Painting Update

The clocks going forward has brought lighter evenings, and greatly expanded my painting window. I can now spend an hour winding down from work painting, rather than sitting in front of the computer!

Recent completions have been my Menoth Choir, and my test Shredders.

The Choir is looking good, despite 2 of the models being finished a while ago and the others half painted up till now. Unlike some of my other miniatures I’ve half started, I actually managed to maintain a similar process. They look good together, and I imagine I would be to only one to tell which ones where which. 

 

Shredders are done; I talked about them in a previous post so instead of repeating myself I’ll just post pictures.

Thanks to the wonders of Simple Green, I have my Beast Handlers stripped of their old paint, ready to start again. I’ve also got my Master Tormentor on the table, and about 60% done. I’ve managed to reproduce the look of the existing miniatures quite well, so hopefully the new ones won’t stand out too bad. Let this be a lesson for me; don’t leave things half way done! 

Last weekend, Games Workshop unveiled their new line of paints with much fanfare and propaganda. Hailing them as the next thing in paints, that will revolutionise the way we paint miniatures, GW once again misses the mark with their advertising. While a couple of the new lines introduced look interesting, the advertising feels like Finecast all over again. 

Looking just at what the product is, there may be something good in amongst all the propaganda. The line of paints has nearly doubled as they have introduced an increased number of shades into the line. They’ve also split the paints into a number of different categories, Base, Layer, Shade, Glaze and Dry. The idea is, and supported by a painting guide on their website, you simply buy a set of paints, apply them one at a time, and you have your miniature painted. 

While the idea of not mixing your own paints might not appeal to experienced painters, for those just getting started it’s a simplification that may see them produce better results, and have them gain more confidence.

Without testing the paints, I can’t really comment on how this system works. I haven’t bought GW paint in years, but I’ve been told that their Foundation paints and inks were quite good. I may pick up a few and give it a try, but I can’t see myself switching over. For a start, they are still more expensive than the likes of P3, and their bottle design hasn’t improved. They’ve also created all new colours, getting rid of the previous colours. While there is a conversion chart, GW doesn’t guarantee they will match, so people (like me) may find themselves with mismatched armies. However the Dry paint idea, specially formulated to dry brush well, looks interesting so I’ll give one of them a try.