As you may be aware I am attempting the ludricrous attempt of painting 3 armies at once. The idea is to finish the huge amount of standard, inherited and converted mini's before I can buy any new one's. Since this amounts to over 100 models, it's quite a challenge. In January I have completed the following:
Guard
#1 Leman Russ
#1 Commissar
#5 Rough Riders
#6 Orgyrns are Greenstuffed (and they look great!)
Tau (arrived Dec 20th)
#1 Ethereal
#1 Crisis Suit Commander
#1 Crisis Suit
#1 Broadside
#1 Stealth Suit
#14 Fire Warriors
#4 Pathfinders
#1 Devilfish
Tyranids
#1 Broodlord
#1 Tyranid Warrior (see right)
#5 Genestealers
#4 Termagaunts
#1 Genestealer Magus
Left to do...
#40+ Guardsmen
#6 Termagaunts
#8 Hormagaunts
#3 Genestealers
#10 Fire Warriors
#5 Pathfinders (including 2 rail rifles)
#6 Orgyrns to Paint
#4 Roughriders
#1 Rough Rider Commissar
#6 Heavy Weapon Teams
#5 Stealth Suits
#1 Crisis Suit
#8 Tyranid Warriors
I've decided to arm some of my Tyranids with Spine Fists, while unusual this will fit in with the close combat orientated leaping warriors and enable me to effectively measure the leaping charge. Plus spinefists are peanuts and are rerollable to hit (very useful for BS2 Warriors). These guys will accompany either the Devourers warriors or the deathspitter warriors as leaping close assault specialists.
Warriors benefit from the 4+ cover save of the brood in front of them, so like the Broodlord, they help to fill the synapse gap between the horde and the bigger synapse creatures.
The Orgyrns look awesome, as soon as the greenstuff hardens I'm gonna get these guys painted. After playing with the greenstuff with these guys, I'm quite tempted to go after the Tyranid Warriors - maybe to extend their carapaces and make the old "turkey" models look a little more fearsome!
Thoughts on painting models
As you can tell from the list above, I enjoy skipping from one army to another when painting. I particularly enjoy mixing up painting clusters of smaller models with painting a larger model (crisis suit/tank/tyranid warrior) in the same night. I find that this mixes up the monotony of painting 30 guardsmen (I have a low threshold for manufacturing techniques and I take marginal pleasure from 'finishing' a squad!)
That said, what approach do you take to painting? And additionally, which army is the easiest to paint?
After painting several Tau and Tyranids, I ahve to say they are remarkably easy. After all the Tau have few skin areas to paint - meaning that you can churn them out pretty quick without eyes of mouths to mess with. The Crisis Suits are fiddly but fun to paint and the tanks are simple. With the Tyranids, their very 'alien' quality lends itself well to fast (ish) painting with a few highlights and details to catch the eye (The teeth and claws are the only thing their victims will be focusing on anyway!)
Both are far simpler than Guard. And the toughest unit to paint in Guard ... roughriders! As I know from my arty days, drawing the human form or a portrait is the hardest thing. It very hard to get the 'line' right. Also while it's hard to draw the line, spotting an incorrectly drawn one is almost instinctual on a basis human level. We humans are born and bred to spot the difference. Unfortunately the same seems to be the case for both human skins tones and horse flesh! Getting the horses the correct colour has taken me hours!
