Painting Wargaming Figures

I have been painting wargaming miniatures for fifty years. I thought that this book would help me to learn some new techniques. It has done that and more. It has caused me to rethink some of my basic approaches to painting. I appreciate its emphasis on using acrylics, especially those produced by Vallejo. In my early years, I painted mostly with Testors enamels and Testors and Polly S acrylics. Sadly, these onetime industry standard hobby paints are no more. As they waned, I started with a few 17 ml bottles of Vallejo acrylics in basic uniform colors. I confess that I didn't care for them that much because they usually didn't mix well no matter how hard I shook them. Then I discovered Ammo of MIG stainless steel agitators (ball bearings). Once added to a 17 ml bottle, an agitator makes mixing a breeze. Now that I have raised my children and retired from work, I paint wargaming miniatures several days a week. I have added to my inventory of Vallejo acrylics using those suggested in the many painting guides contained in this book. I have also tried using patinas, one technique recommended by the author. I like the results I am getting. I highly recommend this reference book for the wealth of information it contains. It is heavily illustrated, which makes it easier to imitate the author's techniques. However, I do hesitate to paint the eyes on 25 to 28 mm figures as illustrated in the book. The author clearly knows how to do it without making his miniatures look pop eyed. That's something I may experiment with in the future. For now, I will stick with shading the eyebrows and putting a thin line on the face for the lips.

I have a lot of books on painting those addictive little figures (been doing it since 1982) and can objectively judge what is useful and what isn't. This book summarizes the style and skills needed to produce a wargame army. This is different from painting figures for competition or a diorama. One could call this the Games Workshop style of painting: bold contrasts of shade and highlighting. And there is nothing wrong with that. These little figures need to be painted this way to stand out on the game table, while still looking pretty sharp. It's funny how the up close pictures make them look sloppy, but any gamer knows that from a distance they look great. The author does a great job in describing many basics of how certain colors look and how to portray them accurately. The basics of assembly, tools, paints, etc are covered in good but brisk detail. More time is spent on how to use the colors on figures and this will appeal to both the beginner and the experienced painter. The author has an engaging, friendly style that had been missing in the painting guides from past years (sorry British writers you are at times too school yard master or sergeant major for the rest of us!). My only complaint here is that I like to paint medieval figures and the author barely touches on this except for how to paint metallics. Sorry I know more than that on he does. The author does a great job of telling you what colors he uses for base and highlights, mainly from the Vellajo line of paints (one of my faves). He does neglect the US brand of Reaper colors which are a personal favorite and as good as anything he mentions. The book is very up to date regarding painting (Army Painter's system of dipping and dunking is covered ) styles and one of the best pictorial series covers Jon Snow and his dire wolf from the "Game of Thrones" series (rather nice figures by the way). There has been a recent increase in books and DVDs on painting minis and because of the selective nature of the market these are expensive. Mr. Valero's book is as good as what I have seen and is a great bargain at the price. Highly recommended!

This book for miniature painters is aimed mostly at "army painters" - that is, people who play miniature wargames, whether it's Warhammer or Napoleonic or American Civil War games, and have to paint lots and lots of minis. So the advice tends to be geared towards making minis that look good on the gaming table with just a few different shades of paint. While the author does paint a few figures in detail that are display-worthy, this isn't a book showing the secrets of really high-grade painting - it's for painting a lot of figures in a relatively short amount of time.That said, the author's work is really, really good (he paints an entire army that looks better than the single, much larger figures that I spend hours on), but he's actually made a living at mini painting, so it should be.The basic skills are applicable to any painter and so this is a good introductory book even if you are more interested in, for example, individual figures for your tabletop RPG rather than painting an entire regiment of British cavalry. The first few chapters cover the basics of priming, basecoating, highlights, and washes, and then there is a chapter for each major color, showing detailed guides as several different figures are painted using a given color scheme. Finally, he talks a bit about different scales, with 28mm being the "default" scale for wargaming minis, but how to do larger and smaller figures as well.There aren't a lot of guides to painting miniatures out there - most of what is available is YouTube videos. So given that this is a very niche book with little competition, I'd recommend it for anyone getting into the hobby.

After all the rave reviews and looking elsewhere to see more inside pictures, I finally purchased it and waited eagerly.When it arrived I waisted no time in delving into what was supposed to be a magical tomb of secret painting skills, of long ago hinted at mystical mixtures to magically turn your average painting skills into fire breathing dragon slaying competence with mearly a brush stroke with the rattiest of paint brushes.As I scanned the pages I awaited to learn these secret, mind blowing skills, that I, upto now had never been a party too. After I reached the end of the book I was left feeling disappointed, disheartened, and thoroughly defeated.Why, you may ask ?Well, because there are no magic, mystical brush strokes.There are no secret mixtures to making paint flow like liquid gold from the fountain of eternal youth.Just a book showing how one (in my opinion), avarage painter paints his miniatures, and the proportions of paint he uses to achieve this.I really don't want to seem big headed, but there is nothing in this book that anyone who has been painting for any time more than say, 5 years, hasn't worked out on there own by trial and error.The whole book is beautifully printed, with some lovely painted models, shown in progression, from start to finish. Each piece has about 4 or 5 pages with several colour pictures and a small written account of what has been done in each stage, explaining the proportions of the paint used. For example ;Vallejo 781 75%,Vallejo 526 20%White 5%At each stage when highlighting or shading, the quantities are adjusted and ratios written, and a photograph shows where to paint.Anyone who has been painting for less than a few weeks will find this book the Holy Grail of miniature painting, as it shows and tells you what you will learn by your own means over time.Some of the painted models seemed on the poorer side, quality wise, and I was left with the feeling"And this guy has won awards ?"as my own miniatures have been better when I have taken as much time to paint them, as this guy has taken, but I have been painting miniatures and painting models for over 43 years.I wasn't sure if this book was of any use to me, but I decided to keep it, just on the off chance that I may want to look up something such as the best Grey's to use for a dappled horse, or where the muzzle's pink flesh ends and the hair begins. I have given it 4 stars because it is a beautifully printed book, full of colour, and a work of art in itself. It can do no harm to have it on your shelves as a reference, but it isn't an essential buy. If you have some spare cash then get it. If however, there are other books or models on your want list then get them first.

A very useful, thoughtful, and well produced guide to figure painting. The approach is interesting - a series of chapters deal with the application of different colours - sections on black, white, red, green, blue, brown etc. Core parts of the process are clearly described and illustrated with examples. Key aspect is the mixing of colours rather than the Foundry three colour 'system' - although the end product in terms of the end 'look' is pretty much the same - black linings, vivid shading. Additional chapters deal with 'themes' - flesh, horses, flags, shields, bases etc. So it adds up to a pretty comprehensive coverage of figure painting - primarily for 28mm scale although there are brief sections on smaller and larger scales. One - probably unavoidable drawback - is that the colour references for the examples refer to one make of paint, the Spanish company Vallejo, so the painting guides for the figures can only be broad indications unless the painter uses these paints. Nevertheless, having returned to painting figures in retirement after a gap of 25 years I found it very useful and an interesting addition or alternative to the excellent Wargames Foundry publications. I prefer a rather more subtle style of end product but the principles here can easily be adapted. I'm sure youngsters - or oldsters - starting off would find it invaluable and easy to follow and apply the principles. I'm not sure that experienced painters will learn too much from the book but it's a good book and the author comes across as a very nice guy.

A great book for absolute beginners; those who have been painting a while but have yet to settle on a painting system that feels right; or (like me) had plateaued somewhat on skill improvement and have stared with envy at other people's painting ability.It is a comprehensive guide to painting your own wonderful looking miniature almost like those you see behind display glass or in magazine battle reports. The ones that had me convinced there was a better way to paint than my own self taught approach. And Javier Gomez shows you how!The author details different methods (and combinations of methods) to use at all stages of the painting process from undercoating a new model fresh off the sprue to varnishing a completely painted model and everything in between. Using quality photographs, and step by step instructions this guide shows you how to paint like the experts.Being a largely independent work, this book is not tied down to any one brand of paints (though the author has a personal preference) and the colour charts with each walkthrough need only a little imagination (and your mixing palette) to match to your own paints.The book is also filled with little asides and tips that add another pleasure to reading it. For instance, why plastic instead of ceramic for mixing palettes or why round brushes instead of flat for certain jobs.This book does not tell you how to paint a particular company's models, but instead how to paint any of them. I can see this being my new constant companion at my hobby station with regular re-reads of specific chapters before particular painting sessions.Very top drawer.

With YouTube and websites these days I don’t often think about buying books for things like tutorials etc, but for some reason I just threw this in my basket one day just to see if it would lead to anything...Oh boy! This was an eye opener! To have such clear informative information first hand that you can keep and refer to whilst painting is invaluable!The guides show everything for faces to bases!Great great wargaming book on painting miniatures! Highly recommend!I’ve even gone and found other great resources from this also! Books are the future haha

Nice book if your looking to paint very old collectable miniatures, or repair old miniatures. Unfortunatly its a book thats now a little out of date, but still a great read and has a few oldschool secrets 😉. I dont think many new painters looking to learn will find it useful, its more for somone whos been painting for a long wile