Robo-Rally Robots

My Custom Paint Job

March, 1997

Explanation

Robo-Rally is a board game designed by Richard Garfield (of Magic fame) and marketed by Wizards of the Coast (of Magic infamy). The playing pieces for this game are cast of zinc, like role playing minatures, and come unpainted. Everybody knows that playing with unpainted minatures is a sin against nature, so I finally overcame my inertia and painted them.

This was my first experience painting minatures, and I'm still convinced the only reason anybody does this as a hobby is because they are addicted to paint fumes. They're not great, but they came out OK, and it still puts me miles ahead of those losers who haven't even primed their figures. It's pretty hard to see how sloppy they are in my picture which is good.

(Note: These are second edition figures, not first edition figures, which means I didn't have to glue anything together.)

Materials

Besides the minatures themselves, I used:

• "Armory" matte black spray primer. In the future, I'll probably use white primer instead of black.
• "Testors" flat enamel, that classic model paint. I only bought 'light tan' and 'sky blue', which were OK choices.
• "Polly S" model paint, in white. I can't believe I forgot to buy white the first time.
• "Testors" gloss paint markers, in yellow and red. These were more of a pain than they should have been. I should have just gotten paint bottles. I wound up dabbing brushes on the marker tips to pick up paint, then brushing it on.
• "Sharpie" markers in various colors for fine coloring. This was a pretty good idea, except that the top coat made them run.
• Spray laquer top coat. I forget what brand. Matte finish.

The Process

1. Prime. They existed in this condition for months.
2. Paint. This took weeks, and I made several trips to get paint.
3. Finish. I gave them a few coats.
4. Touch up. Er, never mind.