Don't Waste Time on "Quality" Paint Jobs!

Wasting time on miniature painting is stupid! It’s far better to do a quick job than spend extra time making the miniatures look “better.”

And I’m going to prove it!

First off, eighty percent of gamers either don’t bother wasting their valuable time painting their models, leaving them blank and unpainted or use a palette of simple colours. This is because they understand that spending hours on adding depth of shading creating a more realistic miniature is pretty much pointless.

Eighty percent of gamers can’t be wrong!

Here’s my Beastmen Doombull with plain colour.

I’ve done a fairly good job at picking out the different colour areas and it’s fine! As most gamers think, and I agree, there’s very little point in going beyond this point.

I painted the horns Kommando Khaki, the armour Boltgun metal, the axe blade Tin Bitz, the mane Vermin Brown and the skin Graveyard Earth.

I didn’t bother painting the base because it’s unnecessary. We’re playing a board game, not trying to create a visually stunning battle populated by realistic characters and beautiful scenery!

To prove what a waste of time it is going to extra effort I’m going to go through the processes, one pointless step at a time.

So here I’ve done an ink wash: Gryphonne Sepia on the skin and horns and Badab Black on the mane and armour.

I suppose some namby pamby milksop might claim this added depth and weight to the model but I honestly don’t see the point of it.

This is where it gets really stupid.

Here I’ve highlighted the Doombull with Graveyard Earth and Kommando Khaki on the skin, Kommando Khaki and Bleached Bone on the horns, Dwarf Bronze and Chainmail on the axe and Vermin Brown on the mane.

That’s an awful lot of effort and I don’t see any improvement over the first picture above. Does this really look better than a basically painted miniature?

Not really.

At least by leaving the base blank I’m maintaining the look of the miniature as a board game counter. Nothing irritates me more than people who think that by basing a miniature to match the war board they’re creating an exciting snapshot of what could almost feel like a real Doombull getting ready to charge! The closer we can get the game to being simple straight forward counters, the better. Then we can focus on the rules and game mechanics rather than creating a gripping story set in a war torn fantasy realm.

I mean, you have to ask yourself what the point is!

So here he is with a base blended into the board.

I painted the base then dipped it in bird grit (available in large amounts for little money from pet shops), then painted it black. Then I applied patches of overlapping colour through the following: Scorched Brown, Bestial Brown, Bubonic Brown and Bleached Bone.

Seriously, does that really look better than this:

Of course it doesn’t!