It’s a long time since I’ve written a GeekDad Paints! post. Before lockdown, my painting time had dwindled to nothing. If I needed anything painted for my Warhammer Underworlds games, I either did a rough job using Games Workshop’s contrast paints or I outsourced it to one of the kind supporters of Agents of Sigmar. The painting talents of the Agents supporters are off the scale—far better than anything I can do. But then lockdown arrived. I found I had a little more time on my hands, and that I definitely needed a creative outlet to help calm the mind. GeekDad Paints! Lockdown Edition was born.
With opportunities to make gaming videos reduced, I pondered whether to make my own painting “tutorials.” I put tutorials in quotation marks because I’m very much a student of painting rather than a teacher. Pretty much everything I know about painting, I’ve learned from Duncan Rhodes, Sorastro (who I interviewed here) or Guy at Midwinter Minis.
So why make videos? Well, firstly, because I thought it would be a fun exercise and I’d learn a new skill of sorts, and secondly, one thing writing for GeekDad and being part of Agents of Sigmar has taught me is that people appreciate seeing hobby time being squeezed into everyday life. For most of us, professional hobbying isn’t an option, even if we’d like it to be. Rough and ready paint jobs, amongst a morass of family detritus, definitely has an audience, albeit a very niche one!
Whilst painting, I started to think of the reasons I paint, what I get out of it, what I aim for, and the barriers to getting paint on a model, particularly for people like myself who are short of both skill and time. This formed part of my first video.
Nextomunda, Necromunda.
We’d made the decision at Agents of Sigmar that alongside our regular Warhammer Underworlds content we were going to play some Necromunda. We wanted to add some narrative play to our games, building a story week after week. There are lots of games we could have chosen to do this with, but Necromunda is hugely popular and is a little underrepresented in the playthrough field. We also had a spare copy of the starter set, Underhive, sitting idly doing nothing.
We played a test game, were all set to go, but before we could record our first match, lockdown struck. All we could do was pick our gangs and paint our models so that we were ready to return to the tabletop once restrictions are relaxed. I picked two gangs to play, one, House Escher, because I already had the models, and the other, House Delaque, because I loved the new sculpts.
I set about painting the Escher models, as I had those in hand. Once everybody could see that lockdown was happening, hobby supplies were hard to get hold of. House Delaque would have to wait! By coincidence, GeekDad Ricardo Rebelo also caught the Necromunda bug during lockdown. He’s written about this amazing looking 3D terrain from Warlayer.
Below is my first painting video—I hope you enjoy it!
So there it is. A new hobby venture that’s keeping me out of mischief. A friend of the channel actually had some unpainted Delaque models they no longer wanted, so I was able to source a set. Another painting video is in the works, and I’ll share that with GeekDad readers when I’ve finally made time to edit it into something viewable. The road to painted minis is long, documenting the journey takes even longer!
In the meantime, here is a short video showing my painting space. An oasis between the wash basket and LEGO mountain.
Exactly! We have to start somewhere. I’ve only got brushes, but we can paint some nice renderings. Personally, I print decors and then it’s the classic: undercoat, color, and grey brush to lighten.