On The Painting Desk: Back on the Quest!

As most of you know, I have been working through my Heroquest boxed set I got for Christmas 2023.  I resolved not to get any expansions or even play the game until it was all painted up!  There is a surprising amount of miniatures in that first set, and that does not even include the furniture.  

I got a good start painting up the Heroes, the Dread Warlock, and the Goblins, but there is still a lot of miniatures to go.  I had decided to start with the forces of Dread and the Greenskins first.  Here was my progress so far...

Thankfully, I had a lot of mins still undercoated and ready for paint.  So I dove right in.  The next on my agenda were the Orcs.  I decided to use a lighter tone for the skin on these guys than I normally do on my Games Workshop versions.  I think it was the right choice, as these folks are much less cartoony and a bit more humanoid in proportions.  Otherwise, not much to say about them as I used all Speed Paints.  The biggest challenge was to make the duplicates look unique, but not too unique.  They are just mooks after all.  

Before tackling the Abominations that replaced the Fimir, I decided to tackle the "Dread Warriors" next as they seemed like a relatively quick job to paint the four of them.  I decided to lean back into their heritage as Chaos Warriors.  I decided to paint each one as dedicated to a different "Dread" power.  I painted one themed around each Chaos power to make them distinct.  I used Armypainter Inks for the armor, then speedpaints for the contrasting color.  When the block colors were done, I hit them all with a Dark Tone wash.  Then I based and finished per the rest of the Heroquest figures. 

We have in front left to right; Fate Smasher, The Flayer, Maggot Lord, and Cacophonius

After basing them and giving them a spray, it was time to think abut my Abominations.  These guys look much more Lovecraftian Fishman than the old Fimirs.  That suited me fine, but I didn't think a green like the Orcs was suitable.  I took a peak at my old Hellboy figures to see how I painted them before deciding on these guys.  Thinking about it, those could make a really cool set of baddies for a custom Heroquest adventure!  

I painted there heads and "scales" with a standard Armypainter Paint first.  I think it was Orb Green?  This had a slightly iridescent color to it.  Then, I used the SpeedPaint Absolution Green to paint over the edges and the rest of the flesh to give it that "two-tone" look.  Of course, I finished all up with a Light Tone wash and standard finishing techniques.   

Finally, I went for the Big Bad Evil Guy himself, the Gargoyle.  This was going to be the last guy from this batch to paint, and I went with a fairly simple scheme.  I decided to go with the "Stone skin" style Gargoyle rather than the very common and popular Bloodthirster/Demon look with red skin.  That was pretty easy as the Priming left a pretty good base to build off.  I basically just painted up the weapons, hit a couple spots with Runic Grey and gave it a 50/50 Dark Tone and SpeedPaint Medium mix wash.  I finished it off the same way I finished off the rest of the Heroquest guys.  

Grrr!  Rawr!  I am Evilz!!1!

   

With the Living Baddies done, it was time for the Undead to get their time on the painting desk.  I painted the Mummies, Zombies, and Skeletons all in little separate groups.  The Mummies were actually the easiest.  I painted the base skin with Malignant Green, and did a few details on the face.  Then I simply gave the whole thing a Dark Wash.  The Dark Wash became a sort of theme for the Undead units.  

The Zombie I painted their flesh with Malignant Green as well, but I also then gave the flesh a Green Tone Wash.  Then, I painted the details from there.  I really wanted the skin to look mottled and rotten, but very different from the Orc skin tones.  The pants also gave me a chance to make them really look different form the living baddies and each other.    

Finally miniatures were the 4 Skeletons.  Of course, Pallid Bone was going to be the "go to" color for these baddies.  I also decided to give them each a different color-theme to their clothing.  However, their armor was going to be all Gravelord Grey, with Runic Grey blades.  That would make them look cohesive, but also with different colors to make them easily identifiable as individuals if needed. 

So, here is what I have so far all painted up.  The Heroes and Baddies are all painted up.  All that is left is the furniture.  I would say about half of the core set is done now. 

Bonus Content

I had four cats, two black ones, a tuxedo, and a cream colored, cross-eyed, 6-toed abomination.  They frequently like to "help" me paint.  My Tuxedo will sit on a chair next to me and watch, sometimes climbing up onto my shoulders.  My older black cat will try to sit in my lap while I paint, but sadly she passed on when I completed this project.  My younger black cat will just try to lay down on the table within arm's reach.  My abomination will want me to play with him and just hinder me.  They can make it really hard to paint sometimes.  

Here are some photos of them "Helping" me.  

 My younger black cat.....

My Tuxedo cat, helping me.....

My older black cat..... now sadly RIP..... I miss you! 

The abomination against God blocking my light! 

Until next time!    

 

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