Aegis of the Iron Reach
No step back. No surrender to the void.
Forged in powered adamantine plate and tempered in orbital fire, Aegis of the Iron Reach, veteran defender, stands as an unyielding wall against the cosmic tide on ruined alien worlds.
The Inspiration
A visit to reconnect with an old friend was the inspiration for Aegis of the Iron Reach. Since we’d last caught up, my friend had amassed a sizeable collection of Warhammer minis and had also developed a real talent for painting them.
I realised that a lone space marine stood, grimly resolutely, in a bleak alien landscape would make a striking image and that the armour details would be a fun challenge.
The Craft
This artwork is really densely shaded and a piece of birch plywood with a very neutral grain was needed if I wanted to avoid the problems of hard grain not taking a burn.
The combination of hard, dark lines and many variants of shading intensity created a challenge in maintaining a consistent nib temperature across the many hours of the burning process. Some of the tight radii in the details on the face were tricky, even at A4 size.