Painting - a correspondent asks...

RogerBW (who also gets full marks for commenting using OpenID) asks:

any recommendations for "painting for absolute beginners" guides that refer to brands of stuff available in the UK? Or indeed a quick checklist from you? I haven't painted a mini for at least ten years...

I think anyone who's read this blog for any length of time can predict my answer to this, although looking back, I haven't actually summarised my approach in a single post, more captured it in a few 'here's how I painted this' piece. Anyway - here goes:

If I was starting afresh, which I pretty much did when I ditched my reliance on Citadel paints, I'd pick up the Army Painter starter set, a can of black primer and a can of Anti-Shine varnish. You should be able to get these from most reputable UK wargames vendors, and there's a list in the links section top right. If you need any other colours, AP do a wide range, and the Vallejo range is compatible, even more comprehensive (US Army M1943 uniform shirt colour? no problem, sir!) and readily available.

The advantage of the current AP starter set is it contains (as well as the paints) a bottle of their Strong Tone ink, which I now prefer to using their dip as I can be a bit more precise with it. It also, I believe, comes with their how-to guide, which can be downloaded from their site anyway.

From here on, it's simple enough even a klutz like me can do it. Undercoat, leave to dry. Paint the model in block colours, nice and bright, allow to dry. (The ink will darken things, which is why you start off with good, bright colours.) Don't do anything clever with highlights yet.

You can stop here, and you're at the point I got to painting figures for D&D in the '80s.

Now for the good bit. Wash with the Strong Tone ink - let it run into all the shadows, try and work it away from the highlights and carefully coax it out of the places where it's determined to puddle. Once you're happy, leave to dry.

[You can use their dip if you prefer instead of the ink: while it's messier, it does have a slight advantage that it shrinks a little into the shadow detail when drying. Of the two processes AP recommend, I go with slopping it on with a brush rather than the all-out dip method. On the downside, it's messy, your first reaction will be 'oh my God, I've ruined it' and it isn't water based, so brushes take a bit of cleaning.]

You can stop here, and you'll have something that (once you've applied the Anti-Shine) actually looks pretty decent from 2' away. If you want to tart it up a bit further, you can lightly drybrush highlights with the original colour over the ink, before you varnish. This is particularly useful for faces, as the ink does tend to darken those quite a bit. Andy Hawes uses this approach, but he actually uses dip, not ink - even so, the results are stunning.

And there you have it - add basing materials, varnish, and you have figures to wargames standard in really not very long.

There are a couple of tweaks:

• if you're lazy, like me, pick a primer colour other than black, as that'll save you some of the block work. If you're really clever, you can spray stuff on the sprue (see my Fireforge Sergeants): it doesn't matter if you miss odd bits, as the Army Painter range includes exact matches for each spray for touchup. 
• get the Soft and Dark inks as well - the Soft works better on whites/yellows/light shades, and the Dark better on really dark shades, and you can wash different parts of the model in different inks - again, see my Sergeants. This is something you really can't do with the dip.

As an aside - I get nothing from Army Painter for this. Just a very happy ordinary wargamer who isn't the best painter in the world, but gets to churn out things I'm mostly not embarrassed to put on a table, with the aid of their excellent stuff.

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[News flash, for those doing this with WW2 - Plastic Solider Company have just announced a set of Army-Painter-like spray paints for WW2 stuff - I SHALL be buying loads.]

Those Parthians

I should, I think, share the end results of my painting marathon with those of you who don't subscribe to Curt's blog. Once I'd got these assembled, they basically took me a Sunday plus a week of evenings, and I was quite pleased not to be varnishing at 6 am on the day of the tournament.

As I'm sure I've said before, I am not the world's best painter: if it wasn't for Army Painter, I'd be too embarrassed to show my handiwork. :D


First up, we have 23 cataphracts, being a mix of Old Glory Parthians and Palmyrans, with some A&A Miniatures Palmyran command figures. (Old Glory UK didn't have enough of the Parthians, and they basically said 'will the Palmyrans do, they're very similar'. Since they're going to double as Palmyrans before I'm done, I didn't have a problem!). Horses were undercoated in Army Painter Matt Black, and dry-brushed with Army Painter Plate Mail (or, for the unit leaders, Weapon Bronze). Riders, to provide a slight contrast, were undercoated in Plate Mail spray, faces, hands (AP Tanned Flesh), metal kontos (Vallejo US Field Drab), leather work (Vallejo Red Leather) etc painted, and then washed with AP Strong Tone ink and the faces retouched with AP Human Flesh (a lighter shade).

For an encore, 72 (yes, really) horse archers, being 6 complete boxes of Wargames Factory Persian cavalry, which turn out to fit almost perfectly in a Really Useful 7L box.

Horses were undercoated in AP Matt Black, then given assorted shades of brown (AP Oak, Monster, Fur Browns, Vallejo Flat Earth). I went with the 'mostly bay or black' approach for what's probably a set of fairly inbred mounts, though there are half a dozen pale enough to be duns or roans. Saddle blankets in Vallejo Khaki, and one of AP Red, Ultramarine Blue or Angel Green detailing, and then harness in Vallejo Red Leather. To be honest, I rushed these, and there'd have been more coat variation if I'd had more time.

The riders were undercoated in batches of twelve in AP Daemonic Yellow, Desert Yellow, Bleached Bone, Uniform Green, Ultramarine Blue and Necrotic Flesh. After that, I snapped them on the mounts (they're a tight enough fit not to need glue, actually!), did faces/hands (AP Tanned Flesh), headgear (AP White, which covers *superbly* well), leggings (AP Leather Brown) and leatherwork (Vallejo Red Leather), and bows (Vallejo US Field Drab). Final stage was a wash of AP Soft Tone ink which dragged back and evened out the overall 'look' of the different colours, which was remarkably effective, if you contrast these pictures with the shot of the un-inked and basically just undercoated ones from the previous Monday.

Basing was Tamiya textured 'Desert Sand' and then dipped straight into Javis Desert Sand mix: left to dry, a few dabs of PVA and a sprinkle of AP Winter static grass. Varnished with AP Anti-Shine.

And there you go.

De-'mist'ing figures - the solution

So, it came to pass that about a year ago, I had my first game of Warhammer ECW, for which I wound up painting all of a Warlord Pike and Shotte Battalia box in about a week. As (unfortunately) seems to have become something of a habit, I based them on the night before and was spraying varnish on the figures in my open office doorway at about 6am on a surprisingly chilly April morning.

The inevitable happened - as you can see in the close-up shot from the Battle of Powick Bridge, and the banner image at the top of this blog, the varnish dried all misty and grey.

There's a whole load of solutions rumoured for this: it's clear, for example, that slightly wetting the figure makes the mist go away, but only until the moisture evaporates. Some folks suggest revarnishing with gloss and then again with matt, but the solution I found, which really surprises me, and works? Olive Oil.

 Don't believe me? Watch.

So - here's one (slightly out of focus) Warlord Games Royalist cavalryman, with that soul-destroying grey mist all over him. (I cannot tell a lie: the first time it happened I swore - a lot).

Usual causes? Overspraying (done that: check); spraying when it's too cold outside (done that: check); spraying when it's too humid outside (done that: check); bringing figures in to dry in a warm, damp room (not done that yet!)

And here's a jar of perfectly ordinary, non-extra virgin, not garlic-infused or anything else, kitchen grade olive oil, acquired, with permission and even blessing (she's is a gamer and role-player, and sometime figure painter, and was, I think, intrigued as I was to see if it'd work) from 'Er Indoors.

Just visible bottom left is a cheap and cheerful large brush from Hobbycraft, which I was quite happy to ruin (in fact, it's one of a rolling stock of three or four I use for dip).

Yes, I missed a bit.
Yes, I did go back and fix it after I noticed it.

Ok, thinks I. Let's give it a go. Dip brush. Paint on.

Wow. Certainly works as well as wetting the figure. Even better, leaving it to dry, and then wiping off a little with a tissue, does actually seem to fix the problem permanently.

It gets better! Turns out that that brush load did about 8 figures - the thinnest smear of oil is all you need. For the next one I loaded the brush and wiped it off on the inside of the jar before starting, and still managed to do about 5 cavalry with it. From then on, I actually just ran the brush over the inside of the jar to pick up a smidge of oil and used that each time - it's amazing how little it takes. It's worth a quick wipe of the excess, but you can pretty much dry-brush them, and the oil does tend to flow and wet the whole surface. It does, though. dry to a slightly oily, satiny sheen.

And before you ask? No, I haven't revarnished them. By the time I was done oiling just over a hundred figures it was 7pm, and quite chilly outside.

And contrary to what my wife may tell you, I do learn from my mistakes.

Army Painter

I cannot tell a lie, I am an unashamed fan of Army Painter. For a self-confessed mediocre painter (compounded by the fact that I don't see in 3D!), it's a godsend. All I ask of my armies is that they pass the 'two-feet test' - do they look decent from normal gaming distance? I'm never going to win a best-painted army contest at a tournament, but... at least mine are painted, and you can tell what they're meant to be. So the Army Painter approach of blocking on the colours and letting the dip pick out some of the details is by far and away the best for me.

The small corner of my desk dedicated to spray cans has been growing of late, and for good reason - the current stash runs to:

• Matt Black - horses, character figures, sometimes Romans
• Human Flesh (had to buy this on eBay as Army Painter have discontinued it - c'mon, guys!) - Celts/Ancient Britons (man is THIS ever a timesaver!)
• Dragon Red - ECW
• Navy Blue - ECW
• Fur Brown - chariots, artillery (again with the massive timesaver)
• Army Green - WW2 Brits
• Matt White - everything else (I've flirted with the Citadal black and white sprays, but I don't think they cover quite as well, or dry as fast).
• Anti-shine spray - everything!

As I have some Normans and possibly some Parthian cataphracts coming up, I may well invest in the Plate  Mail spray as well. 

I'm also hearing good things about the AP superglue, of all things, from Trev at Rift, and their brush line. My one gripe is the dip does seem prone to dry up unless you're super careful with the lid of the tin, which means not wiping the brush on the edge, and using subtlety and a hammer to re-close the lid. 

Running out, and goop

Made a sizeable dent in the unpainted stash this past couple of weeks - a unit of EIR Auxillae (Warlord), as well as a start on an army of Brigantes tribesmen (and women) (mixed Warlord plastics and metals and Wargames Factory). The latter is for the narrative WAB campaign just starting at the club to replace the original planned Roman Civil War campaign (get well soon, Phil), It should be interesting since my army is a mix of the aforementioned Brigantes led by the much neglected Queen Cartimandua, with assistance from a bunch of Roman Auxillae. Usual last minute painting job - first session is tonight!

In doing this, I found myself running out of assorted stuff right, left and centre - black undercoat spray (horses), white undercoat spray (most other things), dark brown, red, grey, black acrylics, usable brushes, and worst of all the Tamiya dark earth textured paint I use for basing.

Most of this was no problem - Trevor down at the Rift in Peterborough is our Friendly Local Games Shop proprietor, and he usually has a decent stock of most things - but the only local stockist for the Tamiya paint is our other excellent local emporium, Trains4U. "No problem", I thought on Saturday, "won't need it till Sunday, can nip out and grab some after church tomorrow, and win Wife Points by having gardened today..." Imagine my unconfined joy to discover on Sunday lunchtime their Sunday opening is quote "winter months only."

Right. Time to cook up a replacement - basically the Tamiya stuff is a thick earth-brown goop containing sand-like particles. A quick trawl of various blogs suggested everything ranging from coloured Polyfilla to a mix of PVA, acrylic sealant, sawdust, paint and casting plaster, but in the end I plumped for a fairly simple recipe: roughly equal parts sand, PVA and dark earth paint. (The one downside of this is that the only dark earth paint I had to hand is a jar of Citadel Graveyard Earth, which is pretty much now an empty jar of Citadel Graveyard Earth - note to self to buy something suitable in bulk from someone other than Citadel).

And it worked - obviously, it does dry in the mixing pot over time (nothing that a surprisingly small amount of water won't stave off), but if you get the proportions right it's better than the Tamiya in it can be worked with a brush around feet and bases, and has the great advantage of containing enough PVA to allow me to dip straightaway in my favourite Javis Moorland Scatter.

All in all? Happy. And I'm done bar the last coat of Army Painter anti-shine, which I'll spray on when I get home from work and should be dry in time for club. It would be the same without an army smelling of varnish, anyway!

Phew...

Everything's painted, dipped, had the Tamiya Dark Earth and the moorland scatter applied. Just waiting on the first round of dilute PVA drying before I apply static grass and Army Painter Anti-Shine spray, which latter might wait till the morning.

Photos to follow: I should note I don't claim to be a good painter by any stretch of the imagination - not seeing in 3D doesn't help - but they pass the 'massed ranks at 2 feet away' test, which is fine by me.

Next up for this army will probably be a unit of Warlord auxiliary infantry - fortunately, I have a good two weeks for those.

That sense of 'aaaaaaargh'!

"So," says Grahame. "Next Monday, then? WAB. How many points of Romans can you field?"
"Ermmm....."
"It doesn't have to be painted."
Oh yes it does. Hrm, "A thousand." Eep.

So.

• II cohort: 18 legionaries, standard, musician, centurion, 308 points. Needs basing (I just dipped them)
• III cohort: 18 legionaries, standard, musician, centurion, 308 points. Assembled and primed.
• 9 Balearic slingers, 36 points, based, varnished, done.

Hrm. That's 652 points.

Lessee, what's in the boxes out there? Some cavalry would be good.

• 10 auxilliary cavalry, standard, musician, leader, 220 points

which leaves me 

• Mounted tribune on warhorse, 63 points
• Aquilifer, 65 points

or I could add another cavalryman, ditch the aquilifer and assemble another bunch of the Wargames Factory Numidians as allied archers

• 9 allied archers, bow, 45 points

Guess I better get cracking then! If I can paint the III cohort and assemble the auxilliaries by the end of tonight, I should be OK, as (once again) everything needs to be painted and dipped by end of Friday to dry in time. It does, though, from recent experience, look as though brushed dip dries in 24 hours rather than 36, so I may have some slack. Which is good, 'cause I'm out on Friday night!

I guess I better get my skates on...

I need the rest of the Rohirrim-masquerading-as-Saxons painted by Monday for a club Pig Wars game....

They're primed, and started. And I'm out tomorrow night.
So. To be ready on Monday, they need to be based and varnished Sunday (better pray it doesn't rain for long enough for me to get outside and spray!), and therefore Quick-Shaded at the latest Sat am or Friday night...

Which means I need to make a pretty decent stab at finishing the blocking of colours by the end of tonight.
Eep.

In other news - I have my first follower (which is good, cause I was starting to worry if Google Friend Connect was broken!). Hi to Paul from the excellent Paul's Bods, which is giving me serious nostalgia trips on a regular basis.

Basing, and dip redux

Really wasn't totally happy with the Balearics after I'd dipped (well, brushed) them - the dip had pooled in a few places on their tunics that just looked wrong. However, I persevered, cause, frankly, life is too short to repaint everything :D

So - on with the show.

Some priming experiments - I undercoated a bunch more Rohirrim, this time in green to save time on their cloaks, and their horses in black. We'll see how that goes this weekend.

On to basing the Balearics. I think I have a process now, which seems to work. First off, apply a layer of Tamiya dark earth diorama paint. It's a little bit pricy, but a £8 jar claims to cover a B4 sheet (which works out at around 200 or so 20mm square bases. Basically, it has resin particles in it, and can be formed on a base - you apply it with a spatula, or in my case the end of a coffee stirrer liberated from work.

On top of that, once it's dry, I brush on some neat PVA, dip the base in Javis Moorland Scatter and shake off immediately - I don't mind if it doesn't stick everywhere, since the dark earth underneath looks just fine.

Finally, I let that dry, dab on a few blotches more of PVA, and apply some static grass (don't ask me whose, I think it was Hornby!) using a Noch puffer bottle from Gaugemaster. Job done, and now to apply the (Army Painter) matt varnish...

Which was a bit of an eyeopener - the effect wasn't as obvious on the Rohan foot I painted the other week, but it really does soften the look of the dip, kill the in-your-face glossiness, and makes me look a half-decent painter. The moral of the Army Painter system really does seem to be to take your courage in both hands and not give up!

Pictures to follow next time: I'll do a step by step of the next batch of Numidians (probably as archers).

Dip revisited

I have a bunch of Balearic slingers painted up from the WF Numidians box. This time, I tried applying the dip with a brush, and I'll give it 36 hours or more to dry, If that goes OK, I'll move on to the legionaries.

On the LOTR side, I have 8 Rohirrim done, another 8 undercoated, and a standard bearer - made from a swordsman with a broken sword, with the hand drilled out and a length of florist's wire inserted. We'll see how those go, I guess.

Army Painter Quick Shade

Well, that was an interesting experience.

First time with Army Painter Quick Shade - definitely not what I expected. First reaction, after shaking the dip off the recommended half dozen or so times, is definitely "Oh my God, I've ruined it." It is, though, quite surprising how fast it changes (from thick, brown, figure-ruining gloop) to something looking surprisingly good.

For future reference (note to self and anyone else reading it):

• find a place for the figures to dry that 'Er Indoors won't mind little puddles of dip on
• do it outside
• take some kitchen roll, and a paintbrush you don't care about, out with you - you will need it
• don't fix figures to bases before you dip! 
• 24 hours is NOT long enough drying time. 36 is better, 48-72 is better still.