Tuesday 6 August 2013

This is Sparta!!!

Experimentation time again.
I need to paint a few figures for "Hail Caesar"
Now I have a load of 20mm or 1/72 stuff.
But I need a quick way to get some troops on the table as the commission stuff has priority.
I recently picked up a small bottle of the Army Painter Soft Tone ink wash.
I'm not really a fan of the paint and dip method, I think it leaves the figures looking dull and dirty.
But some people like it and it does what it says on the tin, or in my case the bottle.
So against my better judgement, I gave it a whirl on a Spartan command stand for my future Spartan army.



I am not that impressed with the finished product, but it does look better than block painting.
At this scale, I suppose they don't look to bad.


Maybe this is the way to go.
It took me under an hour to finish this from scratch.
I'm going to try it on a unit of "Newline" Romans later.

4 comments:

  1. The dip seems to work well on 1/72 figures, better than on 28mm metals, they look very good.

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  2. I think they look pretty good. The time spent painting to playing is a common balancing act. I think your plan of spending the real time on commissions is wise. The only thing I noticed was the shade seemed a tad heavy in spots on the back of the hoplite with sword. Not horribly so. I tend to brush on the wash/dip and then go over it a couple times to knock it down if it's pooling too much. Just a thought. I certainly wouldn't kick these figures off the table.

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  3. Cheers for the comments guys.
    I did the same with some Romans last night and tbh they do look dark.
    It does give them a battleworn look I suppose.
    I was a re-enactor for many years and I know how dirty things get, very quickly in the field.
    I must agree with Andy though, but my normal standard will take me forever with the other work I have on.
    I really want to get some troops on the table for Hail Caesar and this seems to be the best way for me to do it.
    Thanks Sean, I think your comment on the pooling is a great help, less dip methinks.
    I played with figures painted a lot worse than this when I started gaming all those years ago and I never complained then.
    I am also getting really attached to the 1/72 scale again.
    It works perfect on my 6x5 gaming table.
    They are inexpensive compared to other scales in metal and plastic and they paint up nicely.
    The days of the old bendy plastics are gone.
    Most 1/72 are now produced in a fairly stiff plastic and with the new primers like the Vallejo surface primer, paint stays on the figure better than ever.
    There is also a huge range now, a range that is not far off what is available in metals.
    Most troop types are available and with my now very limited budget, mmmmmmmmmmmm.

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