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Here is a rough guide to painting your crash tackle rugby miniature figurines.

I have chosen to paint the rugby team in the colours of my local club, Linlithgow rugby.

You will need several good quality 00 size brushes and acrylic hobby paints. It is well worth finding good quality paints which have stronger pigments and are less grainy than cheap versions. You can either buy these from  a hobby shop or there are well known hobby war games shops that stock just about every colour that you could possibly need.

Before you begin to paint your crashtackle figures, you need to clean up the rugby miniatures. Using a small file remove any flash marks that may be present. Then the figures will need washing in a warm soapy water to remove any residues of oils that can  be present from the casting or picked up from handling. After they are dry they will need glueing onto there bases and set aside to dry.

The next step is to give your rugby figures a base coat. This can be done by either painting or spraying a base colour. I find spraying your figures with a car undercoat the best and quickest option  as theses car paints are designed for metal and you get excellent adhesion on the surface. If painting a base colour be careful to thin the paint enough so that it does not fill in the detail.

Carefully paint the flesh tones on all areas being careful not to cover any of the other areas.

Then once each coat is dry, block paint  all the solid colours making sure not to overfill the brush with paint as it will overflow onto previously painted areas.

Work through every colour, painting all figures at once as this will save time.

At this point you can paint the numbers on the back in a contrasting colour or you can follow the next steps to add that extra detail that can make or break your team.

The bases can be left black or painted green to match the board, or alternatively read on to create a team that your opponants will envy

To add that extra detail  to your figure. Ink washes are a quick and easy way to bring out the features. Apply a thinned down dark brown or black ink over all the skin surfaces allowing the ink to flow into all the recesses.

Once this is dry take a suitable skin toned paint and load the brush, then taking a tissue remove the paint from the brush until only a small amount remains. Gently drag the side of the brush across the raised surfaces applying a highlighted colour. This may have to be repeated so as to build up a solid layer.

The pictures opposite shows how the detail is picked out and a depth of skin colour is achieved. Notice he difference of the ink wash on the two figures below and I have painted a long sleeve base layer on one of the figures to add a bit of variety to the team and to give them that northern hemisphere look. This can also be done with different skin colour and hair.