Let's just get this out of the way now: The Heldenhammer is a beast. You need about as much time to paint this ship correctly as you would a Space Marine Land Raider. More on that next week. This week we're going to examine one of the most important aspect of any naval-based game: water.
If you look at any picture of the ocean (that isn't photoshopped to death) you'll immediately see that blue is not the only color. In fact, most bodies of water aren't blue at all, depending on the angle and time of day you observed them at. If you've ever seen an ocean sunset in July, you know there isn't a spec of blue in the tides of fire that are rolling in with the evening wind. Sidenote: Someone should totally paint a source-lit version of dreadfleet at sunset, you'd win awards with that done properly.
In any case, the biggest thing is to start with the supporting colors that are going to be showing through after the final washes. I used scorpion green and hawk turquoise as a glaze, laying it on top of the basic white undercoat. After that, I put down several layers of necron abyss and washed it with asurman blue.
The final step was one big layer of necron abyss that covered the entire base. The resulting color was united by the strong foundation layer on the topmost level while still showing elements of the colors that began the project. I then took a brush of space wolf grey and patted down the crests of the waves. A final smaller application of pure white at the very apex of the waves gave it the turbulent look.
Not technically complex, but an important technique for your toolset as a painter. Now, if I could just finish the boat that's supposed to fill this base!
