Sunday 15 December 2013

Winter Painting Project

Well it's safe to say I'm suffering a little Yuletide burnout after the three month Know No Fear diorama, and have spent the last week or two playing Day of Defeat non-stop in my spare time instead of painting my newly finished Mephiston model. I wasn't happy with my initial results when I did pick up the brush and decided to change my painting direction from single, or small numbers of miniatures, toward something that's been simmering in the background for many months.

Allied models from the "Day of Defeat" computer game. Inspiring poses!

















One goal I have never achieved in my war-gaming history is to finish an army. Same paint scheme, same basing, similar paint style for all the models. I have always been side-tracked due to apparent time constraints (read: distractions), rules changes affecting model selection, or more recently the allies rules for Warhammer 40,000 tricking me into starting many small armies rather than finishing one coherent group. Earlier in the year I picked up the "Necron Megaforce" after seeing the great work being done as part of the Tale of Painters Megaforce painting challenge. These guys started their challenge early in 2013 and have nearly run out of models to paint!



I started testing out paint schemes back in July, and the final test model for this idea you can see on the left. Smooth blends, bright colours that work well on the gaming table, and easy to reproduce without too many fancy techniques. Unfortunately it took more than three hours, not lending itself well to army wide use without the need for months of distraction free painting time (not my forte). So I went the complete opposite, which you can see in the middle. Two tone, simple paint scheme and less than half the time of its predecessor. When viewed from the front it was sufficient, but became quite bland when viewed from behind (the position I will be looking at when using them!).



This is where the third model you can see above comes in. Simplifying the greens but expanding the base grey palette using some new Citadel Technical Paints (reviewed at Tale of Painters no less!) bring the model alive and make it just as pleasing to view from behind as the front. The weathering also means I can be a less concerned about the smooth transitions on the first few coats of paint, and can hide any problem areas that would otherwise be a hassle. I have about six of these guys half finished, and have begun work on a larger model, to which this paint scheme lends itself just as well as the small figures.

Necron "Megaforce" (plus a few extras).


Ultimately this project is about discipline, eliminating distractions, and maintaining consistency across a number of units, all skills I need to develop. As I am aiming to have the army looking good as a whole I will be less focused on perfecting individual models, something which has stalled my progress and enthusiasm in the past. The additional benefit of having never fielded Necrons will also benefit my gaming skills as I develop new tactics and learn the inner workings of an army I have been decimated by in the past. There's also nothing cooler than an army of Terminator like robots!

There's plenty of painting to do before the first game, so wish me luck!

2 comments:

  1. Good luck! Are you painting in batches or individually? I get too tempted to try new things to paint a whole army beautifully so I'm in admiration

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I am going to give batch painting a try for the first time, it allows me to keep the 'tone' and palette even across a whole unit, and I can put everything else away and just concentrate on one unit at a time rather than a pile of models I would otherwise paint individually.

      Delete