Fast Army Painting

If there is one thing I'm really qualified to talk about, it's getting an army finished, from beginning to end, quickly.

I'm a tournament player (well, I'm also a beer&friends player, but that's not so relevant here), and all of the tournaments I attend require fully painted armies in order to play. I wouldn't want it any other way, to me, a big part of the tabletop wargaming experience is the appearance factor.

This, of course, means that you have to get your army painted. There are two ways to do this.

The first, is to pay someone else to paint it. Looking around the net, there are a handful of painting services out there. And, to paint a 2000 point army, you're probably looking at a minimum of $500US. 2000 points of models will typically cost you $1000US, so you're adding about 25% to the cost of your army by getting someone else to paint it for you. If you're made of money, or really really hate painting, go ahead - and stop reading now.

The second, of course, is to paint it yourself. And, here is where I'm going to share my tips and tricks for getting it done.

Why should you believe me? What makes me qualified to talk about this? I've done it. Since I started playing 40k in July 2004, I've painted over 40,000 points of models. In three and a half years, that's 9000 points of chaos, 4000 points of tyranids, 12000 points of orks, 8000 of witchhunters and 9000 of eldar. That's an average of 1000 points, painted, every month - and doesn't include the time when I'm away on vacation.

And not just slapped paint on them either, but painted to a high standard. My ork army was selected as one of three showcase armies from the team tournament at Adepticon 2006 (with about 90 teams competing). I've taken top painting scores at every RTT I've attended in the last two years, with three different armies. The models I paint on a regular basis win painting contests - both on web-forums such as this, and in-store contests. I haven't won a golden demon (yet - I made the first cut last year), but that's because I work more on painting armies than on painting showcase models.

Here's how

Step One - Planning

The key to getting an army together is to plan it. An army needs to look like a cohesive thing, even if it's made up of many disparate parts.

Part of this is the colour scheme that you're going to use. And, with many armies, that's as far as it goes. Marines and Guard can all get by with just their colour scheme tying the army together.

Other armies are made of units that simply won't be coloured the same. Whether it's the Kroot and Vespid in a Tau force, the Aspect Warriors in an Eldar army, the Daemons in a Chaos army, or the mottley rabble that calls itself an Inquisition force, you need some way to convince observers that these models are all part of one army.

And, the best way to do this is with your basing. Basing is a step that many people don't even consider until the models are painted. But, in my experience, picking your basing is the first thing you should be doing when building an army. The material you base your troops on tells a story. Are they fighting on a lush, green world? A desert wasteland? A martian landscape? What about an urban ruin, or a boarding operation on a derelict spacehulk?

Picking your basing first also allows you to work the idea into your colour schemes. If you have models with camo cloaks, why would the cloaks be green if you're going to base the models in a city? Any weathering you do needs to account for where the models are suposed to be fighting, and this is reflected in the basing.

Basing doesn't have to be ornate to tell a story. But, it does need to work together. I have found that the more different elements in the army, the more the basing should stand out as a main army element.

One trick for cheap bases that look like they're from somewhere else is simply to paint ink over the rocks. This can make your normal GW gravel look like it's from some weird sci-fi planet, such as using Red or Chestnut ink for a Mars look.

There are several companies that sell fancy resin bases. I haven't personally used these, but I'm considering them for my next project. Other companies, including GW, sell small resin parts that can be added to whatever basing concept you're going with, and I find these to be great, especially for characters who should, ideally, stand out from the rank&file of your army.

Finally, there is a lot more variety in terms of rock, flock, static grass, and basing elements than what you find at your local GW. In the US (and maybe worldwide) a company called Woodland Scenics makes at least 5 different static grass and flock colours, as well as basing snow and balast that sells for considerably less than GW's offering.

That's a lot of paragraphs, and we're not even past the base yet. :)

Ok, what else goes into planning? Well, picking colours. Some colours are just easier to work with than others. The introduction of the Foundation Paint line has made this less true to some extent, but colours like red, white and yellow, even with foundation paints, simply take more time to paint. Not bad if you're doing a single showcase mini. Bad if you're painting 300 guardsmen. I haven't tried using every paint colour, but if I'm considering a colour and getting a base layer down takes more than a couple of coats, I'll reconsider using it.

That's not to say you shouldn't use it. Red and Yellow make for exceptional looking armies on the tabletop. But, if you choose to use one of these colours, know that you're looking at spending extra time on every mini that bears those colours.

Got a plan now? Base scheme and Colour scheme - sounds like an army.

Step Two - Preparation

You're never going to paint an army if you don't build an army. I call the building stage the prep stage - as you're preparing to paint.

For me, the prep stage is easier than the painting stage. Well, easier, in that it can be done in more places. When I'm painting, I need my paints nearby, I need to focus on what I'm doing, and so on. Prep work isn't quite so intensive. I typically do prep work in front of the TV, watching NFL games, or movies - or even during my daily commute, while sitting on the train.

Prep consists of four stages:

1. Cut parts off sprues. Not a lot to say here, except that the better the clippers you have, the less time you'll spend removing excess plastic in stage 2.
2. File off mold lines. Yes, in spite of the fact that we're going to get this army done quickly, we're not going to skimp on quality here. File those mold lines off or shame on you. Also, in this stage, drill out your gun barrels (if applicable). Yes, it can be tedious, but the results are much better. I've been doing orks lately, and after drilling out the barrels for over 200 boyz' guns, I still think this step is worth it. Afterall, you're looking for a quality finished product, and this will help get you there.
3. Assemble the models. Pin everything that involves a metal part. Plastic cement is wonderful stuff and plastic-to-plastic joins are very reliable. Metal-to-plastic and metal-to-metal joins aren't nearly as reliable. It's better to take the extra time here than to have to reglue things when (not if) they break. And, you don't have as much touch-up paint to do later either.
   Depending on what you're using as a basing material, you'll either base the models now, or after you're done painting. If you're using resin parts, or custom bases, you'll want them in place prior to priming. And, if you're going to be painting most of the basing material, you'll want to base them now. If you're going for a gravel look, hold off until you're done painting.
4. Prime them. Use black primer. If you really know what you're doing, go ahead and use white - as there are a few cases where it works (yellow marines come to mind), but mostly, stick to black.

Tool Tip

If you can, get a light-duty rechargable electric drill. I use this one. It's low power enough that it can be used precisely, and not break tiny pinning bits, but cuts the time required to pin parts considerably.

There you go, now you have your primed models ready to paint.

Step Three: Painting

Discipline

Part of getting an army painted is having the dedication to paint the army. You're not going to finish your army if you spend your time sitting watching House or Law & Order, or if your free time is dedicated to getting the high score on Super Mario Bros. If you put one hour a week into painting your army, it will take you ten times as long to finish as someone who puts ten hours a week into painting. Probably more like twelve times as long, as you have setup time that needs to be accounted for as well.

That doesn't mean you need to give up everything else. But, it means that you need to start thinking about opportunities. You want a painted army. Is that worth skipping Star Trek for? Is it worth playing a little less Guitar Hero?

Goals

Discipline will get you only so far. Everyone has interests outside of miniatures. Having a goal will help focus that discipline. Whether this be the goal of having a painted army ready for a tournament, or just doing a monthly vow on a webforum, it is something to work towards.

And, as many psychologists have noted, goals work better if you tell other people. Write it down. Post it online. Tell your wife or girlfriend that you have this goal, and they'll probably help you meet it.

Actual techniques

I guess this is where the real tricks come in. First, realize, these are techniques. They're shortcuts, but they're not skipping quality for speed. Some of them don't seem like much, but put together, you'll find you're working more efficiently.

Technique Zero: Assembly Line

Everyone pretty much knows this. Work on a group of models at a time, instead of one model at a time. You cut down on the overhead of switching paints. They also end up looking more uniform. But, this is old hat.

Something I've found that helps with the monotony of assembly line painting is alternating a squad with a character.

Technique One: Use bigger brushes.

Some people, especially 'Eavy Metal style painters will encourage you to work from the 'inside' of a model towards the 'outside'. That means that you're painting interior surfaces first. That works if you're going to spend a lot of time on everything.

Not me, I encourage you to work in the following order:

1. Metalic surfaces - use a really big drybrush and go over everything that's going to be metallic with it. Don't worry about going over the lines.
2. The bigger surfaces - Again, use a bigger brush. And, again, don't worry about going over the lines, you'll touch that up later. This is especially true for any surfaces that you intend to drybrush - do it sooner than later, as it will go over the lines.
3. Work towards progressively smaller surfaces, with progrssively smaller brushes. Touch up mistakes as you go.
4. Work from lighter surfaces to darker surfaces. Making a mistake with a light colour onto a dark surface is much easier to fix than a mistake with a dark colour on a light surface.

Also, work on your brush control. Even with a big brush, the less you go over lines in the first place, the less you have to fix later. It takes less time to paint a section of a mini slightly slower, but not have to touch up the area around it.

Technique Two: Learn where you can cheat.

We all screw up from time to time. Going over the lines isn't good, so you want to fix that. But, you don't need to make every fix perfect. If you notice an ooops on a dark blue surface while you're using a light blue paint, you can use the lighter blue to fix it, without needing to switch back to the darker paint.

Also, save touchups until you're done with all the models in a group. Going back through and looking for the mistakes will not only help you catch them, but will let you fix all the mistakes of a particular colour at the same time.

Also included in cheating is learning what paints can go over other paints easily. If you make a mistake with blue on a surface that is meant to be red, you might

Technique Three: Washes are your friend

A little wash goes a long way towards creating shading on your models. My typical infantry model has three colours per element - a basecoat, a wash, and a highlight. If the basecoat is done right, yielding a smooth colour, then the wash will add the depth. A wash is very important over metallic paints, or they can look awful.

Technique Four: Focus your attention where it's noticed

People's eyes gravitate to certain parts of a model. Faces are an example of this. It's somehow wired into us - look at a person and your eyes naturally move to their eyes. So, take a little extra time on the parts of the model that stick out. Gems on Eldar, helmets and shoulderpads on marines. Faces on guardsmen and orks.

Technique Five: Add flashy bits

A trick from magicians is misdirection. So you don't want to spend a lot of time painting pants. That's fine. Draw people's eyes away from the model's pants. A few really bright areas on otherwise darker figures will really draw people's eyes to those areas and away from other parts of the model where you may not be spending as much time (like, pants).

Technique Six: Use tools

Tools are what separate us from the lesser animals (well, tools and playing with toy soldiers). I use an airbrush on all my vehicles, for example. Here's a short tutorial I wrote on airbrushing. When converting, having the right saws and drillbits, and even a dremmel, speeds up those tasks considerably.

Technique Seven: Stay Organized

Another thing that's overlooked too often is how much time being organized can save you. I never have to hunt for a specific paint colour - I keep my paints organized in a Paintier system to keep the paints organized. My tools all have specific places where they live, allowing me to get at them without having to hunt for them. It's only five minutes here and five minutes there, but before you know it, that's enough saved time to have painted another whole unit.