Goatboy 40k: Getting an Army Ready to Go
Goatboy here again – as you have seen in most of my articles I play a whole lot of different armies. I strive to try to understand just about anything that is 40k and the only way to do it beyond just reading the codex front to back is to actually get out there and throw down with some of the armies. Since I have come back to the hobby I have made it my mission to not field un painted minis so today I want to give some tips on getting your army done so you don’t feel left out when you try to crush your opposition.
Not everyone is a painting master and there is a major difference between a good table top piece versus a Golden Daemon winning entry. What I want to talk about is getting your army on the table with some paint so the battle at least looks good. So let’s look at how we can do that. I won’t go into paint techniques, as the web is full of them. If you want to ask me my opinion shoot me an email and I will be more then happy to go over some paint techniques if you want.
First rule of 40k Get your Crap Painted Fight Club is – Build a good Solid Core.
Whenever I build an army I figure out the core set up. That is the first bit of miniatures I paint as they are the most common I will use in every game. Usually this consists of 3 troop choices followed by a solid HQ that I know I will see just about every game. Most of the time the HQ has a cool conversion. I work with this core set of models first, as I know I can at least get a small game with them in once done.
Second rule of 40k Get your Crap Painted Fight Club or 40k GYCPFC – Create an easy to replicate paint scheme.
I normally try to create a very simple paint scheme for my models. This way I can replicate it over and over, as well as have the options to add more to it as I finish each model. A lot of the times it is one major color followed by some kind of different color to build interest in the model. My Space Goats were a primary red army with the off white skin to try and break apart the overall shape and feel of the model. With small accent colors you get a fairly neat looking model that is easy to do and recreate.
Third rule of 40k GYCPFC – Paint 5-10 models at a time.
I don’t know about you, but to really get the most of your painting time you need to do more than one model. I find painting at the 5-10 mark gives you more than enough time per model as well as the least amount of burnout time. That is the biggest issue when painting an army is trying to keep the burnout from making you hate the time spent on acrylic greatness. Lately I try to keep most bulk army painting at 5 models as it gives me the most joy to paint instead of the dread of thinking of having to highlight with one color, 10+ models.
Fourth Rule of 40k GYCPFC – Build/paint all unit options for each unit.
I don’t know how many times my choices have changed as I have played and tested an army. Giving myself all those options in one unit means I can always change on the fly as needed. When I built my Grey Hunter units I had each unit have the option of a meltagun, plasma, or flamer. I also had all the other options most of the time.
Fifth rule of 40k GYCPFC – The biggest thing is make sure you pick an army you want to work on.
I left the most important rule for the end. Really the only way you will finish an army is if you like it. It is one of the reasons I am always interested in evil stuff, as I just prefer the overall model design/scope from the evil side of things. If you just pick an army you think will win the most then you will most likely not want to finish painting it. It is probably why some of my other side armies never got out of concept stage as I went about finding a paint scheme as well as design scheme to the overall look.
Again if you want some advice on paint schemes shoot me an email and I would be more than happy to help out. I have a ton of armies and I continue to build more and more for myself as well as clients looking to get a nice table top army at a decent price. This next year I plan on bringing Chaos Daemons to most of the tournaments I play so will see what kind of crazy testing I come up with and army styles.
