Painting Miniatures

Greetings Adventurers!

Now I’ve been painting miniatures longer than I’ve been playing TTRPGs. I started out with Heritage Models Dungeon Dwellers Caverns of Doom adventure game set that I probably got sometime in 1981.

These were LEAD miniatures and several looked like melted messes of metal rather than the superbly crafted 3d printed plastic/filament minis of today. When I started playing RPGs I also got into the miniatures hobby associated with them. I particularly liked Grenadier Models AD&D line. I also dabbled with some Ral Partha’s, Alvanco’s Wizards & Lizards and some random Armory ones among others. I started painting those Caverns of Doom figures with enamel paints (yeah yuk!) designed for plastic models and quickly learned that was not the thing. After a few play sessions most of the paint had been worn off. Also, the end results were less than ideal. I took all of my painted miniatures and dropped them in acetone and removed the paint and started over. Re-starting with Floquil railroad colors, designed for metal trains, I began to hone my craft and started painting some pretty good minis.

(Early Paladin work, Grenadier 1980's, notice the poofy lichen basework)

Oil-based paints were a pain to deal with and I always seemed to be out of thinner. Soon, I moved on to water based acrylic paints and started to pick up some Citadel Colors mostly made for Warhammer minis. I liked the color pigments and their thickness but the bottles they came in were pretty terrible and sometimes the paint became so clumped it was unusable. As I developed my hobby skills in painting and miniatures (like basing, kit-bashing, pinning etc.) I got rather well at mixing colors, drybrushing, glazing and other techniques.

(Re-done Halfling Grenadier 1980's)

Still, I was not satisfied with the Citadel Colors, especially for the price. A few years ago I discovered the Army Painter line of colors and really loved them. I got a mega set and supplemented it with colors that I wanted or experimented with. I really dig their Warpaints line. The big thing though. It takes me FOR-EVER to paint one mini. From the initial spray paint primer to base coat, then shading, highlights, special effects, detailing, and then on to washes and drybrushing all the way to dippin into varnish to add depth (an old tin soldier modeling trick) then spraying with a dull cote to take away the varnish shine or even skipping that whole step and just and sealing them with a clear cote spray. It’s like a few HOURS to finish a mini and that is if I know what colors I want to use from the get go!

(Reaper Elf, Getting better but basework still "basic")

My conundrum. I have a lot of minis. Most of those minis are not painted. Some of my minis from 1981 aren’t even finished. Everything is primed, but color? 

(Yep. There are more minis under that cardboard)

Nope. I even made a vow to myself not to buy another miniature until I had all the ones I already owned painted. This lasted, mostly (I bought military ones and military models), from about 1986 till I got into the gaming industry in early 2000 when I started to get some “comp” minis for free or in trade. I really didn’t buy a SINGLE fantasy miniature from 1986 until about 2000 when I broke my vow with the wonderful Reaper line of miniatures. 

(Reaper Ghost with a little too much varnish. See brown part inside of hood and on shield, Ack!)

BUT I love using minis at my table. My gaming group loves to see their battles played out on maps and want, neigh, demand that I have a battlemap for every combat encounter. I have minis for characters that were specifically purchased for games (and used unpainted) that have long since ended. Sadly, with the promise that I would have them painted “next session for sure!” I have bought whole groups of monster minis designed for encounters in an upcoming game session (usually a few sessions away!) only to paint one or two and the rest hitting the table only in their glorious primer coating. I desperately want to have my magnificent collection, now bulging with the excellent Nolzur’s Marvelous line of D&D minis (I’m especially fond of their monsters,) painted and table ready. Sigh.

(Reaper Dungeon Dwellers, throwback line, plastic spider)

I’m nowhere near a professional at mini painting. I’m not even close to some of the people who have you tube videos up there like Squidmar, Ninjon and Lyla Mev, who I’ve learned so much from. I just want to get my minis to the table and not have them with off-white or grey primer.  Now, I’ve been watching slapchop, speed paint, contrast or whatever you want to call “painting a miniature faster” videos for some years now and the results, to me, were less than stellar. I’ve stayed with my acrylic paints and crank out perhaps 5-6 completed mini’s a year (ugh, that sounds so awful.) 

(Conan still in progress, note test swatches on cardboard holder)

Well dear friends, I’ve decided to take the plunge. I’m writing a lot now and really need to have my “hobby time” prioritized. So, I have done a lot of research in the last year (off an on yeah…time is hard to find) and I think I’ve found a solution. I took the dive. Army Painter’s Speedpaint 2.0+ line of paints. I’ve ordered the “supermega one with everything” set. The reviews from all the pros are in. I’ve seen all the how to’s. They have fixed the bleeding and reactivation issues. I’ve gone to a whole bunch of websites with the sample swatches that dozens of people have painted and I’m going ALL IN. I think this might be my solution. I’m gonna paint these little buggers and get them to the table. Pros are cranking out “table ready” minis in less than 15min after priming. I’m sure I can get down to 30min a mini. I’ll keep you posted. After all, “Smiley” here has been waiting since 1982 for some paint.

"Paint me, Seymour!"