On the Painting Desk: Speed Painting some Corsairs

 

Hello faithful readers!  

I had little interest in purchasing anything new from Games Workshop.  I dropped out of Warhammer 40K in 5th edition or so.  I had all the specialist games stuff I wanted, and a lot of older miniatures that I still use in various games.  However, some of my local players have been tinkering around with Kill Team.  The sharp eyed among you may have seen my Kill Team games have gone up on the tracker, but no real reports on it.  

Well, this led to our local wargaming group trying to run a Kill Team themed event in order to reach out to our local community of gamers and get them together in one place.  

This coming event led me to do something I did not expect to do at all.  I purchased a Kill Team from Games Workshop!  I still have plenty of old models, and had been using some older Orks as my team.  However, I was at a FLGS and saw the Corsairs box sitting there, and I also found a box of the Army Painter Speed Paints.  

With that being said, I decided to commit to painting these new Corsairs only with Speed Paints.  So, in order to get started, I poorly assembled a squad of 10.  I really should have looker at the instructions closer before I started as I screwed a few things up.  My Warlock, Fate Weaver (sniper) and Starscarred Duelist (two-pistol guy) really suffered for it.  Oh well!  

Then, I primed them all with Grey Seer from GW.  This primer has done good work for me on Reaper Bones, where my normal cheap acrylic method has failed me.  Then, I pulled out my trusty Army Painter Mega-paint set, and made a grey wash from Uniform Grey and washed all 10 of them.  This was to put dark shades into the crevices.  Then, I dry brushed the models matte white.  This meant the recesses had dark grey, mid-areas were light grey, and the top layers were white.  I was hoping these different layers of "grey" as a base coat would cause some interesting interactions with the Speed Paint to create better depths and contrasts.  

With all of them prepped and ready, I actually got a bit nervous!  I pulled out a couple of Reaper Bones models I had sitting around and used them as test subjects first!  I was happy with the initial results I was seeing on the test models.  One thing I noticed, is that it took longer for these to dry than regular paints.  Therefore, I would need to be sure each coat dried before I moved on.  The importance of going from lowest layer to top layer of the model also became apparent, so start with the skin and move up. Online, I had heard some talk of "re-activation" but did not experience it when painting these test minis.     

These paints are also somewhat "thin" compared to normal army painter.  That means they are easy to get worn or rubbed off between coats.  Minimizing the handling is key, and protective coats of varnish/clear cot etc, will be needed for the minis in-game.   

The left had some traditional paints, and the right is all Speed Paint only

With my confidence buoyed by the initial test models, I was almost ready to start.  However, I decide to take a closer look at the models, and start to jot down what I was planning to put where.  This is not something I normally do; but since this is a new type of painting I wanted to make sure I had an idea of what I was doing before I started.   Now, it was time to put brush to mini.....

....and here was the first test model of a standard corsair with a shuriken catapult.

This model was painted only with Armypainter Speed Paints basic set.  This result is good for what I wanted to accomplish.  However, there were a few small details I wanted to update with some more traditional painting methods.  For example, I wanted the cape to be whiter, and the gems to have a bit more of a shine to them.  However, for the base armor, harness, and weapons I was very satisfied with the result.  

So I went back and did some work on the gem stones, and the cloaks to make them stand-out a bit more.  Nothing major, but some more traditional techniques.  Then, when I was done I gave him a light tone wash.  

From there, I went on and started painting my 4 other regular Corsairs, and the Starstorm Duellist model.  I applied the same techniques and this was the result.  

I was happy with this result, so decided to move onto the rest of the Kill Team using the same method.  That was my Gunner, Heavy Gunner, Fate Weaver (sniper), Warlock, and Felarch command unit.  Again, I pretty much just painted the speed paints of Blood Red as the armor, Hardened leather for the harness, Palid Bone for the cloaks/cloth, and Greenskin Green for the gems.  It help with the Pallid bone, I went back and gave them homemade wash of Mummy's Robes and then dry brushed on matte white.  For the gems, I first repainted them with Matte white before applying the Greenskin Green Speed paint.  Then, on the gems I went back and put a small dot of matte white on it.  At the end, I washed them all with Light Tone wash.   

One thing to note, is that the Speed Paints do not cover each other as well as regular paint.  It is often better to paint over mistakes with a bit of ash grey or matte white before applying a new speed paint layer.  This helps with the coverage a lot.  It also highlights the importance of starting with the lowest layer of a model first and painting upwards.  

  That just left the basing.  I decided to go with a simple approach, as these will be gaming pieces first.  Therefore, I decided to paint the bases with Hardened Leather as speed paint.  Then, I used Green Tone ink over the top of it.  Simple and easy, as the bases had all ready been dry brushed and washed in the prepping phase.  After that, I went and painted a black rim around the edges to help them really stand out.  

I also tried to put some transfers on my Felarch's back banner from the transfers that came with the box.  I managed to botch the first one up badly before I realized that GW transfers and Little Big Man Studios transfers work differently!  From there, I figured it out; but they were a bit of a hassle to make work and to stick in the right place.  Perhaps, I was just getting impatient to finish?  

Final step, I gave them all a coat of Matte Finish to keep them safe and secure.  Like I said, I expected these to get some heavy use on the table, and the Speed Paints can be a bit thin.  This makes them prone to wear and tear when handling.  

Here they all are on the table and ready to rock and/or roll! 

From left to right, and front to back we have: Gunner, Corsair with sword/pistol, Felarch with Nuero-Disruptor, Corsair with sword/pistol.  Second row is Heavy Gunner and Warlock.  Third row is Fate Weaver (Sniper), Starstorm Duelist, Corsair with Shuriken Catapult.  Last guy is a Corsair with Shuriken Catapult.  I tried to go with a mixed group of close in fighters and range to support to give me tactical flexibility..... which often is NOT rewarded in Games Workshop games so I expect to get my face stomped in a lot.  :) 

Anyway, thanks to the Armypainter speed paints these took me about 1/3rd the time of my usual approach to base coat, wash, apply highlights and details.  Plus, they look pretty good at arm's length, but they can even stand-up to a somewhat closer inspection too.  Like all things, there are some applications that they will work better for than others.    

Overall, I look forward to learning how to add speed paints into my normal painting repertoire.  There are some things that they will work wonders on.  Keep watching this space, and I will have some Kill Team action posted up here soon! 

Maybe I will see you there at Gestalt Studios and you can play against this Kill Team yourself? 

Onward!  

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