Painting Wargaming Figures

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!

I wish I had this book when I first started painting. I would have avoided many mistakes early on. It also has a great overview of the relative strengths and weaknesses of different paints and techniques. The different themes and emphasis on problem areas like faces, minimal color palettes, and larger flatter figures are great. The writing style is very friendly and relaxing to read. I would suggest picking up some of the figures discussed ahead of time. My favorites were: -- First Miniature Discussed: Relic Miniatures: Pyrrhus (28mm) -- Black Colors: Dark Sword: Jon Snow -- Dry Brushing: Dark Sword: Ghost Dire Wolf (DSM-5040) -- Blue Colors: Perry Miniatures: Napoleon and Staff at Waterloo I do find the technique to emphasize quick painting for large armies to be observed at a distance. It would have been nice to have a section on more advanced glazing techniques for when you want to work on fewer figures of higher quality. Additionally, there wasn't much time spent on preparation for painting which is still difficult for me. I am still happy with the Kindle version, but it could be better and authors should do a better job of addressing common problems with digital editions. I did find that the Kindle edition suffers from the common problem of having images of too low a resolution which can make understand what is being referenced in the writing difficult. Also, figures can be far from the text discussing them. The Kindle Table of Contents isn't all that great, but oddly enough the one embedded in the text works well. So subsections are not easy to jump to which makes using this as a reference a little harder. Again, these are minor problems.

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.

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.

Great guide book for beginners and intermediate miniature painters. It covers plenty of colors and shades one may encounter while painting miniatures. The painting technique is somewhat a impressionistic style which works great for wargaming. Impressionism painting will let you paint quickly through your miniatures, but will only really shine at arms length. Overall a solid book.

This guide does a good job of showing the aspiring tabletop wargaming hobbyist how to achieve solid, tabletop-quality paint jobs on small scale historic miniatures. The many models used to illustrate the painting techniques all seem to be made of metal, but the instructions should work equally well for those made of plastic, resin, or just about any other material as well. Painting of troops, officers, animals and their associated equipment is covered, as are basic terrain modeling and basing techniques. The instructions are easy to understand, well-illustrated, and interesting, and should work fine for completing fantasy and SF minis as well (although these minis are not specifically addressed). The reader may notice that most of the photos in the book don't seem to illustrate perfectly finished models in extreme close-ups, such as those displayed in photographs on the Games Workshop website, for example. That's okay, because the miniatures aren't being finished for close-up photography. They're being finished to look good on the tabletop, as seen from a distance of one to several feet away. Any hobbyist able to wield a paintbrush should be able to produce well painted miniatures of which they can be quite proud, following the steps as outlined. The guide is a bit dated now, using older, less detailed, all-metal models to illustrate the painting tips and techniques, which is the primary reason for the score: it's not bad, it's not great, but it is totally adequate for its intended purpose. While geared more towards the beginning or moderately skilled tabletop wargaming hobbyist, this guide still is a fine introduction to producing well-painted miniatures for wargaming enthusiasts. Recommended.

Javier does a great job passing on his knowledge. The pictures were helpful. The way it is written is very cool and I felt like he was writing to his friends. It gives me a different perspective on just what type of figure painter I am. Helped me relax more as I work/play.

This book has been helpful. I've painted 10 minis from 20mm to 90mm in the past year and am still new to the hobby. This book has been useful primarily to show techniques to of various colors such as making a brass part look like the owner has worn it for awhile. The pictures in this book are excellent. The painting is for those wanting nice looking wargame pictures with a base, two highlights, and two shades. If you want a competition mini you're going to need to dig deeper. I'm working on this transition.