As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently decided to give some of my ‘Nids an overhaul and have a go at repainting them.
This is something that’s been floating around in my head for a few months now. Whilst I would only class myself as an enthusiastic amateur - an average painter at best (I hate it when people refer to their mini’s as being “pro-painted” when they are three colour minimum or barely even tabletop standard), I do think my painting has jumped ahead quite a bit since I first decided to pick up a paintbrush and start my army a couple of years ago. I’ll be honest – I actually cringe now whilst looking at some of my earlier models and only use them on the table when I have no choice.
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| One of the first Tyranid models I painted |
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| An early Hive Guard (thankfully now repainted) - eurgh...look at that green! |
It’s not just my painting that has moved on – so has my colour scheme. Whilst my ‘Nids are the same green/black combo they have always been, I have started using a combination of washes to try and give the gribblies a more organic look.
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| My first Tervigon - not an awful conversion, but now rarely leaves its box... |
I also decided that if a unit is T4 or less it gets a lighter skin tone and T5 or more it gets a darker shade. Overall it makes the big stuff look older and tougher and the little stuff a bit younger and more fragile. Pretty much the only thing that’s not changed is the carapace – but that’s only because I haven’t found a better way to paint it yet (although I do have some idea's floating around that might work...must get testing).
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| An example of a recent Tervigon I painted...compare and contrast with the earlier one and you will understand what I am talking about... |
Comparing the older and newer minis, I don't think anyone will argue that they could do with a repaint, but I'm having a nagging thought; as an average painter there is always room for improvement and development, but with an ever changing point of view can you ever look back at your painting and be happy with it? In a couple of years will I look back at my current work and cringe? And is it possible to have an ever growing large army that you are actually happy with or do you end up in a never ending cycle of repainting the same 5K-10K pts worth of models?
Maybe that’s a question for the painters out there with a few more years under their belts...?
I have been painting a while and I am of two different minds on repainting my old figures. I have some of the old Rogue trader marines I painted from when I started the hobby back in the early 90's. I used enamel piants and they were barely basecoated but I doubt I will ever repaint them because they show how far I my painting has come since then. On the other hand, I have a Rogue Trader Chaplain that I fielded with them back in the day and I have repainted it up to a much better standard to field with my newer much better painted models. If you want to repaint your older figures and the paint isn't caked on them just consider the old paint job a base coat. A light reprime and you are back in business. If the paint is on them thick and a reprime will obscure the details then stripping is the better option. It bolis down to whether you can live with their paint scheme or you want to have a cohesive style across the whole army. You could always buy more models and make a GW bean counting fairy smile but I wouldn't actually consider it as a good option.
ReplyDeleteColKG
It can be a lot of work, but can be very rewarding in the end. I stripped/reprinted my Ork and ig armies and am glad I did.
ReplyDeleteSince your scheme is still pretty much the same, try just using some washes and highlights and see if that works before going whole hog.
I've always just replaced the models and painted new ones, Just always seemed easier to me then stripping and painting old models. Also means you have more models when it comes to larger games or apocalypse games. As gamers there's one thing we all love anyway - more models!!
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Cheers for the comments.
ReplyDeleteI was tempted to to buy my way out of it and hide the old stuff and only use the most recently painted mini's, but that comes down to £££'s and I have already set my sights on a Reserve wing for the army, so that will be taking purchasing priority.
I'd love to be able to just touch up a few paintjobs as well - but I went and varnished them all to stop them being damaged...
I think what I will do is a ciombination of both suggestions; strip key units and repaint them whilst I keep building the army up with newer mini's.
Varnish shouldn't stop you; there are even techniques that intentionally varnish early in the process. Washes should still work for shading, and paint stuff right over it. Then add another layer of sealer for the new stuff.
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