"What figures are on your painting table?" Topic

Do you paint one figure or unit until finished and only then start another? Or do you have several units on the go at once, and what sort of variety?
I currently have 48 household cavalry, 4 heavy dragoons, 4 Belgian light dragoons, 8 French hussars, 9 Gardes d'honneur, 8 Hanoverian hussars, 24 French line infantry, 4 engineers, 24 Dutch militia, and 16 Lithuanian lancers. All partly painted, all 28mm metal.
Once units are finished I'll add more infantry, artillery and wagons…and more Gardes d'honneur. How about you?

I go unit by unit with a side order of equipment.My usual method is to paint six or seven figures at a time plus a gun, limber or wagon until a unit is completed. Once the equipment for an artillery unit is done I will paint the men and horses. For instance I have just finished a battalion of Bavarians while also doing guns and limbers for the battery I am about to paint next.

I usually paint unit by unit in the following way:
- infantry- 8 to 10 figures in a row (half bataillon in fact)always beginning with the private ordinary soldiers then with the officers drummers and elite companies.
- cavalry – 4 to 6 figures including horses as for the infantry ordinary horsemen first
- artillery- first the guns then the artillerymen (two guns then 8 men)
- generals and characters only after the bulk of the army is painted and based.

I sincerely try to do one unit at a time and for the most part stick to it…however, I have a 28mm unit of Empress Dragoons halfway done…28mm colonial Zulu Brits, started, and misc. items assembled. Got on a 15mm kick and started painted old and simply beautiful Viking forge 15mm Spartans…slipping to the dark side again…

Do non-Nappies count?

AB line infantry, a battalion and a bit. I bought a unit pack of 24 but my battalions are 18 figures.

I've got a small pile of painted Portuguese to varnish and base, oh and some Legere.

I keep changing how many I paint at a time. I'm very much faster painting big batches of say 40 castings but I get so bored doing so the if I have such a project on the go I have to have some more interesting individual figures on the go as well, perhaps a couple of mounted officers etc

I tend to have a couple of guns on the go as well. Hate painting them and do small areas at a time which I then protect with varnish, so for example I'll paint the outer faces of the wheels first.

One unit at a time. Currently 8 Perry Samurai Teppo. I'll be soooo glad when these Samurai fellows are done.

Usually a battalion ( around 12 figures give or take) at a time but am changing figures around units ( a couple dozen) so am only doing 5 or 6 at a time right now as its different units and figures

I try and do one regiment at a time but often get sidetracked! I usually have a couple of odds and ends on my painting table which get painted whenever I have some surplus paint left over etc. Some of these poor chaps can stay there for years!

Basically my reason is a single unit colors are same, 5 figures of different units it bumps up the color difference so cut down the number of figures. Finishing Prussian 1 musketeer, 1 officer, 2 flag bearers, 1 fusiler. Next up 2 Russian officers, 2 flag bearers, 1 drummer

Generally working on a unit of 16-30 at one time with other side projects to make sure I always have something to do. If I know I'm starting to come to the end of painting a unit I will make sure I'm done cleaning and priming another so I can dive right into it. I also try and keep lists of what I need to get done and what my priorities are to keep me focused and organized.

All of them!

28mm British Rifles, Flank companies and Spanish guerillas, French dragoons and Volteguers. Guess what I want to play.

15mm Spanish infantry. Lots and lots of Spanish infantry…

I paint as large a group as my space will allow. Right now I am painting 78 British cavalry at Waterloo from 14 regiments.

Wow Lambert and Scott!

Right now I am on vacation and brought along 3 units of Bugundian pike, 36 figures.
However at home are two 1/72 WW1 German Aircraft. Too fragile to bring along. However usually I only have one project on the go.

72 AB French line in greatcoats. Thought they would be quicker than full dress but difference is marginal.

Funny you should ask:
About a dozen 18mm CGM command for Quatre Bras.
A battery of GHQ 152mm Russian SPA for Team Yankee.
6 modern US 1/35th scale infantry as markers for Warfighter.
Some Perry Fallschirmjagers for the desert (3 squads and heavy weapons and command).
A dozen 28mm British light cavalry.
Two British guns and 8 magnetized crewmen, 18mm CGM.
And a couple of other projects…

As long a you still have figures to paint, you will not die!

320 15mm ACW Union Infantry

Martian tripods for all Quiet on the Martian Front.

Maybe 50 H&R Napoleonic British infantry, a few (4?) stray 28mm SF and fantasy and tons of H&R ancients bought used and primed, I'm often still trying to identify.

I am so ADHD when it comes to painting that I struggle with sticking to a single project until completion.

Currently I've returned to 15mm Crimean British (hopefully will finish them before I jump ship again) and will follow that with 28mm US Armored Infantry then I'll head back to the 15mm WW1 in Mesopotamia to finish the British, order some artillery (unfortunately Eureka does not make guns) and then procure the Ottomans. At some point I'll complete the 20mm modern Afghans that are half done so I'll finish off that project.

I still have some 28mm Pirates, 28mm ancient Chinese, remnants of a very large 28mm 7YW project and some "other stuff" left to do….assuming I don't get all fired up about something completely new before I finish it all.

I tend to have several units in process at once. Right now it's artillery time – Portuguese and Spanish (both sides) gunners and 10 artillery pieces. Also three generals. And having finished Ahab the Arab, I need to turn my attention to Clyde.

I tend to paint whatever interests me at the moment, since I have about 50 projects, progress can be slow. Or glacial.

Right now on the table are 12 (28mm) Trent escaped slaves, 10 (28mm) Zulu War Brits, and 5 (15mm) QRF T-64's.

I always have several projects on the go

Right now, a SYW grenadier battalion that is about a quarter of the way done – I use 24 fig battalions and do them all at the same time

Also two 40K Marine squads – one almost done, one with a long way to go (the second squad are the infamous Angry Marines)

As well finishing off an Austrian Napoleonic corps in 6mm

No Napoleanics.

Just Han/Three Kingdoms ans Ch'in Chinese, MIR, Thebans, Normans, First Crusade, and a number of others in various stages of completion. A bit over a thousand figures primed and in various stages of completion.

The Republican and Mountain Indian BBDBA armies are nearly finished painting and so is the Vedic – a couple of chariots each and some finishing touches on foot.

I paint colors and insert armies to the queue as I obtain figures to complete them or as an army becomes available and I wnat to get it into play. Just picked up an Essex Old and Middle Kingdom Egyptian RMA army pack off of the Marketplace that will probably be started soon. i need more Biblical to put on the table.

Just some Ottoman cavalry (2 units of eight) for enlarging my Ottoman army 1750-1820 period. Otherwise I have been inventorying my 1806-7 Prussians for a possible Jena 1806 game next October.

M aka WR

Typically one unit a time, unless special figures (generals, adc's etc), then maybe a group of the special figures.

I counted 8 units on my desk, some are yet to be undercoated, three are ready for base decorations, others are in between.

David F Brown

Perry and Fife & Drum AWI.

I try to complete one unit at a time-- battalion, squadron, or battery-- but my 1809 Austrian field battery got sidetracked by: a squad of GW Imperial Guardsmen, bumped by 15mm Cuman hordes, pushed aside by 10mm WWI Germans, and finally replaced in the queue by 25mm Mithridatic pikemen. Someday I'll finish it though.

Some Necromunda and Blood Bowl figures.
Some 6mm French infantry and British Light Dragoons.

Several projects at the same time:

- French, British, Spaniards and Dutch for 1672 Dutch War, to be used with Donnybrok or Pikeman's Lament skirmishers (colourful period, and with French and British allied against Dutch and Spanish, just perfect!).

- Late Romans and Goths for Saga (four LR force points already finished; two more to go and then will start the Goths)

- Imperial Romans and Germans (Aventine, Victrix and Warlord miniatures), to play small frontier actions in EIR (I'll use my own skirmish rules, losely based on Pikeman's Lament)

- The big project, Macedonian Successors (mostly Victrix, Warlord and Aventine Miniatures). Two 24 strong taxeis already painted, and started with the third. I don't expect finish this project before late 2020.

- Finally, Thirty Years War skirmish forces, mainly Horcata Miniatures and Empress Miniatures, with some Bicorne and Perrys throw in the mix.

I bore easily, so I like to paint many different things. Usually, I have 10 minis in different phases of painting on my tabletop. Since last Salute (yes, I am such a nerd that my wargaming year is measured from Salute to Salute) I've painted 120 28mm figures, which, for me, is Stajanovist… just not all of them from the same army/project.

48 Prussian Napoleonic Cuirassiers
24 Prussian Dragoons
6 Prussian Command
The Prince of Orange Command set
French ADC set and 6 other French Mounted figures for command bases
All 15mm AB

another 36 Minifigs French cavalry that were stripped and repainted

I painted the horses in 1 batch but am working on the riders at about a unit(24) at a time

66 15mm FPW Prussian infantry glued to bases this afternoon.

12 15mm FPW French guns and crews in the painting process.

Will undercoat the next lot of Prussian infantry shortly before I finish the French so that I can move on to the Prussians without delay.

I do one project at a time and work until it is finished. I have been painting 15mm FPW for about 2 1/2 years and expect to finish in a few months (at which point, I will be able to do Gravelotte St Privat and Sedan).

Currently trying to ease myself gently out of a painting drought by doing some basing,

So just got around to the 20mm ancients

4 Roman generals
20 British war band
24 Dacian falx
24 Dacian bowmen

Generally I'll paint one or two units at once, eg 2 battalions of 24 Napoleonics, a group of 40 or so WW2 infantry, or a cavalry regiment of 12-20 ish,

Thank you for the great responses, very interesting to see the range of different projects. Also glad I'm not the only one unable to resist starting two or three more units before finishing the first one.

Juggling several units at a time is important for me to avoid boredom.

I only have small units, so I can comfortably have a few on the go at the same time.

Currently, some British heavy cavalry in watering caps, some French cuirassiers, and a handful of British light infantry.

Paint for pleasure, not for any sense of obligation.

Napoleonic era ambulance, two horses, a driver and a wounded soldier.

Nothing right now. I used to think it faster to do a whole battalion at a time – all the faces, all the hats, etc. In practice I find that I have to rinse the brush so often – acrylics dry on brushes in minutes – that while I am doing that, I could just as easily change colour and give myself a bit of variety. The drawback of painting a whole unit I that it gets really boring and for a long time you feel like you are nowhere near finishing. Doing half a dozen at a time works best.

When building or scratchbuilding models I find mass production works quite well.

My French units are 27 figures which means three grenadiers, three voltigeurs, three command figures and eighteen fusiliers. Alternating these and a bit of pose variety keeps the tedium at bay.

A bit of an update – just made made a push on 18 of the Indian bowmen – bows, sword hilts, fletching, and gluing to bases to wrap them up. Also finished an Indian heavy cavalryman to convert an LH element to a CV.

Also cut 18 20x40mm bases for AX, BW, etc. elements.

Once figures get to a certain point it is time to concentrate and finish them.

At the Mo, some 7YW Russian cavalry, but waiting in the wings, more Star Wars figures!