Protecting gaming Miniatures (while gaming)

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J2FcM

New member
ok, I know varnish varnish, dull cote dull cote dull cote.

But what else can you do to protect an expertly painted mini?

An ideas? How well does the varnish\\dull cote combo hold up to actual gaming? A year of gaming... grabbing the mini by the sculpt instead of the base??

One idea I was thinking, was to invert all my GW and Rackham bases so that way, they\'d be much easier to grab, but IDK if they\'d be tourney legal.

Warmachine bases arent as flip friendly, but it may work.

Any other ideas? I\'m a painter first, gamer second, sooooooooooooo... pooop?
 
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hakoMike

Active member
I\'ve got a can of Minwax Polycrylic water-based protective finish that I\'ve experimented with on a figure for that exact purpose. It goes on fairly thick, but like \"the dip\" a few shakes and some well placed brushing gets most of it off. If dries clear, and the semi-gloss finish goes away with a few spritz of Testor\'s dullcote.
 
Sand Rat

Sand Rat

New member
Gloss coat works best - buddy of mine has minis that were painted 30 years ago that we play with that have held up very well - all thanks to the hated gloss coat.
 
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generulpoleaxe

New member
gloss coat a nd a couple of coats of dullcote afterwards to remove the shine.

if you notice the shine coming back in places after using them a fair bit just give another quick spray of dull cote.

reversing the bases would help for picking up as well. there is nothing in any rulebook i have read that indicates which way round a base is supposed to be.
only dimension for frontage and depth on base.
 
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Highbulp Billy

New member
Originally posted by Ritual
Stop playing with your minis! :D
Click to expand...
...or you\'ll go blind! :cool:

Otherwise, gloss, gloss, dulcote sounds like the way to go. Good idea with the inverted bases maybe even pushing the minis along rather than lifting (think casino croupier or those people in war-rooms) where possible.
 
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uberdark

New member
Originally posted by Highbulp Billy
Originally posted by Ritual
Stop playing with your minis! :D
Click to expand...
...or you\'ll go blind! :cool:

Otherwise, gloss, gloss, dulcote sounds like the way to go. Good idea with the inverted bases maybe even pushing the minis along rather than lifting (think casino croupier or those people in war-rooms) where possible.
Click to expand...

dang it billy you beat me to the punchline.

you are so sherpafied.

\"uber chants the sherpa mantra and billy is instantaneously turned into a sherpa of indeterminent age*

as for your minis.... you could spray a light coat every few months. that could stop the mini from rubbing the paint off. but over time it might destroy some of the detail. dont konw.

just pondering options. :)
 
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Highbulp Billy

New member
Hey, no fair. I deliberately waited an hour before posting so that everyone else had a chance for the cheap laugh. Now, de-sherpafy me immediately, I\'m allergic to the yak fur on this jacket ...you can leave the indeterminent age in place though, I kind of like the mystery that implies ;)
 
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uberdark

New member
professional hijacking of this thread. good job billy and uber!

dude your 30 it says so on your page thingy. and you talk about it all the time. :)
 
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fortunesfool

New member
I magnetize all of my models with rare earth magnets. It makes them much more controllable and very unlikely to have an accidental fall. The only wear they get is when I actually pick them up.
 
lizcam

lizcam

New member
Originally posted by Highbulp Billy
Originally posted by uberdark
31 too. when\'s your b-day.

im 23-11-76
Click to expand...
Doesn\'t that make you just 30??? Mine\'s 30/09/75 so you\'ve got a couple of months to save for the present still ;)
Click to expand...

I got you both beat. Mines 25-12-59. Did you know you\'ve been playing with an older woman? :cool:;)
 
J

J2FcM

New member
Ah, thats another good one, weighting them... Why do you use magnets tho?
Why not just nickels or something?

So far I think thee ol upside down base and extra weight it best helper!
 
lizcam

lizcam

New member
I paint the bases with paint that contains a bit of sand. This helps big meaty, manly hands hold onto the minis. You can add it to the mini after you take pictures for posting (then gloss, gloss, dull coat the base;) )

Also, don\'t let 13 year old boys handle them too much while playing. We play with kids and we\'ve finally desidded, after several mock battles with actual minis, that they must use pre-painted minis untill they can prove they can be left alone with painted minis. Brats! :cussing:
 
O

Onis Lair

New member
Oh shut up Uber, mine was 03-07-1977 so you ain\'t got me beat by much.

As to the mini question in hand.... i\'m a gamer first and painter second so everything i paint ends up in the hands of sweaty food encrusted shirted pimple faced 13 and 40 year of dorks. I use testors only for varnishing and go with two thin coats of gloss followed by 2 or 3 coats of matte. It works good for me, i have one mini used almost every game i play for the last 4 years and only one bare spot from where it was dropped. Also the thickness of the paint makes a differance as thin layers of paint will come off faster then thicker layers of paint.
 
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