HeroQuest model painting questions

[Sjeng]

Well, I'm about ready to start painting my newly acquired HQ set, but I'm new at it, so here's some questions:

I have some little model paint cans which I used for star wars models, which I think are oil-based. Can these be used on HQ miniatures, or would you recommend different paint?

Also: what would I need to paint your basic HQ miniatures?
- which colours do I definately need?
- what sort of brushes do you recommend?
- which washes do I need?
- anything else?

I'll post pictures when I feel they're presentable :P

[messyart]

You'll need whatever colours you want. You'll need brushes with real hair, in at least two sizes, one being small and sharp-tipped for details, the other being about a few Mm thicker so you can cover a lot of space in a short time.

Washes will depend on what colours you want.. But Ogryn Flesh is good for.. Flesh.

Tallarn flesh and then ogryn flesh wash is a nice mix. Tallarn is a foundation so it covers in one coat without much hassle, too.

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Painting is vast subject, which we need to cover more of on the forum - here a quick and ready guide to getting the right paints ...

Firstly I recommend you get a dedicated range of acrylic  model paints, the commonly available are Citadel Colour from GamesWorkshop, but they are rather expensive - so if you can track down a supply of  Coat D'arms paints or Miniature painters MP range and use the equivalents. More on paint companies later, but here something to get you started

(I will give the names of the paints from the Citadel Range here for the sake of convenience)

++The Basics++

Black and White
Chaos Black (you'll need this for undercoating - Always start with a Black Undercoat, no Black Undercoat = No Shading)
Skull White (when needed you can mix a little white with a colour to use for highlights in an emergency)

Browns, you'll find you use a lot of brown on fantasy miniatures - Fur, leather, hair, wood, cloth
Bestial Brown
Snake Bite Leather
Bubonic Brown
Bleach Bone

Reds, I like painting cloth red and it can also be used in other places too, like the inside of big monster's mouths or bloody gaping wounds on some undead types
Gore Red
Blood Red

Brown Wash, very useful for shading and can be used over most colours to good effect
Any brown ink or wash will do, Citadel's 'Delvian Mud Wash' is by far the best though
Also pick up a Black ink or wash like Citadel's 'Badab Black'

Flesh colours, you'll need these!
a nice easy way to do flesh is with the following:
'Bronzed Flesh' to base coat the flesh/skin areas followed by a wash of 'Flesh Wash' for shading

Metals, the 2 main ones you'll need are:
Tin Bitz
Boltgun Metal
top tip: paint metal areas with TinBitz first and add layers of Boltgun Metal until you have it as bright as you want - then shade joins in armour and the holes in chainmail using you Black Ink or Wash

(the above should let you paint a wide range of figures assuming you want to paint any cloth red)
These colours listed so far will colour what's needed for Humans, Orges, Chaos Warriors, Skaven, Undead

of course that's not all your figures colours covered yet

for orcs and goblins you'll need ...
Snot Green
Goblin Green
Any Green ink or Wash
paint Orc or Goblin flesh with Snot Green, Dry-brush Goblin Green and shade using the Green Ink or Wash

For Dwarfs you'll need:
Dwarf Flesh
(use the same technique mentioned above for Human Flesh, but use Dwarf Flesh instead of Bronzed Flesh)

The following colours are also useful for painting Gold
Dwarf Bronze
Shining Gold

For Elves you'll need:
Elf Flesh
same as with Dwarf and Human flesh

you'll also find 'Chainmail' useful for making Elven weapons and armour look extra shiny

To paint stone/rocks use:
Codex Grey and highlight with Fortress Grey (shade with Black Wash if you feel the need)

I hope at least some of this I've said here is useful to you, I'll write more later when I have more time

mains things to remember are:

Always start with a Black Undercoat, no Black Undercoat = No Shading

Build up the colours in layers of progressively brighter shades, use at least 2 shades of each colour

Learn to dry-brush, dry-brushing is one of the most useful and effective techniques for highlighting, no matter what some so-called 'pro-painters' will tell you (in fact I've found that most people who dismiss dry brushing as bad technique can't/don't do it properly)

Citadel's 'Delvian Mud Wash' can be very useful for extra shading but don't over use it

and finally and most importantly PRACTICE! (if needs be pick up some cheap figures to practice painting on before you tackle your beloved HeroQuest Classics)

[MortiS-the-Lost]

you'll find a half decent colour conversion chart here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Paint_Range_Compatibility_Chart

[Marchomer]

Mortis said practically everything, but here some other suggestions:

A grey paint could be useful too.
Take a look in DIY shops, where brushes, glues, spray (for undercoats and transparent protectant) are cheaper, if you are lucky you could find good canned paints too.
You need ACRYLIC and MATT paints, even for the spray. Check what you're going to buy!

[Sjeng]

allright! lots of info. I'll see what I can find tomorrow. Wish me luck :P

[Fenryz]

Good luck Sjeng :)

Remember, start slow - dont use your best brush to drybrush with, keep the brushes clean from paint so they´ll last longer.

[Sjeng]

Just got back from town. They had Citadel paints. € 3,- a pot :O
But it's my birthday monday, and my gf decided to buy them for me wheee!

I got:
Chaos Black primer (spraycan)

Skull White
Bleached Bone
Graveyard Earth
Bestial Brown
Scorched Brown
Blood Red
Red Gore
Liche Purple (for the chaos wizard's robes)
Enchanted Blue (for the wizard hero)
Boltgun Metal
Mithril Silver
Shining Gold
Goblin Green
Snot Green
Bronzed Flesh (last pot at a discount!)

Ogryn Flesh Wash
Devlan Mud Wash
Thraka Green Wash

I can mix up colours to make shades, so this should do. Perhaps I might get more skintones, but mixing the bronzed flesh with bleached bone or skull white could do for fairer skin.

I found a box full of German Soldiers, partly painted (badly), who will be my guinea pigs. They shall become Nazi Zombies muhahaha
Although I just realized I have no spare bases to put them on... I'll see what I can conjure up for that purpose.

[Fenryz]

That looks like a really good selection of colors :)

Enjoy the painting now!

[Sjeng]

Thanks!
Some more guinea pigs from my Cluedo game:

Rather nice characters.

[MortiS-the-Lost]

 what version of Cludo are those figures from? how big are they? could you show me a picture of them next to a HQ figure?

[messyart]

Remember to water the paints down a tiny bit.

[Sjeng]

Sure np, I'll do it as soon as I get home from work tonight ;)

and thanks for the tip!

[Sjeng]

 
It's a Dutch Cluedo version, from 1996, which I picked up for € 7,- :D You can imagine I was pretty happy to see actual miniatures instead of pawns.
The measure tape is in centimeters. So they're approx 4cm high.
Gonna base-coat them soon.

[Sjeng]

Undercoated them yesterday evening ^^

[MortiS-the-Lost]

cool, looks like you'll need to touch them up here and there with some slightly watered down Chaos Black

[Sjeng]

You think? The red line below the bases is just space because I stuck them on a red shoebox lid with sticky putty.
And I've got a chaos black spraycan. Do my mini's need to be completely 100% covered in black?

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Sjeng wrote

You think? The red line below the bases is just space because I stuck them on a red shoebox lid with sticky putty.
And I've got a chaos black spraycan. Do my mini's need to be completely 100% covered in black?

Yes a good solid, even undercoat will help in later stages of painting
I can still see a little green showing on the Fimir and the Goblin, try turning you miniature upside-down while you are painting, that way you'll spot more of 'hidden' bits of figure you might have missed

[Sjeng]

A small update:

I've basecoated all my D&D boardgame mini's as well, And I'm currently painting Rev. Green and Ms. White, they're almost done.
My fiancee is painting a D&D Goblin as an ice-gremlin, and she's doing a great job at it too! Her first miniature. She's a natural! And again, I've hooked her on another of my hobbies lol.

As soon as I have something to actually show, I'll make a new topic ;)

Next step is highlighting, washing and drybrushing. So I'm gonna do some youtube research to see in what order and how I should do it to get the best results.

[uncle phil]

I am a big fan of MP paints, as I describe in another of my recent comments. You can probably find Tamya paints in your part of the world too -model shops and radio control toy shops etc are a good place to look. These are much cheaper than GW paints and offer some really good colours. There is little point in paying GW prices for basic colours such as Black and White when you can get the same for cheaper from MP or Tamiya.

One must have from GW for me is Dwarf flesh. This is my standard for most caucasiab humans. I paint a little GW Tanned flesh under the cheekbones and in the eye sockets to add shade, then highlight with Elf flesh (either a dry brush or a thin glaze.) Dwarf flesh is a bit healthy and pink looking for some people's tastes, so you can use Tallarm flesh or bronzed flesh and highlight with elf, or any combination. Black ink your model and you will get a simply achieved but nice effect.

Since these are playing pieces you will probably need to varnish and dullcote your figures to protect the paint.

I hope the following will of be some help to you

http://www.cheddarmongers.org/prod/blog/uncle_phil/tips_and_tricks_and_stuff
http://www.cheddarmongers.org/prod/blackink
http://www.cheddarmongers.org/prod/blog/uncle_phil/painting_skeletons
http://www.cheddarmongers.org/prod/blog/uncle_phil/how_to_paint_mummies_the_uncle_phil_way
http://www.cheddarmongers.org/prod/blog/uncle_phil/painting_ghouls

http://www.cheddarmongers.org/prod/index.php?q=gallery&g2_view=tags.VirtualAlbum&g2_tagName=Heroquest
http://www.cheddarmongers.org/prod/blog/uncle_phil/statue_painting