From DarrellH 6 Late Roman Equites Scholae Palatinae- Speed Painting Horses experiment! (66 points)

A while ago I came to a decision regarding army painting where I planned to speed paint two armies for every one that I took my time over. Some may think me sprightly at 58 but I'm beginning to "feel it" in terms of how much can I paint in my life what can actually be used useful on the wargames table? The trick being able to paint fast enough as to get units ship shape and battle ready on the table at pace, but not to lose too much by way of quality.

Basically my methodology for painting horses as fast as possible has come to this.

1/ A black undercoat over a black primer. Then a medium grey drybrush, then contrast paint, Goregrunta Fur (lol) and for variation, Wyldwood (lol). Both gave a (sort of) oil wiped look to the horses but were perhaps more subtle. I should add, the contrast paint was painted on, but unlike like a wash, rather as an even covering all over the horses. The first time I tried the method was on some plastic Elven Steeds, which gave a very good even subtle finish after just one coat (see below).

The Black Undercoat, Neutral Grey Drybrush, Contrast Paint Method: Plastic Elven Steed

The next step was to try the same technique on a metal horse. unfortunately, the results were not the same as metal castings always have some "pitting" due to the manufacturing process and this showed on the horses. 

For contrast, the Black Undercoat, Neutral Grey Drybrush, Contrast Paint Method:

2/ I was essentially back to square one (I did keep the horses for the second rank of the Equites Scholae Palatinae very much in keeping with painting up the army as fast as possible). I then, quite by accident, heard via a chap on a Facebook forum about the makeup sponge technique for horses. I was (very) unfamiliar with this concept so did a little digging and with the help (and support!) of one of my Facebook friends, Nigel Higgins, I gave it a go with quite astonishing results! 

I will put together a tutorial at some stage as if you are willing to cope with the drop in quality, this is going to save a lot of wargamers a lot of time! They are far from perfect but do look like they have been layered up; good enough for me!

Makeup Sponge Method

So, after waffling on for a good while, without further ado, the unit of Equites Scholae Palatinae for my Late Roman army.

Equites Scholae Palatinae:

Cheers

From DaveD . Another great looking entry . Interesting re the paint techniques. Be interested in the actual time from start to finish .  There is a lot work in your entry so I’m calling it 66 

From Darrell H - 8 Late Roman Archers (Points 44 )

I finally finished the last eight speed painted Late Roman Archers to go with the first Legionary unit of my LR army! I say finally as they really do seem to have taken forever due to varnishing issues and the weather (I do a Humbrol Enamel Gloss coat before matting down so it can take time and is weather and humidity dependent).

These eight fellows were originally going to be painted a few years ago, prior to the Vanishing Disaster Incident, which put me off painting the army completely. Until this year.

As the Archers are integral to the whole unit of Legionaries I've included a piccie or two of the lot to give you guys and gals an idea of how the miniatures work together.

Please  note, I am only claiming the points for the 8 Archers as the other 16 models were painted a few years ago!

FromDaveD , lovely work once more Darrell. I too use Humbrol  Gloss , from a pot though I am switching over to using Screwfix Yacht Varnish as a hard protective finish and then a Matt down - we all have our own solutions. You must be pleased to get these done . I’m giving them 44 pts 

From Darrell H. 28mm Late Roman Cataphract, Alternative to Oil Wiping Horses, Abbasid Naffatun[115pts ]

Phew! I made it!

I' have spent the last month or so trying to decide what it is I wanted to get painted for the Challenge this year and have settled on Late Romans. A few years ago I was about to enter some Late Roman Cats into the Challenge but encountered my first and only ever Varnishing Disaster; this pout me off the project entirely entirely for a few years..... until now! 

As a wee aside, and to quicken the process of painting up I'm going for "Wargames Standard" this year (I'm not getting any younger!) and have been trying to work out a way in which to use contract paints as a substitute the oil wipe method, with the proviso that the contrast method had to be a notch higher (for me) than anything I'd achieved with oil wiping horses. I think I've finally managed to get there and here's an incomplete Elven Steed showing off the basic results. Not too bad considering it is just a heavy drybrush of a medium grey over a matt black with the contrast paint painted not as a wash or a stain but thickly as a coat of paint over the top of all that dry brushing. It seems to have worked. There was however one snag which I'll come to in a wee bit.

Speed Painted/Contrast Painted Elves Steed Experiment

Now onto why this method proved to be not so adaptable from plastic to metal.... metal castings, unless they are of the absolute finest quality, always have a degree of pitting from the moulds. Most of this is not visible until you apply something akin to a wash which obviously runs into all the crevices. This was to be so on the metal Footsore Castings! A little but of an "ouch!" moment but as the aim is to get the miniatures out on the tabletop post haste I'm not going to pull any of what is left of my hair out! 

Six Late Roman Cataphracts

10 Abbasid Naffatun

Cheers

From DaveD . Good to have you back in the saddle Darrel. That looks like an excellent result on the horseflesh alright . Your painting has a wonderful,style I always enjoy looking at it , so it’s rounded up to 115  your opening gambit , 

Darrell H, Anglo Danish Command Bases (30 points)

I've been quite enjoying flitting backwards and forwards; at one end painting bits and bobs and then in deep again with the time consuming Thematic Byzantines units. 

This week I took a well deserved break from the colossal painting session which produced the last unit of Varangians and settled on just six miniatures and adding some shield transfers and painting in the armour on more Byzies! 

First though, I have a bit of confession. Three shields of the five on the models were already painted from a "Painting Shields Step by Step/How To" article on my blog a few years ago. The shields were sitting around and as they were painted up in an Anglo Danish style it just seemed to be silly waste not to use them. I;m OK with the  expected points reduction. To be honest, I've enjoyed the challenge so much this year that if I were to get zero points I would still have a smile on my face.

OK, here we go then.....

Command Stand 1:

Command Stand 2:

Command Stand 3:

So, that's six miniatures (and some very snazzy basing ;.) ) plus and points to be taken away for using old shields....so a max of 30 points? I couldn't in good good conscious pass using the shields by as the army is now complete and they would otherwise have been a waste of both money and time. 

First off Darrell, these command bases are fantastic, some of your best work IMHO.  Lovely shading and trim on the tunics and great armour effects (love the gilded ridges on the last standard bearer's lid).  Your basing is also top notch, especially for the pair on the rock outcropping.

Full points for fessing up on your shields, I can't imagine leaving those lovelies in my bits bin for five years without using them.  Nor can I imagine them looking so nice after five years kicking about in my bits bin.  I am very much a reuse and repurpose minion, so no points loss here.  Are the flags commercial like your others?

Looking forward to seeing ore Byzantines from you next week.