So this is something I’ve been mulling over a lot recently.
Each of my units is at least 30 models, but seeing as they are effectively made from 2 bodies they are extremely monotonous to paint.
So far my blunderbussers (# 1) are blue/green mostly, my fireglaives are red, as are my hand weapon guys.
I’m going to be painting blunderbussers #2 very dark iron, with white helmets.
My great weapon guys I’m not sure yet, I’ve done a test scheme as blue/green again but that’s quite time consuming. So not sure whether to paint them as something new again.
Has anyone else painted their army like this, effectively making each unit unique?
The theory states that you should paint all your miniatures with (more or less) the same colors to achieve uniformity. But I don’t think that’s always true. Armies like Bretonnians or Lew’s Ogres can look uniform as well, usually thanks to their bases. This also works the opposite way, for instance, look at James Wappel’s Tomb Kings. He uses two radically different kinds of bases, but despite this the army looks uniform because the miniatures ar all painted the same way.
Therefore, yes, paint your models in different colors, but be sure to provide some elements of uniformity to tie everything together. Your “ruined city” theme could be very useful for this purpose.
Lovely links and good points, Skink. Good local example, Bloodbeard.
As for Lew’s splendid Maneaters, he has consciously used dark red as a common colour on more or less every Ogre in the army, helping to bind together the disparate bunch. Yes, units painted differently works.
I have a similar kind of struggle with the FW IG, they are so monopose and samey. I wanted to go multicolored like MM90s , with a base of about 5 or 6 different armour color, one for each guy, so you end up with a brightly colored rainbow of diff troops, but decided that would look kinda crappy as the models are still all the same pose / form. So next I started looking at basing, and ways to break up the monotonous dark IG block. More recently I’m looking into conversions to help break up the samey-ness. I think with basing and well placed conversions you can get some good difference going. They kinda look like Space Marine Dwarfs with power armour so I’d look at how those armies maintain consistency but individuality. Helmet swaps, weapon swaps, unit insignia, unit markings etc etc
Doombeard, perhaps you could also try to add details like horns, helmet spikes, trophies hanging from shields and the back of the Infernal Guard’s armour? I found that touches like that helped to individualize Titan Wargames Royal Guard markedly, besides weapon swaps etc. Maybe even convert a big hat/mask hybrid for someone in the command group to help break it up?
My infernals with blunderbuss #2 I’ve shaved off the ridges on the shoulder pads, stuck a bit of plasticard over, also converting a bevor with a shoulderpad and using a dwarf axe from the hammerers set as a sort of back banner. The look I was going for was actually more like a psychic hood, but it works I think.
I’ll get one painted then load him up.
The main reason I did this though was to inspire me to paint them, as if I’d left them the same I wouldn’t have painted them differently, and by not doing that I was going to take another year or two to paint them I think.
I’m trying to magnetize mine, going to magnetize various helmet swaps, all arms, all weapons, so I can potentially field all 4 weapon options with only 30 IG. That way I don’t have to paint 120, and I can try out different combinations of helmets and bits and bobs
I managed to magnetise a few when they first came out. The trick I found was to drill out the sleeve and put the magnet in there, then drill and stuff as much wire in the elbow/wrist as you can (magnetic wire of course).
It did work, the only problem was trying to remember which shields went on which bodies.
I paint my dwarf units differently, for chaos dwarfs, I have yet to finish my first unit, but each of my IG painted so far is painted differently, though adhering to the same broad color theme. I figured it wouldn’t be true chaos if they had uniform colors. I’ve since learned more about the industrial ways of the Dawi Zharr, but I still like the chaotic colors, so I’m gonna keep going down the same path.
I managed to magnetise a few when they first came out. The trick I found was to drill out the sleeve and put the magnet in there, then drill and stuff as much wire in the elbow/wrist as you can (magnetic wire of course).
It did work, the only problem was trying to remember which shields went on which bodies.
Grimstonefire
Why does it matter which shields go on which? I haven't even begun to assemble them yet is there something I don't know!? I was going to test the small neodymium magnets , I bought about 200 of the small 2mmx1mm which should fit ok with a drill in both ends (Im hoping)
The two body types are not identical for arm placing. So if you glue the shields to wrists identically they will not fit on both bodies.
What I found worked well was a pilot hole then a really chunky drill bit as close to the magnet as possible that still fits within the sleeve. Just hand turn that in a bit and greenstuff it flat after to tidy up any edges and so it looks pretty.
I do variations on a theme. One unit might have detail done as two-tone triangles, the other will use the same colours but with squares. Straight stripes vs diagonal ones. Top row of platemail in silver vs bottom row in silver.
I got creative about this through painting the less organised Blood Bowl teams - Orc teams just look weird to me if dressed in the same uniform so I picked a couple of colours and used them in a different pattern on each model. Still looks cohesive as a team and distinct from other teams, but appears unorganised at the same time.
