"Approaching a New Army" Topic

Writing in Slingshot magazine, Tim Thompson advises:

You have carefully researched your new army and bought most of the new figures and there they sit in front of you – daunting in their sheer volume. At this point it is a good tactic to pluck some of the low-hanging fruit. Paint up a few units that will be quicker than average to paint and you will have some completed units to encourage you in the thought that you are making some progress…

Do you agree with this approach?

No, I only buy small numbers of castings at a time to avoid that off-putting mass of lead that is demotivating. I agree about starting with some simple figures that are just rank and file. Do the fancy stuff later as a treat for clearing the mass that you need.

No, just the reverse. Paint the hardest one first – all the ones with plaid, or pea dot camo or whatever. Save the toga wearing cannon fodder for last.

I buy the entire army and their opponent, and then paint whatever interests me first.

Hmm. For me, the idea is to buy two armies and paint enough for a game in one gulp, then go back and add units at my leisure, though finances and availability can be problems. I've got three under way right now.
5mm SYW are being painted by nation and arm. The Prussian cuirassiers should be done this evening, and the Prussian dragoons for tomorrow are already primed.
The 10mm ACW Confederates--about 400--are all primed, and I'm going through with uniform washes. Flesh to follow.
The 28mm horse & musket are being painted in batches of about 24 horse or heavy foot, 12 lights or gun and crew.

But I can't imagine how having not enough units done for a battle is any sort of encouraging. You may need to stop reading Slingshot for a bit.

I used to paint the hardest units first but now I paint up a few units of grunts first – I learned the hard way when my Old Guard Grenadiers look like they are the poor relations to the ligne ordinaire!

I am with Extra Crispy here, the most difficult first.

Lot's of line troops first. Painting the guard is reward for getting everything else done!

I found that buying a whole army boggles my mind and I delay painting. The other problem is, if you find figs you like and then they quit making them before you have purchased a good amount, you are in a pickle.

Line infantry. Something interesting. Line infantry. Something interesting. Repeat as needed.

Swap between painting a unit of exotics and a unit of unique things to break up the task.

David F Brown

I paint whatever I got at a good price or what my wife bought me for Christmas. I go for large armies and I can't invest that much money at one time. So it is whatever is bought and waiting to paint.

I made a multi-month effort to paint the most boring units first, so they would be over and done with. They were all on one side, so once they were done, as soon as I finished the first unit on the other side, I could start gaming.

Grelber

Try and get as much of both sides as I can, then paint a few groups at a time – 10 to 20 figures (28mm). Usually start with infantry then work my way up to cavalry.

I approach it much as Johh the OFM described his approach to AWI.

I'm working my way through a load of Pendraken League of Augsburg figures for BLB2. I've split them into tranches: one brigade of Alliance Foot (3 Btns), one brigade of Alliance Horse (2 Rgts) and then the same for the French; add some guns for both sides. Then repeat, one brigade Alliance Foot, one brigade Alliance Horse and again the same for the French; add some generals for both sides. I have five tranches planned at the moment (and the figures for four) but that may go up.

Once you've completed the second tranche, you've got two small armies for each side and once you can start playing it seems less of a chore to get more units finished.

I buy everthing I need at once. I have a justifiable fear that they may not be available the next time I go to buy them. Then, I just paint whatever strikes my fancy knowing I have what I need in a box somewhere. I have managed to paint 20-25 different collections over the years using this method.

Frederick and GatorDave have a good point. Get used to the scale and period before you paint up the most splendid units. After all, no one's going to paint up the line in overcoats and then stop short of painting the Horse Artillery of the Guard.

I mix it up and try and get a practical game so whatever is most frequently seen on the historical battlefield.

I do this with my fantasy figures. I will work on a group of Skeletons because they are so fast, and easy, to paint. When I get that rush of joy from having completed them, I get inspired to tackle otber, more tedious figures…

I use tbe Works in Process technique. I paint what I want as tbe mood strikes me. I have a great many figures at different stages of completion. When a group nears the end, I push myself to get them across the line. That also inspires me.

Different brush strokes for different folks. Cheers!

I recently completed some Orcs that had been on the wait list for years. Last game with about half the already painted figures was 20-30 years ago. I had bought more over the years and they just sat in the partially done box.

Finally go down to paint one 23 orc unit from start to ready to flock. Grunts first guards last.

To begin, I tend to buy most of what I think I will want (for both sides). I don't typically build for a particular OOB or to any rules specific list. I just try to get a good representative mix of stuff without being heavy on the elites.

For painting, I'll start with a line unit for each side, then some artillery, more line, some cav, more line, then an elite or otherwise uncommon unit. By this time, I have enough for a small game or two. Then, I will likely reassess my initial purchases and see if I want more cav or more artillery or haven't a good ratio of line units to other stuff and make additional purchases accordingly.

Unfortunately, after doing all this, I am ready for something different so it will start over with my next interest and it may be awhile before I get back to this one!

Another vote for Extra Crispy, hard ones first.

+1

Works in Process technique. I paint what I want as tbe mood strikes me. I have a great many figures at different stages of completion. When a group nears the end, I push myself to get them across the line. That also inspires me.

Unless you are a great painter, painting a basic unit or some test figures really helps develop your ideas about colours, scale etc.

John

I usually paint one hard one, then one easy one, then one medium one as test figures. I also only buy pretty much the smallest feasible unit at a time and don't buy more until the others are painted. Yes, I know, heretic.

Definitely buy everything (or at least most of it) at once. On a single order with a hand over price of say £1,000.00 GBP+, you can nearly always negotiate 25% – 40% off of the RRP, so your getting £1,350.00 GBP – £1,600.00 GBP for it, which usually covers the cost of two fair sized 28mm armies.

A box containing over 60lbs of Peninsular War stuff (about 80% of what I'll need).

After that, personally, I find the best approach is to paint a dozen units for each side with a fair mix of types to create two 'mini-armies' that you can play with. From that point on you can add stuff to create bigger armies or to fight different scenarios. This way of doing it gives many easier to achieve and 'profitable' goals. Eventually you have armies big enough to fight most battles. I typically have armies with 40 to 60 units.

I guess the trick is not to get side tracked too much – as I have with my Peninsular War project due to committing to doing big Italian wars game in November – and keep plugging away until it's done.

This isn't everything I've painted in this way, but as you can see, plugging away gets you there eventually.

I generally try to buy as much in one hit as possible and then organise them into unit bags.

I always start with Generals. I feel like once I've worked on some nice Generals I've set my stall out and set a character for the rest of the army.

Next, I paint the guns, crew and limbers. I really don't like painting them so get them done first, out of the way.

I really like painting cavalry units, but paint them last. I view them as a treat for dealing with the mass of the infantry and completing them.

Lastly I do casualty/shock markers and such like.

There is a lot to be said for the 'get it all at once ' approach: substantial discounts, and having everything on hand without having to worry about future availability; and that's the way I've tended to go in the past. Even so, there's still a couple of collections (consisting, in one case, of multiple armies) I've yet to do any actual painting on that remain incomplete, and will require a bulk purchase to round out, but I'm at a point where I have so much stuff already I don't know if I'll ever get to them; so there exists a perpetual tension between the perceived need for completion and the futility of adding more stuff to the lead mountain. Oh my… the pain, the pain!

Get it all at once, then hide all except a few units. Paint a 'plain/boring' unit first, then a 'fun' one, and alternate.

Get some more out.. repeat..

The only exception I do is when I have a massive number I need to do quickly and then I do things like undercoat using multiple colour sprays, block paint everything in one colour at a time, or recently, airbrush bulk colour onto units.

I'm mostly 6mm nowadays so the costs are not as extreme as Olicana's. £30.00 GBP – £40.00 GBP will get the core of two armies using DBx. I just spent that with Baccus on figures to proxy for 8th Century Dark Age Britain. My first step was to organise my purchases into the armies I want to create. Next I painted a sample of the figures for the main troop types of each army, mainly to test the colour palette I planned in my head. Sometimes I find that I want to change things but often once the test elements are painted I break the figures up into the elements and just get down to the job in hand. I like to rank the painted figures along side the unpainted ones to show my progress.