[Saxon Muster] I got ambitious

[bluegargantua]

Hey,



So I decided to take advantage of my day off and put in a double shift on my next unit of Saxons. This is a group of Ceorls, the Saxon equivalent of a medieval knight. They're professional warriors, but they don't actually hold land. Definitely second-stringers, but in game terms that means you can get lots of them cheap. The rules also say that as long as I'm leading a unit of warriors with my Thegns, the whole unit gets to benefit from the Thegns' superior morale.

What this means is that I'm using the Thegns as a base and then bulking them out with the cheaper Ceorls.

Also, because the models don't have chainmail, the whole thing goes a lot faster for painting. About half these guys have what looks like a quilted jerkin, so they've got a fairly plain color. The guys who couldn't even afford the padding get bright colors to strike fear into the enemy hearts.





So now all that's left is to paint up the metal/wood/leather bits, the shield, and then the lovely dip.



later
Tom

Comments

[muffyjo]

So you've talked about "the dip" in a couple of posts (yes, I'm watching the figurines as you go along) and I'm curious what it is you dip them in? Something clear and shiny? Or is it just some kind of preservative?

[bluegargantua]

Well, when some smart painters first hit on this plan, it was just wood stain like you buy at a hardware store. The stain would fill in the gaps, make the colors pop and varnish the miniature to a glossy finish. But you had to tinker with different manufacturers to get the right shade/consistency.

The method got really popular over the last five years and a company called Armory (which makes a bunch of miniature painting supplies) formulated their own "dip". It comes in three different shades from light to dark and it's designed to work well with minis as opposed to being a wood stain that happens to work well for minis.

It's weird. You dunk the mini and when you pull it out, it's brown all over and you'd swear you just ruined the figure. Give it a few hard shakes to clear the excess, let it dry overnight and *boom* super-cool mini.

It's still not as great a paint job as the real pros do (they've got multiple shades and highlights), but it's fast and "good enough". Since I'd rather play with minis than paint them and since these are all cheap plastic minis, that's a trade-off I'm more than happy to make.

later
Tom

[muffyjo]

Timing is everything. And yeah, cool stuff. I like learning about new ways to make effects.

[muffyjo]

Aha! I just was reading back in my friends list and got to your post about dip. Sorry. Still catching up. Thanks for answering (even if it's before I asked). :)