: We looked at previous iterations of Seraphon mounts, like the older Stegadon and Carnosaur from Warhammer Fantasy Battles, for inspiration. There’s always a trap with just playing safe and going green with scaled lizards, so we chose to pursue more unusual colours like reds and oranges that contrast well with the teal of their riders.
We also thought about where these creatures might spawn, the earthy tones they might adapt to, and how wide we could take that spectrum while remaining consistent. It’s fun to come up with wild outliers, but everything has to cohere within the range to really be believable.
For the feathers on many of these mounts we wanted to present the vast menagerie of the Mortal Realms rather than locking ourselves into one colour choice. This also let us pick colours and tones that helped highlight certain areas, such as brighter feathers near the head – it’s a very natural way of making these areas stand out, and how the Seraphon would decorate their loyal mounts.
WarCom: The Slann Starmasters are the figureheads of the Seraphon, and the new miniature provides a stunning palette for painters. Can you tell us about painting these fantastic frogs?
Max: We had already painted Lord Kroak ahead of the new Slann Starmaster, and that informed some of our decisions. The slann are essentially demi-gods to the Seraphon, created across many spawnings by the Old Ones. They have stronger personalities than their Seraphon troops, with varying outlooks even between slann from the same generation.
We painted two versions for the box art with different coloured palanquins and different patterns, each equipped with different accessories to make them distinct from one another and show the variation inherent in the spawnings – and the variety of the kit.
Thank you for your time Max! You’ll be able to put some of this knowledge into practice on your very own Seraphon armies as the whole range heads to pre-order this weekend alongside the battletome.
* Mystical patron of the Raptadon Chargers.