Ok, let’s
be honest. This will certainly not be anything even remotely resembling a
‘masterclass’. It might not even be a tutorial. What this post is intended to
be, is more of a 6mm painting cheat sheet. I’ve been asked a number of times
now to put a blog post up showing stage-by-stage how I paint my 6mm miniatures,
so here goes. I’ll list a few general thoughts about painting 6mm (AKA the
finest of scales) first, and then have a mini phot tutorial.
I’ll
preface absolutely everything by saying that I am not a first class painter by
any standard. I am competent, but I am also very slow. It’ll take me half a day
(as in 6 hours straight) to paint three, or maybe four, 28mm figures. In the
same time I could be several hundred 6mm chaps.
CARDINAL
RULES
Start with a detailed range of
figures.
I like
Baccus and Rapier ancients/medieval because they are (generally) sculpted with
a bit of an exaggerated style with high relief. This is going to be important.
Baccus colonials are also very good – perhaps the best 6mm figures I have seen.
I have found that Dark Realm do nice sci-fi stuff.
Start with a good bush.
I have
only one brush that I use for 6mm figures – a size 0. You don’t need a finer
one, as there is a limit to the amount of detail to paint, but a thicker brush
will not really be good enough.
Admittedly
I do also use a 4 for slopping brown paint on the bases.
Use a dark undercoat.
I prefer
to use a dark brown undercoat. There are a couple of reasons for this.
A white
undercoat means you need to be far more careful when applying the basecoat
(stage 1), making sure you get into all the creases, as when you ink the model
(stage 2), the white will show through the ink if not fully covered.
Black is
a possibility, but I find that a black undercoat can make the application of
your basecoat (stage 1) tricky, depending on your palette. Neither my yellow,
nor my brighter red will cover a black undercoat and therefore need multiple
coats.
Brown,
however, is the king. Not only is it dark enough to allow you to me a little
‘rustic’ when applying your basecoat (stage 1), but basecoat colours tend to
adhere better, generally/always allowing for only one coat.
Also,
brown is just about the most common/useful ‘default’ colour. What do I mean by
default colour? I mean the stuff on the figure you don’t necessarily want to
spend time painting. This, for me, includes the backs of shields, trousers,
pike shafts etc, and at least 50% of horses.
Most
horses are browns, bays and chestnuts, that means you can get away with a
undercoated brown body, just adding different colour to the manes, tails, a
star or blaze on the head, and socks.
Unfortunatley, the only unit I had ready prepped to paint were my Baccus Maddhist camelry which I use/substitute as pre-Islamic Arabs. And that means they are all on camels. Which are not brown. So I kind of missed the ball there. Anyway...
Unless I
am painting a very open-order unit, I usually stick most or all of the figures
to some form of strip before undercoating. I might still glue some to the base,
normally one rank or a loose scatter. So long as I have room to get my brush
around I am happy enough. If the unit is only going to be a loose scatter of
figures I will generally glue all figures straight to the base before
undercoating.
You are painting a unit, not a
figure.
It may
surprise some people, but it is possible to spend a lot of time adding great
detail to a 6mm figure. But you don’t have to. The beauty of the scale is that
players and passers-by focus on the mass effect of the unit, not on individual
figures. It is the mass effect, not the fine detail that is important.
PAINTING
A 6mm UNIT STAGE-BY-STAGE
Stage 1 – the base coat.
This is
the stage where the main colour theme of the unit is decided. Try to keep the
colours to a minimum. Try to keep to two, maybe three primary colours. You want
these to contrast is possible to really make the figures ‘pop’ when finished.
You should try to leave a tiny bit of the dark undercoat showing where the
primary colours meet if possible.
If you
want a more irregular look to your unit, use different shades of the same
colour – it the colour theme is blue and yellow, use blue and yellow on 1/3 of
the figures, and sky blue and yellow on the last 1/3.
I tend to
start with torso and work my way out. That way, I find it easier to be a little
rustic and much faster in the application of the paint without having to go
back later and fix mistakes. Skin is normally left to last as skin is usually
at the extremities – faces and hands, sometimes legs.
Stage 2 – the ink wash.
Ink is
your best friend. All of the mistakes and messy bits from the base coat will
now be cured. The ink washes over the figure, gathering in the
incisions/creases and pooling in corners. It obviously adds shading and
obscures the joints.
While the
ink dries, I take a moment to paint the edges of the unit’s bases.
Stage 3 – return of the base coat.
Up to
this point, I find painting a chore. But once the ink has dried (or mostly
dried), I start to enjoy myself. The ink will have dulled all of your stage 1
base colours. Using the same colours, return and just lightly apply it to the
most exposed areas: the centre of the torso, the tops of sleeves, the upper
half of the face of the shield, the top of the helmet.
Stage 4 – highlight.
This
stage is generally obsolete, although sometimes large areas such as a face of a
shield, it can sometimes help to have a lighter shade of colour just along to
top edge.
Stage 5 – basing.
My
approach to basing is quick and easy, but relatively effective. I start with
3mm magnetised mdf bases. I know that some people prefer thin bases.
Aesthetically I can understand why, but after spending time, effort, and a
little bit of love, to paint my unit, I want them to survive being handled on
the gaming table. Remember, even if you are the most careful, fine fingered
gamer in the world, accidents still happen, and your gaming partners/passing
child might not be as delicate. A thicker base allows the unit to be manhandled
by the base and the figures don’t need to be touched.
After
gluing down the figures, either in a scatter or in formation, I apply a coating
of wood glue and cover the entire thing in paving sand. This is the
fine-grained brown sand with regular inclusions of larger, irregular shaped
grains used for brushing between pavers. Larger tiny stones can also be added
now, usually just before pouring on the sand. They give more of an impression
of rough ground.
It is
important that the paint on the figures is completely dry before this point, or
else you’ll find the sand sticks to the paint. When the glue dries, you’ll have
1) a good base ground cover, 2) your figures will be double stuck to the base
(no chance of rebasing now… mwahahahaha), and 3) the ground level will be
slightly raised helping to obscure the face 6mm figures tend to be cast on
thick strips.
When the
sand is stuck firm, I then put on smaller or larger patched of glue which are
then covered in static grass. I use standard sized static grass, same as the
stuff I use for 10mm, 15mm and 28mm figures. I have three different pots. A
green, a dried yellow and a blend of the two. I usually use the patches of the
green and the blend for lusher style bases, and the yellow and the blend for
more arid bases.
Stage 6 – get gaming!
Flying carpet – Skimming over the waves in support of Arabian fleets, these small, delicate but manoeuverable, flying rugs are enchanted by powerful sorcerers with the sole purpose of allowing them to cast spells from the most effective position.
