Stuck on Ancient Britons

[grant]

I have an Ancient Briton army, centred on Boadicea.

The problem, I am having a REALLY hard time to get motivated to build the army! I just struggle with the infantry, having built around 10 of them, I am thinking - what WAS I thinking! I can't get past the construction to even think about painting.

Do I have the wrong army? Maybe Romans would have been better...

[mikeland]

Pah! Romans are for wimps... (JOKING, honest)

I am building Celts (will be ancient Britons) and Romans. The Romans are easier to assemble, but the Celts are much more fun to paint. I may be a bit weird but I tend to assemble my plastics in batches of 10-15, then I undercoat ad paint them before starting again with another set, that way I don't get 'assembling fatigue'.

So my advice, undercoat and paint the 10 you have made, then see how you feel about them.

[zedeyejoe]

This is the problem I have with plastic figures is having to assemble them first. It almost makes it worthwhile buying metal to avoid assembly. I can only suggest a production line system, building all of a given bit at the same time, rather than building them one at a time.

I used plastic figures (apart from the characters which are metal) to build a Gallic army, around 300 infantry and 12 chariots. It saw action at the Toy Soldier event in 2009


My army is closest to us with my opponent looking happy (he used Republican Romans)


as Stalin said, quantity has a quality of its own.


Success

But I find the troops very flexible. I use the Gallic infantry in Carthaginian as well as Spartacus armies.

[Cubster]

Try doing them in batches of, say, half a dozen and painting them all in similar or identical colour schemes. Then with the next batch paint them all in a different colour scheme, but one that is ismilar to each other etc.. That way you can enjoy the efficiency of batch-painting with manageable amounts in each load and eventually will have a lot of troops of differing colour schemes you can scatter about.

[NORTIVS MAXIMVS]

I find distraction is the key!

If you have a few boxes and blisters of figures and they look a bit daunting, maybe steel yourself to assemble all the figures for your first warband, then as painting stages get underway assemble three or six new figures between painting sessions. I find switching between different kinds of troop types and little vignettes keeps the enthusiasm from waning, and there's always something that's nearly finished.

I do paint entire units at a time to ensure consistency. The proof of this approach for me was the extra care required when I added two extra dromedarii to the eight I finished some time a go.

Just now I am finishing a medicus vignette, half way through a century of Roman legionaries (24 figures), (still) stringing bows for a century of western archers (24 figures) priming as I go, and I have ten cavalry assembled and primed. I'll paint these last two units at the same time ... see what I mean?

Have a look at my blog (shameless plug ) to see the sort of sequence I mean.

Cheers
Paul

[carvel2]

If you can enlist the help of friends to help build them. Offer them beer and curry and an unuual night out. They'll indulge you once?
I got my wife and kids helping with a large batch of Celts...they did it once. Never again
@ NM...love the scorpions ....I need shields and bits as well as TUFTS!
Medicus is coming along nicely..love the kneeling guard!

[clivethecelt]

I've just spent a few evenings assembling a box each of Celt warriors and cavalry; first one to clean all the sprues, cut the pieces and sort them (in grip-top bags) ready for assembly, another spent cleaning off flash and moulding lines, then the nasty assembly bit. Doing a box at a time is monotonous, but gets you through the tedium in one go, I felt. I've yet to base and undercoat, but have a board set-up with 30+ nails for spraying the lot in one go!

[Correus]

The problem, I am having a REALLY hard time to get motivated to build the army! I just struggle with the infantry, having built around 10 of them, I am thinking - what WAS I thinking! I can't get past the construction to even think about painting.

You mean I'm not the only one who feels this way?!?!?!

I'm going to assemble, and paint, one box at a time.

In about a month I'll be starting te process of ordering the Barbarians.

[carvel2]

@Clivethecelt...thought you'd been quiet

[grant]

Thanks for all the tips guys. I guess I will just have to hunker down and get it done. The other thread somewhere that had a large single stand for Romans was inspiring and I think would work for my ravenous orde of Britons. I find they are are all arms and crazy poses so need space to jam together better.

Soon I know they will have to come out of the box again...