Painted pieces. Take a look!

[leebear]

I had some time off work so I sat and grinded out a complete set of Anniversary edition components. What do you think?
They aren’t display standard but I think they look great on the game board. I’ve also added lots of decals from historical boardgaming. Great site by the way.

[The Captain]

@leebear

That looks awesome !

What technic do you use - and what colors (water based, petrol based - and what company makes those colors?)

You might also find inspiration in some of our own painted pieces - see the Axis & Allies Global 1940 Game Report thread (you’ll find under the house rules section).

Lots of pics. from various games.

You did a great job:+1:

[leebear]

@the-captain Thanks! Its very encouraging to hear your comments.
I primed them in grey Humbrol acrylic primer and painted them in the Vallejo range of acrylic paints and then finished them with waterslide decals from historicalboardgaming.com. I got into a bit of a rythym with the painting. There was a ton of miniatures to get through and I sort of production lined them. It would have been nice to really take my time with them but there were too many and I wanted to get them onto the board.
I’ll have a look at the ones you mentioned to try and get some inspiration.

[Nolimit]

@leebear That’s Great work, Too lazy myself to paint them in such detail- Have you considered putting National emblem decals on the Infantry bases, I’ve done it with mine and they look Cool!!!

[leebear]

@nolimit Thanks! Yeah, I’ve seen some examples of national emblems on the bases and it looks very effective but I’ve done 30 infantry for each nation and I couldn’t face all that fiddly work on so many bases!

[leebear]

@leebear By far the most laborious part of the painting was the infantry. All the other stuff was fun to paint but you have to really focus on small detail with infantry to stop them looking a mess. If you look closely you’ll see a couple of shortcuts I’ve used such as with Japan and Germany where I’ve painted the bases and the boots the same colour to avoid having to etch my way around the boot line on every model.

[The Captain]

@leebear

The infantry (especially the German Waffen-SS, Wehrmacht & Paratrooper units) are extremely time consuming to paint - and multiple colors are needed for those uniforms.

Since we always play with the Axis & Allies Global 1940 House Rules Expansion, I had to find a way to distinguish the various infantry units from each other.
The base on which the infantry stands has a specific color to determine which type of infantry it represents.

To solve this, the Color System I came up with is (Humbrol):

• Regular infantry (all Nations): no. 120 (Light Green)
• Elite infantry (5 Major Powers only): no. 90 (Beige Green)
• Paratrooper (5 Major Powers only): no. 25 (Blue)
• Waffen-SS Infantry, Soviet Guards Infantry, US Marine Infantry, UK Commando Infantry: no. 87 (Steel Grey)

I mostly use Humbrol paint (turbentine based paint) since they can withstand wear & tear. After panting is done & dry, I spray all units with matt varnish for extra protection.

[leebear]

@the-captain Ahh, yeah you’d certainly need a comprehensive colour scheme like that to play with those rules, from what I’ve seen.
I’ve actually gotten better by the end of painting 600 miniatures than I was to start with, meaning I keep wanting to repaint the ones I did first. Its like a never ending cycle!

[The Captain]

@leebear

True - I’ve just painted another 1248 pieces, so that I have 2 complete Global 1940 games ready for use.

Several of our members have painted pieces - and they are all following the same color system to avoid confusion.

I’ve attached some pictures of “How to Mass Produce Painted Pieces”.

[leebear]

@the-captain That’s super helpful, thankyou!

[Midnight_Reaper]

@the-captain In the pictures you presented of your painting technique, I spy some old pieces - specifically, some of the old Table Tactics pieces - landing craft, jeeps, and land mines. Are those original or reproductions? If they are reproductions, how / where did you get them made? Or is this just an old picture?

I would dearly love to find a new source for those old pieces, now more than 20 years old…

-Midnight_Reaper

[The Captain]

@midnight_reaper

Those pictures are from three weeks ago, when I was painting a G40 Complete Second Game for use with Axis & Allies Global 1940 House Rules Expansion and Global 1943 Expansion - since we need an extra complete game for tournaments.

I had to dig my way through some of my old stuff up in the attic - and found an extra box of Axis & Allies Accessories and Central Powers - they were more or less intact.

I bought them back in 1995.

I ran out of G40 OOB Mechanized Infantry units - so I use the Jeeps instead.

Brings back a lot of memories:relaxed:

[General 6 Stars]

Went to watch a 42 game where 2 players will be playing my gamefirst time and wanted to meet. These pics Captain are buddy’s German inf he has done.

[The Captain]

@general-6-stars

That is truly a great job:+1:

Does these German infantry units have special capabilities?

[General 6 Stars]

@the-captain said in Painted pieces. Take a look!:

@general-6-stars

That is truly a great job:+1:

Does these German infantry units have special capabilities?

No not as of now. Basically just play oob rules with them.
He said like desert pieces, Finland etc based on locations.

[leebear]

@general-6-stars Those look amazing!
I’m in the process of varnishing mine. I’ve hand varnished all the infantry and tanks so far but I’d like to speed the process along. Is it possible to use a spray can on the bigger units like ships? I understand that I’d have to be careful not to blast them too quick but are items of this size a little too finely detailed to be “mass” sprayed?

[The Captain]

@leebear

I use a Spray Varnish Matt.

After the paint & decals are dry, I spray with the varnish - at a distance from app. 30 cm - to get an even layer.

After varnishing, I leave the units to dry & the varnish to harden for at least 24 hours.

Those Waffen-SS Paratrooper units (see picture below) are more than 10 years old now - and they have been used in several hundred games - and have been moved multiple times during each game.

So the varnish a good investment.

[General 6 Stars]

You got a name for this varnish matt spray please ?

[leebear]

@the-captain
Well, that’s amazing to hear as it looks like you just finished them. I’m off over to access models in Newark to get some matt spray varnish then.
Bit of trivia for you…Access models, here in Newark, England was the first retailer to sell Citadel miniatures (if you’ve heard of those). The old fella in the shop was telling me about how Steve Jackson came in back in the early 1980’s and did a deal with him.

[The Captain]

@general-6-stars

This spray varnish is just one I bought in a supply store. There are several other companies that produce similar products.

Important is to check the exp. date - since the varnish gets “chunky” when it is too old - or have been stored too cold.