On the Painting Desk: The Frozen Horror on the Road

 

The main goals on my painting desk for 2026 were my Heroquest expansions.  In order to get all the Heroes for my games, I splurged last year and picked up all the Expansions with Heroes.  This left me with a pretty hefty Pile of Potential to work through.  Before I could start working on my Late Roman project for Osprey I was going to need to clear this backlog out.  Early this year, I had managed to finish of Rise of the Dread Moon so now it was time to focus on The Frozen Horror expansion. 

This expansion was a snow themed adventure for the barbarian and his pals.  That was going to be a very different look from what the Elves looked like.  There were an assortment of winter themed minis and a number of human mercenaries to go in this set.  Before I began traveling, I was able to get them all base coated and stored away in my WIP bin.  

Not much to say about the undercoating process you do not all ready know.  Grey Seer undercoat GW spray, dark grey cheap acrylic wash, and then a dry brushing of cheap acrylic white to get them to this point.  I have had good results with this undercoat process for speedpaints.  The first minis I painted from this set were the Yeti.  They were a test of my mobile painting station. 

With the pre-amble out of the way, it was time to get going on the rest of the models.  

At this point I was Mobile.  On a nice sunny, spring day I pulled out the paints and decided to give painting a go, my first real time working in my new space.  I pulled out my WIP bin and decided to give my Polar War Bears a go.  I think we have all read or seen some version of the Golden Compass now, so you get the idea of what these guys are.  Interestingly, in this expansion they get the ability to attack twice!  Plus, they hit pretty hard too!  

This gives you an idea of my painting space

I decided to use a watered down Crusader Skin on one bear, and Sand Golem on the other.  After that, I used a drybrush of cheap acylic white with a blast of Holy White speedpaints as well.  I used a dot of Grim Black of nose and eyes, and a dot of Blood Red for the tongue, and a spot of Pallid Bone for the teeth.  A surprising amount of detail on the face of a Warbear.  From there it was pretty standard suff.  I did use Absolution Green for the "fur" trim of the lighter bear.  For those following along at home, I use that color for Ogre hair, meaning that this guy had been killing Ogres and using their scalps as fur trim!  Turn around is fair play I guess.  For armor I used Runic Grey, Graveyard Grey, and Talos Bronze.  I have had good results with the greys for armor and they did not disappoint.  

            

From here, I packed them back up and let them dry overnight.  At this point, their basecoats were on and they were ready for a nice coat of Light Wash and then touch-ups and highlights.  Nothing too fancy.  Once done with those, I painted the bases with Runic Grey and then the traditional black trim to finish them up.  

Not a bad first effort at painting while on the road.  However, I still had things to paint for The Frozen Horror expansion.  After the Polar War Bears, it was time to get a bit more fiddly-foes.  I grabbed the Gremlins out.  These guys are really annoying because they do not do damage, but they DO steal your stuff!  Gross.  I wanted them to have the same skin tones as the Yetis I painted, so I went back to the Magic Blue and Holy White mix and three drops of thinner as their skin tone. 

I used a watered down Voidshield Blue as the base for their hair and beards.  I wanted them to look "icy".  From there, I painted over it with Holy White and then drybushed it with cheap acrylic White.  I did the same thing with their wands too.  The rest of the minis were standard natural colors like Hardened Leather, Pallid Bone, Crusader Skin, Runic Grey, Gravelord Grey, etc.  The details were mostly Golden Loot from the Metallic Speedpaint sets.  They were washed with a light wash and then touched up again.  The bases were the usual stuff of Runic Grey with a black rim.  

From there I had a few loose doors.  Two were ones I had missed from one of the Elven Sets, but I am not sure which one and it doesn't matter because I am painting them now.  The other two were snow and ice themed doors from The Frozen Horror.  The two sets of doors would require very different painting techniques to complete them.  I had two wooden ones and two iron ones.  Typically, one of those types is the start of the Quest while the other is an exit.  

For the Frozen doors, I used a Dark Wood for the planks, while for the Elf ones I used Sand Golem.  That tracked as all my Elf wood is Sand Golem paint.  The iron ones I used Broadsword Silver and for the Elf one I used Pallid Bone.  Again, my elf metal was always Pallid Bone so I was staying consistent.  Where the elf one was covered in vines, The Frozen Horror doors had icicles and snow on them.  

The elf doors were fairly straight forward using Magic Blue and Plasmatic Bolt for the runes and such.  The stone was Graveyard Grey and the vines were Malignant Green.  Give it all a Light Wash and they were done.

The frost and snow of the other doors required a different effort.  The runes were Magic Blue, this time with Markers.  The stone was Graveyard Grey.  The fixtures were Broadsword Silver from the Metallic Sets.  The snow and icicles I started with a Voidshield Blue wash.  Then, I painted over it with a light coat of Holy White.  Once dry, I drybrushed cheap white acrylic over it with a make-up brush.  I used watered down black to give the whole thing a dark wash.  

Final Thoughts

That feels like a good place to leave it for this post.  11 models painted is a good weekends work.  All that is left from this set is the Mercs and the big, bad himself.  I look forward to painting the Frozen Horror himself but I will probably save him for last.  

Until next time! 

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Wargaming on the Road: Travel Painting Kit

 

Look at that!  A brand new banner for the blog!  You know, I have a few of these banners now.  They cover a few topics: 

1. On the Painting Desk

These are posts that usually cover what I am painting now, techniques I am using, updates on newly finished projects, and other thoughts on painting.  It helps me keep track of what I am painting in a year.  The frequency varies based on how much painting I am doing.   

2. Wargame Design

When you see this header, the focus is on a discussion about various wargame design topics.  I try to post one of these a month, but I am not always consistent.  Some months have more, but more likely it is less.  

3. Wargaming on a Budget

These are sporadic posts.  However, they focus on how to indulge in the wargaming hobby on the cheap.  There was a long period of my wargaming career where money was absolutely a limiting factor in my wargaming life.  These are tips and tricks to make the hobby more affordable.  

4. Random

As the name implies, these cover a few different types of posts that do not fit any other category.  Random thoughts about wargaming adjacent topics, Goals and Objectives, round-ups, etc.  

Obviously, I have a lot of other content but they do not tend to have special headers. Reviews tend to have a picture of the game in question.  Battle Reports tend to have a picture of the game we are going to play.  No special headers for those.  

Now this header is going to focus on the challenges of being a wargamer in small spaces or travelling.  Since the moving to a more "mobile" environment this has become a "Hot Topic" for me.  How do I keep active in the wargaming space while living in a contained space on the road?  

Today, we are going to focus on my mobile painting station.  I have always had a relatively portable or condensed painting station.  Unlike many folks, I actually never really kept my projects out.  It was part of my painting routine to pull out my painting gear, set it all up, paint, and then store it all away when a painting session was complete.  This routine helped me get into the right mindset to paint.  Once I had everything out and set-up I was committed to paint!  This approach does NOT work for everyone but it worked well for me! 

Therefore, moving to a more mobile painting station was not a huge transition to me.  The biggest change was condensing my painting supplies into a single portable container rather than keeping them in scattered boxes of supplies in a single storage place.  Historically, I had a few boxes of paints, a container of brushes, a container of basing materials, a box of construction equipment, etc.  I kept them all in one place together but I had several, individual boxes based on the stuff that was in it.  However, I consolidated all of this material into one portable carrying case.  

Let's take a look at what's in the box!  For the case itself, I found an empty Plano tackle box that I had in my garage.  I have probably had it for at least a decade and had completely forgotten about it.  I thought it was full of miniatures!  I was wrong.  The tackle box is pretty standard with a large open middle center at the bottom, and then fold out trays, three on each side at the top.  

Pretty much looked like this one: 

Inside, I started by filling in the base with the biggest items I was going to need.  I put in 2 Grey Seer spray primer and 1 spray enamel.  I also put in my case for my magnifier glasses that I got for Christmas.  I have found the built-in lights very useful, even if my eyes are still good enough to see up close with.... for now.  On top of those I put my two green cutting mats that I use as the base for my painting projects.  Next, I made sure there was a space for my pop-and-lock palette.  With the spare space, I put in my basing materials such as some bases, washers, super-glue, and other detailing tools.  I also put in two wooden dice holders and a small case with my metal Heroforge D&D figures a friend got to represent my wife and I.  Finally, I put in a solar-powered battery pack in case I needed to charge my glasses up.    

Guess which one I am! 

From there, I had the folding trays to fill in.  In the larger trays, I started by putting in my big-box retailer brushes.  In the area next to it I put in my sculpting tools like exacto-knife, clay shapers, and dental tools.  Above those I used an area to put in my washes and another for my Metallic speedpaints.  The final rows had some individual Flesh colors and traditional armypainter paints I like to use such as Voidshield Blue and Daemonic Yellow.  

On the other side, I put in my Big-Box retailer acylics I used the most so White and Pewter Grey,  I also put in a few blacks from various manufacturers.  I then filled out the rest of the box with the rest of my speedpaints with 1 or 2 paints per slot.  Finally, I had some long slots on the top tray.  In those I put my better quality brushes.  I also put a few cutters in there.  

It all closed up tight as a drum and fit nicely under the queen-sized bed in my bus.                   

In addition, I had a small, foam lined, latched wooden case that I put all my Work-in-Progress models into.  For my initial efforts, I decided to pack my Heroquest: The Frozen Horror expansion models to paint.  The key thing is that this box lays relatively flat and actually slides right under the cupboard in my shuttle bus for easy storage.  

To test my painting kit out, I took it to a local painting social with the True Crit Gaming Guild just before I left to hit the road.  First, I made sure that all the models from The Frozen Horror expansion for Heroquest.

Then, I painted a couple of Yeti.  I painted this in a table for two, with another Guild member on the other side of the table.  My painting space was just a bit wider than my green cutting mat that I use as my base.  Then, next to it I had a small pile of brushes and my paint palette what I also used as my water dish.  I put my WIP book upright on one side of me against a wall, and the other side I put my Plano tackle box.  I tried to take out and put back any materials I was using as I went to keep my work space open and clear.  I managed to stay in a space equivalent to half-of-the-table in my bus.  Therefore, I think my efforts to condense and reduce my painting sprawl worked.  

For those interested, here are the Yeti that I painted.  

Pretty straight forward minis.  For the skin-tone I used a mix of Magic Blue, Holy White, and three drops of Medium thinner.  The horns, teeth, and claws were Pallid Bone.  The fur was watered down Sand Golem that was then dry-brushed back up with Holy White.  Then, I hit them with a Light Tone Wash, and dry-drushed them up with cheap, acylic White again.  I wanted one to be whiter than the other in case I needed to differentiate on the table top.  

Finally, their bases were a quick Runic Grey and a black rim.  The usual basing I use for Heroquest minis. 

The next things you see painted on this blog will have been painted while "on-the-road".  Until next time! 

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On The Painting Desk: Rise of the Dread Moon for Heroquest

 

My goals for 2026 was to get caught up on my Heroquest painting backlogs.  Once those were worked down, I would have some space for other projects.  Towards the end of 2026, I got a bit crazy and piled-up on the Expansions.  I wanted to make sure I had all the Heroes, and now I have a lot of enemies and furniture that needs to be painted.  As usual, there is no time like the present to get to work.  I still had some vague ideas about a "Big" project for 2026 so I had to get to clearing my painting desk if I was ever going to get to that "Big" project. 

Therefore, my first effort was going to be to finish off the last of my Elves first.  They were a mix of male and female elves.  Half were sword and board, the other are bow armed troops.  These came from the Mage in the Mirror and Dread Moon expansions respectively.  I had held off on them so I could paint them all at once.

I followed my usual process of undercoating of Grey Seer, Dark Grey wash, and white drybrush.  From there, I base-coated them using Armypainter Speedpaints and the new Speedpaint Markers.  The Markers were a different experience, but I could see where they would have their uses.  They were a lot easier for things like trim, scroll work, and edging.  They would also be really great on large, mostly flat pieces like..... oh..... I don't know..... Space Marines?

I used Hardened Leather and Crusader Skin boots, Camo Green trousers, Orc Skin Tunic, Stormcloud Blue cloaks, Pallid Bone armor and weapons, Hardened Leather again for bracers and belts. then a mix of colors for their hair.   

Then, I gave them a wash with a Light Tone.  From there I based them with Runic Grey and a Chaos Black base-trim.  Similar to how I have based all my Heroquest models.  It looked like this....

With those done, the only "elves" I had left were the 4 Cultist models.  Like an idiot, I decided to paint each one to go along with one of the Chaos powers; Tzeentch, Khorne, Slaanesh, and Nurgle.  This was a dumb idea but I had all ready done it with my Dread Warriors anyway.  So, I followed the usual process, so let's see how it turned out. I actually was able to paint these at a social painting event.

Can you tell which Cultist is aligned with which Chaos god?  See, I knew you would know which was which!  For Tzeentch I used Highlord Blue on the robe, Daemonic Yellow on the trim, Magic Blue on the tabard, and Aztec Gold bling.  Khorne was Crusader Skin robes, Blood Red Tabard, Brass trim and bling.  Nurgle was Malignant Green robes, Fiery Orange tabard, Orc Green trim, and Graveyard Grey bling. Slaanesh was an Alchemy pink robe, Imperial purple tabard, and blood red trim with Daemonic Yellow trim.  Of course, I also gave them all a light tone wash and finished the bases the usual way of Runic Grey and a Chaos Black base rim.  It filled far too many of the pockets on my bubble palette! 

From left to right: Khorne, Slaanesh, Tzeentch, and Nurgle

At that same Painting Social I also brought the transparent Specter and Dread Spirit.  I was not sure how to paint those, so bringing them to the Social was a great idea.  The Painted Dwarf was there and he knew how to paint transparent miniatures.  He had some special Gloss paints from Reaper for just this type of situation.  We started by giving them a few coats of blue.  This was followed by a drybrush of Armypainter Warpaints Fairy Dust which gave it a bit of sparkle.   Then, we gave it a couple coats of yellow Reaper gloss, which came out with a green tint.  Finally, we gave it a thin coat of a neon green color.  After some discussion, I decided to not paint the base with the usual style and to leave them transparent.  I was happy with them and they ended up looking like this.

Since I painted the table and statues earlier, that only left an Alchemist Table and Cupboard left to be painted to finish off my Rise of the Dread Moon box.  Sadly, I ran out of time to finish it at the Painting Social, but I had painted 9 miniatures in about 4 hours with chatting, eating a delightful snack, and drinking a cup of tea.  Not bad.  However, I had to finish these last pieces of furniture at home.  

My Elf furniture uses Sand Golem as the wood color.  Therefore, I started by getting that on as the base coat.  From there I used Plasmatic Bolt on the filigree.  That also matched my previous elven furniture.  I decided to use Runic Grey on the top of the Alchemical Table, you know like the stone counter-tops you see in modern homes.  

From there it was doing the detail work on the lanterns, book, skull, and crystal ball.  I used a combination of Plasmatic Bolt, Magic Blue, and Zealot Yellow on the table covering.  The skull was a simple Graveyard Grey and Hardened Leather horns.  The book stand was Aztec Gold, the cover was Dark Wood, the pages Crusader Skin, and the book mark was Alchemy Purple.  The Orb stand was Pallid Bone with Aztec Gold details.  The Orb itself used a watered down thin coat of Wizard Orb, thinned magic Blue, thinned Zealot Yellow, and a bit of very water down Voidshield Blue.  Voidshield Blue was also used on the lantern panels.  The end result for the furniture was this.

I think that pretty much finishes off my Rise of the Dread Moon expansion and all my Heroquest elves.  Now, I can leave the Elven realms and move to a different part of the Heroquest world.  I think next I will go to the land of the Barbarians and the Frozen North.  Onto the Frozen Horror expansion.  I think I will paint all those Mercs first......

Anyway, here is the finished shot of all my Elf stuff with parts from Rise of the Dread Moon and Mage in the Mirror. 

I think that puts me at 30+ miniatures painted for 2026.  Not a terrible start, but it is the end of March all ready!  

Until next time! 

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On The Painting Desk: Heroquest - A Whole Lot of Elves

 

I have a lot of Heroquest Elves to get painted.  I got the Mage in the Mirror and the Rise of the Dread Moon supplement and Elves were the primary baddies from those boxes.  I got most of the other stuff from Mage in the Mirror done, but left off the elves since I saw the Rise of the Dread Moon had so many.  If I did not paint them all at once, I had a feeling they would end up looking very different and not match each other that well.  Now was the time to get it done.  

First thing I did, was I reviewed how I painted my Elf heroes.  There were a few conventions I wanted to carry-over across all the elf minis.  Of course, I was going to use Elf Flesh from my Armypainter set as the basic flesh tone, I mean it is in the name right!?!  The main convention was that I did not use Metallic colors for their "metal" work, instead I used Pallid Bone to give them a goldish look to their gear.  This would make them distinctive from the other "Minions" that I painted.   Hair colors I had used actual Daemonic Yellow, Sand Golem, and Graveyard Grey so nothing too crazy there.  I decided that elves would NOT have any red-heads.  That was for the Fae Druids and Dwarves.  With those guidelines in place, it was time to get to work.  

The first step, was to go ahead and undercoat them all with Grey Seer, then the traditional cheap acyrilic dark grey wash, followed by the white drybrushing.  I also went ahead and painted up all the Elven Flesh in one big batch.  They were now ready to get painted.  You have all seen that a hundred times, so I didn't even bother with a picture!  

My eye was immediately drawn to the Elf Mercenaries from Rise of the Dread Moon.  These guys were not supposed to look like the "Minion" elves, so I decided to start on them first.  I was not ready to start batching yet.  They are four individual models, a guy with dual hand-axes (Striker), a guy with a pole-arm (Halberdier), a crossbow pistolier (Arbelist), and a crouching guy with a cloak (scout).  It was clear to me that although they were individual sculpts they should all look like they were on the same team.  Therefore, I decided to give them a unifying color-scheme.  

I decided that their under clothing would be Orc Green, and their cloaks would be Magic Blue.  I also applied the usual conventions for all elves of Pallid Bone armor and metals.  No Red-heads.  That made painting this little group up much easier and I ended up batch painting them as a group.  Once the base coats were dry, I hit them with a light tone wash and then based them like all my Heroquest with Runic Grey and a Black rim.  

I have not read the quest in Rise of the Dread Moon but I can not help but think these guys are a band of Elf heroes.  They could be taking on the dungeon that our Heroes took on early, but they were somehow seperated by Zargon's trickery.  The Heroes help them to become re-united and they come to their aid to defeat Zargon and their designs on the Elven Kingdom.  It is always dangerous to build too much head canon before you read the actual quest!  

From there, I moved onto the other Elves.  I had a lot of sword and boards and archers.  However, in order to feel like I was accomplishing stuff, I grabbed the Magus Guard and Assassins next to paint.  I also had the Elf Sorceress Queen to paint, but I decided to hold off on her until the end as a little treat.  I took a close look at the Elven Magus Guard and picked them up and put them down several times before I started working on them.  I wanted something almost crystalline look to their armor but was not sure I could pull it off.  

So instead, as I messed around thinking about the Magus Guard, I picked up the assassins and went to work.  These guys would be much more straight forward!  Any metal was going to be Pallid Bone and it looked like they just had some knee pads, some gauntlets, a breast plate, some shoulder pads, and their cool knife chain thing.  I decided to make their under clothing dark purple and their boots Graveyard Grey I wanted them dark but not black.  For their cloaks I gave one a Camo Cloak Green and the other a Highlord Blue.  For hair it was Zealot Yellow and Grim Black.  Then, it was the usual bases. 

I think they look suitably tough and scary.  They are pretty visually distinctive from the Mercs as well.  That left me going back to the Magus Guard.... again.  In my regular Armypainter Paints I pulled out Voidshield Blue, which is a relatively light baby blue.  Then, I watered it down and base coated their armor with it using "two, thin coats".  I hear that is all the rage.  Then, I went back and dry brushed it all with cheap acrylic white again, and I was pretty happy with how that turned out.  From there I added a bit of detail with some Runic Grey and Hardened Leather.  After that, I gave one a Blood Red plume and another the Alchemy Purple plume to give them some differentiation.  Finally, I went back and used Fire Giant Orange on their cloaks and the Phoenix on their shields.  Finally, I gave the armor a watered down Blue tone each, and the rest a light tone wash.  Then, the bases as usual.....

Okay, time was running out for this weeks effort but I had one last model I wanted to finish.  I had the BBEG from Mage in the Mirror to finish.  I wanted her to fit in with the Magus Guard, so used the same trick I did on their armor for her robe.  I also enjoyed using Alchemy Purple on the runes on her color and then painted over it with Zealot Yellow once it had dried.  That gave them an inset rune look.  I used Sand Golem on the wolf staff, and Pallid Bone on the other one.  Finally, the final touch was the Plasmatic Bolt hair.  I then gave her a light tone wash on everything except her robes.  Base was as normal, but her dress covered most of the base, which was cool!  

Not a bad start on the painting front for 2026!  I still have a lot of Heroquest Elves, but those are going to be more of a batch painting process.  I have something like 8 or so Sword Elves and 6 or so Archers.  Still plenty more elves to finish, and I have more miniatures than that waiting for me.  I have the Rise of Dread Moon furniture, and I still need to decided what I am going to do with the translucent miniatures for Heroquest from Spirit Queen's Torment and Prophecy of Telor.  

Anyway, here is all the stuff I painted this week....

Through the plastic, the paint, and the process!  Until next time! 

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On The Painting Desk: The End of the Year Sprint

The end of the year is upon us!  Soon, the year that was once considered mythical; 2025 will be over.  Since mid-year I have not done a ton of painting but I do have some projects I want to get wrapped up by the end of 2025 to clear space going into 2026.  This post basically covers painting that I would have done from the end of October until today.  

Most of what I have left is Heroquest stuff.  I have picked up all the expansions that were available except Perilous Dark and the Rogue Heir.  I can't find the Rogue Heir anywhere at a reasonable price, and I was not impressed with Perilous Dark enough for one dragon (although a very cool dragon) miniature.  There is rumor that the Wizards of Morcar will also be out soon.  Therefore, I am focusing on catching up all my Elves, polishing off my last Heroes, lot's of Henchmen, and furniture for Spirit Queen's Torment, Rise of the Dread Moon, Jungles of Delthrak, Prophecy of Telor, and The Frozen Horror.  When I put it like that..... that is a lot of miniatures!  

Progress

I was slow to get started, but in late October I went to one of the True Grit Gaming Guilds painting sessions.  That got me started on the final sprint.  There I undercoated all the elf models I had from the Mage in the Mirror and Rise of the Dread Moon boxes.  I also got the Bard and Knight heroes undercoated and ready to paint.  In addition, I got Elf Felsh on all the fleshy-bitz on the Elves.  

I think the big story was that I finally broke the seal on my painting and finished everyone's favorite hero, the orc bard.  

As usual, I am using a mix of Armypainter and Armypainter Speedpaints.   The undercoat was a Grey Seer spray, followed by a cheap acrylic Pavement Grey wash, then drybrushed with cheap acrylic white.  The finish was a basic satin protective seal.  Base is Runic Grey with a straight black base rim. Nothing fancy.    

That broke the seal from the summer and now it was officially the end-of-the-year painting season again!  Next up, I wanted to complete the Knight.  Typically, for my hero miniatures, I like to paint them individually.  Monsters, Henchmen, and Furniture I tend to batch paint.  

November Painting

Starting the month I knew I wanted to finish off my HeroQuest heroes.  I would have every currently non-Kickstarter, available hero except for the Rogue Heir.  I have no intention of paying the ridiculous prices for that.  Secondly, the Wizards of Morcar are not out yet either which has a female Wizard sculpt that I am looking forward to.

First up was the Knight from Rise of the Dread Moon.  I was looking forward to painting this one up as I wanted to use him with my new adventuring team, Hope Reborn.  However, I did not get him purchased and painted up in time.  However, now he is ready in case one of the current Heroes falls.  

 

Not much special to say about this good sir.  I used Armypainter speedpaints and my usual methods.  One trick is that I used Runic Grey for the scale/chain armor instead of a metallic speedpaint.  I have found that this and Graveyard Grey can give good non-metallic metal looks.  The High Lord Blue cloak also really stands-out on this model in person.  

That led me onto my Halfling Warlock.  This character has an alternate "Demonic Form" that is an alternate Gargoyle sculpt.  The Halfling is one of the rare Heroes that has a default ranged attack with her wand.  Like the Orc Bard and Druid, she feels like more of a support character to me.  It was also interesting that they decided to make Halflings cannon in Heroquest!  I kind of see her as a elf Noble child that decided to take a shortcut to power...... 

In retrospect, I should have painted the "Warlock Hand" to match the Demon Form, but..... I did not paint them at the same time.  I had intended to paint the Demon Form that purple color, but when I sat down to paint it Swamp Thing came out instead.  Not 100% sure how that happened!  Then I was too lazy to go back and re-paint the Warlock hand.  Done is done.....

Next up was the female Barbarian alternate sculpt.  This one comes equipped with a shield on the miniature.  Not 100% sure how I feel about that.  However, that did not stop me from diving in and getting her painted.  This sculpt painted up really nicely though.  I particularly like the "ringlets" on the front of her armor.  

Of course, she had to be a blonde.  I am pretty sure that is the female barbarian archetype at this point?  Of note, the Speedpaints only have "Crusader Skin" as flesh tones.  I actually never use it for flesh, and just use it as an alternate color for cloth and leather type materials.  For flesh tones, I have standard ArmyPainter paints that I use.  I normally use Barbarian Flesh, Elf Flesh, and Tanned Flesh.  I also have a flesh wash from them, but I rarely use it.  You will never guess which one I used for the Flesh Tone on this little lady.  

From there, I went to do my pair of Dwarf Explorers from Jungles Of Delthrak.  I am way behind on reviews, because I think the last one I wrote was for Spirit Queen's Torment.  Obviously, I have these heroes so I have a few other supplements.  I got to get writing some reviews!  Things to look forward to in 2026 I guess! 

So, the Dwarf models I make an exception on the skin tones.  For these guys I use the Sand Golem color from the Speedpaints set.  I also use this same color for Ogre skin tones.  I like the look of it I guess.  These folks are dungeon delvers and ranger-types so I tried to keep their color scheme on the natural side.  I really struggled with what colors to use that would not make them too dark looking.  I finally settled on Malignant Green, which is the same color I use for Goblin skin.  

The most interesting thing about these guys is their backpacks.  They have a lot of detail and painting the backpack is like painting another dwarf model.  I had flashbacks to painting that Ork Kommando Kill Team!  Another trick, is I like to use the color Pallid Bone for a variety of uses including a dirty white or leathery strap look.  I find it is a very versatile color.  I also use it for Elf metals, as it makes them look distinctive from everyone else. 

I also rarely use Grim Black as a color.  Instead, I typically use Graveyard Grey if I want dark hair.  However, on these Dwarfs (Dwarves?) I gave it a go.  I think it is darker than I normally want it to be, but done is done.  No going back!  

That led to my last pair of Heroes, the Berserker.  These guys also had a rough and ready barbarian look to them.  They would fit in nicely with the Barbarians.  Those axes were comically huge too!  

So, I intended to paint the Female Berserker with the same Runic Grey armor as the Male one but.... things happened.  I accidentally used Dark Wood instead!  Oops.  It still looks like a heavy leather jerkin, but not what I had intended at all.  You can see Pallid Bone on the straps on the Male Berserkers legs, the difference between Graveyard Grey (Male) and Runic Grey (Female) as a metal, and that I used a metallic speedpaint of Golden Armor on the boss of each shield on their backs.  These two were relatively straight forward to paint.  

That left all my Heroquest Heroes done and ready to game with!  Here they are all together, plus a couple of statues from the Rise of the Dread Moon.  

With these done, it was time to turn to my next painting challenge to finish before the end of the year.  This one was going to be a bit different from the other things I painted this year.  However, it was not going to be the first time I have tackled this kit...... The Reaper Nativity Scene!  In the past, I painted them as gifts for my in-laws, my own parents, and for my wife.  This time, I am painting one up for my Skumgrod and their place as a gift.  Let's see how I can make this one unique!

December Painting

This month, I was focused on completing that Nativity scene!  This one had some nasty mold lines on the bases.  They took clippers and files to sort out.  Yuck!  This is an old mold, but sadly not the first time I have run across this issue on this kit.  

Once these were cleared, I undercoated them in my usual method.  What, you don't know what that is?  I base coated them with Grey Seer primer, washed them with watered down cheap acrylic dark grey paint, and then dry-brushed white with cheap acrylics again.  They were now ready for painting.  

         

I always start this project by painting the Manger and the Star.  I did a bit of research and went out of my comfort zone on this one. I actually started with a pink base coat on the star. I even mixed some paints in order to get the right color shifts.  I used my Armypainter regular paints for this one, no Speedpaints on the star.  I also tried to do some OSL, which is not something I have done on this in the past.  I am happy with how it turned out and am glad I stretched myself. 

From there, it was time to move onto the figures.  I typically do the animals next, so sheep and donkey.  I was mostly using the Speed Paints on this one.  Runic Grey donkey with some white highlights.  Holy white on the sheep with Grim Black.  I then dry brushed some white on the wool and away we go.  

That led to Joseph, Mary, and the Shephard boy.  I did not do too much special on these guys as I mostly stuck with my Speedpaints for the first coats.  I made a strange choice to give the kid a Fiery Orange over robe.  Not sure exactly what I was thinking on that one.  From there, I decided to reverse what I usually do with Mary.  I gave her a Blue cloak instead of white and made her dress white.  The Blue is Highland Blue, and I wish I would have used Magic Blue.  Magic Blue is a bit lighter.  Finally, Joseph is a weird cat in that he is a central part of the Nativity but no one really wants him to stand-out.  Therefore, I used mostly natural colors on him so he can be present but not draw attention to himself.  

That left my Nativity looking like this, and I had 1 weekend to finish it off....

From there, I moved onto the baby Jesus himself.  I did the usual Hardened Leather crib, with Zealot Yellow straw.  The big question with Baby Jesus is how you want to paint his blanket?  In the past I have tried to make it stand out with Prismatic Bolt or match Mary's dress with blue.  That was to align them and make it look like Mary had used her own dress to swaddle him.  This year, I went simple, I made his blanket Holy White.  Simple, yet elegant. 

That left me the three Kings or Wisemen, depending on who you want to believe.  It is interesting to me that some versions of the Nativity in the Bible mention these guys, others the shepherds, and others the Manger.  The stories we are presented do not line up that well, but modern Christians have made a sort of amalgam of all the stories into the traditional Nativity scene.  It is amazing what we think about the Nativity scene, and how much actually does not line up with what we are told in the Gospels.  Anyway, just some random thoughts as I paint.  I am by no means a Theologian, so what do I know? 

Anyway, the three Wise Men are the most difficult to paint of the scene.  I have seen some versions where the painter just leaves them out in order to focus on Joseph, Mary, the Manger, Christ, and the animals.  This makes a nice, compact set-piece.  However, I am not going to do that.  They are the most difficult to paint, but also my favorite models from the set!  I decided to make each one predominantly a primary color of Red, Blue, or Green this time around.  In the past I have made them mostly purple, or painted them in Christmas colors.  This is yet a different take on these dudes for me.  

For the Green one I went with Malignant Green for his robes, Orc Skin for his cloak, and Camo Cloak for his head wrap.  I made some details in Zealot Yellow and Absolution Green.  The Blue guy used Magic Blue, Highland Blue, and Storm Cloud Blue with some Zealot Yellow and Plasmatic Bolt details.  Finally, on the Red one, I actually used Fiery Orange (?) and Zealot Yellow on the inner robes and then Blood Red and Slaughter Red on the upper layers.  I used Zealot Yellow on a few details as well.  They all got Gravestone Grey beards though.  

After that was done, I washed all the figures with Light Tone wash.  I then waited for it to dry, went back and highlighted the colors back up where it was needed with Armypainter Paints.  Then, I gave them a protective coating to call it a day!  In the end, they turned out like this.....

Conclusion

Wow, what a sprint to the close of the year.  I feel like it went down to the wire this year.  

However, I did not clear my backlog out completely.  I still have Heroquest modesl from several expansions to paint.  That includes all my antagonist and mercenary elves, some furniture and more.  I have plenty to keep me busy into next year on the painting front.  When I am done, I will probably have enough Heroquest models to make a mass battle game!           

            

Until next time.  The End of 2025 is upon us!  Seasons Greetings to you all! 

 

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