FOG Gaul Battle Group Challenge - Day 1

Scott MacPhee runs one of my favorite wargaming blogs, MacPhee's Miniature Men. Scott recently challenged himself to paint 250 ACW 15mm soldiers in ONE WEEK! This is a task that mere mortals wouldn't even consider, but I'm confident that not only will Scott reach his goal, but the figures he produces during this challenge will be beautiful. I knew Dennis Rodman was an alien from space, but I didn't think alien worlds would be clever enough to hide themselves as a wargamer. I think Scott's un-natural talent and painting speed is proof he's an alien from another world.

Not that this is any type of proper response to Scott's personal to himself, but I used his challenge to motivate myself to try to set a more humble personal goal: Paint twenty-four (24) 15mm Gauls in the same week as Scott is working on his 250. No comments from the peanut gallery about being 10% of the painter Scott is...I already know that!

These photos are after yesterday's first day of work. I've base-coated the flesh, pants, shirts/tunics where applicable, and the backs of the shields a plain wood color. A few shields also got base wood on the fronts while I had the color out. I've also painted the hair, including facial hair, and dry-brushed the lye into the hair of figures who appear to be sculpted in that style.

Today I'll get only a little bit of painting time as I will be out of the house all day. Hopefully I'll get enough painting done to warrant another update.  If I get enough time, I'm hoping to get some of the clothing decorated with stripes and plaids, and hopefully base coat the fronts of all the shields.

I know a lot of people paint their barbarians in bright primary colors, but for this unit I'm going for more natural colors while still having what bright colors I though would be available. Think of these as the Gauls who headed out to battle, but their wives stopped them an said, "You're not going to wear THAT to the battle are you? It's after Labor Day!" Hopefully I can step up the colors a bit more on the shields. My thoughts are it would be a lot easier to brightly color a shield than it would be to keep your textiles vibrant on the march.