On The Bench: Nuns V

Another short session tonight. (This time I took #1 son to a talk at The Games Vault on Roman military tactics and weapons - very interesting and FREE!)

I decided to finish off the first five nuns on the vampire/nun team as there wasn't much to do and once these are done then I've got a plan for the rest of the nuns.

TGM TOP TIP: Always keep a notepad and pencil near to your painting area. Jot down ideas for other figures, bases and themes. I log the colours I've used and the ratio of paint used if it's mixed. You never know when you'll have to do another unit or team members which will have to look like they belong. It's very tricky to remember these things in a couple of month's time!

I mixed a small amount of Sombre Grey with Black, added a drop or two of glaze and then just touched up the higher fold in the clothing.

This takes a little while to dry but because of the glaze it blends in better with the surrounding base colour, (Black in this case).

When this was completely dry I used Sombre Grey to paint the edge of the clothing. This defines the edges and is an exaggerated hi-light but works well on a small figure on a large table/board.

To do this I wiped most of the paint off and used the edge of the bristles rather than the tip and "scraped" the brush at 90 degrees to the area I wanted to cover.

The final stage was the base. I'd already stuck down what I wanted on the base, (mostly), during the preparation. I cut up plasticard squares and glued these and sand on with PVA.

TGM TOP TIP: I always prepare the base at the start for two reasons. 1) When I spray an undercoat onto the figure the base gets undercoated and will save time later and 2) I hate the idea of having a great paint job done only to be spoilt be dabs of glue and black paint, (thin black paint would be used to seem into the recessed areas of the sand etc to make shadows and add depth).

As the base was undercoated black, (see above), I just dry brushed the sand with Leather Brown and Bleached Bone. Then painted the "plasticard paving slabs" with the same colours making a "riven paved" look.

When this was dry I added a few darker patches with Sepia Wash which seemed to work well.

Again, after a short drying time, (be patient - don't smudge wet paint), I painted Matt Varnish over the whole figure. This seals everything in and as I know these will be game pieces rather than display it helps prevent chips in the paint when the figures are dropped.

Lastly, I added two sorts of grass/green flock to add variety.

TGM TOP TIP: Use grass and flock sparingly. Less is much better. I always dry brush a couple of colours before adding flock or grass so that there is no need to smother the base with unnatural looking greenery.

There, first five nuns done! Only ten more and four character vampires to go ;)