Uruk-hai
By Noel Cunniffe (Son of Gondor)
Uruk-hai Painting Guide
Paints Used
Chaos Black
Codex Grey
Fortress Grey
Scorched Brown
Bestial Brown
Bleached Bone
Dark Flesh
Scab Red
Tin Bitz
Boltgun Metal
Chainmail
Brown Ink
Black Ink
Other Materials
Super Glue
PVA Glue
Static Grass
Modelling Sand
Introduction
The Uruk-hai are some of the best miniatures in the Lord of the
Rings range and also one of the toughest armies around. This
painting guide is useful if you want a fast and well-painted army
of Uruk-hai. With a few easy to use techniques you can have
some well-painted miniatures that are ready for the gaming table
very quickly. This guide is best used for painting groups of Uruk-
hai at the same time (5-10 Uruk-hai at the one time works well).
Also it helps if they are of the same type like painting groups of
pikemen and swordsmen separately.
Step One
Remove the Uruk-hai from their sprue and remove all mould
lines. Using Super Glue, glue the models into the slotta base.
Spray the Uruk-hai with Chaos Black Spray Primer; this gives a
good undercoat for the paint to stick to as well as providing
shading. It is better to do two light coats rather than one heavy
coat as this tends to obscure detail. When they are primed, touch
up any bits where the primer missed with Chaos Black.
Step Two
Give the armour of the Uruk-hai a drybrush of Tin Bitz. Leave
some of the black undercoat showing through. It doesnt matter if
it gets on to other parts of the model as this will be fixed later on.
Then paint the edges of the armour and drybrush the chainmail
with Boltgun Metal. Also at this stage paint the Uruk-hais sword
and the tip of the pike with Boltgun Metal. Again it doesnt matter
if it gets on other parts of the model.
Step Three
Now is the time to fix up the areas of the model where any of the
paint from the last stage spilled. Paint these parts Chaos Black,
paint Dark Flesh on to the skin areas of the models, leaving the
basecoat in the deep recesses of the skin. When that is done
paint the loin cloth around the Uruk's waist with Scorched Brown.
Step Four
Now this is where it gets messy! Get out your Black Ink and mix it
with 60% water to 40% Ink. Paint this wash onto the armour,
chainmail and any metal weapons the Uruk has. Then get out
your Brown Ink and mix that with 60% Water to 40% Ink. Then
paint the ink onto the skin and the loin cloth. These two ink
washes give near perfect shading to the model.
Step Five
When the model is completely dry paint the edges of the armour
and sword again with Boltgun Metal. Just do a thin line on the
edge of the armour plates. If the line gets too big just thin it up
later using Chaos Black. Drybrush the chainmail with Boltgun
Metal again but do it much lighter than last time. Also at this
stage if you are painting an Uruk-hai Captain it will make the
model stand out more if you highlight the edges of his armour
with Chainmail.
Step Six
Paint Dark Flesh onto the skin areas but make it a smaller area
than last time. Then mix up a mixture of 50% Dark Flesh to 50%
Scab Red and paint this onto the places where light catches on
the model, the chin, the knees and the top of all of the Uruks
muscles.
Step Seven
Highlight the loin cloth with Bestial Brown. And when thats dry
paint the very edges with Bleached Bone. Finally mix Scorched
Brown with water to create a wash. The consistency of the wash
should be around 60% water to 40% paint. Paint the Uruk-hais
hair and gloves with Chaos Black.
Step Eight
Break out the Codex Grey at this stage and drybrush the hair, the
gloves, and the straps on the back of the Uruk-hais legs with
Codex Grey. Paint the pike shaft with Codex Grey also. Highlight
the top of the pike shaft with Fortress Grey, blending it into the
Codex Grey. Using Bleached Bone drybrush the Uruk-hais teeth.
Step Nine
Using PVA glue, glue sand to the base of the model, then apply
another coat of watered down PVA over the sand. This will help
seal the sand and make it much less prone to come off. When
thats dry paint the sand with Chaos Black.
Only when this is dry, drybrush the sand Scorched Brown, then
Bestial Brown and finally Bleached Bone. Make sure you wait for
the paint to dry in between these or else the layers will blend
together and it will look a mess. Finally paint the rim of the base
with Scorched Brown and when thats dry glue static grass on to
the base.
Well thats it. I hope you will find this guide useful and end up with
well-painted (and fast painted) Uruk-hai.
Noel Cunniffe (Son of Gondor)
