Painting Bretonnians

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Even though you will suffer defeats at times, at least you can do so with style if your troops are painted. There is nothing more gratifying than to see your painted troops massed and ready for combat. With this in mind, here are some painting tips that I have learned myself and applied to my figures. I hope to add pictures of my miniatures so that you can get an idea of what my techniques can produce. In general, painting any model follows basic steps. But there are variations you can include with the different troop types to produce the right look for each model.

GENERAL TECHNIQUES FOR MEN
Neatness is the most important thing! When painting any model, there are certain steps you follow to produce a great looking model. First, make sure all the flash and sprues have been cleaned off. This may seem tedious but it makes a big difference once the primer's on. For Bretonnia, because the army consists mostly of brightly coloured models, I use white primer. Gray or black is just as good if you prefer a duller, and less cheery, looking army. White primer makes the colours stand out boldly.
Once the model is cleaned and primed, it's time to paint. Think about how the model looks and try to determine which parts are which. Next, paint the model as though you were dressing it. Start with the flesh, and work outwards. NOTE: for Knights and other mounted troops, I prefer to leave the rider separate from the horse. This allows me to get at parts that would otherwise be difficult to get at.
For each layer, paint a base colour, wash, and then dry brush. The wash is done with a darker shade of the base colour watered down a good deal. This gives the model depth by creating a shadow effect. It really brings out the detail of the model. One alternative to this is to use a very wet base coat of paint. It will run and gather in the crevasses, creating a shaded look with the one colour. Either way works fine. When the wash is completely dry, do a dry brush to bring out the highlights and details. A drybrush is done by dipping your brush into the paint, and then wiping it off until it looks like there is no paint. What is actually left is a heavy pigment which will stick to raised details when the model is dusted by the brush. These two techniques work the best to make a model look good without having to paint tiny, tiny details. For small areas such as belts and scabbards, a base coat will be fine.

Many might think that the characters are the place to start. Personally, I think it looks great to have a complete regiment painted first. It's also a good idea to paint small groups together (especially the commoner models), less so with the knights, since they should all have different heraldry. Since Bretonnia focuses on its cavalry, I started with a unit of 6 Knights of the Realm.

KNIGHTS
Here is how I paint a Knight of the Realm. It's fast, and if you're neat about it, then the model looks great when it's done. I don't use too many washes or other painting effects on Knights since there is so much detail to start with.

1. Assemble the horse and the rider. Keep the horse, rider and the shield separate. This makes painting a whole lot easier. Clean away any flash and fill any gaps left after gluing the mini together.

2. Use a white spray primer. I have tried various brands and have come to the conclusion that Citadel does indeed make the best primer for miniatures. It may cost an extra $2 but the money is well spent if the minis are easy to paint and look good when they're done.

3. Paint the horse. Use a thinned paint of your choice to paint the horse's skin. I've used various shades of brown, gray and black. They all turned out alright. I say to use thinned paint because it collects in the recesses of the model. This way a wash isn't really necessary unless you feel the colour needs to be darkened a bit. Dry brush is optional, I don't use one. A nice way of adding some detail is painting the hair around the hooves of the horse white. I stay away from big spots all over the horse but the different coloured hoof hair add a nice touch. You can even paint the muzzle of the horse but this can be difficult if you don't have the technique of blending down pat. Paint the eyes as you would human eyes. It really is worth it since it adds character to the horse. Lastly paint the tail. I find black is best, with a dry brushing of gray. Use any colour you like but try to make sure it matches the colour of the horse somewhat. Take a look at the colours of knights painted by GW and you'll see what I mean.

4. Paint the barding. This can be a hard part. It all depends on the heraldry you have decided. For an extremely basic heraldry, I would paint the exterior barding one colour, maintaining an even tone throughout. It sounds harder than it is, especially if the colour is red, yellow or green. You can paint both sides of the barding this one colour but I prefer to paint the underside of the barding either black or a dark blue/purple. It adds some variety to the model.

If you're going for a more complex heraldry I suggest tracing guidelines very lightly with a pencil on the model. This helps to ensure that you're heraldry is even on both sides of the horse and that it follows the folds in the barding as well. You can paint emblems now if you like but if you are going to be using decals I suggest waiting until the rest of the horse is finished. This will stop touching and rubbing of the decal after it's application.

5. Paint the saddle and the reigns. Neatness is key here. Choose simple colours such as black, red, blue or yellow. Just be sure to keep it off the barding as much as possible and you'll be ok. I tend not to bother with washing or dry brushing these parts as most of it is covered by the knight anyways.

6. Base the horse. My favourite method is to paint the base Goblin Green and then glue flock over top. This is by far the easiest and fastest method and it turns out great. Other methods of basing include gluing sand and either leaving it as is, or painting the sand Goblin Green and dry brushing with a green-yellow paint. The latter method takes much more time.

7. Apply decals. I apply decals at this stage as I will no longer be handling the horse anymore. Follow the instructions on the sheet and you shouldn't have any problems. You are now done the horse.

8. Painting the shield. The shield is the easiest part of all. Paint the "field" (background) of the shield the with same pattern and colours as you did the horse barding. Then paint the emblem on the shield. To get a great looking emblem (this is assuming it's raised from the back of the shield) paint the entire emblem black being careful not to get paint on the field. Then dry brush the emblem with white until the raised surface is nearly all white. You should be left with a black outline of the emblem with the top parts white. At this point paint your colour of choice on the white parts and you're done.

9. Painting the rider. Neatness is the most important part here. There are a few methods for painting the armour that will give various final results:
a. Black base, silver dry brush. Very dark, but looks new
b. Silver base, wash black. Again dark (the amount varies on how thick your wash is) gives the knight a worn look.
c. Black/silver mix (i call it Steel) base, silver dry brush. Looks somewhat like method a, however it gives the dark parts a shine as well. This is my preferred method.

Once the armour is done paint the tunic the same colours as the barding. Paint the lance black or steel. The deign on the head of the knight usually receives a bit more detail than normal as this tends to be the focus point of the knight. I use the wash / dry-brushing techniques to bring out as much detail as possible.

10. The banner. I make my own banners using some good quality art paper and the regular paints. I've taken one of the sticker banners that come with the Knights of the Realm blister pack and folded as normal. I then traced this onto my paper. I painted the field of the heraldry onto the banner on both sides and then cut it out. What I do is leave two long tabs at the base of the pennant where it is attached to the lance. I use some regular white glue and blue these tabs to the lance. After wards I paint the tabs the same colour as the knight's lance (usually black).

11. Final assembly. Glue the rider to the horse, and then the shield to the rider. Once the separate components are brought together the model is complete and looks great. This is the most satisfying part of the whole process.

12. After admiring your new knight it's time to protect all that hard work you put into it. Find a good sealer (again Citadel had a great Matte sealer) and give the model a good coat. This will protect the mini from (most) harm while playing. You may find chipping occurs at really pointed points such as the knight's toes, and the corners of the barding or shield. You can touch it up if you like. Personally I think it adds a little character. If you have any questions about this guide e-mail me.