The Solis Media
Guide to painting miniature figures

15mm ancients

Macedonian Phalanx

Persian Spearman

Well, I think the best way of painting 15mm figures is to work in blocks of colour, with several contours, and little shading. I make things bold especially since there will be massed ranks of these guys. Detail detracts and you loose the overall effect. Simple milliput bases add to a uniform feel.

I do make an effort to add detail to unit or army leaders (Alexander the Great,for example), after all, your troops are more likely to rout if their leader doesnt look like a leader... ar'nt they?.

I think the point about simplicity is made clear looking at the Persian in comparison to the Macedonians. The check detail looks messy, even though its quite well painted. Plus, I didnt want to paint 50 like that!!!

A block of macedonian phalanx looks pretty good with their simple colours (don't bother telling me the colours are wrong historically, I dont care.....!)

All in all, with any army painting job, there is a trade off between detail and speed, and I feel this is more pronounced with 15mm figures.