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Hey guys

Im having a bit of a problem with my warhammer. I love it, the game, the fluff; but I have a massive issue with painting my imperial guard. I just can't motivate myself, because every scheme I've come up with has been too complicated to paint (white) or too boring, or various other factors. Does anyone have any suggestions that could help me decide on a scheme, keep to it, and like it?

I feel your pain.... I'm at my desk with a bunch of Tau in front of me but find myself reading posts at Dakka... go figure.
All I can say is just keep plugging at it... and think of all the fun you'll have with "your" painted army... the one you worked so hard at and when it's finished... show it off.
....Maybe I should follow my own advise?.....

im drowning in a sea of red atm.... blood angels are awesome, but i feel your pain with painting certain things...


buy a small box of something else and paint them, then get back to your guards? or find a good compremise with colours and such that isnt boring or too hard, like a fancy cammo patern thats not tooo bold...

Aye, I try to have a variety of projects on the go, so when I get tired on one style I move on to the next.

At the moment I'm managing that by having a set of orc boys (so, green and muted colours for clothes), grey knight terminators (very light grey with light blue and red detailing), dark eldar wyches and incubi (various bright cartoony colours for the former; black with red blue and white detailing for the latter); and a Gondorian force (metallics, very dark browns and greys for the warriors of Minas Tirith; 'natural' earthy and grassy colours for the rangers).

As each involves a different scheme and different techniques, it stops me getting tired of any one job!

Downside, of course, is it takes sodding forever for me to finish any one unit, until I get to the point where several are finished in a row

catachan green and codex grey. two of the easiest colors to paint. check out my gallery, and feel free to use the paint scheme. The attention that a fully painted army creates while playing is worth it as well, as your fellow gamers will see your progress and will be motivated to paint their own models.

And deep down, no one likes playing against an unpainted army.

Agreed. I always take the time to thank someone who ALSO plays a painted army. It adds a visual aspect to the game that increases the fun and experience.

I understand how you feel. Check out these threads. One is dedicated to abject failure in hopes of inspiring people to not wind up with an army that qualifies for the thread. The other is to my current P&M, I focused on one thing and that's all I'm doing.

Simple color schemes, small bites of easily finished units, and removal of outside distraction (TV, video games, etc) will find you playing with a fully painted army in no time.

Shelf of Shame- http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/325815.page

Death Guard WIP- http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/328126.page

Side-projects are an answer if it's boredom with a certain unit... Guard are an army that take years to finish afaik.

If it's painting as a whole that's fine... don't paint for a month or so and the bug'll catch ya

I'd also recommend just making the process less laborious: Use a spraygun; paint "individual" models and lend them character that make them more interesting; space out such models (perhaps psykers, Commissars, specialists, etc.) in between your normal grunts.

For e.g. I wouldn't let myself paint an IC unless I'd done 10 grunts first.


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Also try the "assembly line" to crank out minis faster.

Take 3-5 of them and paint each step on each model consecutively: You'll find you'll paint them a lot faster but I find it less enjoyable as I prefer the gratification of watching one model get finished as opposed to the long input-reward ratio of doing a whole squad at once... But if you can man-up and get through it, your army will be done much faster.

With stuff like gaurd you need to work out your scheme, then get good at doing it quickly. Don't go overboard on the rank and file.
I found that after painting a million orcs and gobbos, I really enjoyed painting Dwarves and Space Marines- clean lines, shiney metal and heroic poses was a real break from all the filthy rag tag savagery of my orcs. Now I'm back painting orcs again and enjoying it after a long stint of painting Dwarves.
I started listing what I'd done in my sig, too, as a way to encourage myself to paint more. It worked, to an extent, though I'm still about 100 models off my target...

my schedule looked something like this:

week1: ccs, Infantry Squad 1
week2: IS 2, 3
week3: pcs, is 4, 5
week4: vehicle, pcs
week 5: etc.

break it up and change up exactly what you are painting between vehicles, inf, etc.

also, NEVER leave the entire army on the painting table!!!!! it will look too daunting. 2 different units a week and you should be good to go.

Ive painted around 50 models in the typical cadian sceme, im so bored with it! Im near completion of my big project and my first plan is to sell it.

However, I agree with everybody that mixing it up is important. I usually switch between tanks and special characters and then drag myself to paint a squad of troops. If you have a friend of the hobby that is in need of help either sceanary units etc etc its always a good idea to take a break from your project and step back to it later.

thanks for all the helpful replies. Ive had a break from painting for about 2 months so I've decided to set aside a few hours today and paint things. I found a box of Dwarf Hammmerers and a master engineer that I will paint to get me started, then I'll come up with a scheme that I am 100% happy with and slowly work on around a squad a week.

My main issue with painting is I find it difficult to learn all of the techniques that I need to make my men look really cool, for example drybrushing, highlighting, blending etc. I have no idea where to start with that sort of thing, I tried online tutorials but had no luck. Any pointers would be appreciated.

A good way I found out to paint IG (but the normal way, no custom colour schemes.)
Is basecoating them, washing them, then highlight some more, and then edge the lines.
It looks great for a tabletop.

If you paint them in groups of lets say 10 models. So you would be basecoating one, then the other. Then when its dry, etc etc.
It goes pretty fast.

But these are all kinda simple things that are common knowledge. Its just the way I do it

Tbh the default GW method for Cadians is hardly time-consuming.

We silly billies just insist on adding camo

But hrm, if someone new joined the hobby with the intention of fielding a fully-painted army, I'd probably tell them to just buy 500 points and not buy a single model more until it's all painted... then move up to 750, 1000 and so on. Might go easier on the wallet in the short-term, too

I'm just suggesting that because, as I've said, my Eldar have taken hardly any time before and they are definitely more time-consuming than a Space Marine.

As it's christmass...
Ask yourself: What would Jesus do?

My suggestion would be to find a scheme that is both easy and enjoyable to paint. Especially when painting an army like IG, you want to find something that will help you get through so many models. In my experience, the best way to really put a dent in your painting work is to just give your characters and basic color tone with minimum highlgihts, omit the fine details until you have more time/inspiration later. Best of luck

rryannn wrote:catachan green and codex grey. two of the easiest colors to paint. check out my gallery, and feel free to use the paint scheme. The attention that a fully painted army creates while playing is worth it as well, as your fellow gamers will see your progress and will be motivated to paint their own models.

And deep down, no one likes playing against an unpainted army.

Heh. Those are almost the colors of my vets. Catachan green fatigues and Adeptus Battlegrey armor.


Here's how I've painted my standard guardsmen:
- Basecoat black. (harder to lighten back up, but it makes it easier to see what you've missed)
- Kommando Khaki on fatigues
- Deneb stone highlights on fatigues
- Adeptus Battlegrey armor.
- Tallarn flesh on skin
- Gryphonne Sepia wash on fatigues and skin, including over previous highlights
- Reblack the guns, belt, and boots.
- Boltgun metal on belt buckle, aquillas, and bayonet.
- Codex grey clip and skinny part of barrel
- If it's an officer or someone important, paint the eyes. I hate eyes.
- Crack open another beer.

I can get this done in about a half hour; 20 minutes if I rush it. It's interesting and I play with the highlights differently on each set of arms/legs, so it stays somewhat fresh, plus the khaki is more forgiving than white. Really, I wanted a white army, but I couldn't figure out how to shade it and make it look right. I'm very happy with what I ended up with.
Here's a sample:



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Commander Jackurius wrote:My main issue with painting is I find it difficult to learn all of the techniques that I need to make my men look really cool, for example drybrushing, highlighting, blending etc. I have no idea where to start with that sort of thing, I tried online tutorials but had no luck. Any pointers would be appreciated.

Drybrushing is easy, and one of the first things I picked up on. You just rub most of the paint off your brush and then start brushing it over whatever you're trying to paint. I like to do it with a metallic paint on the aquillas on guardsmen helmets. It's a bit easier to do in my mind with the metallics than it is with other paints, but I'm not sure why. Practice on a couple spare helmets until you get the same general idea.

Highlighting took me a while too, but there's not much to it either. If it looks like it would catch light, then paint it like it does. Folds in fatigues, edges of lasguns/armor. Stuff like that. Put a little of a lighter color on it and see if it looks better. If it doesn't, then lose it.

As far as blending goes, I've not really tried it except on power weapons. I did Ice blue on the tip and Enchanted blue at the base and just brushed them together a little bit at a time. It's not perfect, but it worked better than I thought it would. I can't really help explain how to do anything much more complicated than that, sadly.

looks good. when you get board do a tank

Meph wrote:Ask yourself: What would Jesus do?

As a carpenter, he'd probably have some Minwax polyshades to hand.

Therefore, he'd dip them!