Today 28mm miniatures figures are very popular in tabletop war-gaming. If you call 28mm figures small, war-gaming miniatures also comes in 15mm sizes and smaller. This article will explain how you can simplify the technique of painting tiny miniatures and make things a little easier for yourself.

A typical miniature figure of a person in 28mm scale would stand up to a height of 33mm from the bottom of the base to the top of the head. If you collect historical war-gaming miniatures, all figures comes in a standard size and height. However,  if you collect fantasy war-gaming figures, then the sizes becomes a little more complex.

In the real world only humans walk the earth but in the fantasy realm there are orcs, elves, dwarfs, spirits, half lings, Ogres and the list goes on and on. Suddenly  you are  presented with a very long  list of different races. What can I say, complexity is the most interesting part of this hobby.

Among the smallest creatures among all the races in 28mm are  snotlings and half-lings. Half-lings are a human like race that is half the size of an average person. Snotlings are the orc equivalent of half-lings.

How  To Paint These Small Miniatures?

It can be a very challenging task and may even look very daunting at first when you look at small miniature figures. Don’t despair though, if you can  improvise a particular painting technique to suit the project, half the work is solved already.

Basically the style of painting need to be in sync with how much the eye can see. If you have poor eyesight, you definitely need a magnifier to paint these small miniatures. A magnifier that can magnify up to 3 times the size would be a good idea.

Brushes need to be smaller too. Always have a small brush like a 10/0 on hand for these kind of projects. Normally you use a brush stroke to apply paint. If that becomes too difficult for smaller miniatures, use the technique called stippling. Stippling utilises stabbing motions with the point of a brush and this method works very well when covering tiny areas of the miniature.

The example below is a video of a 28mm half-ling. You will definitely need very good lighting for projects of these scale. Daylight would be the best option as lighting but for many due to other commitments, painting is only possible at night. You will  then need at least two incandescent lamps to have the right amount of lighting. If you are blending colours, you will need to combine both fluorescent and incandescent  lights in your setup to aid you in seeing  the different color shades.

If painting small miniature figures still puts you off, what I can suggest is for you to always think about the bright side of it all. The smaller the miniature, the lesser paint you will need and the lesser area you have to work on. For tips and tutorials on miniature painting, visit my website 2PaintMiniatures.com.