Advice on painting 15mm Sioux Indians

[sjwalker51]

Morning all, hoping for some practical advice - I've got several hundred of the little men to churn out - can anyone recommend a readily available (in the UK) skin base colour plus a wash on top that would be suitable for American Indians at this scale?

Thanks in anticipation.

Simon

[rumacara]

Although expensive (for me) you can try the wargames foundry paints.
They have a set of 3 paints for native american indians.

[Ahistorian]

If going the Foundry route, I recommend their 47B wash as a cracking alternative to Devlan Mud &c.

Otherwise, the GW successor to Tallarn flesh with a dark brown wash should do you grand.

[fastolfrus]

In 15mm, odd though this may sound, try undercoating with Humbrol Sand.
Paint hair black, paint any clothers etc, but leave the sand colour for the skin.
Then use a dark brown ink - we use a Valejho Game Ink now, but in the past have used alkyds (oil based from an art shop, need diluting with turps) for the wash.

It's a fast method that was in an article in WI? (or possibly even MW) about ?? years ago (at least 12 possibly 20. Dave Hoyle used the method to paint an ancient Indian army in a fortnight whilst watching the olympics on tv).

It works surprisingly well.

[FifteensAway]

Having painted a few 15 mm figures (thousands), I use this method for my North American original peoples: a pinkish skin tone followed by a thinned wash of red brown, vary the red brown if you like since there is variety.  Then I paint the rest of the figure.  I follow the slop it on method better known as layer painting, from skin outwards.  First steps are not neat but each progressive step gets neater and neater.  This is not the way to win contests but is the way to paint lots of figures quickly.

Oh, and I don't generally use the obscenely expensive "Hobby Paints."  I use plain old craft paints, thinned when needed - only sometimes, which cost about 1/20th as much by volume as those other paints.  My most frequent exception is I do buy metallic Hobby Paints, but craft ones also.

I have many hundreds of 15 mm Plains warriors to paint my self but not just yet.