It's been a long while without posts on here and unfortunately I've not got time for detailed blog posts, battle reports, etc. anymore with changes with work patterns and family life.
In the mean time, I've been building up Tau and Tyranid armies across the last 12 months and found myself with a free evening yesterday, with which I decided I would do some test schemes for both forces.
These were the ultimate speed paint tests and the main thing (with my limited painting time) was to get one done from undercoat to washed, within 20 minutes.
Tau - These guys are based on the Tau from the Medusa V campaign from a couple of years back. I've always liked the idea of white armour for them and definitely wanted a colour scheme which was different from my other armies. The white was really quick to paint, my only concern would be for when it comes to painting the vehicles. The test model is a Tank Commander stuck on a base, but I'm optimistic this will be better on a proper Fire Warrior that has more armour.
Tyranids - A few years ago I did have some Tyranids painted up in the same scheme and really liked it. It's based on a Guy Haley article on speed painting from an early 300ish White Dwarf. I used to use a Chestnut Ink on the body, but tried with Nuln Oil now. The most important thing for these guys is that they are quick to paint. I really love the contrast of the cream carapace against the brown body.
With practice and a few more, I'm optimistic that I can reduce the painting time to <10 mins per model start to finish. I wasted a lot of time on the Tau by painting the cloth first and then the armour. If I were to have slopped on the grey base of the armour, then overbrushed the white, then painted the cloth etc. it would have been significantly quicker.
In other news I've not played 40K for a while as I've been getting involved with Malifaux, which I really love and would like to do a proper intro post to that separately (whenever I can find time). I'm currently painting up my Lady Justice plastic crew and have a Mei Feng crew ready to go after that.
If you've not given Malifaux a go before, get involved! It's fun and cheap to get started with. It's allowing me to spend a lot more time on detail of minis, something which I've abandoned whilst painting hordes of Orks, Marines, Guardsmen etc.
Cheers,
SB
