Painting

I enjoy painting miniatures. I spend more time painting them than I do with them on the table while gaming. As such, to me the three colour minimum is a hard minimum.

I get obsessed with adding the little details to models, whether the layers in slashed sleeves for C14-17 European or the little collar patches and trims on C20 models. This is true whether I'm painting infantry, cavalry, vehicles or even terrain. It's something that, by now, i don't feel comfortable cutting corners on.

That being said, I'm currently painting squat vehicles, which are, thus, covered in freehand detail. It's taking a lot of time. I'm not saying that I'm bored, just that I'm aware I've a significant backlog awaiting paint and i could probably rattle off a 1000 points of something where three colour minimum can work, like space marines or necrons, in the time it takes to do all the details I'm adding to a single vehicle.

Now, don't misconstrue what I'm saying. While it's time consuming, painting vehicles in solid colours and covered in graffiti is very rewarding when you get to the finished piece, even if you're often fighting against the grey plastic horde with a few models bearing a colour or two. What I'm saying is that my next batch of painting, for relaxation rather than work, will probably be something that I can rattle off faster, that doesn't involve camouflage patterns and elaborate heraldry.

Perhaps the reason space marines are the figurehead line for GW is that they truly are simple to paint, and that is enough.

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