While I like the end results of this "undying" minotaur. I wasn't happy with the journey getting there. Painting bones models is supposed to be an exercise in fast/good tabletop quality. Good enough whereby the players in our campaign get a jolt of fun seeing a hand-painted miniature on the table - but then their next thought is how quickly they can remove the bad guy from the table. If a model lasts 3 rounds, that's about 30 minutes of game time. It doesn't make sense to spend several hours on a model that's going to get 30 minutes of fame and then be put on the back shelf.
Unfortunately, this one took the better part of the day to complete which is frustrating as I looked at this model as drybrush some bones, drybrush some armor, throw a wash on it and be done. It didn't quite work out that way and I wasn't happy with the drybrushing nor the wash. So after going that route... I ended up putting on some layers, trying the wash again but even more watered down, and then some more layers. I don't drybrush or wash very much because I don't like the inability to control the paint.
I used the Reaper triad of Stained Ivory, Yellowed Bone, and Creamy Ivory for the first time on the skeletal portion. I do like that triad and will continue to use that on my skeletons in the future. The bronze armor was completed using a technique I learned back at Reapercon 2017 - I had always drybrushed my metals on top of black undercoat - the new technique is to use a warm brown for the golds/brass and a medium blue for silver - then to paint the metals on just as you would any other color - lightly mixed with water. The end result is a cleaner/brighter looking finish which can be highlighted by adding a bit of silver to your base metallic - finish with a wash - I used Vallejo's Sepia ink with a lot of water.
He'll be a lot of fun come game day in our next Dungeons and Dragons session. This one will be used in a classic barrow mound campaign taken right out of a Tolkien setting - the party will be going through the dead fields and be drawn to a barrow mound where they'll find this bad boy and a couple of his ghouly and ghastly friends protecting the ancient treasure from legendary wars. If I'm lucky enough he'll last more than 3 rounds and maybe, just maybe get to feast on a player character!
Kickstarter paint total: 105 + 1 Undying Minotaur = 106
No comments:
Post a Comment