Tuesday 2 June 2009

25mm Celt


A new venture for me, just for a bit of a change. I recently picked up the Warlord Games Celtic Warriors Boxed set, so I thought I would have a go at painting one. The set contains enough hard plastic bits to make 30 Warriors, including command figures. I have to say I am impressed with the quality of the figures, which fit together well.

I wanted to see how quickly I could paint a 25mm figure to a half decent wargames standard. For speed I decided to rely mostly on drybrushing. Here is a blow by blow account of how I painted the first one out of the box:


First, I started with my trusty tried and tested method of a black undercoat with a white drybrush over the top to pick out the detail. Next was a thin dark brown wash over the flesh areas. The next stage was a dry-brush of Citadel Bronzed Flesh with a touch of dark brown added. Once that was dry, a light dry-brush of Elf Flesh to lighten and provide highlights.


Once the flesh was complete, I painted in the moustache with a dark gingery brown, and touched in the gold torc at his neck and the bracelet on his right wrist. When the moustache was dry I highlighted with a lighter brown. I also painted a wash of thinned dark green over the trousers, which when dry was drybrushed using Citadel Goblin Green, followed with a very light drybrush of a Goblin Green and White mix. I also painted in the sword blade with Citadel Chainmail, with a touch of black added, and when dry highlighted with pure Chainmail.




The next stage was to paint in the hilt of the sword with a bronze colour, and aslo the hilt and pommel of the dagger on his belt. The belt was painted in with a light leather colour, and the dagger scabbard with a darker leather colour. His feet were given a wash with dark brown, which when dry was drybrushed carefully with a lighter brown.




Basing next, I firstly put some basetex on the base in patches which I left to dry. Once dry, a wash of dark brown went all over the base - carefully avoiding the feet! When that was dry, two successively lighter dry-brushes went over the basetex. The final stage when all the rest was dry was some dabs of White PVA glue onto the untextured parts of the base, and a sprinkling of static grass.



The set comes with 15 shields, which I think is a little on the low side for 30 warriors, I appreciate not every one would have had a shield, but I personally would have liked a few more. Also included are 15 self-adhesive shield designs. Very attractive designs they are too, but you have to cut them out yourself - very fiddly, and for me a right pain in the backside! Needs a very sharp knife and a steady hand. Above shows the prgression from unpainted shield straight out of the box to completed masterpiece in all its glory. Took a total of about 15 minutes painting time, and easily as much again to cut the design out!!


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