So over the past few weeks I have been working on my Stormcast Eternal Army for Age of Sigmar. I have been super busy with work, wedding prep and exercise so fitting in painting has been a challenge! That said I did commit (stupidly) to getting my Stormcasts base coated and washed before the wedding (which means Andy can borrow them for a tournament!) so naturally I “had” to get the army done.
This presented a bit of a challenge as I only had roughly 1hr slots to fit in getting it done and so I decided to try a method I heard about years ago on a Garagehammer interview. They were interviewing a commission painter where they specialise in turning round armies in very short spans of time. Their method was to just work on one part of a model (eg a boot) then put it down and move on the next model and work through the whole pile.
So on a very long drive last week I broke down all the processes and stages I would need to complete to finish the army and planned how I would action each stage. The goal was to pick up the project, minimise fucking about and just dive straight into “value added” time immediately. Super stripped back and before starting I would have already mentally planned exactly which paint and which process I would tackle in my hour slot. All of this meant that in 2 weeks (approx. 12 hours paint time) I painted a full army. I managed to do 99% of this late in the evenings once all my tasks were complete and there would be zero distractions (typically 11pm-Midnight).
For those interested here were the steps:
- Assemble Models (admittedly completed two weeks prior) – Models just super glued to bases
- Spray Silver (5 mins) – wait to dry (went for a run)
- Wash whole model black (45 Minutes)
- Paint gold all models (60 minutes)
- Wash Gold Sepia (45 Minutes)
- Paint Blue (60 minutes)
- Wash Blue (60 minutes)
- Paint Red (30 minutes)
- Wash Red (30minutes)
- Paint Cream (60minutes)
- 2nd Layer Cream (60 minutes)
- Wash Cream (60 minutes)
- Take Models off bases (10 minutes)
- Sand and slate bases (50 minutes) – Dry 24hrs
- Spray Bases (5 minutes)
- Wash Bases (30 minutes)
- Dry Brush Bases (60 Minutes)
- Glue to bases (30 minutes)
- Paint Black Rims (30 minutes)
And the done! Will go back and paint to a higher standard later but in most ways this is just as good a quality as my models are post wash so quite happy with this method! It is mentally taxing and brutally efficient but it does work! Can’t see how anyone can have an excuse not to have a painted army to this level. I managed to fit in around what most people would call an extremely busy schedule!!!
So regarding the actual stormcast models now I have built and painted a load of them? I think they are pretty cool in theory but the execution is subpar compared to normal GW models. The retributors and character models are excellent, top notch (except for the stupid hammer cape on the Lord Celestant, that is bloody terrible!!!). The Prosecutors mould/sprue design is terrible, so hard to remove them without damaging them, I lost patience with it and I am a very patient person!!! The liberators are unfortunately the worst however, the mould gap running straight down the shoulder pads is borderline lazy design. It even goes through the sigmar hammer logo! Shocking really. The shoulder pads should have been separate parts, I understand that this may have been to stop Bitz resellers selling the shoulder pads to 40k Marine collectors but it is really a terrible idea.
Im looking forward to building and painting the Judicators (bow bros) and Protectors (standalone retributors) to see if there is a difference in quality in model design. Overal purely from a model point of view I rate the stormcasts as a 6/10 (10 being GWs best plastic kits). NB this does not take into account aesthetic preference, which if it did I would rate it at 4/10 purely from my point of view!
Oh also another finding, Army Paint Spray is NOT (NOT) a replacement for GW leadbelcher. Came out super thick, speckled and very dark. Second bad experience I have had with Army painter sprays (despite shaking them for 2 minutes!!) not impressed and wont be ordering again I'm afraid!
Oh also another finding, Army Paint Spray is NOT (NOT) a replacement for GW leadbelcher. Came out super thick, speckled and very dark. Second bad experience I have had with Army painter sprays (despite shaking them for 2 minutes!!) not impressed and wont be ordering again I'm afraid!
Anyway let me know your thoughts guys, how have you found the models? Do you like them? How are you going to paint them?
