The pangs of existential angst as I get on in life are certainly present in my mind of late. I've got a lor of lead, and a finite time in which to paint and play with it. With that in mind I've been experimenting with some rapid ways in which to get miniatures painted and on the tabletop.
I started with some of the A&A Miniatures Middle Imperial Romans. These have literally had one base coat painted on top of the silver basecoat (leaving the armours out), then a wash from a mix I have concocted for heavily armoured miniatures and one highlight. That was it. If you leave the half an hour drying time of the wash out of the picture, it took next to no time at all to complete them which is exactly what I wanted.
I have to be honest, compared to my normal standard these fellows are not very crisp or tight, the colour saturation is dull and it was a little painful to paint this way. The pain though, must be balanced against the expectation of being able to play with them and this is certainly something I want to do.
I should add, I'm very much looking forward to Adam Smith's new middle Imperial Roman AD Miniatures venture and I'm not so sure I could paint up the new AD stuff in the same manner as these. The A&A Miniatures moulds are not fresh and could do with remoulding IMHO as there was quite a lot of flash and a heck of a lot of cleaning up to do.
There will also be some Wargames Foundry Franks painted up in a similar manner but with a different "magic potion" wash as they're less heavily armoured. Again, the aim is to get these toys on the table! :>)
There are some mistakes on the miniatures, that will be cleaned up ASAP. The flesh on the helmet of one of the legionaries is particularly galling!
Awesome painting on the figures! It sounds like you’re dealing with a classic hobby "battle scar"—the stray brush stroke that lands exactly where you don’t want it?
ReplyDeleteThey were painted at Mark Wood pace compared to my normal Sam Curran pace so some slippage was probably inevitable. Still, you're right, it's annoying! LOL
DeleteThose look great!
ReplyDeleteThanks. The most time was actually spent trying to get a wash to the right consistency then dabbing it off the miniatures urgently when it was wrong. Now that I have the wash down, it should be easy to do four a day in an hour or two. This does not include varnishing etc (sadly lol) :>)
DeleteI saw my friend James echo your post on these guys on Bluesky and really like them. For speed painting, not bad at all! I suspect you and I are of a similar age and I also wonder how many years of painting and gaming I have left before something gives out. I tend to take a little longer on figures but I've learned to restrict myself to 3-6 at a time and just finish them before putting more on my bench. Well done. Michael
ReplyDeleteHi Michael. The plan is to paint two armies as fast as i can and one up to my normal standard. That way, more painted miniatures (even if they do feel a little "flat") but more games and more fun :>)
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