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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