TMNP 2: The Secret of the Dip

Having been a good few months since the surprise unveiling of my Tomb Kings army at the Easter retreat, I though I better put up a basic “how to” on dipping as frankly it’s a technique that every painter should consider at one time or another – especially if on a tight schedule… Painting singular miniatures may be an art form, but painting an army is pure science…

I used The Army Painter’s range of Quick Shade. It acts as a universal shade for miniatures and for battlefield armies eliminates the need for highlighting and shading. However this does not stop you from going back and higlighting the shaded miniatures if you so wish. Obviously dipping isn’t for every army, but for Tomb Kings it was a godsend, especially with my sloth like painting skills. In addition to acting as a universal shade, Quick Shade also acts as a varnish allowing you to complete a basecoated miniature in one fell swoop! What follows before is a quick step by step on how I finished my Tomb Kings with The Army Painter Quick Shade with a Skeleton, who we shall call Bob, as demonstrator.

1. Bob was cleaned up and assembled (including basing) before being sprayed with The Army Painter Skeleton Bone Spray.

2. Bob’s weapon and head band was base coated with Vallejo Army Painter Bronze, while his cloth head garb was painted with Vallejo Turquoise.

3. Bob was given a liberal coating of Light Quick Shade with a brush. For the actual Easter tournament I dipped the infantry but was not a fan of a) the mess and b) the ease at which the miniatures would fly out of the grip of my pliers! Now I apply the shade with a brush which is then cleaned with artist’s thinners. As the  Quick Shade pools, excess areas would be removed with kitchen towel or by brush.

4. Now coated, Bob was left to dry. At this point there is a quick fatal stab of terror followed by “AIEEE! What have I done! It looks s**t!” But bear with it! As it dries the Quick Shade dries matt and looks much, much better, as Bob’s mate Steve will show!

Quick Shade dries to the touch within 12 hours, but for full protection, 24 hours should be left for drying and hey. presto, painted, shaded and varnished in one go!

But enough of me cheerleading Quick Shade! What am I up to now? Well, there is more planned for the Tomb Kings, I have two Lich Priests awaiting painting, both from Crocodile Games excellent range of miniatures. I have two more big mummy converstions planned, but just have to order the bits! In addition, I have a wish to convert a Chariot of Fire and painted up another Ubshabti… Armies never get finished, they just evolve! For the character models I plan to highlight the miniatures prior to Quick Shade for further depth.

However, all of the above are plans! At this moment in time I’m assembling Wood Elves. Having found my old battalion box and other bits to exchange I’m back with the pointy eared eco terrorists! The main catalyst for this has been the film “Hero”. The fight seen between Maggie Cheung and Zhang Zhyi in the golden forest with both combatants dressed in reds/oranges has inspired me to go for an Autumn theme, but moreso. In tribute to the “passion” segment of “Hero” they will be clothed in various shades of red – not other colours. Armour will either be lacqued red or even black, but red will remain the overriding theme. Whether I pull this off will be another thing, but looking at my previous experiences with Elves, at least red will hide the blood after the defeats!

Then again, there’s always my Dark Elves, my High Elves, the Bretonnian/Empire army I have planned… Too many choices…