"First thoughts on painting Warlord P&S Epic" Topic

Just finished my first two strips of Warlord's new Epic pike & shotte – one of musketeers, one of pike. Must say that it was a massive learning curve, compared to painting 'normal' 3D figures. In fact I think it is quite fair to say that the experience wasn't that far removed from painting flats.

link

Looking good!

Thanks. Remember these are tiddly, so please be kind ;)

Good timing for me.

I have ordered a couple of boxes, one infantry and the other cavalry. I'll probably do Parliamentary regiments to see how they go.

I am currently perusing my existing paint sets, largely Coat d'Arms, Citadel and Howard Hues. I may get some contrast paints if I need not too many and the price is OK.

Results will be blogged in due course.

Look good to me!

I think they look great.

NIcely done

You produced a reasonable result. I do have a concern that with such small figures the end effect may be too subdued and a bit chiaroscuro. An artistic statement though. I tend to like the toy soldiers to pop a bit in play.

These seem to have the usual pluses and minuses of strips, I remember from Warmaster and also smaller scale figs.

Your post was a good review of the figures.

Honestly as I know how fiddly painting small figures are ,these are very good and will look great on the gaming board

Thanks all.

Dave, I'm not sure how they can be subdued and 'a bit chiaroscuro' at the same time. One or the other yes, both no.

The mass effect of my figures painted in this style (true 15mm):detail isn't lost amongst the sheer weight of numbers and figure size. I'm less happy with these Epics though. I think the difference is because the Epics are rather like flats, so much depth is hidden. A high contrast light and dark scheme, a chiaroscuro effect, might help give the figures depth. But no matter I will try not to paint anymore strips as they are not for me.

You like your figures to 'pop', I prefer them more subdued, and have tried to utilise a contemporary colour palette. Maybe going red coats was a response to seeing a number of tutorials employing the brightest contrast colours available (which would have been unavailable as fabric dye's in the C17th).

If it isn't to your taste I don't have a problem. The world would be a very boring place if we all liked the same things.

Nice work.

This is an excellent laydown. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this, especially the paint colors and the wool dyes. Cheers!

The Epic stuff cries out for Slapchop

@Keepyourpowderdry

I think you could be your own worst critic here as all the other guys like your work as I do.

For me your painting captures the look very well . For me the Warlord painted examples are "too clean" and gaudy for me .They are painted too much like Naps for me.

The look of my figures will be along your lines rather than Warlords. I have already stocked up on paints greys.reds,blues and greens to give me shade variations within a unit .

Wonderful article KYPD!

TY, and we do appreciate the info and advice that comes with these excellent blog postings of yours.

Thanks for the kind words.
@mysteron – absolutely! Most people accept my tiling of my kitchen floor as good, whereas I see the horrible dip in the floor near the sink (the joys of a 170 year old house) where I had to bodge things to make it look okay. Same with painting figures – we invest time into doing it, often a lot of time, we pour over every square millimetre so it is inevitable that we see things others don't.

I don't think my style quite works on the strips, for the reasons I give. As a friend send they are 'inflated flats', and I think we have to adjust technique accordingly. Current in vogue techniques such as zenithal priming, slapchop, contrast paints etc will probably suit the style of the strips. I wanted to see how old style block and wash, with an (almost) historically accurate colour palette would work on the strips. It worked to a point, but think that they need a bit more oomph.

The cavalry and individual figures are much less of a challenge. The issue may be marrying the two together

The Epic stuff cries out for Slapchop

I'd like to see more examples of the use of zenithal priming, slapchop, contrast paints etc. in Historical Wargames terms.

Most of the tutorials I've seen are on non historical miniatures and while I get the idea and some of the examples are very well done, they generally concentrate on how to do one a miniature at a time. Which leaves me scratching my head about repeating the process dozens of times.

I'm also trying to get my head round the concept of Object Sourced Lighting, in regard to Historical Armies. I find it hard enough to get all the individuals in a unit to the exact same standard, without worrying if they and all the other units are being painted in a manner which shows them all being hit by light from the same direction!

Object Sourced Lighting

OSL and NMM are two techniques that painters use to feel important. I think it helps make up for penis size.

Slap Chop (just a name) would be best for en masse historical work. link

Slap Chop – a new name that gets thrown around off someones painting video?

(just discovered we've been slappin' for years)

Thanks Elmo,

"Grisaille" sounds a lot more classy! 😀

The finish on those Italians looks a lot like my 28mm WW2 Russians and US Armoured Infantry. The difference being I paint old school solid shades, use Vallejo washes and then dry brush.

It would be interesting to try the white dry brush over black primer approach. My main hesitation being the racks of Vallejo I already have and needing to work out a whole new schema to sort out what Contrast/Speedpaint/exPress would be the shade I want for any particular project, all over again!