E-Bay upscaling

I'm sure I am not alone in looking for shortcuts to quickly get figures ready for the table. Likewise, I'm even more sure that the lure of E-Bay helps to scratch that itch. However it is often difficult to feel that you received the perfect bargain at the perfect price. Sometimes all that is needed is a little 'spit and polish' to bring that purchase up to scratch

Recently I bought some Imperial Guard for what worked out at less than one pound a figure painted. The Imperial Guard Cadians are some of the few figures which I think can be used comfortably with figures from other manufacturers - colonial militia for instance. The basic paint job would certainly have been okay to place straight on the gaming table. With a little extra effort ( and shortcuts ) I wanted to give the figures a little more life.

 

Using my magic Vallejo wash, i gave each figure a wash to bring out some of the detail, ready for a little detailing. Once dry, I only used two colours to add a little detail; light grey for some of the uniform as a contrast, and flesh highlight for the skin. I like to give energy to the faces as it brings the figure to life and draws your eye away from the less well painted parts of the figure. Something I have to be mindful of with my limited painting expertise and patience!

 

Just a pet dislike of my own, but I am not keen on the Games Workshop slotta bases - like Marmite, you either love them or hate them. I re-based the figures using some of Warbase's excellent range of pre cut bases. The pictures that follow are the finished articles. All told it took me about 3 hours from start to finish.

 

 

Let me know if you feel the extra work was worth the effort, or should I just have used the figures as they were? P.S. The final picture below is another purchase from E-Bay that needed less attention - four pounds a weapon team!

 

Posted with Blogsy