Speed Painting Toy Soldier Style ...

... and Black Lining the Easy Way

I like my Spencer Smith figures to have an 'old-school', 'toy soldier' look, this has the added advantage of making them quicker to paint as I am normally a very slow painter and still using enamel paints.

My system simply consists of a white undercoat overpainted with crude blocks of colour, followed by black outlining and then a good coating with lashings of gloss varnish.  This technique seems to deliver effective looking figures reasonably quickly but you can judge for yourself from the photos below showing the last three stages in this ‘painting’ process.  I will at this point come clean and own up to an additional ‘touching up’ phase after the black lining to cover up any slips and add some quick grey highlights on black areas and horse manes and tails.  

I used to outline with black paint but found that the most fiddly and time-consuming part.  To find a better way I tried using pens but the ink tended to run when varnished.  Persevering I hit upon Edding 1800 Profipens (I use the 0.1mm variety) that do not seem to run as much, although I still use a thin spray of varnish which I let dry to seal the figure before brushing on a thick layer of enamel gloss varnish.  

I do not use the pens when delineating between two white areas as IMO the black lines look too harsh.  For this I use a pencil which creates a nice grey line and the metallic graphite sheen disappears when varnished – I strongly advise a light spray of varnish to seal pencil before varnishing by brush.

Half a Hex, Half a Hex, Half a Hexon-ward

Using hexes for movement has the advantage of removing any fiddly measurements to determine what moves our table-top units can, or cannot, perform on the table-top.  Converting wargames rules to use hexes does require a number of choices to be made and when it comes to unit facing I for one am firmly in the ‘face the vertex’ camp as shown in the diagram below.  Facing the vertex as opposed to the ‘flat’ works well for defining frontal arcs, flank and rear zones but means forward movement follows a zig-zag course with units staggering forward like drunkards.  

One of the rule-sets I have re-jigged to work on hexes is DBM using 15mm figures on 4cm wide bases, which gives two elements side by side in the 10cm-wide Hexon tiles that I use.  One day while wrestling with zig-zagging units my opponent, Martin, pointed out that as elements only occupy half a hex why not let them move straight ahead, elements in the right-hand side of the hex advancing into the left-hand side of the hex ahead (see diagram below).  The simple elegance of this solution was immediately apparent and why I had been unable to see it before escapes me – sometimes it can be hard to see beyond customary practice.

I think this system works well but clearly, it’s dependent on relative unit/element width and hex size.  However, 4cm is a fairly standard 15mm base width and Hexon is one of the more common systems (I have no connection with the company that makes it).  I doubt this has not been thought of before but I haven’t seen it being used elsewhere so thought I’d share it.

Quick-Tip: Pinning Down Hexon Hexes

Grids, square or hexagonal, are it seems are a 'Marmite' option amongst wargamers.  Personally, I like them as doing away with measuring and subsequent debates, they speed up games.  However, having bought some hexagonal terrain tiles (Hexon by Kallistra) I found fitting the clips that hold them together both fiddly and time consuming.  

Inspiration came to me in a ‘Pound-store’ of all places!  There before me was a rubber pin mat – the penny dropped!  I bought one, took it home, and cut out a 4x4 array of the rubber pins and it was a perfect fit for the tiles – see photo showing half the pin may connector projecting from a tile.  Now, an adjoining tile firmly placed down next to the one with the pin-mat connector is firmly held in place – what could be easier!  

To show more clearly how it works, see the photo below with the tiles turned upside down with a connector in place joining them together.

I quickly cut up the rest of the mat which provided me with enough connectors for the perimeter of any layout I might require.  I admit I may have been lucky getting the right size by chance but you could either take measurements or a hex-tile with you when you go shopping.