It’s a long road to Armies on Parade 2023, so to get you on your way we’re kicking things off with New Year, New Army once more. You’ll find great tips and ideas on Warhammer Community throughout January and February, and to give you a strong head start we’ve corralled three in-house painters to impart their sage advice.
If there’s one thing Warhammer TV Presenter Emma and Army Painters Andy and James can agree on, it’s that you’ve got to have a plan – even if it changes further down the line.
“Start by painting up a test model in the colour scheme you want,” Emma says, “or better yet, two – You may find that the colours you like work on the armour or cloth of infantry but not on tanks, so this is the best time to adapt other colours that suit what you want in your army.”
Andy agrees. “It doesn't have to be comprehensive, but before I start a new army, I want to have a rough idea of what it will include. Then I make a list of a few milestones I can aim for to keep me motivated, like a Combat Patrol or Vanguard box.”
A particularly helpful habit is to have a neat and tidy hobby space, according to James.
“One of the biggest mistakes I see is people painting in a dingy corner,” he says. “They end up facing a wall in terrible light with only a tiny bit of space on the edge of their desk to paint, and wondering why painting is no fun. It's always worth the time to tidy your paint area, and do what you can to make it more enjoyable to spend time there.”
“I also make sure that from time to time, I clean and reset my desk,” adds Andy. “It helps reboot my headspace when I change projects or reach a suitable goal in the army I'm working on. Bright lighting, plenty of space, and a good bit of motivational Warhammer art are all just as important as having the right brushes and paints on hand.”
On the practical side, Emma advises that you keep track of your sub-assemblies with small painted numbers, especially when building large numbers of arms separately from their bodies. Painting bodies separately from their arms can speed up the whole process massively – especially around the torso – but you’ll need to make sure that Guardsman A doesn’t get saddled with some mismatched arms from Guardsman B!
A trick James uses to keep motivation high is to base his miniatures early, often after only a few steps of his painting process. “Doing the bases after the basecoat and contrast stages is a great way to trick your mind into thinking you're almost finished,” he says. “It's much easier to motivate yourself to sit down and do the shading and detail work when your miniatures already look complete.”
Andy is also a big fan of basing his miniatures after the Battle Ready stage. He paints many of the armies featured on Battle Report and other Warhammer TV shows, and his advice focuses largely around making effective use of your time.
“Always stop and ask ‘could this be done with Contrast?’ or ‘could a drybrush achieve the same effect as a highlight?’ All of our tricks and techniques are perfect for personal hobbies as well. I work through all of the same stages at a time, as it tricks you into seeing clear progress rather than reaching the end of a painting session and feeling no closer to completion.”
But of course, the most important thing at the end of the day is to have fun.
“Start small and build up,” is Emma’s advice. “Sometimes the biggest hurdle is keeping the painting speed going and enjoyment going. Taking a break by painting up single unique models in between bigger units keeps it fresh, but challenging.”
“Enjoying painting will see you come back day after day, week after week,” offers James. “If something isn't fun, change it up and find a new way to paint that you enjoy – it's the fastest way to paint an amazing army.”
Have you begun your project for this year’s Armies on Parade? Share your work so far with us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter with #ArmiesOnParade2023.