Get Them On The Table!
A Quick Painting Guide for Caesar's Legions by Howard Whitehouse
This is a simple guide to turning the box of figures you have assembled into a painted fighting force ready for table-top combat. It relies on basic techniques that will provide good-looking figures quickly and easily. Once mastered, the painter should be able to completely paint a box of 48 figures over the course of an hour or two every evening for a week.
Step by Step
1. Assemble the figures and attach shields, using ordinary adhesive made for plastic models. Fill in any gaps with a little extra glue once the figures are dry. Allow to dry properly.
2. Prime the figures with a black flat spray primer, which can be found at any hardware department. Several light sprays are better than one heavy.
3. Mix silver paint with a touch of black for an iron shade. Take a fairly large brush, preferably the cheap, bristly kind, and dip it into the mixed paint. Rub most of the paint off onto a paper towel or rag, then scrub the brush lightly over the chainmail, helmet (for an iron helmet), and metal parts of the shield and weapons. This will catch on the raised detail, leaving the shadows black. Repeat this process, even more lightly, with pure silver for a highlight effect on edges. This technique is called ‘dry-brushing’. Chainmail is quite dark and dull, but other ironwork would be polished bright.
4. Paint the tunic in a slightly darker tone than the finished item – light grey for a white tunic, dark red or burgundy for a red tunic. Be careful not to get paint on the finished armor – don’t worry about sloshing onto the skin at this point!
5. Drybrush the tunic with a lighter, brighter color of the item. This will give an effect of creases with shadows and highlights. You may do this in two stages of color for extra detail if you wish. Remember that red (and green) are better lightened with yellow than white – nobody expects legionaries in hot pink!
6. Drybrush the sandals in brown, allowing the black primer to show the strapping.
7. Paint the flesh. Select a color slightly darker and richer than most actual flesh, as we want a healthy outdoors look rather than a pallid, sickly tone.
8. Drybrush the flesh on the arms and legs, highlighting knees, elbows and especially hands. Paint the face more carefully, accentuating the lighter surfaces of the brow, nose and chin. Leave the darker base tone as shadows where the flesh meets the helmet and tunic.
9. Unless you are feeling very confident, don’t paint the eyes, but leave a shadowed area on either side of the nose. If you paint the eyes, start with an almond shape in white, then a black dot and a line at the top for the upper eyelash. You can use a fine pen for this part. Lastly, touch up the shape and size of the eye with the dark flesh tone, so that the figure does not appear to have huge, crazy-man eyes!
10. If you prefer a bronze rather than iron helmet, paint this now. Some people highlight bronze with gold.
11. Paint the face of the shield in whatever color you choose. Paint the back either brown or dark red.
12. Finish any other details – belts, plumes, pilum shafts etc.
13. Go over any ‘messy’ parts that need touching up. It’s far quicker to allow yourself some sloppy work for speed’s sake and then repaint some spots than to insist that you never make mistakes to begin with.
14. Protect the figure with a spray varnish. A gloss varnish is best for toughness, followed by a spray of flat finish if you prefer a matte appearance.
15. Apply shield decals on top of the gloss varnish (it seems to work better) then finish with another coat once the decals are dry.
16. Glue the figure to the appropriate Field of Glory™ base (see rules book for base sizes)
17. I use a little pre-mixed spackling compound to ‘merge’ the figure’s small moulded base with the bigger base, but this isn’t strictly necessary.
18. Paint the base in an earth color. Then, EITHER sprinkle it with sand, allow to dry, and then dry-brush a lighter tone, OR sprinkle the wet paint with earth or grass-colored flocking of the type made for model railways.
19. Go forth and fight for the Senate and Populus of Rome!
Paint Recommendations
My preference is for acrylics, which vary considerably in price and quality. The cheapest and most easily available are the craft paints sold at general hobby and craft paints, in squeezable plastic bottles under various name brands. These are often quite good, although reds and yellows sometimes are less so. Paints made expressly for painting figures, such as Vallejo, Reaper Paints, Games Workshop, Foundry Paints, Howard’s Hues and others, are a little more expensive, but have finer pigment and offer excellent coverage.
HELMET: bronze, iron, or elements of both. Red horsehair plume, if present.
CHAINMAIL: iron
TUNIC: uniform colors, famously red, often white, off-white, blue or black
SHIELD: each legion has a different color and design. Iron or bronze boss and rim. Dark red or brown back.
DETAILS: wooden pilum shaft, natural or brown leatherwork.
A Quick Painting Guide for Caesar's Legions by Howard Whitehouse
This is a simple guide to turning the box of figures you have assembled into a painted fighting force ready for table-top combat. It relies on basic techniques that will provide good-looking figures quickly and easily. Once mastered, the painter should be able to completely paint a box of 48 figures over the course of an hour or two every evening for a week.
Step by Step
1. Assemble the figures and attach shields, using ordinary adhesive made for plastic models. Fill in any gaps with a little extra glue once the figures are dry. Allow to dry properly.
2. Prime the figures with a black flat spray primer, which can be found at any hardware department. Several light sprays are better than one heavy.
3. Mix silver paint with a touch of black for an iron shade. Take a fairly large brush, preferably the cheap, bristly kind, and dip it into the mixed paint. Rub most of the paint off onto a paper towel or rag, then scrub the brush lightly over the chainmail, helmet (for an iron helmet), and metal parts of the shield and weapons. This will catch on the raised detail, leaving the shadows black. Repeat this process, even more lightly, with pure silver for a highlight effect on edges. This technique is called ‘dry-brushing’. Chainmail is quite dark and dull, but other ironwork would be polished bright.
4. Paint the tunic in a slightly darker tone than the finished item – light grey for a white tunic, dark red or burgundy for a red tunic. Be careful not to get paint on the finished armor – don’t worry about sloshing onto the skin at this point!
5. Drybrush the tunic with a lighter, brighter color of the item. This will give an effect of creases with shadows and highlights. You may do this in two stages of color for extra detail if you wish. Remember that red (and green) are better lightened with yellow than white – nobody expects legionaries in hot pink!
6. Drybrush the sandals in brown, allowing the black primer to show the strapping.
7. Paint the flesh. Select a color slightly darker and richer than most actual flesh, as we want a healthy outdoors look rather than a pallid, sickly tone.
8. Drybrush the flesh on the arms and legs, highlighting knees, elbows and especially hands. Paint the face more carefully, accentuating the lighter surfaces of the brow, nose and chin. Leave the darker base tone as shadows where the flesh meets the helmet and tunic.
9. Unless you are feeling very confident, don’t paint the eyes, but leave a shadowed area on either side of the nose. If you paint the eyes, start with an almond shape in white, then a black dot and a line at the top for the upper eyelash. You can use a fine pen for this part. Lastly, touch up the shape and size of the eye with the dark flesh tone, so that the figure does not appear to have huge, crazy-man eyes!
10. If you prefer a bronze rather than iron helmet, paint this now. Some people highlight bronze with gold.
11. Paint the face of the shield in whatever color you choose. Paint the back either brown or dark red.
12. Finish any other details – belts, plumes, pilum shafts etc.
13. Go over any ‘messy’ parts that need touching up. It’s far quicker to allow yourself some sloppy work for speed’s sake and then repaint some spots than to insist that you never make mistakes to begin with.
14. Protect the figure with a spray varnish. A gloss varnish is best for toughness, followed by a spray of flat finish if you prefer a matte appearance.
15. Apply shield decals on top of the gloss varnish (it seems to work better) then finish with another coat once the decals are dry.
16. Glue the figure to the appropriate Field of Glory™ base (see rules book for base sizes)
17. I use a little pre-mixed spackling compound to ‘merge’ the figure’s small moulded base with the bigger base, but this isn’t strictly necessary.
18. Paint the base in an earth color. Then, EITHER sprinkle it with sand, allow to dry, and then dry-brush a lighter tone, OR sprinkle the wet paint with earth or grass-colored flocking of the type made for model railways.
19. Go forth and fight for the Senate and Populus of Rome!
Paint Recommendations
My preference is for acrylics, which vary considerably in price and quality. The cheapest and most easily available are the craft paints sold at general hobby and craft paints, in squeezable plastic bottles under various name brands. These are often quite good, although reds and yellows sometimes are less so. Paints made expressly for painting figures, such as Vallejo, Reaper Paints, Games Workshop, Foundry Paints, Howard’s Hues and others, are a little more expensive, but have finer pigment and offer excellent coverage.
HELMET: bronze, iron, or elements of both. Red horsehair plume, if present.
CHAINMAIL: iron
TUNIC: uniform colors, famously red, often white, off-white, blue or black
SHIELD: each legion has a different color and design. Iron or bronze boss and rim. Dark red or brown back.
DETAILS: wooden pilum shaft, natural or brown leatherwork.