Slitherine

How do you get on best painting an army?

I have switched over the years. I used to prefer a massive assembly line approach, but now just small lots of minis for a unit or command stand. I now find that facing a horde of minis at a time is so boring and discouraging that I tend to procrastinate.

Now, there are stocks of primed minis in reserve, which get painted in small lots at odd moment when the mood strikes.

How do you knock out the task of finishing an army?

I tend to paint unit by unit. That way I am producing something relatively frequently.

To be honest I don't think I have ever painted an entire ancients army (I have done several WWII ones in full) and as I have so many figures already when I paint it is normally just that extra BG or two as needed for the next big plan.

I do both, it depends on how quick I want the army and the quality of the sculpt.
For a quick army or poor sculpts I do the whole lot together, but I prefer to take my time with quality figures.

I start painting a complte BG but once I finish the large area painting I then paint the detail on half the BG so I complete figures for individual bases are finished off quickly. When I start the detail on the second half of the BG I also start the prep work on the next BG such gluing figures on horses or priming etc.

Keith

I used to do unit by unit but recently switched to doing larger batches of 60-80 at a time. I find it's a lot easier if you're doing irregular colour schemes as you don't have to change the colours so often.

It's one full unit at a time for me. I can see progress more quickly this way, and once I have a reasonable percentage of the army completed, I can start practice games with it using proxy figures from other completed armies.

Peter C

Skullzgrinda wrote:I have switched over the years. I used to prefer a massive assembly line approach, but now just small lots of minis for a unit or command stand. I now find that facing a horde of minis at a time is so boring and discouraging that I tend to procrastinate.

For me it's the same. Some years ago I started to paint only full units, but now this is the exception to the rule. My last work was some Persian units, 2 MF units, 2 Cav units and 2 Commanders. I painted on a base basis, so now I'm finishing the last 2 bases of MF, I painted one Cav unit and 2 Commanders' bases. I like to change subject very often, so it's likely I will paint some other different miniatures before to end my Persian units.

The whole army in one go. It seems easier to me.

philqw78 wrote:The whole army in one go. It seems easier to me.

Just as long as there is enough room in the bath to dip them all when you have finished eh Phil

I paint 28mm models. I usually prime a large batch ... say 32 models. Then I paint them in groups of 6-8 figures at a time (including the shield) ... When I finish a BG I stop and mount them and finish off with Matte finish. They sit on my gaming table. I get to watch the army grow in size. Just about the time I think I can't EVER paint another Roman; one glance over at the table of finished units (and a growing army) and the inspiration gets back on track. When I'm down to the last 6-8 figures I prime another batch of 32.

Caesar would be so proud.

Mike B

I paint one or two units at a time, depending on type. I'm more likely to paint two mounted units at a time because there are fewer figures per unit (and to get it over with...) I usually paint the entire army (or most of it) sequentially, rather than mixing in other units. That said, I do add units to existing armies, sometimes long after the original painting spree.

I usually do it by unit, but with starting Indians I tend to want to get a bunch done in the base skin tone ready for the darker wash so I end up doing 2 or 3 units at a time. Cavalry units are always the worst to do I find so I do them one unit at a time for the sake of sanity, but with Cataphracts I will do them 2 units at a time since there is not much horse flesh showing and armour is easy to paint.
Once I get one batch done its time to start the whole assembly thing again small work table has its advantages in that you can't push stuff off to the back and forget about it so I have to finish things up to keep room on the table.

I'm just filling in holes as most of my armies started out as DBM armies oh so long ago. Although my Medieval Germans keep splitting and becoming cadre for other armies: Medieval Danes, Low Countries, Teutonics. My oldest son has taken an interest, so he's helped fill out the Thracians and the Medieval Burgundians. He's also started work on Late Hungarians. Classical Indians were a repaint. I go BG by BG. Switching between foot and mounted so I don't get bored.

Commanders one at a time - got to look pretty cos they fight better
Units one at a time (paint) - One full unit a day (2 hrs ish, cos I work) - 15mm - slap on base colours, dabs of flesh and metalics, ink wash and varnish after the wash has dried see below
Basing by unit but as fast as possible - I'm getting enthusiastic by then
So about 2 weeks an army without trying

Cavalry suggestions - I hated them too!
Brown horses - light brown coat - darker brown mane and tail - ink wash brown or chestnut or mix of both - paint saddlecloth and saddle - flesh muzzle and white star - done
Black horses - black all over - paint saddlecloth, tack and saddle - white star and the odd hoof - done
Grey's - mid gray all over - dry brush white heavy handed on the mane and tail - paint saddlecloth, tack and saddle - done
All - tart up the fancy bits with gold, bronze or silver dabs - sometimes a bit of colour as well
Matt or Satin varnish (I prefer satin) but its a personal thing

Knights - keep it simple - no more than 2 colours for the barding
No fancy patterns unless you have the eyes of a hawk, the hands of a brain surgeon and the patience of a saint!!!!!!!

Double or treble time for 25mm although the same system works to get some colour on

I paint by battlegroup. That keeps the figure count from between 12 and 32 figures which I find manageable. Plus when I finish a unit I can post it to my blog, which motivates me to do the next!

I usualy paint by unit, but another project always seems to get in the way. However I have made a new approach with my current army and am painting my way through 64 horses, in colour batches. However I got Future War Commander for christmas and have started painting up the Warhammer to go for that, with the nearly finished WW2 project staring at me from the corner of the table..................Oh and then there is themedievals, the Hoplites, the Indians,..........

I tend to paint in groups of 12 mounted or 24 foot. If that is a unit (e.g., 4-pack Cv BG), so be it.

If I am painting irregular foot, I'll do 32 at a time to reduce color changes needed to mix them up.

I have enough armies that I am under no real pressure to get stuff painted. So I paint for a couple hours at a time. Sometimes daily, others weekly. These days, not much at all. To keep a steadier pace, I find it better to paint an hour a day than to put it off in the hope of larger block of painting time. You need a dedicated painting area/table to do this, however.

Even if you knock out one or two colors on a batch each time, you'll be surprised at how quickly you get things finished with just an hour a day of work.


Spike

Definitely by BG or set of similar units. Having a couple of projects going at once helps me keep interest and motivation. Currently on deck are some Celts, more elephants for the Indians and a few skirmishers to help finish up a Roman army. Not sure how the French Hussars snuck in there. Now if I could just paint a bit faster!

When I paint i'll find myself priming whole armies at a time, than going from eliter cavalry down to the worst cavalry by BG, then I get uninspired and i want to finish stuff, so i go to quick-assembly line style with LF, which i can pull out in a matter of hours (at least for my 1000 pt. Mac army). Then i paint MF and HF in order of the best troops to worst, but here is where I ger really uninspired . So i watch a historical epic movie, get pumped up again and finish the superiors until all I have left are the core troops (in alexander's case the phalangites). Here i looked down at my hobby desk and saw the daunting task I had to finish, all those HF...

thats sorta where I'm at right now

I paint by unit - 12 to 36 figs - all on roofing nails - stuck into a small piece of wood - so I can paint each figure individually
I almost always have about 12 units in production at any given time
That way I NEVER Get bored

Some ancients - some ACW - something else