PaintingWar: WWII British and Commonwealth armies

After 10 years since the publication of my very first painting book I am delighted to announce another PaintingWar (PW) publication, made possible by Miniaturama Publishing. This marks my third contribution to the PW series (with the previous two being WWII German army and Spanish Civil War), delving again into one of my favorite topics in historical wargaming: World War II. While my initial PaintingWar issue centered around the German army, this latest book shifts its focus to the British and Commonwealth armies. Using exclusively Warlord Games miniatures in 28mm, and similar to previous PaintingWar publications, this book is divided…

How to create urban rubble bases

In a couple of weeks, I will be attending the Flames of War National tournament in Finland (Talvisota 2024), for which I have spent the last few months assembling a new German army. Given that the theme of the army is Berlin, 1945, I wanted to craft something unique for the bases of the infantry and Flak 88 guns. In this tutorial, I will demonstrate how to create urban bases with debris in a straightforward, efficient, and effective manner. While this tutorial primarily targets 15mm miniatures (Battlefront), its principles are adaptable to other scales or projects with the simple adjustment…

Painting 15mm WWI French Fusiliers: Combining washes and layering

  Wargamers frequently find themselves seeking a balance between painting and gaming, which often leads them to prefer fast painting techniques. These methods are typically straightforward and swift, and, importantly, highly effective. However, it is worth noting that the trade-off is often between speed and quality, with quality being inversely proportional to the time invested. In this tutorial, we will explore the fusion of a fast-painting technique that involves washes with a more sophisticated method by incorporating successive layers of highlights. To clarify, we will begin with the conventional ‘base + wash + highlight’ technique and progressively enhance our results…

How to create desert bases

In the previous post we discussed one way to paint true metallic metal gold using as an example model a unit of LOTR Easterling (28mm, Games-Workshop). Now, we will see how to finish these miniatures by making desert bases. According to my experience, one of the most difficult aspects of this hobby for newcomers (and also for veterans!) is how to make the bases. Probably one reason for this is that bases are not painted, but created. That is, we need to generate a texture and add 3D elements such as rocks, plants, debris, etc. Luckily, the market is full…

True Metallic Metal (TMM): gold

I previously wrote a short tutorial describing how to paint TMM steel (you can read it here). And it was about time to write a similar post about how to paint TMM gold, taking advantage of a bunch of Easterling warriors (Games-Workshop, 28mm) I am painting right now. I am also expanding the tutorial to explain how to paint the red and marine blue clothes. The bases are unfinished, but I am planning to prepare another tutorial explaining this part. I would like to clarify that this is my own interpretation of this technique, meaning that is not the only…

Improving a 15mm paint job: guns and crew

Most popular painting techniques for wargames fall in the category of fast painting methods that aim for the so-called “tabletop quality”. The idea is to have ready a unit or an army as soon as possible, with each miniature painted with the right colors and a bit of contrast between shades and highlights. These quick methods are perfect for wargamers since they do not require much time, allowing the players to spend more time in the battlefield. But, sometimes we have some extra time that we can use to push forward the quality of our miniatures for wargames. I would…

Camouflages with Chipping Effects fluid (hairspray technique)

This article was published original on 4th of September of 2012. Updated on 4 of April of 2022. In this post we are going to see how to use a Chipping Effects fluid to create worn camouflages where the original base color is exposed. Basically, after painting the base color of the tank, the idea is to apply a thin layer of chipping fluid and on top of this the camouflage.  After activating the chipping fluid with water, we will be able to remove small pieces of the camouflage paint applied on top. These Chipping Effects fluids replaces what classically is…

How to make realistic rust effects

Some weathering effects are created rather than painted. This applies to any textured effect, such as mud, snow or rust, among others. Of course, we can try to simulate these by painting them. But it is easier -and more realistic when painting a 3D model- when we create them. In this tutorial I will explore the new corrosion creator set by AMMO, U-Rust, designed to create textured rust effects. I think that this kit was initially meant for dioramas and big scale models, but as a wargamer I was curious to see whether we could also use it to paint small…

Fast painting: Warhammer 40k Blood Pact cultist

In the following article I would like to describe a few options to speed up the painting process of our miniatures for Wargames. The idea underlying fast painting techniques is to use simple and rapid methods to accelerate the work, meaning that we will sacrifice part of the quality. But this does not meant that fast painting techniques are equivalent to paint bad. We will still pay attention to the details, but will focus more on the general looking of the miniature, and more importantly, of the unit or army (after all fast painting techniques evolved to paint a large…

Filters and Washes

  In this article I would like to discuss in detail filters and washes, two painting techniques that although apparently similar fulfill very different objectives. This topic deserves its own article as many people mix up what is what. Indeed, to make it even more complicated, quite often these two techniques are confused with two different types of paint (acrylics and enamels). However, filters and washes (painting techniques) can be applied using either acrylics or enamels (types of paint). First, it is important to clarify that we can use two different types of paints on our scale models: water based…