With this we’re going back to the basics of miniature painting. So, if you’ve never painted a miniature before or would like a refresher, then continue reading.
This is aimed at those who are just getting into wargaming or board gamers who’d like to paint up some of the miniatures that come with one of their board games. A lot of board games these days come with some very highly sculpted playing pieces that would probably look far better with a lick of paint on them.
So where do you start, what tools do you need, and which are the best paints to use. You’ve probably realized after a quick search on-line or by popping into your local store that you’ve most likely noticed a plethora of different paints available. Along with an array of tools, brushes, basing material and other paraphernalia. You may have no idea what to buy, what items you need to use and really don’t know what you need to purchase.
Hopefully this article will help and provide enough information to get going. We’ll start off with brushes and paints.
The obvious place to start if you have a store near you, is Games Workshop. They provide a large range of paints, along with a plethora of brushes and tools. They also have a range of starter painting sets, along with basing material sets. Another good reason for popping into a local GW store is the staff will provide a great deal of help as well. Though remember these guys are sales staff so beware not get up sold too many items you won’t need to begin with. This may be the easiest option for some people but remember GW isn’t the cheapest option.
What makes them an easy option for some, is the ability to walk into the store and pick everything up in one go and head home to start painting straight away. Tough during lockdown this obviously isn’t an option for many.
So, which brushes will you need to begin with? You can probably get away with around 3 brushes, I would say you’ll need a 0-size brush, size 1 or 2 Brush and a brush suitable for dry brushing (we’ll talk more about this technique later in the article). If you visit a store or website for art supplies, you may be able to purchase a set of brushes for acrylic paints for a reasonable price. These are perfect for beginners; quality will vary depending on brand and price.
Now depending on the miniatures you’ll be painting you may need a set of clippers to clip off the parts/miniatures from a sprue. You can purchase clippers from Games Workshop or your local gaming store, but these will be quite pricey. I would suggest looking on a site like E-bay for a set, as I bought a set from eBay for around 3 quid around 5 years ago and only recently needed to purchase a new set.
So now we get to the issue of paints, this is a subject most war gamers will definitely have an opinion on this subject. A lot of gamers/hobbyists will have a preferred brand and will go to great lengths to tell you why. I personally don’t have a preferred brand though I do generally prefer to buy Vallejo or Army Painter, because I simply prefer the dropper bottle compared to the normal paint pots, not because I think the paint is better than other paint brands. Now I do still purchase GW paints because they’re easy to pick up. I would suggest at this stage purchase the ones that are easy to get hold of, especially if that particular brand can be bought locally.
Both Vallejo and Army Painter sell paint sets, and these may be the easy option to order on-line. Army Painter also produces a basing starter set for around 10-12 pounds which contains more than enough material to keep you going for some time.
Another item you’re going to need is a palette to dip the paint out on to. Now you can pick up a plastic palette for a few pounds/dollars from any art supplier, another option is to pick up a ceramic kitchen/bathroom tile. You can get one of these at several DIY outlets, some time for free as a sample of for a couple of pounds/dollars. These are quite good to use as they’re really easy to clean. There are also porcelain palettes available in art suppliers though these can cost a lot more than a plastic version. I would only recommend purchasing one of these if you plan to paint on a regular basis.
Finally, you will probably need a cutting mat, now these come in various sizes and I’d recommend one between A5-A3, this will protect any table surface you’re working on. An alternative to this is a plastic/silicon kitchen cutting board, which can be purchased in a dollar/pound store and are generally around A4 size.
For some plastic glue may be required by some, which can be purchased at most hardware store, some supermarkets. I’d recommend not purchasing glue from Games Workshop as it’s quite expensive. I use Revell plastic glue with a long metal nib, as it gives me far better control. This can get bunged up, but a good tip is to remove the metal nib with clippers or pliers and run a flame along it with either a match or lighter. This will burn off the dried-up glue in the nib, remember to remove it from the plastic pot first.
Basic Techniques
Priming/Under Coating – This is applying a layer of paint all over the model, this can be done with a spray paint can or surface paint that you brush on.
Base Coating
This is just simply painting the base colours you’re going to use before adding shade and highlight tones.
Washes
These are paints are a type of paint which makes shading a lot easier and quicker. They are basically quite a thick transparent which when applied are designed to pool in the crevices on a model. This will give areas that are supposed to look dark shaded.
Dry Brushing
This is a quick and simple technique to add some highlights to raised areas on a miniature. So, you take your brush and apply some paint to it. Then you brush off the paint on to a piece of kitchen towel to the point of there is barely any paint left on the brush. Then gently flick the brush back and forth over the raised areas of the model. This will give the impression of light bouncing of raised areas in real life.
There are plenty of basic tutorials on YouTube as well as numerous written tutorials on a wide variety of blogs and websites. I can recommend the following websites and YouTube Channels
On Tabletop; www.beastsofwar.com
Duncan Rhodes Painting Academy; www.duncanrhodes.com Duncan also has a YouTube channel, with some free tutorials.
Squidmar Miniatures on YouTube Geek Gaming Scenics on YouTube & www.geekgaming.co.uk
Musket, Sword and Paint 