Today, we will learn a basic scheme for Clan Burrock. How to approach a Clan headed by two bald twin brothers with English and Spanish first names, a Polish last name and an affinity for turning traitor and running away? Well, we ignore all that and look to their totem, of course! The description of the burrock from the Classic Battletech Companion tells us they come in various shades of gray and brown. I chose a nice reddish brown color, with highlights in bright green as a nod to the highly acidic mucous the burrock uses to burrow through solid rock.  

We begin with a cleaned, primed and based mini. As I chose a Kingfisher, whose arms sit a bit closer to its body than I like when painting, I have not assembled the mini. Since this is a dark scheme, the color of your primer is not as important as if it were a light scheme. I used a light gray, and on top of that I laid my first layer of dark brown paint.
 

If your mini doesn't look like crap at this stage, then you're doing it wrong!      

The next step was to take my red brown color and apply it to the raised panels. I left the weapons, joints and the panels I selected for highlights colors untouched for later.  

Now we're looking better.      

The next thing I want to do is darken the mini, and maybe seal it a little so I can handle it without rubbing off the paint. I mixed a wash using the same dark brown I used as a base coat. My washes consist of three drops of water, two drops of Future floor wax to act as an extender ans seal the mini, and a drop of paint. Using the base color also fills in and defines the panel lines without any sharp contrasts.  

Theoretically, you can get to this step with just a simple application of your red brown as a base color, followed by a dark brown wash. I have found that this method, while easier, can be uneven and does not always give the deep definition of panel lines that I have come to prefer.  

It's shiny in the Future!    

Next, I want to tone done that brightness and begin some highlighting. Using a wide, flat brush, I very lightly drybrush the red brown back over the mini. Adding successively more light tan paint into the mix, I brush on several more layers, concentrating on just the raised edges and upper surfaces.  

Brushie, brushie!      

Now I can begin to add my highlight colors. The weapons, joints and cockpit are given a base of black, and all the parts that will be green are first coated with a very dark green.  

We're getting there...      

I then give the weapons and joints a cost of dark gray, being careful not to fill in the panel lines or barrels. The green parts are highlighted with a lighter green so they stand out better. Since the Kingfisher has a nice, wide double cockpit, I decided to give it a good jeweling effect, and chose blue as a complementary color.    

Nearly finished    

At this point, I have an excellent, tabletop-quality mini. I can finish my base and glue the arms on and call it good. But who wants to do that, eh? I want a few more highlights on my mini! Using a very bright green, I go back over the extreme edges of all the green spots, so now they really stand out with that acidic quality. A lighter gray over the top edges does the same for the weapons and joints. The right arm laser gets a bright red crescent and a couple of white dots as a partial jeweling effect, and the other lasers receive a simple red dot each. Finally, I recreate my last highlight level using red brown and tan, and edge each panel with it. Now I have a mini that really stands out!  

Now we're looking good.      

A bit of super glue and one of my trademark bases (and some better lighting), and we've got us a Clan Burrock Kingfisher Herve and Nigel would be proud of! At least, they'd better be...