Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

whats the easiest army to paint? and paint well quickly and efficiently?
i reckon its tyranids... the whole lot could be done with the spray gun alone and still look awesome with a little dry brushing at the end

I would say Space marines with a primer of the colour you want their armor to be, some picked out details like eyes and weapons, and finally a wash/dip.

I think so too. That's what I do. Spray paint black and drybrush, basically.

Necrons.

Silver Primer, Gun Black, Drybrush/Wash, Eyes in Green, Symbol in Gold, Basing, Done.

Same technique for Crons can be used for the Metalic-colored SM chapters.

Alternatively for Crons, prime bone white, brown wash, drybrush skull white, gun black, eyes in whatever color you want, basing, done.

there was a guy at throne of stulls with a 2 tone necron army that looked amazing! literally everything was 2 tone paint sprayed wit little details picked out and looked awesome

Necrons.

Okay, so far I have only painted Orks, Space Wolves and Necrons. But Necrons are the easiest & quickest.

It depends on the look you want to go for, and whether you prefer sprays or brushes.

I haven't painted any but Necrons look like they could be done by spray silver, wash, a couple of details and varnish.

Space Marines are pretty simple to do with the brush as they are divided into easily picked out areas.

I am doing my Tyranids with sprays and Dip. It is pretty easy and gives a nice, organic look.

I'd have to agree with the Necron/SM train of thought...spray,wash,highlight,detail and done..what could be easier.

Space Marines can be done without even touching a paintbrush. Take a can of primer and spray down the models in your base color. Then, dip them in a medium brown. Done.

Necrons-
Spray paint silver, dip in black. Pop in green light tube thing.

I haven't painted necrons but marines are super fast and easy. I can paint and assemble a squad of decent looking (not great) tactical marines in about an hour and a half.

orks are a pain in the a to paint fast

Got to be Marines as easy to knock out alot of table worthy models in short space of time

Ill say guard or nids, if your dipping. Its pretty damn easy and really fast. Not to mention they look really good if done right

Another bonus with marines is that they are uniform and take pride in their chapter colors. If you don't feel like adding battle scarring and such with marines it's perfectly okay as it's believeable that they simply take superb care of their armor.

Necron are sickeningly simple get a decent tabletop finish on.

Boltgun Metal, wash with Badab Black. Do this step twice, then highlight with Mithril Silver drybrush.

Go back and pick out eyes/runes etc with Scorpion Green.


Looks fine on a table. Bar none the easiest army to get a halfway decent looking paint scheme on. If you want to quantify what is "easiest" to paint that is my take, but honestly its all about the time you care to put in. You can slap 3 colors and a drybrush highlight on any army in the same amount of time.

Tyranids, was the easiest for me. I used varnish furniture.

KingCracker wrote:Ill say guard or nids, if your dipping. Its pretty damn easy and really fast. Not to mention they look really good if done right

What about faces? I'm not familiar with "dipping".

Orks for me.....green skin, red/blue clothing, black armor, chainmail dry brush everything black, light dry brush of a lighter green and done. I get 20-30 done in 2 hours.

Super fast paintjob. Basecoat chaos black -->paint primary --> paint trim (not highlights, trim)--> Add any needed detail (eyes, flesh,[in some armies flesh is trim so you can skip this] weapon colors).

I think it is Marines and Necrons...

Marines are easier than necrons, because they normally will not be using metalic base colors, and so you spray then with the base color, do color detail, black wash and highlight...

By other side, Necrons dont have that much details to do (shoulder pads and soft armor), and so, you just need to basecoat, black wash, highlight and paint the eyes (after blackwash, to add that "glowing look".

I dont think needs are easy, bacause they are organic, and that would mean at least two tones for each color (one for basecoat, the second for dry brushing).

O tip: when i say Marines i mean "Vanilla Marines", dont try to do Space Wolves with that...

Fastest paint job is "The Dip."

Tyranids can be done quickly,but there will be a lot of models. Of the horde armies, Tyranids is fastest.

but easiest army is probably the one with the least models.

agroszkiewicz wrote:

KingCracker wrote:Ill say guard or nids, if your dipping. Its pretty damn easy and really fast. Not to mention they look really good if done right

What about faces? I'm not familiar with "dipping".

Dipping is the art of using Minwax Polyshades floor polish to rapidly shade miniatures. You paint out your base colors, then you dip them into your (pre-stirred) floor polish, give them a spin to shake off the excess, and let dry. You can either get the Minwax Polyshades at any home store like Lowes or Home Depot, or you can pay twice as much for Army Painter, which is literally the same contents, but repackaged. It works best on minis that only have two or so colors and a lot of shading, particularly Tyranids and Necrons, but you can do nearly any mini with the right dip. For more control, you can paint the dip on instead of actually dipping them in the can.

You can find some tutorials here and here and here (don't really use a power drill, wtf). Note that the floor polish is not water soluble, so you'll want a different brush for this, and turpentine or an equivalent, like Turpenoid, for any cleanup.

As others have noted, if you use a metallic basecoat and then dip them, you can do a complete necron army without ever touching a paintbrush (but c'mon, paint the eyes at least). Note that Minwax Polyshades will eat some brands of metallic spray paint, so test a single figure first.

cool, i may have to try this dipping thingy

Pre-heresy Word Bearers. Put the model toghether and you're done!

Haha. Even pre-heresy Word Bearers weree heretics.

definately space marines....little flesh or organic areas, and you can choose any color to paint. I would say the easiest chapters to paint are black templars, ultramarines, dark angels, and raven guard off the top of my head

i think necrons because they are basically 1 collour and some details

I think eldar, i painted a falcon in like, 2 hours. and thats with primer. hope i could help