Once upon a time - 1963 - I began painting wargame figurines. The figurines were Jack Scruby's, which left a lot of the uniform up to the imagination. My lack of painting technique troubled my friends. Since then, I've learned a few techniques that make for a more presentable wargame figurine.

In this article I shall pass on the little I know, and hopefully someone who really knows what they're doing will add an article of their own so you can get beyond first base.

Come to think of it, first base is a good idea. Priming can now be done in a variety of colors. I presently have white, gray, black, rust brown, and something called sweet chocolate.

I've seen fellows say that everything can be done with just one color base coat, but I dare to disagree, because not all colors go well over all base coats.

A white primer is excellent for any bright colors. Bright reds look murky over anything but. Satiny-silky hues for exotic eastern armies or fantasy do best over white.

Gray Is Ideal for your confederates-you simply dry brush a lighter gray over the primer. Unexpectedly, it's also good for white-coated troops. Dry brush them white, and the gray in the nooks and crannies serves as shading.

There is a great craze in favor of black primers, but the armies painted that way are very dark Indeed. I'm doing Africans just now, and black Is the only color you can lay down that serves as shadows for Nubian the darkest brown. It's also great for Ring Wraiths. Dry brushing dark gray over the black gives great results. A black base is so good at making metallic colors shine that if I'm painting a white based unit, I'll paint the metal itembayonet, swords, and Victorian steam tanksblack before using the metallic color. The various brown base colors are ideal for anything that's about to become brown-use a darker brown as the base and dry brush over it, or a lighter brown and splash with an ink wash.

Now that we've covered the baser side of painting miniatures, let us look as the mundane part. Always use a brush one size smaller than you think you need for those hard to reach areas, because when you add paint the brush bulges out, causing you to inadvertently paint something you really wanted to remain a different color. Always paint the hard-to-reach spots first.

Why? Well ... they're hard to reach. Obviously, straps and belting go on last. Simple, huh? Yes, and you've got the colors down accurate for Skinner's Horse, the Lowenstein-Wertheim Regiment of Foot, and the X Legion.

And yet, somehow it doesn't look quite artistic enough.

Now, if I were good, I could tell you how to be an artist, but I've tried art and all I ever got was sketchy results. So what I'm going to tell you about instead are ink washes and dry brushing.

If you're going to use ink washes, my personal recommendation is Winsor & Newton Inks. (And alas, I receive no benefit from this endorsement.) Ink washes can be used in one of two methods.

The first is the easiest, and many of my better-painted Union troops were painted in this simple manner. Heavily apply the ink wash over a white-primed unit. It will puddle in the nooks and crannies, providing shadows, and leave a thinner-hence lighter-coat on the high points. Dark blue for the Union jackets and light blue for their pants provides men faster than the draft. Remember, we're raising armies, not individuals

These rules do not apply to female figures. Remember: NO TWO WOMEN WOULD BE CAUGHT DEAD IN THE SAME OUTFIT!

Primping for best of show. What about those confederates in butternut? Paint them in something like a light buff or tan, and then wash them with brown ink.

It's quick and simple. A brown wash-if thinned with a drop of water-is excellent over flesh for defining facial features you don't want to paint in, and delineating fingers.

BEWARE, however, that if you're putting on inks in large quantities, it will run, and it will run down hill-because Ink, being a liquid, understands the gravity of the situation. Hence, when I'm painting Union troops I always do their jackets firstretouching the white where a dribble has made it necessary--before going on to their light blue pants.

Dry brushing is my favorite technique, when used on figurines with good definition. Paint on one color-slightly darker-and dry brush over it with a lighter color. If the figurine has good definition, the lighter color will only show on the higher areas, which should be a lighter color, since they're the areas catching the sunlight. OK, you say, so what's dry brushing? My approach is simple. I spread out some newspaper. If you've ever seen me work, you know this is necessary and when I get some paint on my brush I brush it back and forth over a small area of newspaper until its almost dry. (I personally would always err on the side of too dry than too wet, since you can redo too dry a little wetter, whereas too wet must be done all over again from scratch.) 

Then you take the almost dry brush and brush it back one forth over the areas where sunlight would reach. You don't have to get into the deepest recesses. You don't need to hit up under your Highlanders' kiltsunless you're the sort who's Interested in those parts-but just the highlights. Speaking of highlanders, if you want something quick and simple-as if kilts were ever going to be quick. and simple try putting down your base color darkly, and then dry brushing with a lighter shade on the raised portions. When you lay on the lines of color, they'll show up brighter on the brighter portions, and darker In the recesses, as if you're shaded them as well. If we paint poorly, who can we blame?