writes:What you've heard me say in the past, and it bears repeating now, is that professional painting services are a great way to shift minis from your unpainted pile to your tabletop. And yes, painting services advertise here so I guess I'm getting paid to say that, but it's still true! 
For example, I've long wanted Beastmen armies in both 15mm and 28mm. Years ago, I picked up the minis, and they've been sitting in my storage drawers for years! So now, I've finally mailed them off to our friends at Fernando Enterprises in Sri Lanka, and I told them:
Beastmen – red-brown fur, orange face/snout, red eyes, yellow-white teeth, orange hands, black hooves. Metal weapons: dull steel with black hilts. Bags: brown and tan.
Armor/clothing: Leather with brass decorations. Axe handle: aged/faded wood.
Standardbearer: Dark red pole, dead body on pole in white armor with blood stains. Knife: bright steel. Belt buckle/emblem: brass.
General: Red shield with black triangle outline. Shiny armor/metal. Tan horns. Red bag.
And now the figures are back, I've based them up on Mighty Armies 1" x 2" plastic bases (color coded orange to help newbies recognize their army), contoured them with putty, painted and flocked them, given them a matte sealcoat, and put LITKO FlexSteel on the bottoms (for magnetic storage). This unit is ready for the tabletop!
These figures can be found in the Beastmen with Hand Weapons pack from Ral Partha Europe, part of the Icelords of Isthak range for DemonWorld. The official painting scheme is blue, but I had the artists paint them in brown fur instead, as I'm not doing the arctic thing with them.
The pack is described in their catalog as having 40 figures, including a leader and a standardbearer. Somehow, I got 47 figures. Just lucky, I guess!
I've tried to mix the Beastmen up, in terms of poses and positions, to give a ragged look. (I don't think Beastmen are the type to form precise battlelines…)
Orange is a popular color in the Halloween season, so I picked up paint in both spray can and craft paint to basecoat the bases.
I combined the leader and standardbearer to make a command stand for this unit. Looks like the painter enjoyed this one! (But I asked for white armor, oh well…)
I've got another unit on my workbench, so expect to see more Beastmen in the coming weeks!