Hey guys! So been a while (super busy recently!) but have managed to speed paint a 2200pt AoS Nurgle Rotbringers army for the Winter War tournament coming up on the 12th of November. This tournament has always held a special place in my heart being that it was my first foray into tournament gaming where I met a lot of new friends and also it is the biggest and longest running charity tournament in the UK. The guys at DWARF who run it always do an amazing job and bleed us dry for donations (quite rightly!).
So with this is mind I felt I had to get my butt in gear to get an AoS army ready for the event (having played 40k last year!), it is actually my first proper AoS army so I wanted to do it justice. I really am not kidding when I said I have been very busy the past 6 months with work and other commitments so I had to plan this project out thoroughly to speed paint it to the best of my ability. I usually do paint quite quickly (this army took about 35 hours over two weeks) but this time I really tried to push myself to get this done and will try to give some tips in doing a speed project like this:
- · PLAN, PLAN, PLAN. Seriously this makes a huge difference to getting a project done quickly, figure out the colour scheme that you want to go with (one test model would be ideal, Gutrot Spume in my case) and then plan batch processes. I set out the entire army to do one colour on every model in one blast. This made each colour or step take roughly 45 minutes. This may sound monotonous but in reality it keeps you going and completing each stage and if you only have 45min windows to paint then you can bang straight into the project knowing exactly what you need to do and how long it will take. For example I could squeeze in a session after dinner, go for a run, then paint some more. Breaking it up like this helped a lot.
- · Focus. Don’t have your phone beside you (ignore tweets, texts, your loved ones and the internet, unless a pet explodes try not to get distracted), don’t watch TV (I don’t really watch TV anyway), don’t play computer games. Completing each stage keeps your momentum up and you can power through. For me working late into the night works best, I get peace and quiet to get a lot done.
- · Drink water not coffee, eat fruit not chocolate. Might sound daft but eating healthier will keep your mind focused and alert and stops you getting lethargic. Also going for a run (for example) mid-session will get you pumped up and raring to go (wouldn’t recommend a heavy weight session though, your hands will be jittery for hours…) and allow you to paint for longer.
- · Paint in daylight if you can, kitchen white lights if you can’t. Painting by a lamp in my experience makes you tired, in a bright white light room I feel more alert and awake. Also have a window open for fresh air, hot stuffy rooms make me fall asleep!
- · Pre-Shaded basecoats. I tried out pre-shaded base coats on this army, it’s a technique mastered and promoted by James Wapple. Disclaimer, I am nowhere near his level but I wanted to try his method of applying layers prior to washing so that once the model is washed you have a nearly finished product which is then easier to layer and highlight.
I will try and do some step by step paint guides for the flesh and armour when I get some time! Let me know what you guys think of the army, looking forward to getting the army on the table for the first time!
