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(I posted this in the wrong spot originally, Oops!)

Hey everyone!!! (Im new to this fourm, dont really know how to introduce a post :0)

Me and my buddy are going on a roadtrip up to Kansas City for the US Open.

Im running T'au and he is running Death Guard.

I so far have a 2000 point list built with everything I need and am ready to start painting.

Problem is I LOVE PAINTING.

And what I mean by that is I spend 10-30 hours on each model. Placing volumetric lighting, glazing, building shadows. All the 9 yards.

The problem with this is that I have under 2 months and I have maybe 200 points painted.

How should I optimize my time while painting and still have time for my other commitments in life? (School, Producing, Etc)

Any advice for speedpainting with volumes?

And second off, Im not super good at the game,

Anyone have any advice for a T'au player

Finally:

What should I expect from the tournament?


Thank you so much!

I suggest watching some speed painting videos on YouTube, including the Slap-Chop method and others.
Select your favorite HQ' you want to put some time in.
and knock the rest out as fast as possible. I finally painted my first 2K army last year. It takes a mental shift, and accepting a different standard of basic painting. You must be good w/ good enough.

I cannot offer any other advice except pack:
comfortable shoes
ibuprofen / Tylenol
high protein energy bars / snacks
and lots of water.

Lastly, if your first one and you get really tired out by day two, it is ok to drop and take care of yourself. Players drop for far worse reasons.
have fun.

I'll second trying some speed painting techniques like Slap-Chop for your more bulk models like infantry units. Take it as an opportunity to try some new painting methods to add to your repertoire, maybe challenge yourself to see just how sharp looking you can get them done in a quarter or a tenth of your normal time investment and try to get each one looking better than the last with limited time. I used to take a long time to paint then did this for a bit and found I could get a good table top or better standard in surprisingly little time and it was very satisfying being able to see my improvement in both time and results as I explored new techniques. It was fun. I don't paint like that typically, but even my normal painting now takes a lot less time than it used to for the same standard I previously achieved.

Then you can spend more time on a small number of character models or a big center piece to get really stuck in on once you have the bulk of the army done and a good idea how much time you have left to do the fancy stuff.

 Shrapnelsmile wrote:
I suggest watching some speed painting videos on YouTube, including the Slap-Chop method and others.
Select your favorite HQ' you want to put some time in.
and knock the rest out as fast as possible. I finally painted my first 2K army last year. It takes a mental shift, and accepting a different standard of basic painting. You must be good w/ good enough.

I cannot offer any other advice except pack:
comfortable shoes
ibuprofen / Tylenol
high protein energy bars / snacks
and lots of water.

Lastly, if your first one and you get really tired out by day two, it is ok to drop and take care of yourself. Players drop for far worse reasons.
have fun.

Thank you so much for the response!!! I will make sure to pack all of these, and yeah the mental shift is crazy, I spent 6ish hours on 3 panels on a broadside just blending and glazing but then I decided I cant do that quality for the entire army so im redoing it with a easier way and just placing some small volumes on it


Automatically Appended Next Post:

TGBO wrote:
I'll second trying some speed painting techniques like Slap-Chop for your more bulk models like infantry units. Take it as an opportunity to try some new painting methods to add to your repertoire, maybe challenge yourself to see just how sharp looking you can get them done in a quarter or a tenth of your normal time investment and try to get each one looking better than the last with limited time. I used to take a long time to paint then did this for a bit and found I could get a good table top or better standard in surprisingly little time and it was very satisfying being able to see my improvement in both time and results as I explored new techniques. It was fun. I don't paint like that typically, but even my normal painting now takes a lot less time than it used to for the same standard I previously achieved.

Then you can spend more time on a small number of character models or a big center piece to get really stuck in on once you have the bulk of the army done and a good idea how much time you have left to do the fancy stuff.

Thank you so much!!! This is going to be a much better mindset to have, its difficult for me to try to be quick as I love making every model look like a tournament winner but honestly its stressful and hopefully slap chop will be better!

Tau is easy to paint since there is only metal surfaces and little to no skin.

In a pinch, buy the types of spray paint. Base them green or black. And spray them with the other two colors so you get a rough camuflage pattern. It wont look great, but it will look ok and your opponent wont have to play unpainted models.

I would say, from your initial post, if you are glazing and adding volumetric highlights etc then something like Slapchop probably won't be for you. It will get your army painted quickly, but not to a standard you will probably be happy with.

It also sounds as though you are like me - a painter rather than a gamer so picking up any prizes at the tournament are more likely to be painting rather than gaming related. Speed painting techniques like Slapchop won't help with this.

Of course, my assumptions could be completely wrong so if you think speed painting works to get stuff finished in time then definitely do that.

Couple of questions though - are you airbrushing? Are you using Contrast paints (or their equivalent)?

If you want volumetric highlights etc but want to get stuff finished a combo of airbrushing and contrast will work very well.

But my best advice would be just to get everything you need to play at least base-coated and based so you can play, and then if you run out if time you can at least go back and spend more time on the painting later.

I would highly recommend Juan Hidalgo's videos on Youtube though, he does some amazing tutorials on Contrast/Xpress colours but also has just done some slapchop/contrast style videos that produce better results than some of the others I've seen - for example his Sentinel video could work well for things like Battlesuits.

StraightSilver wrote:
I would say, from your initial post, if you are glazing and adding volumetric highlights etc then something like Slapchop probably won't be for you. It will get your army painted quickly, but not to a standard you will probably be happy with.

It also sounds as though you are like me - a painter rather than a gamer so picking up any prizes at the tournament are more likely to be painting rather than gaming related. Speed painting techniques like Slapchop won't help with this.

Of course, my assumptions could be completely wrong so if you think speed painting works to get stuff finished in time then definitely do that.

Couple of questions though - are you airbrushing? Are you using Contrast paints (or their equivalent)?

If you want volumetric highlights etc but want to get stuff finished a combo of airbrushing and contrast will work very well.

But my best advice would be just to get everything you need to play at least base-coated and based so you can play, and then if you run out if time you can at least go back and spend more time on the painting later.

I would highly recommend Juan Hidalgo's videos on Youtube though, he does some amazing tutorials on Contrast/Xpress colours but also has just done some slapchop/contrast style videos that produce better results than some of the others I've seen - for example his Sentinel video could work well for things like Battlesuits.

Thank you so so much! This is exactly what i was looking for!!! I paint to a super high standerd so slap chop and such wont be for me.

I wont use contrast on T'au due to it creating unrealistic shadows on the flat surfaces; however, I *am* going to airbrush my infantry with a light blue green so I can build to a white for volumes, that way I can quickly have some nice white highlights and volumes without glazing from a black to grey to white.

I like your idea of basing everything and going back when im done! Thats a super good idea!

Let us know how it goes.

I'll be at Kansas City open, hope to see you'll there! I'll be the guy playing the 8 model army (with 2 lords of war - Lord of Skulls and Brass Scorpion)

 nathan2004 wrote:
I'll be at Kansas City open, hope to see you'll there! I'll be the guy playing the 8 model army (with 2 lords of war - Lord of Skulls and Brass Scorpion)

Lmaoooo Ill see if I can spot you haha. Im playing T'au with a light green and blue/grey/white paint scheme