So I was thinking about using the new turquoise tarnish/patina paints on my bronze weapons and solar engines... then one of my buddies said he didnt think that the skinks would allow their weapons/plaques/anything to tarnish and they would probably be cleaning them all day long when they werent buys killing rat men... i think thats pretty sound logic... so thats where I want you guys to give me a reason to paint them with the new paint...
Uh... because it's nifty? I don't think a little light tarnishing - especially if it's an awesome turquoise patina - is beyond the realm of possibility with skinks. I mean, I wouldn't go all-out and make them groody and awful-looking. But some turquoise? Go for it.
Lizardmen are based off of the Maya and Aztec, theses cultures only had acess to to gold silver, copper and a little bronze. (the copper and bronze would get a bit of verdigris tarnish) altough usualy their "gold" was a mixture of gold and copper called... Tumbaga. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumbaga
I only use gold on my models not bright just a bronze then brown wash. Its not too dark but also looks like its been used for war. I like the idea of them using superior materials like obsidian and gold for mundane tasks like war. Its probably half the reason empire infantry never seem to hit my saurus without that bloody chariot thingy giving then +1 to hit.
Well, if they found a stash of long-hidden weapons or magical artifacts, I'd imagine there'd be some wear on them.
also: Lustria is constant under assault from looters, invasion forces and adventures of different kinds. Few of these get back out alive, which means their equipment stays. My entire army uses metal / silver weaponry. Fluffwise I justify this by having the skink artisans re-melt / re-use scavenged armour and weaponry. I still have my engine and artifacts painted as gold'ish alloy, but I just dislike the idea of bronze / gold weaponry as it is some of the softest metal available.
"Tumbaga is an alloy composed mostly of gold and copper. It has a significantly lower melting point than gold or copper alone. It is harder than copper, but maintains malleability after being pounded." -wikipeda Weird stuff ehh ?
I'd say bronze is the top used metal. Some copper, gold, and silver. I'm thinking of incorporating meteoric iron in my next fluffpiece as the base for a magic item of some kind. In the real world, well before humans developed the means to mine iron, they did use iron from meteorites. It was considered blessed because it fell from the sky. The pharaoh had an iron dagger.
Their edged weapons were primarily stone (flint) and obsidian. Razor sharp but subject to breaking, and useless against metal armor. But concussive weapons were very common/popular, and could deal indescribably obscene injuries, even against armored opponents.
I think gold tends to look a little tacky, especially in huge numbers. Just a personal preference, but I always try to paint my models to something i like . Lore is flexible. You can work just about any paint scheme into the lore if you're a little creative. It's about building "your" army not Games Workshops idealized vision.