After buying and assembling your miniature, there is but one, final thing that you must do to make it complete. It just might hardest part of the whole process, but no miniature is complete without it. I’m talking about painting your little soldier, knight or hero. This guide will show you the process of painting at its simplest. I assure you, it will be good enough in the beginning. More advanced techniques will come later, do not worry.

You will need:

- Your model
- Paint of your chosen colour in spray form, to serve as a base
- Your range of paints (does not have to be extremely wide at the beginning)
- A wash paint (a heavily diluted paint which tends to hang around the details. Also known as a shade)
- A brush, preferably at least two. Try to get one as small as possible and one slightly bigger.
- A piece of white paper to serve as your makeshift palette (you might want to use two, to make it more sturdy)
- Some water might be in a special water basin, but glass will do just as well
- A paper towel to wipe your brush on.

1. Prime/Base your model.
   Take it outside, just so you won’t inhale the paint when you spray it on your model. You need to do this so other paints stick better to the plastic. Hold the spray can around 5 cm from the miniature and spray it evenly on all of the surfaces of the miniature. I recommend using short, moduled bursts of paint to get even coverage. I also recommend using a neutral colour, like grey, since it will be mostly covered by other paints. Give it 5-10 minutes to dry.
2. Choose your colour palette.
   It is especially important if you are painting a unit of models. They need to look mostly alike after all. But even the individual models should have a nice colour range on them. It is best to take a moment and think about this.
3. Start painting!
   Take your miniature and start applying the first colour, then the next and so on. Go from bigger areas to the details. Try to be as neat as possible but do not worry as much. This should be a relaxing experience.
   When it comes to taking the paint from the pot do not take much, put it on your palette to get the excess paint off the brush, before putting it on the miniature and if you feel like, try to dilute it with water (on the piece of paper). A thinner paint is much easier to apply and will result in a nicer, smoother surface once you finish. That being said you might need to apply the thinned paint more than once to get the colour right. When changing colours, wipe your brush clean on the paper towel.
4.  Apply the wash
   After getting the first layer right, apply a wash on to the miniature. It will darken the whole figurine but it will also bring the details out. Try to apply it mostly around those and do not go overboard as it might make the figurine look dirty.
5. Apply highlights (optional for the beginners)
   An optional last step is to go with the paints over the figurine once again, this time using slightly lighter colours and painting only the raised areas and the edges. This will add definition to the whole miniature and simply make it appeal more visually pleasing. This is, however, quite a difficult process and requires time and skill. Do not worry, you can always come back to highlight your models later when you feel more confident about your painting.