finds his bluff is called!
I decided to start with the spearmen, since I'm rather fond of them. These consist of front-rank (with shields) and rear-rank strips. Clean-up doesn't take much time, though I lose a few spears despite my careful straightening efforts...
I can't imagine trying to paint these while holding them in my fingers, so I glue them down temporarily to some Popsicle-type wooden sticks (which the local $1 USD store sells in bags).
I then brush-primed the figures black...
...and then drybrushed them white, so I could see the details.
Next, I painted them in their basic colors - flesh, gray for the skirts, tan for the cloaks, brown for the spear shafts (for contrast against the tan and flesh colors), bronze for the spear tips and helmets. Then I applied a black ink wash:
OK, I should have dusted the figures before I took the pictures! (I didn't even notice the dust until I took the pics - remember, these figures are only 6mm tall.)
I like the way the ink is popping out the detail on the rear-rank spearmen - though, since they are in the rear ranks, they won't be as visible as the front-rank spearmen. However, the same process just doesn't seem to be working well for the front-rankers and their shields...
My next experiment was to try painting the shields black (again), then drybrushing with several shades of light tan (trying to get more of a "natural hide" look to the shields):
This looks very rough in the picture above, but maybe I'm forgetting this is 6mm scale - they look much better at "tabletop range":
Or maybe I need a new technique?