"Do You Like It Dirty?" Topic

Twilight Samurai said …

The past was dirty, the present is dirty and I dare say the future will be dirty (in a variety of shades which I have covered).

What types of dirt/smut/smuge/filth do you put on your figures?

None – I have pristine parade ground quality forces. (They look just like me when I was in the … hehehe … never mind … I can't even write that without cracking up.)

Muddy Boots – Possibly because I do base details after I paint the boots.

Dusty Trousers – This pretty much has to be on purpose.

Blood and Gore – On appropriate weapons, with a little splash here and there.

Head to Toe – Flith, dirt, pollution, grime, muck, mud, stain, crud, dreck, feculence, gook, gunk, mire, slime, smudge, smut, tarnish, and scuz.

For me, it varies by genre.

- Most of mine don't have any.
- Savage Fantasy races and monsters will have a bit of mud, blood, and gore.
- Postapocalyptics … Head to Toe, baby!

I don't consider slime, etc. on creepy muck monsters to be filth, as it is their preferred, natural state.

"One should always be well-dressed -- for the enemy."

Varies by genre. My historical stuff is usually dirt free as is much of my fantasy and scifi except 30k. My world eaters are filthy. As ate my adeptus titanicus stuff.

I like parade ground spiffyness. Makes them easier to see at tabletop ranges.

I would say the "dusty trousers" thing although I do have a few parade ground perfect units

My figs are as dirty as a light black wash and Magic Dip makes them. I don't purposefully dirty them up. I accept whatever the process gives.

Now my armor, I make dusty…..

Mine definitely have muddy boots!

Tanks. I weather them.

As with Pictors, depends on the genre. Most of the historical or toy soldier armies I've done have been parade ground clean, as well as retro scifi figures. WWII and onwards I tend to drybrush with an earth color.

It's hard to tell where the camouflage ends and the dirt begins with modern and science fiction troops in any case.

I assume that dirt doesn't stick well to things like Traveller battle dress and combat, so my Imperial Marines are fairly spiffy in their urban maroon armor, but I've given even that some gray camouflage. My Zhodani are in mottled grays and greens, so they look dirty even on parade.

I try to get some dirt, smoke stains, etc., on all of my vehicles. Buildings likewise.

Napoleonics, pristine.
WW2 muddy, dirty.

Mostly unsullied. Tanks treads/vehicle wheels dirtied.

I am a huge fan of The Dip, so nearly all of my figures are dirty, from this dark brown wash. I use it on nearly every figure. Occasionally, I will use Tudor, a true black urethane stain, but I normally use Royal Walnut, a dark, in the dirt and mud, brown.

Years ago, I painted plastic 54mm Army Men figures, and then I applied The Dip, Royal Walnut. It gave them that grimy, in the trenches, dirty look, like they had been in combat for a while. Even without paint, it improves their appearance, significantly. Unfortunately, it rubs off after a few years, so I no longer apply paint, or The Dip, to them.

I am an army painter, who paints to the GEtGW standard, Good Enough to Game With, at arm's length. By using The Dip, I can paint to my standard, using assembly line technique, averaging 10 minutes of brush time, per figure. Since I play mostly fantasy battles, it works quite well for my games. Cheers!

My zombies look suitably nasty, but for most other minis, they keep their nice paint jobs because it would be a shame to cover it up after doing all that work…

Something near parade ground. I have to be able to tell sides and units, and anyway, I did enough crawling around in the mud myself. No need to do it in miniature.

I tend towards the parade ground for most of my units. Zombies and some veteran units get a more worn look.

I have painted a few armies for our gaming group that were given the AP or dip treatment. While shaded they didn't loo all that dirty.

Troops in the field get the grunge treatment.

Yes it does not take long for troops & equipment in the field to get "dirty" …

I don't attempt to create diorama-standard troops or terrain. The figures are there simply to convey information about nationality, arm of service, strength and formation/tactical posture – and to be more aesthetically pleasing than card counters or kriegsspiel blocks, so they are portrayed in clean uniforms without dirt or textured bases, as the toy soldiers that they are.

Everything I do gets blackwashed and dull coated, helps to hide the paint job.

Washes and shades don't count as dirty, they just show shadows ….

Most of mine are clean, although shaded. Only the LotR special figures have mud on the bottoms of their cloaks !

My Napoleonic's and 7YW are mostly parade ground, except for those pesky light infantry they get a bit of wash and some mud on their boots.

"Do You Like It Dirty?"

Why, yes I do.

This is the original dirty dancing.

Most of my forces are close to pristine with a few exceptions – Some spacecraft are weathered if they have atmospheric capability, otherwise they don't see much dirt or damage in space; Naval vessels get some grime on them but not overly much; And ground forces are either in parade ground condition or are rather grubby, depending on the general morale and resources of the particular force in question.

There's Bashytubits and his army of trained prairie dogs.

Watch out!! they bite, your socks are not safe.