The trouble with painting

I have recently been trying to paint the odd miniature and it has been a bit of a challenge. My hands are actually quite a bit worse than they were even a year ago. I can still paint but I really don’t have the fine control I used to. So painting highlights and details are not something that I can easily do anymore. I am also picking up miniatures that have a lot more detail in them than the minis I was painting a few years ago. The fantasy figures I used for Oathmark were older GW minis or the new plastics created for Oathmark and they all had a basic level of detail on them. Kill Team and Underworld miniatures are, as is the style at the moment from GW, festooned with detail that I am really unable to paint.

In the past I would basecoat a model, do some washes to add some depth and then paint on a highlight or two. It didn’t result in the best looking minis but they did look good on the table and they were quick to paint. Primarily because of the lack of additional detail on them. I actually had quite a bit of fun painting the Dwarves and Goblins from the old GW Skull Pass starter kit.

Most models today are created in 3D programs and have a lot of detail. Even the miniatures for Conquest have quite a bit on them to paint. Not GW levels of detail but still a significant amount. This is the major reason behind the release of various painting solutions such as GW’s Contrast line as well as the similar ranges from Army Painter and Vallejo. I have tried these paints out but didn’t really like them as they were meant to go over off-white primed miniatures and didn’t really provide a lot of depth and interest to the minis.

This was obviously a problem for a lot of people and there have been a lot of articles and videos on various painting schemes that involve building up a light map over a figure using zeninthal priming and then drybrushing. Called “slap chop” or various names it attempts to create the depth of painted highlights and washes and still use the single coat paint systems.

I haven’t given this system a try yet but I do have several Underworld warbands that I may give it a try with. I have several of the Vallejo Xpress paints which I am not a fan of so I may pick up a few of the Army Painter Speed Paint range and give it a try. The Eons of Battle channel has a very interesting video where he paints an entire Conquest army in 16 hours using the process but also does some interesting things with the paints to provide even more depth to the models.