Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Painted Miniature: Old School Dwarf Warrior

A friend of mine was moving a couple of years ago, and in order to clear out some of his junk, he gave me a box of random miniatures and painting supplies.  A lot of it was just junk that I wound up throwing away, but there were a few miniatures worth keeping.  They sat in a drawer for a long while until recently, when I based them and decided I wanted to paint them up for the heck of it.

Here's the Dwarf Warrior.  He's an old lead miniature, probably at least 20 years old.  If someone recognizes the manufacturer, please let me know:


He's a gnarled, tired, battered old fellow, but his armor is in good repair, he's got a few good pouches, and his axe looks well used but still capable of chopping up goblin skulls.  Here's the finished product:


I'm not a great painter, so bear with me here, but I really like how he turned out.  I base coated him black, then painted his armor Boltgun Metal (I use Games Workshop paints...), making it look like chainmail.  But I then gave it a black wash several times, darkening it to a blackened iron look, and brushed on a light coat of Dwarven Bronze.  For the hair and beard, I layered on Shadow Grey, Fortress Grey, and finally a little highlighting with bleached bone.  The leather items and the shield were all various layerings of Beastial Brown, Vermin Brown, and Snakebite Leather.  The skin was Vermin Brown with Dwarf Flesh over that.  Finally, I gave the whole miniature several good washes of Devlan Mud, which gives him a great dark, dirty, weathered look that, in my mind, brings the whole miniature together.

So there we are.  I think this guy came out all right.  I need to do a better job of basing him, covering up the gaps, probably adding a little rocky soil, but all in all I think the old fellow came out well.

4 comments:

Spiralbound said...

A very good paint job on an interesting mini. I love how you did the face and hair. I personally like to use more contrasting colours on accessories like pouches and things, but your colour choices still look good to me. He inspires ideas for a Dwarven (N)PC, which in my opinion is the best compliment I can give a painted mini.

Jack Badelaire said...

Thanks Spiral!

I know what you mean about more interesting color choices, but I really wanted this guy to look, for lack of a better word, "earthy". Like a tough little badass who'd just climbed out of a dungeon covered in dirt and grime. That you find him inspiring makes me happy - that old miniature has got a lot of character!

Unknown said...

Great post. Do you know where to get broadswords for this little guys?

Catatmyfeet said...

It looks a lot like the miniatures made by Citadel ... he's a dashing fellow.