Blood Rage : Bear Clan Vikings

I painted these figures as a little experiment - to see how the pvc miniatures would look after my usual speed painting techniques. These are the Blood Rage bear clan, consisting of a leader, eight warriors (in just two poses) and two mystics.

The first thing I did in preparation was clean the figures of mould lines. I used a knife blade rather than a file, the material is very soft and easy to cut, with such small details you have to be careful you do not remove too much sculpted material. Luckily, the mould lines were usually hidden away and not too visible. Next, I glued a penny into the base. This acts as a weight to keep the figure upright. If you use UK currency it's also magnetic, which can be useful if ever you want to rack them up on movement trays. After a soapy wash and drying, I spray primed them white, then washed with a brown to provide a rough guide to the details.

Most of the painting was very basic - thin coats, washes and drybrushing. I did zero highlighting. Even the bases are very basic paint washes slapped on. I think the end result is fine - nothing amazing, but decent enough for the basic techniques used. On the whole, I would say the pvc takes the paint in a similar way to all my other figures, mostly like painting resin - any bare patches that are missed by primer can be a little resistant to paint adhesion. There are tons of detail, but none is as sharp as any other material. For some reason I cannot explain, I do not particularly enjoy painting the pvc figures, there's something about the softness that I find saps my usual enthusiasm with the brushes. The end result is fine, but the road to get there is a chore. Still, it's a few less minis in an unpainted state, which has to be a good thing.