Suggestions for the World's Worst Painter's new army

[Irmin]

The title really says it all

Looking to build a FoG army to use at my local games club but being the WWP it needs to be something easy to paint.

I'm open to any suggestions from any tme period as long as its a. fun to play and b. semi-competitive.

Any help would be appreciated.

[rbodleyscott]

Indians, Arabs or Numidians are all relatively easy to paint.

[philqw78]

Buy an army that you can get shield transfers for. The transfers will look great and people won't notice the rest. especially if they have big shields

[Brainsnaffler]

I'm biased, but I would get any 6mm army. The colours are easily applied and there's no worrying about special paint effects such as inking or drybrushing because a standard paint job is enough.

Oh, stay away from 6mm Persians though. Painting the embroidery on their clothes will really mess up your eyesight

[peleset]

Sumerians!
Bugger all armour, bugger all clothes the only hassle may be painting equids.

[Rudy_Nelson]

Back in the 1970s, I had a friend in the Texas area who had a wierd practice. He would just prime his new armies. At the end of each battle, he would give unit 'battle honors' by painting another color on them. By looking at his army you could tell the successful units. These were not always the best rated troops as you might see elite troops 'white' and average troop fully painted.

[mikekh]

Pick an army that you are interested in, paint and then spend a bit of effort on basing - it works wonders. A poorly painted army can look really good with time spent on basing.

[Irmin]

Pick an army that you are interested in, paint and then spend a bit of effort on basing - it works wonders. A poorly painted army can look really good with time spent on basing.

Therein lies the rub, I really fancy doing a French Cathar Crusades army but it would be a lot of heraldry to paint and the Early Med French lists don't come out until Feb 2009 at the earliest.

[paulcummins]

How about something slightly earlier?
Like Normans and their ilk - lots of mail, not a lot else.
Black undercoat, drybrush in gunmetal, dab of flesh on the face and hands. 1 colour on the shield and a transfer.

[Scrumpy]

Didn't people find the LPIA quick & easy to paint awhile back ?

[peterrjohnston]

Focus on what stands out; at a distance of half a metre or so, nobody can see you've misaligned the
gold buckle on the figure second from left Shields and flags are the main things that stand out. Flags
can often be found ready to print, shields decals, as someone else has pointed out, can be bought.


Tim Porter has a guide on his web site to "easy" painting:

http://www.madaxeman.com/painting/paint ... bers_1.htm

The ink washes technique he describes can hide a lot of errors, I know from experience.


I would have said late medievals are fairly easy, all that plate armour.

An alternative of course is to buy or use a painting service, if you can afford it. There's a fair
number around.

[lawrenceg]

the only hassle may be painting equids.

Just spray undercoat them white or a light colour and give them a wash with thinned out darker colour. I did about 150 horses in very little time that way and they look pretty good. I used a size 10 brush for 15 mm figures IIRC. The same technique could be used for (semi) naked savages such as Libyans.

[ScottS]

If painting horses is a problem, you can always use a spray-on brown primer, then lighten or darken the horse with washes or basic drybrushing.


I've found that a brown primer works well for infantry as well. For example, I prime my Romans with a brick red spray-on primer. Skin is easier to paint - just dry-brush on paint with a thin skin-tone color and the shadows take care of themselves. Then paint the armor black, then silver. Pick out a couple of details and you're done. It is much faster than priming with black and then painting until the black is covered or painting with white and then going over it multiple times.

[timmy1]

Either Indians or wait until the Early Lybians come out. (Or do what I do and buy something dirt cheap off eBay - for example I missed out on a DBM 400 AP Early Samurai army at USD 0.40 per pieice a while back - and when someone asks why it is so badly painted you say you purchased it that way but plan to strip it to bare metal one day and repaint, no one needs to know and you know that wargamers always have more lead to paint)

[bertalucci]

Having turned a significant figure and with eyesight failing I had to adopt a new technique, particularly for 15mm, which in my opinion does the job, and the ink acts like a varnish coat protecting the figures.

First apply rough and ready base coat colours, usually flesh last.
Then ink wash pretty much all over, brown and flesh are the most useful ink colours but yellow, red and black have their places.
Green, purple and blue are pretty much a waste of time except in a very watered down state. (they tend to make everything look the same no matter what the base coat was in the first place).

For example Macedonian pikemen,
Paint gold all over, add blood red trim to toga and sleeves, light brown to pike and scabard and dot in flesh face, hands and knees.
Then splosh a slightly watered down brown wash over the whole lot. Done.
If you want to be fancy then add shield transfers

Honest it works, the wood looks woody, the folds in cloth are darker, the faces get some definition and the ink in the creases hides all those mistakes.

I was so impressed with a new unit done this way I re painted all my old figures (80) in the same style in a mornings work.

Horses - no problem (and I hate painting horses)
Paint the whole thing mid or dark brown.
Splosh on undiluted brown ink, let it dry then paint the saddlecloth in white or whatever suits.
A dab of white on the forehead or around the hooves if you want to be fancy.
Done - the ink highlights the tack the mane and the tail.

Try it out, it is so easy.
You may need to trial what ink is best in various situations, my advice would be:
Red ink on orange base gives a bright red.
Red ink on purple gives a rich purple.
Black ink on metallic iron makes great chainmail/plate armour
Diluted black ink on grey makes good elephant hide
Diluted black ink on white works for grey hair and very diluted details the creases in white cloth.
Flesh ink on flesh for europeans or on gold for a bright gold
Brown ink on just about anything looks good - I use loads.
Yellow ink on white or yellow or mustard always seems to work well, much better than a flat yellow.
Yellow and flesh ink on off white makes great horns and claws.

It also works on 25mm figures but the base coat painting takes longer.

Look for figures with plenty of detail in the casting.
Works well on true ancients, dark ages are easy peasy, and even medieval foot take no time at all - sorry but the technique cannot make the heraldry easier, rennaisance bril, really makes the colours stand out without being too garish.
So really the choice is yours.

Straying a bit, also works with those strange things found on most highstreets, Worclub, or something!

Hope readers will try this and have the same success.
Don't forget - most viewers of the figures will be at least 3-4 feet away.

PS the only painting prize I have ever won is at the world championships many years ago when Corvus miniatures were awarding the prize. I had the only Corvus figures, badly painted even for me, so won the prize. I was so embarrassed, but the £25 covered my shame.

[MARVIN_THE_ARVN]

Ive recently painted some 15mm and 6mm figures and being pretty bad at painting I must say the 6mm look great on mass.

So 6mm all the way I say!!!

WoW im a warrior poet!!!

Con

[daleivan]

Having turned a significant figure and with eyesight failing I had to adopt a new technique, particularly for 15mm, which in my opinion does the job, and the ink acts like a varnish coat protecting the figures.

First apply rough and ready base coat colours, usually flesh last.
Then ink wash pretty much all over, brown and flesh are the most useful ink colours but yellow, red and black have their places.
Green, purple and blue are pretty much a waste of time except in a very watered down state. (they tend to make everything look the same no matter what the base coat was in the first place).

For example Macedonian pikemen,
Paint gold all over, add blood red trim to toga and sleeves, light brown to pike and scabard and dot in flesh face, hands and knees.
Then splosh a slightly watered down brown wash over the whole lot. Done.
If you want to be fancy then add shield transfers

Honest it works, the wood looks woody, the folds in cloth are darker, the faces get some definition and the ink in the creases hides all those mistakes.

I was so impressed with a new unit done this way I re painted all my old figures (80) in the same style in a mornings work.

Horses - no problem (and I hate painting horses)
Paint the whole thing mid or dark brown.
Splosh on undiluted brown ink, let it dry then paint the saddlecloth in white or whatever suits.
A dab of white on the forehead or around the hooves if you want to be fancy.
Done - the ink highlights the tack the mane and the tail.

Try it out, it is so easy.
You may need to trial what ink is best in various situations, my advice would be:
Red ink on orange base gives a bright red.
Red ink on purple gives a rich purple.
Black ink on metallic iron makes great chainmail/plate armour
Diluted black ink on grey makes good elephant hide
Diluted black ink on white works for grey hair and very diluted details the creases in white cloth.
Flesh ink on flesh for europeans or on gold for a bright gold
Brown ink on just about anything looks good - I use loads.
Yellow ink on white or yellow or mustard always seems to work well, much better than a flat yellow.
Yellow and flesh ink on off white makes great horns and claws.

It also works on 25mm figures but the base coat painting takes longer.

Look for figures with plenty of detail in the casting.
Works well on true ancients, dark ages are easy peasy, and even medieval foot take no time at all - sorry but the technique cannot make the heraldry easier, rennaisance bril, really makes the colours stand out without being too garish.
So really the choice is yours.

Straying a bit, also works with those strange things found on most highstreets, Worclub, or something!

Hope readers will try this and have the same success.
Don't forget - most viewers of the figures will be at least 3-4 feet away.

PS the only painting prize I have ever won is at the world championships many years ago when Corvus miniatures were awarding the prize. I had the only Corvus figures, badly painted even for me, so won the prize. I was so embarrassed, but the £25 covered my shame.

Interesting--I like the inking idea over a "rough and ready base coat." This is timely for me, too, as I'm about to start painting up a Late Republican Roman army. One question--any particular brand of paint you prefer? Do you base coat with a particular brand, or what is at hand?

Thanks for sharing your technique

[bertalucci]

Dale---

Or is it Ivan?

Box full of allsorts picked up over the years but now mainly using Games Workshop because of easy availablity.

I have used some of the foundation colours but they don't last as long as the normal paints, but these are good to splash about on the bases either instead of or before flocking.

The inks seem to go on and on and on!

Glad to be of help.

[daleivan]

Dale---

Or is it Ivan?

Box full of allsorts picked up over the years but now mainly using Games Workshop because of easy availablity.

I have used some of the foundation colours but they don't last as long as the normal paints, but these are good to splash about on the bases either instead of or before flocking.

The inks seem to go on and on and on!

Glad to be of help.

It's Dale. Ivan is my middle name

The nearby store no longer seems to stock GW (instead P3 and Vallejo) but another not to far away likely still does-- I check there. Thanks again.

[Redpossum]

Could you tell us, please, what exactly you mean by "ink" ?