Planning painting your armies.
May 3, 2023 7:09:22 GMT
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Haardrada and Brian Ború like this
Post by paddy649 on May 3, 2023 7:09:22 GMT
I’ll meticulously plan and collect all the figures need for an army with all options, generally from a single manufacturer. Elements will be put in small zip-loc bags and collected in a larger bag with the army name written on it. This will be stored in my lead-mountain for 1d20 years to mature slowly.
When I eventually decide I need to paint that particular army I open the bag, deflash the minis and stick them on painting bases. They then get undercoated, and block painted as a group (mostly with a common colour scheme tying the army together) before being highlighted as element types and then detailed as individual minis. Completed minis are stored on my painting tray until the army is completed when they get stuck onto bases. Because I hate basing here they sit for another 1d10 months until my backlog is so huge or I need them for a battle. At that point I get out my glue, sand, paint and flock and base several armies at once.
What is fatal is starting one Army (say Gallic) and then halfway deciding to order some more figures to it to make another (say Galatian & Ancient British.) Then I have figures in all 3 states (bagged, part painted and painted but unbased) and I can’t cope and so invariably start another project leaving total chaos for 1d6 years. Part-painted figures get rebadged with the new figures into a bag marked with army name and the words “Reinforcements” or “Add-ons.” This is stored in my ready-use lead-mountain along with all those Camps I’m working on. I should point out that my ready-use lead-mountain is currently about half the size of my lead-mountain.
Eventually, when all the figures have matured in air-tight bags and I can no longer buy the paints I initially used, or the figures if any back-fills are needed I decide to sort my life out. Generally this is preceded by a threat from the Long Haired General to help me sort out but other than that I can’t explain what prompts such strange behaviour. At this stage 2 or 3 projects can be fully completed, based and moved into Really Useful Boxes for storage in a relatively short period of time. What is important at this point is to ensure that the armies are completed with such rapidity that I don’t have the time to play with them until the next is also finished. This ensures I maintain a healthy stock of completed armies that have never seen the table. Eventually, when the ready-use lead mountain reaches a containable size one of these rekindled projects stalls and is over-taken by something big. This has to be something like a new period which prompts another large investment and the creation of a second ready-use lead-mountain and the whole sorry process starts again.
Any way that is my tried and trusted technique and if anyone can suggest a more time efficient method of planning painting your armies I’d be impressed!
P.S. I am already a member of Lead-aholics anonymous so understand that One (unpainted army) is too many and Ten is not enough! I think I’m currently at about Thirty Seven!
When I eventually decide I need to paint that particular army I open the bag, deflash the minis and stick them on painting bases. They then get undercoated, and block painted as a group (mostly with a common colour scheme tying the army together) before being highlighted as element types and then detailed as individual minis. Completed minis are stored on my painting tray until the army is completed when they get stuck onto bases. Because I hate basing here they sit for another 1d10 months until my backlog is so huge or I need them for a battle. At that point I get out my glue, sand, paint and flock and base several armies at once.
What is fatal is starting one Army (say Gallic) and then halfway deciding to order some more figures to it to make another (say Galatian & Ancient British.) Then I have figures in all 3 states (bagged, part painted and painted but unbased) and I can’t cope and so invariably start another project leaving total chaos for 1d6 years. Part-painted figures get rebadged with the new figures into a bag marked with army name and the words “Reinforcements” or “Add-ons.” This is stored in my ready-use lead-mountain along with all those Camps I’m working on. I should point out that my ready-use lead-mountain is currently about half the size of my lead-mountain.
Eventually, when all the figures have matured in air-tight bags and I can no longer buy the paints I initially used, or the figures if any back-fills are needed I decide to sort my life out. Generally this is preceded by a threat from the Long Haired General to help me sort out but other than that I can’t explain what prompts such strange behaviour. At this stage 2 or 3 projects can be fully completed, based and moved into Really Useful Boxes for storage in a relatively short period of time. What is important at this point is to ensure that the armies are completed with such rapidity that I don’t have the time to play with them until the next is also finished. This ensures I maintain a healthy stock of completed armies that have never seen the table. Eventually, when the ready-use lead mountain reaches a containable size one of these rekindled projects stalls and is over-taken by something big. This has to be something like a new period which prompts another large investment and the creation of a second ready-use lead-mountain and the whole sorry process starts again.
Any way that is my tried and trusted technique and if anyone can suggest a more time efficient method of planning painting your armies I’d be impressed!
P.S. I am already a member of Lead-aholics anonymous so understand that One (unpainted army) is too many and Ten is not enough! I think I’m currently at about Thirty Seven!