I've been painting the platoon one section at a time. I realized after painting the British in one large batch that having to go through that process all over again for the German platoon would burn me out quite quickly. Finishing one section at a time, instead of having 30 half painted miniatures laying about, is in my opinion more beneficial as you actually get some fulfillment from finishing part of the project. At times when painting the entire British platoon I felt lost in a swarm of brown uniforms...
In any case here are, basing aside, two finished German sections:
Each section is made up of a 3 man MG34 team, a six man rifle team, and a SMG wielding corporal. Also seeing as each of these sections has a panzerfaust I threw one in each rifle team.
Finally I also have a half finished section, 4 riflemen are already complete, I'm just missing 2 more riflemen, the LMG team, and the NCO.
I experienced the same when I did my lot of Soviets and Germans, but doubly so because mine were in 28mm. (I have a full company for both sides plus many support options) I started doing massive batches but got bored. I then broke them up into smaller batches (usually section-sized) and that helped with tedium. But it is slower. My compromise that I eventually settled into is:
ReplyDelete1 Completely base coat and paint skin for the entire lot.
2 Break them into groups of 10 or so to completely paint them.
3 Apply a wash for the whole lot
4 Break them up into groups again to re-apply highlights.
5 Apply flocking to the whole lot.
Having only painted in 15mm I can't even imagine how much of a struggle getting that many figures painted must be... But your process sounds pretty much exactly like mine, I think its the only way to prevent getting burnt out!
DeleteI also find that taking some breaks to build terrain helps :)
Great ideas - i’m Working my way through 15mm brits and I’ve been doing it via painting all at once. I have 6/7 more steps. I think I will break them down by their sections to finish them.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yeah I think the sense of completion from finishing a whole section keeps you going, when I did my Brits all at once I felt overwhelmed towards the end. Also good luck with your Brits :-)
DeleteI'm doing early war Germans and Poles at the same time. That's 45 Germans and nearly 70 Poles in 25mm, mostly plastics. The Polish squads each have 19 men!
ReplyDeleteIt's taken a fair few months but I'm so nearly there.... Generally I do a batch of about 10-15 at a time and continue 'improving' them until they are at the same standard as the rest. A bit like leapfrogging, if that makes any sense.