Painting Greeks

Just as I'd promised, below is a twenty-seven stage guide to painting the core of any ancient Greek army, the hoplite. Twenty-seven! I hear you say. Fear not as most of the stages require little time; I reckon that two Greeks, painted using the below method, should take around four to six hours to complete. Before delving into the instructions, below is a list of paints that you'll need. Unless it specifically states, all paints are from Games Workshop:

Bleached Bone,

Dwarf Flesh,

Elf Flesh,

Tin Bitz,

Scorched Brown,

Snakebite Leather,

Skull White,

Codex Grey,

Brown Ink,

Burnished Gold,

Chaos Black,

Black Ink,

Chestnut Ink Wash (Coat d'arms)

Mithril Silver *1

Knarloc Green *2

Thraka Green *2

*1 - This paint is used for the sword of the unit champion, therefore it's not needed for these normal, rank-and-file, hoplites.

*2 - These two paints are used for the hoplites plumes (stages 18 - 21). You may not want to use green, which is perfectly fine. For my first unit of hoplites I painted their plumes red (Blood Red and Red gore) and for the second I painted their plumes blue (Ultramarines Blue and Blue Ink).

Finally, unless I specifically state, the paints at each step are not thinned down.

Stage 1 - Before painting I had to prepare the models.; this included super-gluing them together, and removing all moulding lines with a modelling files. The models were then super-glued to a Games Workshop 20mm x 20mm square base and, once dry, milliput was modelled onto the base. The milliput was left one day to dry before PVA glue was applied to the milliput and then builders sand was sprinkled on top. The builders sands was also left one day to dry before, finally, painting the whole model, and base, with Black Ink acting as a thin undercoat.

Stage 2 - First of all we need to paint the flesh. Flesh isn't the biggest colour on the model, however it is the most fiddly (the eyes for example). Dwarf Flesh is used to paint the eyes, neck, arms, legs and feet; as this is the first colour you don't have to be too neat, just make sure that all the areas are covered.

Stage 3 - Once dry apply a coat of Chestnut Ink Wash to all of the flesh areas.

Stage 4 - Stage 3 takes quite a while to dry, therefore you have time to start the cloth. As a undercoat, paint the sleeves, plume and skirt Codex Grey. Eventually these areas will be white but grey acts as a perfect shadow.

Stage 5 - Now that the skin is dry you can paint another layer of Dwarf Flesh. Paint 95% of the skin leaving only the creases dark.

Stage 6 - Apply a thinned down mix (50/50) of Dwarf Flesh and Elf Flesh over the skin leaving those dark creases.

Stage 7 - Once dry, drybrush the parts on the skin that really stick out - Fingers, elbows etc - Elf Flesh . Less is more with this drybrushing stage, therefore only pick out the minimal amount. You should hardly be able to tell the different between stages six and seven.

Stage 8 - I always feel that my troops fight better if they have eyes; whether you paint the eyes or not, depends on your own beliefs and skill but as along as you have a really thin brush it shouldn't be too much of a problem. First of all paint the eye Skull White and then add a small blob of Chaos Black. Try not to over think this stage; I find the quicker you go the better the result (and, as you haven't painted the helmet yet, there's lots of room for error).

Stage 9 - With the skin completed it's time to start the armour. The first stage is to apply a thinned layer of Scorched Brown (80% paint / 20% water) to all bronze areas (body armour, shin guards, helmet, spear point etc).

Stage 10 - To complete the armour a thin mix of Tin Bitz and Burnished Gold (15% water, 15% Tin Bitz and 70% Burnished Gold) needs to be applied over all the areas you've just painted Scorched Brown. Where the individual armour plates connect try to keep the darkest part of the gap brown.

Stage 11 - With both the flesh, and the armour completed it's time to finish the cloth. Using Skull White, paint over all areas in Codex Grey, leaving only the darkest crevasses grey. At this point most of your model should have paint on it; it should start to look like the end result therefore it's time to move onto the smaller bits and pieces.

Stage 12 - Next up, anything that's brown. Paint the spear staff, and leather belt, Snakebite Leather.

Stage 13 - Paint the areas you've just covered in Scorched Brown with Brown Ink.




















Stage 14 - While the ink is drying paint the sword - and the bit of metal that connects the model to the shield - in Chaos Black.

Stage 15 - Now that the Brown ink has dried paint the spear staff, and belt, in Snakebite leather. It's best if you thin down the Snakebite Leather as it will allow for a move even spread of the paint.

Stage 16 - To finish off 'all that's brown' mix Snakebite Leather with Skull White (adding a little water ... 40% Snakebite Leather / 40% Skull White / 20% Water) and apply to both the spear staff and belt.

Stage 17 - Using Black Ink cover the sword - and the bit of metal that connects the model to the shield - so that they both look shinny.

Stage 18 - The Plumes. The easiest way to do these is to paint lines on said plumes to divide it into segments; try to get between four and six segments on each plume. Once the lines are done fill in the squares (in my case using Knarloc Green) to make a 'zebra' pattern. Top Tip: The segment at the top of the helmet always looks better if it's painted in a colour and not left white. This stage is quite hard to say in words, therefore it's probably best to view the photo.

Stage 19 - Now that the segments have been painted it's time to highlight them. Depending on the colour chosen will depend on how you highlight. For this instance I started with an ink of Thraka Green and build it up from there.

Stage 20 - As an ink takes time to dry you can now start the base. Paint the top of the base in Snakebite Leather being careful not to paint the models feet.

Stage 21 - Now that the plumes are dry highlight them twice; the first time using Knarloc Green and Skull White (60/40). The second time using excatly the same paints however the split is more 50/50. To highlight genlty drybrush the small areas trying not to get any of the green paint on the white. With this stage completed the actual model is finished; now it's time to focus on the base.

Stage 22 - Apply a layer of Brown Ink onto the base. This will take at least thirty minutes to dry therefore grab a spot of lunch, a cup of tea or - if you're really motorvated - you can start the next two Greeks while the bases are drying.

Stage 23 - Once the base is dry, drybrush it using Snakebite Leather.

Stage 24 - Drybrush the base again, this time using a mix of Snakebite Leather and Bleached Bone (50/50).

Stage 25 - Drybrush the base, for the final time, lightly using Bleached Bone only.

Stage 26 - Add PVA glue, in little clumps, to the base before dabbing green flock onto it. After thirty seconds genlty blow the excess flock off the base.

Stage 27 - Almost there. Using Chaos Black paint the rim of the base ... and that's it. The reason why I add flock before painting the rim is because, if you do it the other way around, you have to wait for the rim to dry before applying the flock (orself the flock will stick to the rim).

Finally put down your brush and admire your handy work. At this stage I wouldn't recommend looking at the other seventy hoplites - that cover your painting table - that need painting as this action might damage ones confidence. However, with a few other bits and pieces, below is a until that you can create using this method: