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Breaking the batch down into similar poses / body types is actually a very good idea. I realise immediately how much time I could save.

Thanks for this one, Iffy. I can't do super assembly line painting like you do. I get
psychologically hammered by the idea of so many minis. So I do a mix and match of
projects and do mini assembly lines.

That's one of the reasons I break them up into sets of like figures. Even doing a batch of 99 Orks, I can manage mini-sets of 10-15 during 30-60 minutes here and there.

You're right, of course, but I have a feeling it would still depress me.

I need to see progress and one reason I'm hooked on the PP games is that
a few units can fill out your armies.

Nice. Here are some other ideas that I use, if you want to merge them into your article;

About mixed colours - don't be afraid of them, mix a big batch in a spare paint pot.

About efficiency - I've found that trying to paint some bits faster, at the expense of precision, ends up costing more time than it saves. Don't paint anything faster than you can paint it neatly. Not having to go back over anything should be the goal (although, doing batches of 50 guys at a time, it's a hard goal to meet).

About order of operations and colour selection - Always work from largest sections to smallest, so you can get the most use of larger brush sizes. Don't worry about mistakes over the lines of things you haven't painted yet, as with a little careful colour selection (especially foundation paints) you can just go right over it with the next colour.

About 'hard' colours - If you're doing one of the traditionally hard colours (yellow, red, white), it can help to base coat the whole model in that colour (spray cans/air brush/really big brush) and then go back and black-over the things that shouldn't be that colour. Getting the hard colour down first is worth it.

I am very impressed with your HUGE numbered batches. I can usually do batches of about 10 in small steps, such as paint pants brown, then lighter brown etc.

Very Nice Article.

99 at a time? That's scary. The most I ever do at one time is 20, and after two or three colors, my fingers start to freeze up into claws.

Updated with Redbeard's suggestions

This is very useful and your AoBR orks look very good. Could you give a quick rundown on the paints/colours you used please?

I have a full set of write ups on my website

http://www.kan.org/michael/mkp/ork_boyz.php

This is very useful stuff. Good advice!

Awsome advice.

Did this with just some 40 odd orks but less efficiently.
had i done it like this then i might off been inspired to do all my orks

Very nice. I've been assembly-line painting for a while, but it's at the more primitive stage you mentioned- 10 or 20 at a time, focusing on a color at a time, with some time lost to model manipulation. This makes me a bit more excited about the prospect of my next army.

My undercoated space marine army has been mocking me for some time. I have a few painted up to a good standard but I can't seem to get about to tackling the masses. Can't wait to try out this technique and get the whole lot painted up. I think I'll start one squad at a time and see how it goes from there.

This article has been added to my favourites bar!