The painting choice

As a general rule I only use oil-base paints when I paint an army. This is for several reasons.

First and foremost, appearance. I prefer the glossy, almost "wet look" I get from oil paints. Second, familiarity. Those are what I have used my entire life, I know what they SHOULD do and how to do it.

I did once use water base. I purchased several apple-barrel paints and started work on some Dwarf figures with it.

I hated it.

I did not like the dull look. I did not like the way it did not give very good coverage. I hated the dull look. I missed the shine. I hated the dull look.

Yes, I disliked the flatness that much. Between that and the horrid coverage rate I just could not stand the water-based paints.

I went back to my beloved oil-base. Meanwhile, a friend wanted to do some painting, so I sent the water-based paints and more Dwarf figures to her. She went nuts.

And she did much better than I. She got good coverage. The figures did not look flat. They looked spectacular, in fact.

Well, with starting the Beastmen army, I started thinking about some of the things I wanted to do with it. I want to take time to paint it correctly. With that in mind...I actually have been considering trying the water-base paints again.

I like the work a couple members of our group have managed with water. They can get some of the shine. They do not get the metallics I adore, but there are ways around that.

Furthermore, there are many more tutorials on how to work with water-based than with oil-based.

So since I am starting a new army, I think I will go out on a limb here. I will use water for this army.

Of course, loving my gloss-look as I do, that means I will need a gloss varnish or coating when done...but the extra step will be worth it.

The really amazing thing here is I am actually looking forward to the process. Usually, painting is a chore that I put off as much as possible. I hate doing the painting. It is tedious, boring, and is most explicitly NOT playing the game, which is what I really love.

Yet here is a case where I am looking forward to painting the army. I am planning my colors, considering stuff like doing some of the washes, blending and shading that makes an army really stand out.

That is not fair...I think my Warriors of Chaos army really POPS due to the way I did it.

But that is looking at the army as a whole. It is not worthy of picking up individual models and examining them.

I want the Beastmen to be different. I want them to have that shading and definition that great looking models have.

My initial plan was to paint up enough for a game this weekend.

The new plan is to take my time, do a unit at a time and try to make the best looking army I have ever painted.

I also have plans to make cool bases to use with them. We will see if all this works out.