New to the hobby? Daunted by endless ranks of troops? Looking to get your army ready in record time? Jess shares some of her tips and tricks for getting your models on the table with minimal fuss.
1. Tongue Depressors
Fed up of having to pick up individual models when building and painting? Try Tongue depressors. You may have a few of these kicking around from covid testing kits. Alternatively use eBay to order a pack of 100. I like to (lightly) superglue the feet of the models to these sticks before gluing on the arms and heads. This allows me to compare the movement and flow of several models at once. When it comes to painting you spray on your undercoat then batch paint five models at once. When ready, gently snap the superglue bond and add the models directly to a multi-base.
2. Texture rollers
Want great looking bases for minimum effort? Texture is your friend. Slap a dollop of milliput on your base, use a texture roller to spread it out, spray on an undercoat, dry brush highlights. To complete the look you dap texture paint into any gaps and sprinkle on some flock. Nothing complex and the effect really elevates your unit. If you don’t want to shell out for a wargame specific roller there are plenty of icing rollers for cake decorating that may suit your needs at a fraction of the cost.
3. Contrast and Washes
Not everyone has the time, skill or patience to be an award winning model painter. Sometimes everyone just wants to get some nice looking units on the table so they can play. Contrast paints from Games Workshop, Speedpaint from Army Painter or good old inks and washes make table ready miniatures achievable in a short time. For my Northern Alliance Clansfolk I undercoated with Games Workshop Foundation Spray, the main colour is an old wash and fur collars etc are picked out with a brown Speedpaint. Then I just added a few spot colours and metallics before a drybrushed highlight to complete the look. I don’t win awards for them but they look the part.
There you have it folks. Nothing ground breaking but by applying these handy tricks you can cut corners to hit the table in next to no time. With two children and an endless pile of dirty laundry to take care of I wouldn’t be able to get armies ready without finding shortcuts. Let me know your own time saving tips.
