Duelling Paintbrushes: Effort <> Results

Well, we are nearly halfway through October. So my 1000 points of Dark Elves should be half-finished by now, right? No, not really. I'm still working on my first unit. As I suspected, Cold One Knights are slow to paint. At least this time, my lack of progress is not for lack of effort. I think last week I probably spent somewhere between 15-20 hours on these guys, and they're still only mostly there.

I am a little torn over how I feel about all this time I've spent. I am pleased to have focused this much after my previous lack of application. It's far more time than I would normally spend painting in a given week, even when I'm motivated to work on something, so it means Duelling Paintbrushes is having an impact. But it's frustrating that I don't have much to show for it.

Part of my problem is that I tackled these models in the wrong manner. As is my usual approach, I completely assembled them and glued the sand onto their bases before I commenced undercoating and painting. Then the first things I painted were the bases and the armour. I mean, they're heavily armoured cavalry. Armour is a major component, right? This approach has served me well enough for all those Empire Knights I've painted. Unfortunately in this case, it was a big mistake. 

My batch of 10 Cold One Knights, who are still only mostly painted.

The riders on these models are indeed heavily armoured, and the first thing to paint on them is definitely the metal. The lizards are a different matter, however. They have very little metal on them, and require a lot of their own base colour (in this case, green). Having started by painting the metal, I then wasted a very considerable amount of time painting in all the green around it. What I should have done is kept the rider off the beast. Then I could have painted the metal on the rider separately, and started with painting the entire Cold One green. Then I could have hooked the thing together, knowing I had done the 2 most significant and messy steps. I suspect I would have saved a few hours of my time, at least. Forward planning, eh? Who knew?

An example of where they're currently at.

Anyway, from where things currently stand, I need to highlight the red and bone, add some gold detailing, paint what little flesh is showing on the riders, and tidy the metal a little. I should probably give the Cold Ones some eyes, too. Not sure what colour to do there - might default to black. I think with a few more hours of painting I can finally push the Cold One Knights to one side and consider them done. That will be significant, as I have started with by far the slowest unit in the group. Once they're done, I expect to make much better progress with the infantry.

So am I satisfied? Honestly, I think I am right now. I know how much time I poured into painting, and it is this aspect that I am pleased with, rather than being happy with results. Generally it's completed models that leave me feeling satisfied, but I guess sometimes it's the effort that counts.


In other news, Owen, Nick Hoen and Nick Gentile have all been posting progress updates. Owen has done his usual thing of making the rest of us feel silly (40 Gor and 3 Minotaurs completed), but at least the Nicks have been struggling to make real headway too. Safety in numbers, man...