Painting: ECW Armies The Army Painter Way!

As part of the big English Civil Wars army Jonas painted up for Salute 2010 using all the different Colour Primers, one regiment was done up with the new Colour Primer: Crystal Blue. Look out for the pages of Wargames Illustrated for the full run down of the entire army project, but for now Jonas talks your through painting a Warlord Games plastic musketeer with the Army Painter technique. Over to you, Jonas…

Stage 1

Once assembled I sprayed the models with Colour Primer: Crystal Blue. Army Painter Colour Primers are very different to other sprays you might use on your miniatures and as a result need to be used slightly differently – make sure you follow the instructions carefully:

* Shake it! Shake the can hard for a minimum of 1½ minutes.

* Distance: The maximum distance you should use a Colour Primer from is about 20 centimeters.

* Even bursts: Using long, even burst where you constantly move the can across the model will give a perfect result.

Stage 2

Paint in the base coats in flat colours only. No highlights or fancy painting techniques – give them a basic paint job and then move onto the next miniature. For these models I used Flesh, Brown/Yellow mix and metal. Very simple and fast, just 3 colours!

Stage 3

Once I had basecoated the whole regiment I stepped outside with my trusted can of Quickshade Dip (for this regiment I used Quickshade Strong Tone) and a pair of pliers. One-by-one I dipped the models in the Quickshade flicking the models 5-6 times to remove the excess drops. All-in-all this takes about 10 minutes to complete dipping a regiment.

Stage 4

Leave the Quickshade to dry for a good 24-48 hours. Quickshade is specially designed pigmented varnish and hardens slowly. Leave it for a few days and your models has a strong protective varnish as well as some superb shading.

Stage 5

To remove the gloss effect of the Quickshade simply spray your models with Army Painter Anti-Shine matt varnish – this, in conjunction with the Quickshade, is the magic ingredient that will make your models look superb so don’t miss this stage out! Again follow the instructions on the can carefully:

* Shake the can vigorously for 1 minute before spraying and occasionally while in use.

* Always test on 1 model first to avoid any mishaps.

* Underlying paint layers (for instance Quickshade) needs to be fully dry before you apply the varnish.

* Apply 2-3 very thin coats at a distance of 20-30 centimeters.

* Do not spray at very low or high temperatures or if humidity is excessive.

Stage 6

I finished off the bases with Battlefields Flock, Static Grass and Swamp Tufts.

Stage 7

The Shotte part of the regiment in all its glory!