Old Crow Tom War Get 'Em On The Table Tutorial

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Here is a quick guide on how I pianted and based my 15mm Old Crow Sci Fi troopers. They were painted to get on the table rather than be best of show, but I'm still proud of them nevertheless. Believe me, if you want to get through your lead mountain, this works.

You will also be surprised how little individual detail matters when you see the squads and then the platoon on the table. In fact the placement of rocks and grass clumps makes a much bigger difference than worrying about insignia, scopes etc.

The troopers themselves are designed to mimic the Near Future warriors (as per those in the gameplay rather than more attractive advertising artwork) in the Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (GRAW) XBox game. The assumption is that they have camo'd weapons and are wearing desert gloves (except leaders - makes it easier to spot them).

Materials
Figures: Old Crow 15mm Sci Fi
Bases: 30mm round, 2mm deep mdf from Warbases.co.uk
Basing Material: Vallejo Stone Effect Black Lava
Tufts: Silfur - various
Paints: See Tutorial:

Stage 1 Prep:

Clean mould lines and flash. Ensure figure bases are flat, score underside of base with knife and wash in detergent. Whilst drying, score top of base in crosshatch pattern

Now glue figures to the bases. I know, about turn on how you would normally do it. Trust me. I use a strong PVA glue from the local hardware store. I don't skimp here. Plenty of glue, making sure it leaves no gap round the figure's own base and then tease out to around half a centimetre away from the figure. Normally all done with a cocktail stick.

Stage 2 Bases:

At this stage the figures are cleaned, prepped and stuck to the bases. Do you wait for the glue to dry? Hell no!  After a few minutes the first bases can be picked up (carefully), experience counts here, allow the glue to begin setting and go clear if you prefer.

Get your pot of Stone Effect Black Lava, shake, stir, then using an old brush, work it onto the base, up to and around the figure base. Use a cocktail stick to poke/roll it into hard to get to places. If you want to add rocks/large tallus etc, dab them into a bit of PVA glue then push into the Black Lava whilst it's still wet. Work the Lava up to to base of the rocks as necessary.

Word of caution. The whole lot shrinks as it dries, creating a nice firm grip. If you put a lot of deep cuts into your base when crosshatching, they may show through. A repeat application maybe with a bit of sand mixed in does the trick.

The Lava is water based - easy to clean if you get on the brush, figure, table, yourself. Delete as required.

Stage 3: Go watch a movie

Movie, beer, pizza

Stage 4: Undercoat

At this point you may want to spray a WHITE undercoat over everything. That will work. I swear by Citadel OOP Smelly Primer.  It gives me more control. I diluted the priner and painted the figures, allowing the metal to come through  slightly (it shows as grey) on the top of the helmet, shoulder pads and breast plates.

I left the Lava black! Go figure!

Stage 5: Painting the Figures

You'll love this bit. Citadel Gryphone Sepia Wash, big brush and just dollop on!  Make sure it gets into the folds and crevices. As you are applying it, use your thumb to gently remove excess from the top of the helmet,  shoulder pads and missile case.

The effect you will have is - the 'white' undercoat has turned 'sand', where the metal (grey) is showing through it gives a worn rather than factory new look.

You may need to repeat this a second time but be careful. It's best to use a smaller brush and apply where required to make joins/creases etc stand out. I also used a second selective coat of Sepia to make the belt equipment just that bit darker.

Now take Citadel Badaab Black Wash and apply to the rifles and missile sighting equipment. You want the effect of a grubby, used weapon in a camouflaged casing. If you want to paint black/gunmetal instead do.

I chose to just let my guys be wearing desert camouflage gloves - no need to paint hands at all.

Now paint the visors the colour of your choice. My visors are Citadel Dark Angels Green with a light accent of Citadel Scorpion Green along the top ledge. This is the most challenging part of the paint job.

Allow to dry thoroughly. This will be your break point for today.


Once you are sure the figures are completely dry, break out a bottle of Windsor and Newton Peat ink. You don't have to use it but it will give your figure a bit of pop and really line the joins/creases etc. I advise experimentation first - maybe putting it on diluted at first - but the same rules apply as the Gryphone Sepia Wash.

That's your figure done expect any additional detailing you want to do. Don't be too judgemental at this point - wait till you do the bases.

Step 6: The Bases

If you chose to spray the whole lot white earlier then you could have just plastered Gryphone Sepia over everything - figure and base. Let it run into all the nooks and crannies.

I want my desert bases to match my OOP Citadel Sulphur Wasteland (or some such) battle mat. So, I use a pot of Do It All (DIY Store) Matt Pebble Beach emulsion - really! - emulsion - I glob it on with the same brush (size no.5) I used for the Black Lava. Because the Lava is black, I don't have to get too close to the figures or between their legs - it's shadow!

Should be dry (sic) in 15-20 minutes. If you are doing a whole platoon, the first base will be dry around the time you are painting the eighth. Now glob on your Gryphone Sepia as above. Put it on heavier around rocks and large tallus.

Again, the first base should be dry around the time you've done the eighth. Wop out your Citadel Bleached Bone and lightly drybrush - building up to the desired effect. Over do it? Apply more Sepia. Drybrush a bit harder across the tops and ridges on any stones and tallus.

The Silfur. Fook'in fantastic stuff! Too little looks plain silly and too much looks like they're in an unkempt back garden. You pull it off the cellophane it comes on with a pair of tweezers. I will place two, three clumps in a base in different positions until I'm satisfied. Then, when you are ready, place a spot of white glue where you want your grass tuft and put the tuft in position using the twezers. I now use a cocktail stick to make final adjustments and when happy, use it to push down the centre the tuft.

If you have the edge of a base showing up or a bald patch this is where the Silfur comes into it's own and hides a multitude of sins.

Steps 7,8 and 9: Beer!

Sounds lengthy but it's not. Work in batches of 4-6 bases so you don't get bored. Boredom = loss of concentration = that Oh Sod It! moment. It also creates natural breaks for coffee, tea, blogging etc.

There you go. Please feel free to ask questions. If you are organised and dedicated and have no other distractions two to three nights should see you get a platoon on the table.

Note that the flash used in the photos has washed out the depth of colour in the base. The 'squad' photo is closest but still too 'light'.

Cheers

Mark

GZG New Trooper: Zod Commando

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Quick but effective paint job on Jon's new 15mm Sci Fi Trooper to represent my Zod Commandos.

Step 1. Painted the figure with black ink.

Step 2. Removed ink from all exposed surfaces.

Step 3. Washed with Citadel OOP Waaarg Green.

Step 4. Vallejo 'bright' Gold visor.

Step 5. Rifle painted black - grey highlights and then quick drybrush of Boltgun Metal.

Step 6. Sight recticle painted Scab Red, then White/Scab Red reflection highlight.

I tried to paint very light blue/green 'power' streams in the recesses on the barrel but was defeated by my ageing eyes :-(

I'm tempted to remove the paint from the knee pads, paint them steel or maybe yellow/black 'hazard' stripes (but I have to remember this is 15mm!). He definitely needs badges on his shoulder plates for a bit of colour though. So I've designed this Zod Commando Shield to be suitable for a 15mm figure.

I also intend placing him and his buddies on bases represents ship's/space station decking. Markings on the decking will add additional colour to the piece.

The shield is the unit badge of the Zod Double Epsilon Deep Strike Commando Company. They are chosen for hazardous missions of high strategic importance but with correspondingly lower probabilities of survival. The Company motto is:

"mev brord min alder skjelme"
My Brother is my Shield

Cheers
Mark
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Speed Painting: Citadel Sepia Wash

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The figure on the left is a test using Citadel Sepia Wash over a base of Tausept Ochre, though any light 'sand' colour will have the same general look.

The effect is somewhat darker and more pronounced than you see here - the camera flash washes out the depth of the colour. I checked the mini again after downloading the photos and found the contours and creases are easily visible at a distance of around 4ft from the eye. There is a slight knack to using Citadel washes. I'm certainly no expert but here's how I used the wash on this miniature.

First wash the whole figure with the Sepia, not too much pigment this time round! Then let it mostly dry (I'm impatient when it comes to painting miniatures). Now fill the brush with pigment from the bottom of the jar and roll it on a paint palette to take out the excess medium. Then 'paint' the heavily pigmented wash into the creases, folds and crevices. Unlike opaque acrylic you just have to give a quick swipe with the brush. The pigment will (almost always) settle in the lower creases, leaving the raised areas as highlights. You can leave as is or build up the depth of colour as you want with further applications.

The Sepia is 'warmer' and more subtle than Devlan Mud. In the instance above it provided a finish which reminds me of faded British desert cammies.

Overall, not bad at all for a 'quick' finish when you consider it's just basecoat and wash. You can go to town with highlighting, drybrushing or weathering if you wish, but if you need a platoon of desert troops in a hurry.....it's now a matter of detail and you can probably complete the lot in two to three nights, start to finish.

Cheers
Mark
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Harkonnen Sand Troopers

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More painting....this time 'Harkonnen Sand Troopers'


This is the fastest fully opaque paint job I've done to date. 8 GZG FSE (?) figures in 45 minutes! The idea is for the troopers to look 'worn' and with this in mind I've 'distressed' the armour.

1) Undercoat: Citadel Iyandun Dark Sun
2) Liberal wash of Citadel Devlan Mud (before the undercoat was fully dry)
3) Heavy Drybrush of Vallejo Iraqi Sand
4) Citadel Boltgun Metal for paint chips and heavily worked areas.

Still have to paint the hands, drybrush the boots, and use a bright red highlight on the visor. Not sure the distressing works on miniatures this small to be honest, but they do look magnificently 'campaigned out'.

Must add some badges and insignia to add character to the models.

Vallejo Iraqi Sand is brilliant. I'll take better photos over the weekend once the platoon is completed.

Cheers
Mark
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Another Day Another Platoon

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Just a quick update. I started my ASQL Alien Grey Army this morning.

These Greys from 15mm.co.uk are really fun minis and great models to work on. The more I handled them, the more inspired I became with fun ideas for basing them - so there will be a small hiatus whilst I source the additional materials and models I need. More on the Greys themselves and the ASQL Grey Army during the week.

I needed a break from 'Grey' this evening, so started another 'platoon' of GZG miniatures. This time 40 OUDF. I'm trying out a former Soviet style camo pattern with Citadel Codex Grey blotches on a base of Gnarloc Green.

1324th Mech. Sponsored by McStarBurger

I experimented with 'pea dots' in the much lighter Fortress Grey and this looked striking at a distance, but too obvious close to for my taste. I also painted one mini with Vermin Brown splotches to accent the grey - the result was magnificent! You could almost call it a Neo-Soviet Flecktarn, but not quite in keeping with my concept for these minis on the tabletop.

In case you're interested, the figures were painted like this:

1) White Undercoat
2) Wash of Citadel Devlan Mud
3) Second coat of Devlan Mud on body armour and kit (special attention being paid to straps, borders, creases, etc). Important as the Devlan Mud leaves a khaki finish and saves you having to paint these areas, reducing overall painting time!
4) Citadel Gnarloch Green on arms, legs and helmet.
5) Further wash of Citadel Devlan Mud applied to Gnarloch Green areas.
6) Citadel Codex Grey splotches on Gnarloch Green (pointed paintbrush with splotched pea dots applied in 'threes') - but especially at points which appear to be natural highlights, leaving the Devlan Mud in the creases and folds.
7) Flesh areas roughly painted with Citadel Elf Flesh, then given a light brush of OOP Citadel Flesh Wash. When dried (more or less) spot of Elf Flesh on nose, cheek and jaw.
8) Visors - tried light blue but that sucked the life out of the minis. Reverted to Vallejo Polished Gold. Pretty effective you'll agree.
9) Weapons, minor kit etc etc as required.

In all, excluding the undercoating, 16 figs in 3 hours and 2 Vodkas. They're not brilliant, but I like them and by god they are bloody good for wargame standard!

Cheers
Mark
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'O' GROUP....... Stress Busting with a Paint Brush

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Work has been BLEUGH this week and totally emotionally exhausting. Salvation lay not in the blog but 'speed' painting a platoon (36 figs/12 bases: an FWC Company) of GZG Free Cal-Tex over the last couple of nights.

The funny thing is, they've been sitting on a bookshelf primed and ready for several months but I just couldn't find the enthusiasm to paint them. Partly because their relevance has declined with all the new 15mm Sci Fi miniature releases on the market, but also due to what initially had been a poor choice of undercoat/base colour (Citadel Khemri Brown).

To cut a long story short, I finally decided to 'sacrifice' the FCT and test some painting techniques and different ways of applying camo schemes. The result of my first test mini was quite impressive, so I painted a second, third, fourth.......

The camo on the 1st squad looked great, especially given I had painted them at 1 am in the morning. But next evening as I inspected them again when I got in from work, I found that whilst they looked cool 4 inches from my nose, the colours 'disappeared' into a brown fug when they were placed on the tabletop.

In Progress Photos: GZG 15mm Free Cal-Tex

And this is the rub. Like everyone, I want to have really well painted troops, but equally, I want them to look good 4 feet away on the tabletop under the Kitchen lights. This is after all, how they'll be viewed 80% of the time. So I compromised, and was more liberal with the camo accent colours on the remaining figures, which in turn speeded up the whole task. And you know, the overall effect for the energy and time expended is not shabby at all.

Here's how I painted them:

1) Bare Metal. Dilute Citadel Khemri Brown (Foundation Paint) and brush liberally onto figure. The paint will settle into the detail leaving the raised areas with a metallic finish - don't worry about this.

2) Drybrush Citadel Commando Khaki. This will hide the majority of the semi opaque metal finish on the raised areas.

3) Dilute OOP Citadel or similar brown ink. Apply to creases, edges and armour with a small brush. Wipe off exposed areas with finger. Do NOT 'wash' the whole figure as the finish will simply look dirty. Sounds fussy but it's actually quite fast.

If you like khaki, and want them to be Sci Fi Toms, especially in some W40K trench warfare setting. Finish there, ignore 4) below, because they look the part right now.

4) Three brush strokes of Citadel Vermin Brown per arm, two for the front/side and one for the back of each leg Fortress Grey in between the Vermin Brown swathes or anywhere else I felt needed to be 'lifted'.

TIP: Dilute the paint if you want a more subdued and 'realistic' effect as the edges will feather. Dilute the paint on your palette, wipe the brusg dry, pick up small amounts of diluted paint on the tip of the brush - but not so you have a small ball of paint at the end. This is more time consuming.

5) Run brown ink around inside edge of helmet visor. This will make it much easier to paint the visor as you won't have to go up to the edges!

6) Helmet Visor, Citadel Goblin Green. Accent with some yellow mixed into the Goblin Green or a diluted swipe of Gold. Any oops! moments can be fixed with brown ink.

Done! Steps 2-6 on 36 figures in one evening and 1.5 hours in the early hours of the night before. By the time I finish the details and get them ready for basing, say two to two and a half evenings.

Finally, I'm going to drybrush the weapons for a sand' camo finish and give the figures pale blue hands to emphasis that under all that gear, they are clone grunts.

Stress well and truly busted!

What do you think?

Cheers
Mark
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Augmented Battle Suits - Fini!

Finished off the Augmented Battle Suit platoon from Critical Mass Games this morning. Mounted the minis individually on 15mm round bases for Space corridor guncrawls and 1-2-1 Character Skirmish games. Plus, Space Hulk is back with a vengeance and I have the original rules, got tiles and lot's of Khurasan's Space Demons.......

PAINTING & FINISHING

I painted the figures using the 'speed painting' technique introduced by the Master Chef. Each figure was washed and scrubbed to buff up the metal before painting with 2 coats of Citadel Thrakka Green Wash. This was applied straight onto the bare metal. The weapon was painted black and the visor gold, then the entire model was drybrushed with Citadel Bolt Gun Metal. This picked out the highlights and edges of the armour and gave them a distinctly 'worn, been in combat far too long' look. Brilliant!

The washes took longer to dry than normal. Possibly due to the humidity in the air. Nevertheless, putting aside the drying breaks, I can claim completing these miniatures to a stunning tabletop quality in under half an hour, including the bases, no more than an hour of 'hands on' time.

TIP

Where the brusg=h had accidentally slipped or applied too much gold around the visor, I used an old pot of OOP Citadel Salamander Green to rectify the mistake. I found it compliments Thrakka Green perfectly and now aim to use Salamander Green to provide greater depth to 'shadow' areas or line specific detail if needed on future projects of this nature, prior to applying the Thrakka Green.

PAINTING FOR THE MASTER CHEF

With my own platoon of miniatures out of the way, I painted the remaining Augmented Battle Suit figs to give to the Master Chef. He only wants a handful , including one to be the Master Chef, of course! He might as well have my redundant figs and use the cash to buy himself more CMG Light Recon or Standard Rifle Infantry.

I handled the 'Battle Suits' destined for the Master Chef slightly differently than mine. I began with one coat of Thrakka Green Wash but then followed with a coat of OOP Citadel Waaagh (or, as Heather called it "Oh my god that's vivid!" ) Green Ink.

I went for the Waaagh Green 'cause that's what MC prefers for his own miniatures and it'll allow him to repair any future damage to the paint job easily. The first coat was Thrakka Green to 'key' the model prior to applying the ink. Once drybrushed with Bolt Gun Metal, the tone of the green was subdued so that the overall effect actually looks really good.

(Photos will follow once I have my camera's USB port
problems sorted or buy a digital card reader.)

Cheers
Mark
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Monday Night Mini Paintfest

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12 CMG Augmented Battle Suits painted this evening. Real joy to paint too. Three coats of Citadel Thrakka Green wash followed by a light drybrush with Bolt Gun Metal to give that 'seasoned' look. Visors done in Citadel Don't Drop On Carpet Gold.

The camera flash 'burns' off the green wash in the photos and plays off the metal drybrushing. May need to wait till the weekend to take better photos in natural light. I'll have the 'Suits' based by then too. By the way, the Gauss rifles looked fantastic when left green and drybrushed with Bolt Gun Metal but didn't respond so well when painted black.

I'm toying with the idea of basing these 'Suits' individually on my standard sized round 'squad' bases to reflect their comparative power on the battlefield...but....based normally these will be great for Space Hulk type guncrawls.

Guncrawls win!

Cheers
Mark
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Spartans - All done bar the basing!

I'd been looking forward to returning to my Spartans all day. So, straight onto the painting (a.k.a. kitchen) table when I got home tonight in order to make the most of the fantastic evening light.

'Blue' Spartan Platoons No.2 and No.3 were finished in record time. I also emptied the last zip bags of GZG New Israeli odds and sods to create a couple of additional support squads and then just painted every last miniature left on the table until there is a small sea of blue. My thoughts turn to Chelsea and I'm reminded of the 1979 the FA Cup Winners Subbuteo team I owned as a kid. Chelsea's main rivals were rather surprisingly Brazil, whom I don't think ever actually played at Stamford Bridge........

By 8.30pm, 60 plus Spartans and 3 conversions done in just two nights, with plenty of time spare to crack open a bottle of wine and plump down on the sofa with Heather to cringe in unison at the latest episode of The Apprentice on the BBC. Best TV of the week.

Cheers
Mark

Another Spartan FWC Company in Progress

We took a few days out last week, in no small part due to my discovering a potent wine called Elephants Trail. In addition, a business related trip to Edinburgh allowed Heather to pass the doors of Valvona & Crolla “Edinburgh’s undisputed food heaven”, on her eway home and return laden with mucho fine Italian goodies. So we decided to pull up the drawbridge, drop the portcullis and have some quality 'us' time.

Refreshed, renewed and with a gloriously sunny morning heralding the potential for the first BBQ of the season, the omens seemed to be in favour of it being a good day for painting miniatures. Now, I'm not one to thumb my nose at the gods )often), so I began another FWC 'Company' of Blue Spartans using GZG's 15mm New Israelis. I deliberately focussed on a known quick win to jump start my motivation this week and get some real momentum back under way!

I find mounting them on old CD's gives me a lot of control

whilst also reminding me that I am painting
units rather than individuals.

I thoroughly recommend you read this excellent piece on painting Motivation and Momentum on The Painting Corps blog. Just don't read it whilst drinking a glass or two of Elephants Trail! As you will find all motivation, as well as all sense of feeling, slipping away......

On the subject of motivation and momentum, another thing I happened upon in mounting my figures on CDs, is that each one holds enough figures for 1 FWC platoon (or FAD/AA:FoF squad). If the idea of painting boltgun metal on the weapons of 30 guys in one sitting seems a chore, I know that if I get the weapons, visors and gauntlets completed on these 8-9 figs tonight, and maybe even base them as well, then at least I've finished a platoon. If I can't be arsed to complete more minis tonight or simply run out of time, then I'll do the second platoon tomorrow, but if something crops up so I can't paint, at least I've accomplished something and finished a whole platoon ready for gaming.

Notice that I am using a subtle psychology on myself by talking in terms of 'platoons' rather than no.s of bases or miniatures. By thinking in terms of platoons, completing a 'platoon' convinces me that I've accomplished more than implied by 3 or 4 'bases' of miniatures. Also, looking at the task remaining ahead, I now ONLY have two more 'platoons' to finish, which feels less of a chore than thinking of 9 -12 'bases'.

Cheers
Mark

SPUG Week

It's Spug Week at Dropship Horizon. Follow me all week as I paint 6 packs of 15mm Spugs from Spriggan Miniaures and build some 'Spug Hills'. I also have a great Spug tutorial and some fantastic pictures from Jeff Racel to share with you.


Here are the first batch of Spugs lined up half way through the painting process. As you can see I went for a 'Martian' desert fire Spug look, after a little trial and error I have to admit. Here they are after 2 coats of Citadel Ball Red Wash and a further vibrant wash of Miniature Paints' Red over selective areas.

The camera flash has washed out the colour on the Spug minis at the front of the photo. Those at the back are the most accurate match for the actual figures on my painting board.

Cheers
Mark

HALO SPARTAN: Blue Team - Test

My Cimmerian Mercenary Mech company is languishing in a big sulk. Well, I'm the one in a sulk as I'm having a complete arse of a time painting this 15mm armour to bring about my vision of a camo scheme inspired by the patterns on a granite rock.

Sometimes you just have to walk away with dignity and sneak up on the problem when it's not l00king!

So, to keep my spirits up rather than downing some spirits, I decided to see if I could replicate the success of my Green HALO SPARTAN with a test figure for Blue Team.

HALO SPARTAN Blue Team

GZG 15mm New Israeli

You Looking at Me?

Once again two coats of Citadel Washes, onto the bare metal casting, in this case Asurmen Blue. No primer or undercoat. To speed things up, I carefully drybrushed Bolt Gun Metal over the rifle, leaving the dark blue wash in the detail of the weapon. A quick brush of Citadel Shining Gold on the visor completes the effect. I'd say no more than 45 seconds paintbrush time all told, not allowing for drying time between the two blue washes. The visor taking 10-15 seconds of that.

The figure is darker in actuality, a deep Oxford blue, but the camera flash bleaches the colours. The blue doesn't have the same 'shimmer' of the green miniature, but looks great nevertheless.

I was tempted to add some extra detailing, such as a stylised Greek Spartan helmet onto his right shoulder pad and some dots of colour as LED's on his backpack - but I wisely thought "don't push your luck tonight, quit whilst you're ahead and feel enthused".


Cheers
Mark

The 300 Second Spartan: Lessons Learnt

Listen up Marines! Master Chef here. Take a knee.

The sign of a crack outfit is that they learn from every action and are prepared to turn every defeat, every mistake, every Charlie-Foxtrot into an opportunity for improvement. Chief of the Boat Hannam will now brief you on the lessons learnt from the '300 Second Spartan' challnge. C.O.B. over to you....

No.1 SHAKE

Shake that bottle of Citadel 'Wash' as if you are ringing the neck of an Algolgian Snakemaster.

No. 2 DIP

When Mogi stew is the chow of the day, you know that when the you have to dip your spoon right into the bottom to get the good stuff. Same with the Citadel Washes. Use a Starbucks wooden coffee paddle if you only want a small amout.

No. 3 POOLING

Citadel Washes can pool on flat surfaces and leave 'tide marks'. You can't hide them with another coat of wash, so keep an eye out for this and prevent it with your brush. The only place to worry about on the GZG New Israeli figure is the very top of the helmet.

No. 4 BOLT GUN METAL

I painted the weapon Bolt Gun METAL and carefully applied a black ink to enhance the detail. Next time I will either leave the weapon with a green patina and give it a careful black wash OR paint it black and drybrush with Bolt Bun Metal.

No.5 GAUNTLETS

I was going to leave them green, but I saw some pictures of SPARTAN Action Figures with black/dark grey gauntlets so went for that. Too late, I saw some promo pictures from HALO 3, where the Spartans have gauntlets with green armoured plates covering the hand and fingers. Next time I'll leave the hands green but give them a light black inking to bring out the fingers.

No.6 DON'T LET THE PERFECT.....

My wife made a very valid point about this miniature. She thought it was one of the best figures I've painted in years. Not simply because it really does look great on the tabletop, but because I painted it to what she feels is the appropriate level of detail, not letting "the perfect get in the way of the good". I've been known to spend hours on a single 15mm miniature, but, in this instance I didn't even try to paint the gold into every nook and cranny of the visor, yet the end result is stunning.

Of course the subject matter, figure design and colour scheme helped, so this may not be possible with ordinary grunts - but we'll see.

That's all. DIS_MISS!

The 300 second SPARTAN

Following the Master Chef's excellent stats for HALO SPARTANS in FWC, I couldn't help but set myself a mini challenge of painting a 15mm SPARTAN in 300 seconds or less using the Master Chef's painting guide.

I pulled a GZG New Israeli figure from a pile waiting for a desert paint job. There was no flash or mould lines to remove, so a quick wash and he was ready.

Two coats of Citadel's Thakka Green Wash. quick wipe of Gold across the visor, Bolt Gun Metal for the rifle and Emporer Dandruff Grey or similar for the gauntlets, followed by a quick black inking of the rifle anf gloves. Quick, easy and bloody effective - this figure looks superb!

I'm off to work right now, so no time to blether....just enjoy the eye candy!

GZG 15mm New Israel, now a HALO SPARTAN-III

Green wash on bare metal

pre-black inking for the rifle and gloves

Cheers
Mark

In Space No-one Can Hear You........

.......buy GZG SG15-V14 Armed crew figures in heavy EVA suits. These miniatures are perfect for any number of scenarios inspired by Alien, Outland, 2001, UFO, or yesteryear Sci Fi classic. Whether set on a lunar surface, an abandoned spaceship or the deep vacuum of space.

SG15-V14 contains 6 BIG figures, with two each of 3 different poses for £2.50. The figures themselves are 16-17mm to eye level, approximately 10mm across the body and 19mm tall overall. They also carry huge life-support systems on their backs, looking not unlike that beer fridge you have in the garage!


Don't be put off by the size of these figures when compared to more conventionally sized Sci Fi miniatures. A quick Google will show them to be correct in size and bulk, and I think they look great for shambling down starship corridors or into those alien caverns. Rather than try to describe the detail on the figures, I'll let the photo above do the talking. They will repay a colourful paint job that makes the best of the sculpting and are perfect for a wash of GW (Citadel) Devlan Mudd or similar over a light base colour and then picking out the detail.

I chose to use these figs to give the Master Chef's 'wash' technique a go. In the photo below you will see the successive stages as each wash is applied over the BARE METAL. I'm delighted with the results. I painted the gold visor after the second wash, then added another careful thin blue wash over it during the third coat, before a final quick gold highlight.


I love the 'electric blue' metallic fabric effect of the wash. Whilst the original plan was to paint the boots, gloves, and equipment in white or yellow, and maybe even paint the helmet white, yellow, orange or red - for that utilitarian starship crew effect - I may well just leave them as is and pick out the weapons and other minor details.

I thoroughly recommend this technique if you need to paint a number of figures quickly for a game, especially miniatures like these with full faced helmet visors. It's not just speed painting but warp-speed painting! By the time you finish applying a coat of wash to the third miniature, you can return to the first to apply the next coat. 24 figs given 3 coats in an hour. To block paint visors, weapons and bases takes just one more hour. Though the paint job is still to be finished as you can see in the photo here, that gold visor really lifts the figure above the ordinary.

TIP: Don't be tempted to add black or brown ink for more depth to the shadows. It just looks muddy. I've tried.

TIP: Make sure you don't allow the wash to pool or create tidemarks on flat surfaces. Further coats of wash won't hide them!

There's even less excuse now for that pile of Sci Fi lead to get any larger. They probably won't win any prizes but it does get a platoon or more of 'painted' figures on the table with just one evening's work.

Cheers
Mark