Well, this seemed like such a good idea at the time – I’ve always fancied a Xyston classical army, so decided on using either Alexander the Great or Seleucid at the Scottish Open on 1st & 2nd December. A bit of list juggling and I settled on Seleucid as being the closest to doing what I wanted…
It’s not a big army, only 21 units + 2 General bases (1 is included), but there is still a lot of painting…
I don’t want to give everything away (at least not until after the tournament), but…well….the main point of this series of posts will be to mark my painting progress leading up to it…! If you are really interested, you will probably be able to work out my list over the next few weeks, but I’ll do a full posting once the tournament is over…!!!
I purchased the bulk of the figures at the Gateshead show on Saturday 1st September, and didn’t really do anything with them immediately as I was still constructing the list. A couple of weeks ago I finished prepping the figures – all were filed down, hands drilled and metal spears/pikes glued in place. They were then stuck to 1p pieces (I prefer these to sticks with multiple figures for painting), and undercoated (I use Halfords Camoflage Brown). That left me just 6 weeks to do the painting…!!!
Two weeks later, I have completed 36 figures – 3 units of pike. I really need to get my skates on if I am going to finish this in time…only four weeks to go and only 3 units completed so far…!!!
I’ve sorted myself a schedule, including completion milestones, so if I hit those all will be well…next up, 2 units of Bowmen…..progress report to follow in a day or so…!
Graeme Carroll
I did the same thing – well a Chinese Warring States army in a month or so. But I’m not as good a painter as you (I believe) so that helps in the speed area, as I’m wiling to go for decent table top level stuff for large armies.
Cheers – I don’t think I am a great painter…it is just putting the hours in, and learning the techniques really. I have found the book Painting Wargames Figures by Javier Gomez invaluable as a resource for learning how to mix colours. Other than that, it is just practice (and using washes to hide mistakes, of which there are lots!). I am trying not to use washes on this project, though I had to for the helmets. I’ll write up a colour guide when I get a mo’…!
Looking forward to see how you progress .. Seeing as though I haven’t painted an army in years
Thanks Tony, I’ll post an update on Monday or Tuesday – I already have 2 more units done (Bowmen), and hope to finish some more this weekend…
Best wishes,
Graeme.