Painting Minis For Adventure Games & Questions

[Nefaro]

My first proper go at painting some humanoid minis.  ^-^

Fortunately the ones that come with Descent 2nd Edition are of good quality.

Finished these four in the last two days:





I enjoy doing the really small detailing stuff (most of the time) so the more detailed, the more time I spend on it.  I'd be embarrassed to mention how many hours I spent on my first four Descent characters.  It probably comes out to about 2 hours apiece.  I had to finally stop myself from tweaking and put that final lacquer coat on or they'd never get to the next stage.  :))




Did these last two ladies last night.  They're so small, I only just noticed that the redhead turned into a Bearded Lady from the early face wash when I saw this close-up photo.    Remind me to put a coin in the photo for scale reference next time to show how small her morning shadow really is.  :P






I have another step left to go - doing something with the bases.  I have some darker brown colored hobby sand.  I don't want to go nuts and spend much time on the base so I may just do the Elmer's glue & sand thing on the top of it.  Then paint the side of the base to match the character card background colors. 

What do you guys typically do with boardgame or RPG minis regarding the bases?  Didn't really want to drop the scratch on a bunch of flock since I have lots of minis to paint.  But perhaps that looks best as far as one-shot base finishes go?

Also.. it's so motherbeaching humid and/or windy here much of the year, I've resorted to mostly doing brush-on primer.  I have some of the Vallejo primer in Black, Gray, and White.  However, the Black is the only one thick enough to only require one layer.  The Gray and White are so thin it takes a second coat to get a decent enough base.   Any of you use a brush-on Gray primer that you could recommend (or White if not Gray)?

I also wasn't all that happy with the outcome of the fur.  Probably should've put another wash on it of some kind.

Thanks for any suggestions!

[bayonetbrant]

lookin' good  O0

[LongBlade]

Nice job  :)

[Jack Nastyface]

I have about three of four cans of primer (testors, Armory, etc) in black, titanium white and grey.  By far the best results I get are with the Vallejo black primer.  I used to just brush it on with very satisfying results, but I am now using an airbrush and it's excellent.
For basing, I am now just using a sand-and-white glue mix (in completely ad-hoc proportions) and add some talus or cut bristle-brush for accent.  I like the smoothness of the sand/glue mix (talus alone makes them look they are standing on a very rocky beach).
Not sure what the figures are made of, but if they are resin or plastic, I like gluing a big washer to the bottom just to give the figures some nice heft.

Yours in gaming,

Jack Nastyface

[Barthheart]

...
Not sure what the figures are made of, but if they are resin or plastic, I like gluing a big washer to the bottom just to give the figures some nice heft.

Yours in gaming,

Jack Nastyface

That's a great tip! Thanks!

[Nefaro]

I have about three of four cans of primer (testors, Armory, etc) in black, titanium white and grey.  By far the best results I get are with the Vallejo black primer.  I used to just brush it on with very satisfying results, but I am now using an airbrush and it's excellent.
For basing, I am now just using a sand-and-white glue mix (in completely ad-hoc proportions) and add some talus or cut bristle-brush for accent.  I like the smoothness of the sand/glue mix (talus alone makes them look they are standing on a very rocky beach).
Not sure what the figures are made of, but if they are resin or plastic, I like gluing a big washer to the bottom just to give the figures some nice heft.

Yours in gaming,

Jack Nastyface

Thanks for the tips!


I just picked up some green colored sand to go with my brown.  So that should give me some flexibility on the basing.  I was concerned about how it looked after getting the watered-down glue layer on top of the colored sand but it sounds like it's just fine.

I had also considered a suggestion I saw in a vid, about crushing some clay-based cat litter up in a mortar and pestle for a good rocky or gravel look, depending on how much crushing you do.  But since I got the sand I may as well use it.

[Ubercat]

I had also considered a suggestion I saw in a vid, about crushing some clay-based cat litter up in a mortar and pestle for a good rocky or gravel look, depending on how much crushing you do.

I tried that and would NOT recommend it. It's pretty disgusting and the cats got kind of weird when they saw me digging in their box.

[Nefaro]

I had also considered a suggestion I saw in a vid, about crushing some clay-based cat litter up in a mortar and pestle for a good rocky or gravel look, depending on how much crushing you do.

I tried that and would NOT recommend it. It's pretty disgusting and the cats got kind of weird when they saw me digging in their box.

Ewww!

On the other hand, you could have muddy looking rocks if you did that right.  ^-^

[Ubercat]

What I used to do was water down some Elmers glue (Not TOO thin) and spread it on the mini base with an old worn out brush. Next I would liberally sprinkle aquarium sand and then let it sit for a day. I would then shake off the excess and paint the whole base, sides and all, Citadel Goblin Green. Finally, drybrush with a good yellow and it looks very much like grass. This works with 10mm (Warmaster) and 24mm (Warhammer) mini's I've found.

I haven't bothered with all the work since I've only been painting boardgame mini's in the last 7 years or so. For War of the Ring, I've just painted all bases Citadel Bestial Brown to (somewhat) match the board. For Runewars, each factions bases are painted in the faction color with neutral units having a neutral grey color.

[LongBlade]

What I used to do was water down some Elmers glue (Not TOO thin)

50/50 water/glue will work.

[Nefaro]

Instead of painting the top of the sand, I had just planned on using Elmer's glue on the top of the base, dip it in colored sand (have brown and green) and then add the top layer of water & glue mix to hold it on. 

That's just for boardgame minis because I didn't want to expend the extra paint on the entirety of their bases.  Will still have to color code the sides of some of them for game purposes, of course.

[LongBlade]

Instead of painting the top of the sand, I had just planned on using Elmer's glue on the top of the base, dip it in colored sand (have brown and green) and then add the top layer of water & glue mix to hold it on. 

That's just for boardgame minis because I didn't want to expend the extra paint on the entirety of their bases.  Will still have to color code the sides of some of them for game purposes, of course.

You probably won't need the second coat on top if you get enough on the base. But it may not hurt. Only downside may be that some of the glue may show up as glossy.

[Nefaro]

Instead of painting the top of the sand, I had just planned on using Elmer's glue on the top of the base, dip it in colored sand (have brown and green) and then add the top layer of water & glue mix to hold it on. 

That's just for boardgame minis because I didn't want to expend the extra paint on the entirety of their bases.  Will still have to color code the sides of some of them for game purposes, of course.

You probably won't need the second coat on top if you get enough on the base. But it may not hurt. Only downside may be that some of the glue may show up as glossy.

I'll try both ways.  I watched a vid of someone doing a heavily watered-down glue layer over the top and it didn't look too glossy.  But I'll test it out sometime.  I'd be concerned that some of the sand would slowly come off over time, and grains of sand getting stuck in the other paper & cardboard components, if I didn't do an outer layer.