Army/Mass painting; elves specifically...

[TheDungeonDelver]

Hey all...

 

I have a ... uh, war-band?  Army?  Regiment?  Buncha?  anyway, whatever the unit size in Warlord is back when Reaper did the boxes that were 10 regular troops, a lieutenant, and a leader (and a familiar).  

 

I don't play Warlord, but I would like to use the minis on the tabletop for AD&D games.  While I'm OK with painting the 2 commanders (Nirodiel and Danithal) individually, "character level" if you will, the other elves I would prefer just to get done.

 

Any tips anyone can share?  What shade should I start with, etc.

[Rob Dean]

Do you have a picture of this group? 10 of the same pose? Two poses of line troopers? I do a fair bit of unit painting, but I’m not sure which advice to give yet.

[TheDungeonDelver]

6 hours ago, Rob Dean said:

Do you have a picture of this group? 10 of the same pose? Two poses of line troopers? I do a fair bit of unit painting, but I’m not sure which advice to give yet.

 

Ah, it's these:

http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/werner klocke elf/sku-down/06122

Same but not exactly the same poses.

[Xiwo Xerase]

11 hours ago, TheDungeonDelver said:

I don't play Warlord, but I would like to use the minis on the tabletop for AD&D games.  While I'm OK with painting the 2 commanders (Nirodiel and Danithal) individually, "character level" if you will, the other elves I would prefer just to get done.

 

Any tips anyone can share?  What shade should I start with, etc.

Some general tips:

• Before you start, plan out your colors.
• This is really important for tabletop use: Make sure you can easily uniquely identify each mini.  Otherwise, you may lose track of which one is "elf warrior #3".  For example, paint one set with green cloth, one set with yellow cloth, etc.
  • Try to avoid colors that can be mistaken for each other.
  • Try to avoid using red and green as separate unique identifiers, in case you ever play with someone with red-green colorblindness.
  • Depending on how well you can tell each of the three models apart, you can use the same identifying colors on each of the models, so use green for one of each model, yellow for one of each, etc.  (Personally, I find the pictures of the two female models similar enough that I doubt I could quickly distinguish them on the table.  This may be different in hand.)
• Figure out how many minis you can paint at one time.  My personal limit is about four. 
• Paint the same color on each mini that's getting it.  For example, if all of them have the same color for their swords, paint their swords at the same time.
• Even though you're aiming for quick-and-done, expect to still spend a fair amount of time on each mini's face.
• Washing and drybrushing will be useful for most of the mini (armor, cloth, swords, etc.).  I'm not sure they would be as useful for skin, hair, etc.