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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