pace Marine! These two words conjure up feelings of dread and respect... or at least a casual, "Oh, yeah, one of those armies in the starter box. Was the store all out of Tau and Eldar?"

All silly jabs aside, Space Marine armies are very common in the gaming world. Below is a basic step-by-step guide on painting a Space Wolf Runepriest. Consider it an overall review of the painting process.
After cleaning and basic assembly, I removed the slotta tab from the miniature. Then it was primed with Citadel Primer and pinned to facilitate mounting on a base. For painting, I mounted it temporarily on a wooden block.
I usually start with the faces and skin. This one was GW Dark Flesh highlighted with a mix of Vallejo Brown Rose #803 and Dark Flesh. The final layers were that mix with Bleached Bone mixed in as well. No need to finalize the face; we just want to get the bulk done as it'd be much harder to paint it without messing up the surrounding armour.
At this stage, basic blocking in of the armour is done, starting with the deepest shadow colours. In this case, it was Vallejo German Grey #995.

Note that both the base and backpack are seperate, on pins inserted into cork stoppers or mounted on wooden blocks. Keeping these sorts of pieces seperate greatly speeds the painting process by allowing you easy access to areas that would otherwise be difficult to paint. I also painted most of the armour on the backpack as a colour test -- if I didn't like the look, I could just replace the backpack rather than strip and start over.
The process of blocking in colours continues with GW Dark Flesh to colour the inner lining of the cloak. Thin layers of GW Shadow Grey are applied directly over the German Grey.

Beneath his foot, the stone has been painted in colours to match the stone base. It's important to paint areas that require messy techniques like drybrushing or heavy washes first so as not to mess up surrounding areas later.

 

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