Anyone else finding painting a large number of same figurine boring? Are you constantly trying to make up new ways to get the job done faster and get the figures to the table quick? I certainly am. But I'm still pretty bad at it. It feels easier with limited color schemes like Stormtroopers (though good white is difficult to paint) but goblins etc. ugh.

Sorastro's LOTR JIME episode 1 gave a pretty good method on the base game goblins and orcs and I went with that for the expansion. The end result is not spectacular but it's fine with me.

So, zenithal highlight, drybrush with white to highlight all the edges even more and then really thin colors on top of that. The goblin loincloths, bracers and orc whips are painted with the only Citadel contrast paint that I bought for painting a wolf quickly or something. Then thinned washes on top of everything except the contrast paint and they were done except the base.

Where I saved some time is by cutting corners on base color since I had forgotten to apply it to some underside parts of the figure like some goblin hands and the right shoulderpad. But since they're not visible, I feel it doesn't matter. Also, I painted the rope belt with the same color as the loincloth itself. The few "extra efforts" are the orc taskmaster different color loincloth/skirt and the somewhat varying skin tones though it's not as apparent after the wash.

Next one: the spiders. The unique one requires some extra effort but I'm thinking about ways to be lazy with the small ones:

They're primed and just need some drybrushing with white before I start painting. I was thinking about going thin dark gray base color with lighter gray wetblendedd on top and then maybe go with different colored washes like dark blue for two, dark purple for two and dark green for two. I think it could produce an interesting subtle variation. But...what do you reckon? Is the wet blend too time consuming?

Also, the big spider. Is it standing on top of webbed eggs or something?

If you've painted the spiders, I'd love to see how they turned out since I've never painted a spider or bug figure before.

Here's some spiders. Not quite done though.

I really like the bluish green one (first image, second one from right). Were these time consuming to paint?

And it's not that I'm horribly lazy but I just find painting multiple copies of the same figure a bit vexing. Especially if the figures get to the table and then taken out the next turn. I like to spend more time painting the heroes which appear in every scenario from start to finish.

We decided to use contrast paints as much as possible for JIME. I hit them with contrasts, then dry brushed and then dotted the eyes. Not including the primer and basing, I did them in one evening after dinner.

I like your goblins... I feel they are best represented by muted green flesh tones and dull browns for the poorly cured hides they wear. So nice job. I'd be happy with that at my table (I have yet to paint anything).

Your painting is really good! JiME will be my first time ever painting miniatures, so as I lack the time to develop anything resembling skill, I'm just going to be using the technique below, which takes a tiny fraction of the time and I think makes the minis look better than 90% of the painted minis I've seen (yours are an exception!). If I had to paint multiple copies of the same enemy, I think I'd become quite tired of it.

Spiders are done and they turned out ok given the effort. Zenithal highlithing with spray as in my first post, then drybrushing with white and then a thin layer of dark gray on top of that (Army Painter's Hardened Carapace). Then different colored washes (Fuegan Orange+Nuln Oil+Lahmian Medium for two, Coelia Greenshade+Nuln Oil+ Lahmian Medium for two and Druchii Violet + Nuln Oil + Lahmian Medium for two). From these the orange wash makes the most difference while the other two just give a slight hue. Oh and after varnishing I added some glossy varnish to the eyes.

I also painted the big spider using more time on that. Same base method and then I made a gradient from light yellow to Stegadon Scale Green to black. And then basically rough wet blending with the lightest colors on top. Then just Coelia Greenshade+ Nuln Oil + Lahmian medium wash on top, wait for it to dry and another layer except for the topmost part. Again, this was pretty fast. The spider could be darker I think but it certainly looks interesting.

Also, my camera sucks. These shots look so dark even though there was literally a bright white LED right on top of the bugs. EDIT: Or I could check that the camera is in the right mode before taking the photos. Reshot the photos and it looks a bit better.