How to (Efficiently) Paint 10mm Armies

How can you get a large army of miniatures on the tabletop quickly? We all love the look of massed ranks of troops, but painting them all can be daunting when you're just starting on a new project. Today Greg is here to share his method for efficiently painting 10mm scale armies! These are all 10mm Pendraken models from their fantastic AWI range, but the beginner-friendly techniques used in this tutorial are equally applicable to painting models from any era of history.

So how many paint colors do you actually NEED in order to paint British infantry from the American War of Independence? As it turns out....not many at all! To paint his armies, Greg is using just the handful of basic colors included in the Army Painter Starter Set. It takes a lot less than you think to get a fantastic looking 10mm army on the tabletop for gaming!

If you want to see these winterized, 10mm AWI troops in action for a wargame, check out our Battle of Trenton episode, played on location in Trenton for 245th anniversary of Washington's surprise attack!

[hobbitomm]

Shout out to Pendraken. Did you know during the first days of the pandemic they switched to 3d printing PPE for health and care staff for basically free? They're stars!

[mooseworks_soldiers]

You guys are so fortunate to have such an amazing group of wargamers.

[Abahrelgazalia]

I don't know anyone else with a historical miniatures army of any period or size; I can get people to play with me but I have to paint everything, so minimizing time spent painting is super important. This looks super fast and the figures look great. I can't wait to give it a try!

[Aquadoc]

So true about priming with brush instead of spray. I know that more than half of my primer spray hit the wood railing I set up my GHQ Civil War 10mm figures on and I know at least 3/4 of that paint got the railing and out into the air. Oh well, I have a blue and grey Civil War deck railing!

I do mine grey. Just kinda traditional for me.

Very good video. Very good narration!

[romp]

I enjoyed the video. I normally prime white and use washes for finishing 6mm. When I start a new project, I might give the black primer a try.

[theandf]

Greg, would you use this same technique for WW2? I just got some 12mm Victrix Soviet & German infantry and I wonder if the "clean" look you demonstrate here would still work for WW2 uniforms. Or would washes work in this case?

[johncavs]

Hi, I know I am out of topic in this specific video but any chance you would be planning a battle of the bulge episode? I recently watched a documentary on netflix and the logistics aspects on this battle are extremely interesting and I think could be fun to play and watch as the dday episode was. For what is worth I really like the format you gave to this channel and you guys are a blast!

[bageldrone]

black primer and brush primer to boot, Yuck! grey spray primer way better

[DH.]

I stopped using black primer years ago when I couldn't pick out the detail and have used grey ever since. But the grey dry brushing on top of the black (even though it adds an extra step) looks as if it might be the solution. Pity I din't see this sooner - I've just primed some Pendraken AWI artillery this morning using my usual grey. 😄

[_Abjuranax_]

Be careful from going from Red to White, as you can easily get Pink instead. Clean your Brushes normally, then dip and clean your Brush in Blue Paint before using White.

[hangarflying]

The timing of this video is perfect as I wait for my 10mm Pendraken 7YW minis to arrive. I usually base coat with gray, but I had been thinking of doing black, and this video reinforces that. One difference is I will use blue poster tack to fix the minis to the stick rather than glue.

[pbeccas]

I just purchased my first ever 10mm Pendraken figures for the Dark Ages. I’m going to take your advice and skip the wash and see how they turn out.

[Zachary]

I would love a video on places to buy minatures pros and cons (if you have got one already I can't find it) Pendraken is really good though so thankyou for the link!

[StormofSteelWargaming]

Good video Greg and great results on those figures, they really pop on the tabletop.

[chrislsheppard]

I've struggled to get good looking 10mm miniatures (Pendraken Greek and Persians for Age of Hannibal in my case) when using washes for exactly the same reason; it really dulls the color and makes them look dirty. I've settled on a very light wash with AP Soft Tone followed by judicious reapplication of highlights. But I may have to be bold and try just block painting some time. I would certainly speed up the painting process.

And interesting to see we use exactly the same cheap craft paint for our bases!

[jpm]

What is your brush of choice when painting 10mm miniatures?

[kartchner]

love all the clarifications about goals for how your minis look, especially since all we usually get on you tube is modesty that belies the beautiful minis, that us normal joes despair of. You guys give an opportunity of example to prove that with effort, its actually possible to game with painted stuff. Hats off to you!

[JonSteitzer]

You had me at 10mm

Love the channel.

Love the scale even more.

Keep it up!

[ugosabadini]

Sei un grande video molto interessante per uno come me che dipinge da 15mm in giù.... ti chiedo usi il nero e il grigio anche per altri periodi storici esempio ancient british e sassoni ? grazie mille

[Caladine]

This was a good tutorial. I actually have that Army Painter starter set, and have painted most of my 6mm stuff using mostly those exact paints and pretty much the same painting process. I think it's genuinely a good value for money set for someone starting out, though I think there are a few things you do end up having to buy separately to paint more varied armies. A golden or brass metallic in particular, and I'd suggest getting a proper black primer paint as well, which helps with the white metal models most of these smaller scale models come in. I use Vallejo's surface primers, which work great for both brush and airbrush priming. I've found that most of the set are great starter paints, but the Ultramarine blue in the set is not quite up to par when compared to other blue colours in the industry, so if you are painting blue uniforms in particular I'd suggest grabbing some other blue colour, and using the starter set blue for things like cuffs and turnbacks rather than coats and stockings.