I’m not much of a hobbyist. I’m working on skeletons for my son, and I’d like to try some sort of design on the shields (or something else to spice up a pretty boring model). Anyone have ideas on how I can make the skeleton shields a little more exciting without needing great hobby skills? Thanks!
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2 colors and a diagonal line where the colors meet? Most basic design I could think of 
Apply ink, highlighting and or blending as desired to make it pop some more, but neither is strictly necessary.
Just an idea
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Vertical halves? I’m assuming we’re talking Mantic skeletons.
Perhaps a design that is meant to look daubed over the original shield - a rough red or white diagonal cross?
You could pick up some raised shield bits from somewhere and stick those on so you’re not having to freehand something.
I’ve never had much luck with transfers.
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Yes, mantic skeletons. My sons are not terribly picky and have low expectations, but I’m also not very good at this 
Vertical halves and diagonals are both good ideas. Might do a mix of both to get some variety. The 8yo wants forest green as his accent color, so I’m looking for places to work it in with his army.
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The official paintjob of the Mantic Skeletons (minus the white freehand) is a good baseline imho. Can choose any 2 colors you like and paint them that way.
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Stonehorse used green on his undead shields:
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That’s really sharp…same color scheme I have here. With 40 of them there’s a lot of chances to practice
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It’s not typically done anymore, but you could always try green shields with some waterslide decals.
Just make sure you get some Gloss and Matt varnish. Gloss varnish the surface, put the decals on, then Matt varnish.
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The cresent moon I used on my skelly horde here works fine on round shields. I don;t think it would do as well on kite-shaped shields.
for my other horde of skeletons (here in the back) I used a plain “quartered” colour scheme. It was kind of an experiment as I don’t usually use either red or yellow in my undead army, but the majority of the models had already been painted, so I only had to redo them.
Here’s the idea. Looks marvelous from a distance.
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Still a work in progress, but I think the quartered shields are going to turn out. Thanks for the advice!
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Those look great already, the army is going to be very cohesive which always makes an army look good
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Lovely! I like the greenish colour scheme too!
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Very nice.
Went with half and half scheme for my undead, distressing the shields slightly with a dremel to get a worn/old effect.
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Thanks, guys. As I’ve documented on another thread, this my first attempt at painting KoW armies–I’m racing to paint up two mega armies for my sons. I’m hoping to be finished in the next week or so. The basing is rough but temporary (as I suspect they’ll change their minds on hordes vs regiments vs troops). But I’m shooting for marginal tabletop quality with the painting so they can get a feel for the pageantry of the KoW experience.
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Your quartered shields look good!
Be sure to keep it simple and easy to replicate (both the design and colour + shading), armies have way of growing a bit after you think you painted the last model.
Especially undead hordes.
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