It has been a week since I posted my first dipped Orc, and now I’ve almost completed two ranks of five – bar edging five bases and some varnishing. These Orcs just look better and better to me as they start to rank up and I’m left wondering why I didn’t try dipping years ago. I’m certainly not going to win any painting prizes using this technique, however it results in very passable gaming figures, and it’s so fast that it actually seems plausible to paint a 1500pts Warhammer army before I shuffle off this mortal coil.
This first shot is just detail from the end of the rank. You can see I’ve finished the first rank completely, but the second rank are still noticeably shiny, particularly if you compare their raised weapons. As per my last post I’ve tried leaving several different areas on the figures primer white. Most obviously teeth – both in the mouths and worn as decoration – and horns, but also the windings around their feet and some of the pants and shoes. I’ve discovered that this technique really only works for teeth and horns, so for any future Orcs I’ll be painting an entire base coat over majority of the figure.
I’ve also discovered that dipping is fairly forgiving of poor painting, specially around deep undercuts and recesses. For example I’ve stopped bothering worrying about the hilts of weapons embedded in gnarly Orc fists. Many of the hilts are simply painted Goblin Green along with the rest of the hand because once they’re dipped the stain settles naturally in those deep recesses, hiding the sloppy paint work. The same is true around the necks of the Orcs where the deep seam makes it hard to apply paint properly once the head is glued on. Don’t bother! The dip will hide any patchy primer left behind.
Here’s the two ranks shot in autumn morning sunshine and I think they’re looking pretty good for a few evenings of work this week. You may notice the original test Orc, in centre front rank. He’s actually looking a bit dark now and I think I may have been a little generous with the amount of dip left on the figure. I’ve also based and primed another ten as well, so I’m set up to paint another two ranks this week.
Anyway it’s fair to say I’ve caught ‘dipping madness’ as I’ve also spent the weekend reviewing all the assembled, unpainted armies I possess both for Warhammer and 40k. I’ll keep dipping the Orcs to a 500 point Border Patrol force and then review them from there, but I’m also stripping a bunch of old 3rd edition 40k Tyranids and various Pulp giant insects I’ve partially painted. I want to experiment with a few Tyranids to come up with a passable speed painting scheme and dipping should be a good way just to knock the Pulp insects out.