Why Paint Your Mage Knight Figures?
The first in a series of articles by Joshua Crozier.
If you are reading this column, chances are good you're a Mage Knight player. You already know about the backgrounds of the clans in the Mage Knight universe, and you probably own a small army of miniatures. The purpose of this column (and the ones that will follow) is to help you get even more enjoyment from your Mage Knight figures by teaching you to paint them. Mage Knight figures come already painted so you can play right away--but that doesn't mean you can't add your own personal touches. While it may be intimidating at first, painting is amazingly rewarding and leads to a host of benefits.
Mage Knight can be a lot more than just a game you play for an hour or two hours every day or every few days--it can grow into an entire hobby based around the game. As your painting abilities increase, you will be proud to display your work each time you play. Games are more fun with your own painting on the table, and you will find yourself playing more often. From an occasional game, Mage Knight can become something that adds great challenge and satisfaction to your life.
Painting your miniatures also allows you to express your respect and pride in your characters. I can recall how almost every model has performed in my last five games. In certain cases, I still remember great feats of heroism or high cowardice my models performed months ago. So why not show everyone the depth and personality of your figures? I have models who keep a running total of notches representing slain enemies on their belts. For some miniatures, I even have severed body parts of foes lying on the base! (Look for pictures of these in an upcoming column.) Whether you do a great deal of work on a model or very little, painting transforms it from "a Chaos Mage" into "Gorfang, my Chaos Mage."
This brings me to my next point: uniqueness.
Mage Knight is a special game because the figures are all collectable. As you probably know, some figures are worth far more than others because of their rarity value, which reflects how many of those models exist. While I make no promises about resale value, imagine owning an army where each and every figure is unique--where you own the only miniature like it. Painting your figures and learning some basic conversion skills (which I'll deal with a few columns down the road) can make this happen. Such an army will be the envy of players everywhere. From my experiences in miniature w games, a model I have customized well becomes amazingly more fun to play with, and its uniqueness is usually recognized when it comes time to trade or sell my figures. The time and effort a person puts into painting their army is something people recognize--and value.
When painting or converting a miniature, if you take the time to do the very best job you can, you will be rewarded. If you take the time to improve your technique, color selection and tool choices, you will also be rewarded. What are these rewards? First, you will have miniatures to be proud of. Second, every miniature you paint will be better than the one before. This means that your skills will always be growing and your army will just keep getting cooler. Even more important, striving for excellence in painting can make you a happier person. I find that when I spend a great deal of time doing very fine details on a miniature, I lose myself in the task in a sort of Zen way. After a painting session, I am exhausted but mentally refreshed.
As you can see, I am very enthusiastic about painting Mage Knight figures. Over the next few articles, I will walk readers through some very elementary steps but will also throw in some more advanced tips that vets can use or that beginners can come back to once they learn more. We're going to take this slowly, but if you're willing to put in the time, all the rewards I spoke of can be yours. So check back next time as we get started on the first steps toward painting your army!