Keeping Occupied

December 18, 2008

‘Tis the season to be busy.  Gift shopping, social engagements and familial responsibilities all put a damper on gaming opportunities.  This weekend, the drought will lift a bit and we’ll be able to continue our oh-so-slow D&D campaign.  Meanwhile, two things compete for my available time: Fallout 3 and figure painting.

I don’t want to think about how long it’s actually taken me to paint 6 Trenchers, their Lieutenant and Sharpshooter, the Grenade Porter and Captain Finn.  What matters is not so much the time but the results.  Last night I set up my painting area, put on the Red Zone Cuba MST3K episode, and got to work on the final details and touch-ups on the figures.  I’m finding that MST3K is great background noise for the process: I can listen to the riffs and get the general idea of the “plot” while being simultaneously productive.  As of 10pm, I was done.  Well, except for blending in the highlights on the shoulderpads a bit better.  That should go quicker than the hour and a half it took to paint in the teeny-tiny buckles and buttons on 7 of the 10 figures.  After that, it’s painting in the front arc and trying my first serious basing attempts.

Things I’ve learned from the Trenchers so far:

• Not all figures are created equal.  The starting unit was one of the first produced for Warmachine and it shows.  Details get obscured to easily due to poor molding that can vary greatly from model to model.  You can really see the difference in quality compared to Finn.
• Delta Ceramcoat paints, although requiring a fair amount of thinning, are perfect for me.  Cheap(er), a wide colour range and large bottles work for me.  I’ve just inherited a large number of new shades and am looking forward to my next “delivery”.
• DecoArt dollar store paints, however, are a different story.  While the metallics are not bad, most of their colours are very chalky when dry.  Normally, this would be a bad thing as the texture is noticeable, but when used to represent leather or cloth, they actually work well.  They are very absorbant when washed and can create quick and varied shading.
• The above worked very well with the Trenchers.  I base coated everything (flesh, tan, country maple, burnt umber, silver and brass) and went to town with a wash made of heavily watered down Ceramcoat burnt umber.  The effect was surprisingly effective and best of all, fast!  Highlighting with the base colour gives the illusion that there are proper highlights on the tan and maple.  The dark brown is perfect for brass: that will become my new standard wash for warm metals.
• I will never be able to get highlights properly done on blue without wet blending.  On single figures, like the job I did on Haley, it’s possible, but painting in an assembly line fashion with units it’s almost impossible.  I may just have to live with it as I don’t want to waste a lot of paint.

I promise that once the arc painting, basing and sealing is done I’ll put pictures up of my work so far.  This group turned out really well.  They look properly dirty (they do live their short lives huddled in dirt-walled trenches after all) and I can see definite improvements in my technique through them.

But boy, am I glad to be moving on to something else soon…

Written by kingmob | Filed under: 360, 4E DnD, Warmachine |