Run out of dip

I finished off the actual painting of the last of those Brytenwalda troops last night only to find that when I got to the stage of washing the figures themselves, I found that it had completely dried up in the tin! There wasn't much left, but it still came as a shock. I suppose it is at this point I should mention my standard painting technique. It is very simple really, but I think I get fairly OK results; good enough for the table-top, which is all I am aiming at really.

1. Block paint the figure neatly with bold colours
2. Paint on the wash/dip (this acts as a quick shade and first base coat of gloss varnish)
3. Complete the base...
a. Glue on sand
b. Ink it
c. Paint it brown
d. Dry brush it a lighter shade (usually bleached bone)
e. Glue on static grass or flock
4. Spray on matt varnish to dull down the dip (gives a less glossy finish) and fix the base

Products used...
Games Workshop acrylic paints, sand and static grass
Army Painter Quickshade Dip (Strong Tone)

Seeing as I am not going to be able to completely finish any minis for a while, I will have to get cracking on painting some of the rest of my backlog to the point of dipping. I dug out my EIR Eastern auxiliary archers and another unit of EIR auxiliary spearmen. These will be painted to represent another contingent to add to my EIR Century already completed a year or two back. My plan for this army is as follows...

1 Command unit (legate, primus pilus etc)
1 complete Century of Roman Legionaries (80 + command)
1 unit of Roman cavalry swordsmen (10)
1 unit of Roman cavalry spearmen (10) - not purchased yet
1 scorpion and 1 onager

1 unit of Western archers (16)
1 unit of Western auxiliary spearmen (24 + command)
1 unit of Celtic cavalry (10)
1 scorpion

1 unit of Eastern archers (16)
1 unit of Eastern auxiliary spearmen (24 + command) - the minis are western but I'll paint them as eastern
1 unit of Numidian cavalry (10)
1 unit of Roman camel riders (3) - not purchased yet
1 scorpion

I am not sure what else to add to this force, but elephants would be a good bet if Warlord Games ever release any. Aventine Miniatures have released some beautiful elephants but the crews are a little too early for what I need; Hellenistic and Pyrrhus. I may be able to convert some of my EIRs to fit the bill though, but they would probably not do the elephant figures any justice. I may also add some Praetorians and/or some veterans, but I will wait and see as I have plenty to be getting on with at the moment.

My idea for this unit is that they are based on the borderlands of the Empire (Britain or Germany in the west or somewhere like Syria in the east) and will be hit by rebellious locals. The size of the unit is flexible enough that I can play large scale table-top battles with all of the minis used to represent units rather than individuals or small scale skirmishes where each man represents a man.

Other minis I am working on are those Broo. I managed to put some paint onto them yesterday too. Hopefully I can get them to the dipping stage within the next couple of weeks too so that when the order comes through I can get a whole stack of minis completed all at once.

I have also been thinking about running some solo AD&D adventures to get used to the rules again. I have aload of really old White Dwarfs and Imagine magazines from which I can choose. If these run well, I can hopefully pbem them with my gaming buddies.

Lots to think on and do, I just hope I can keep up with my ambitions!