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I've said it before and I'll say it again, my painting ability sucks, I would rather play the game than paint models, but I am trying to grow my painting skill slowly. Getting past that wicked truth, I am looking at building an army and painting it up (believe it or not) but I am terrible at doing highlighting, what army in the 40k universe had a rugged paint scheme that doesn't require highlighting? What armies would you guys suggest for me?

No army really needs highlighting.

However, organic models tend to work best with just a simple basecoat, drybrush and wash. Tyranids, Orks, Daemons, Catachans; anything without proper armour.

Popsicle wrote:No army really needs highlighting.

However, organic models tend to work best with just a simple basecoat, drybrush and wash. Tyranids, Orks, Daemons, Catachans; anything without proper armour.

So stay away from armies with "armor" like space marines? What about Cadian's, does that count as armor?

Synister_Intent wrote:

Popsicle wrote:No army really needs highlighting.

However, organic models tend to work best with just a simple basecoat, drybrush and wash. Tyranids, Orks, Daemons, Catachans; anything without proper armour.

So stay away from armies with "armor" like space marines? What about Cadian's, does that count as armor?

Yes but cadians are a simple paint job lol slap some green and tan and paint skin and put a was you dont really have to highlight

I play IG, and don't highlight my troops. I just paint them up, (gore red/bleached bone in my particular scheme) and throw on some devlan mud wash, they might not look super up close, but on the table it looks great.

well of course you suck at painting. you keep putting yourself down.

hemingway wrote:well of course you suck at painting. you keep putting yourself down.

thats not nice dude

Khorne Flakes wrote:

hemingway wrote:well of course you suck at painting. you keep putting yourself down.

thats not nice dude

True though, half of it is just having the confidence to give it the ole 'college try, so to speak.

Don't beat yourself up over painting ability, keep at it, it'll get better.

That being said, no army really needs highlighting, so if your main concern is just playing, well, just don't do it. But, highlighting works BEST on things with lots of straight edges (ie, armor, etc.) so avoiding armies that utilize this makes the technique less useful. Tyranids actually have a good bit of highlighting opportunity with all of the carapace edges.

Most armies though if you really want to skimp can be done using just base colors within the lines on the different parts and then a wash overtop.

While I do highlights on my Guard, washes do a lot of the work on my Steel Legion:


My Cadians have highlights on the armor but their clothes are just washed:


And my vehicles tend to just be drybrushed:

Khorne Flakes wrote:

hemingway wrote:well of course you suck at painting. you keep putting yourself down.

thats not nice dude

All he's saying is that if you keep a positive attitude, your painting will improve

Learn to drybrush and wash - they replace most of the need for highlighting in an ordinary army.

As to which army to choose, consider the forthcoming necrons - robots are super-quick and easy to paint as they don't wear uniforms and their weapons are pretty much part of their bodies. A simple basecoat, drybrush and wash would give you a fully painted army, much faster than any other army.

Simple paint schemes can be developed for ANY army in the game, and you can get reasonably decent looking models with various easy painting techniques. They won't win competitions but they will have color on them and allow you to compete in tournaments that require such. Dipping is a great alternative for the lazy painter, especially on Tyranids and Imperial Guard. It can even fit some chapters of Space Marines.

Dipping is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. You spray your models with a base coat, block in solid colors with no highlights/shadows, then "dip" the model in a stain, which flows into the recesses and creates natural highlights or shadows. You can get extremely fancy with this, or go very low tech. I prefer somewhere in the middle. Most people that dip use either a thinned down minwax stain (which, when dry, protects the model against chipping and scratching) and brush it onto each model. Or you can physically dip the model upside down in a tub of the stuff (as the name implies), but you have more control and less mess if you brush it on.

You can find dipping tutorials all over the internet with just a little bit of effort, so if it sounds like the perfect idea for you, then consider looking around. I personally have never dipped an army (though I have used Delvan Mud in much the same way), so others who have tried might be able to give you more specific advice.

Hope that helps!

Synister_Intent wrote:I've said it before and I'll say it again, my painting ability sucks, I would rather play the game than paint models, but I am trying to grow my painting skill slowly. Getting past that wicked truth, I am looking at building an army and painting it up (believe it or not) but I am terrible at doing highlighting, what army in the 40k universe had a rugged paint scheme that doesn't require highlighting? What armies would you guys suggest for me?

Nids look pretty good with dipping alone. Paint the smushy skin one color, paint the scaly bit another color, then dip. Works on the entire army.

Alternatively, weathering (most of which does not require ANY brush work) and drybrushing both look great on Guard, tanks and infantry.