Dragonborn Paladin

I'm sure I've mentioned this before but no matter how many figures you paint if you participate in RPGs at some point, or multiple points, you will need a character model you don't already have in your collection.  I'm currently gearing up to be an actual player in a D&D game and in spite of the fact that that means I only need to provide two models for the game (one for my character, one for another player) somehow I didn't already have either model in my collection.

My character will be a Warlock wearing studded leather armour and armed with an axe.  So no big surprise I didn't have a figure that had that combination of gear already.  I'm currently converting a model which I can hopefully get done before my workload with school really picks up next week.

My buddy Grant decided on a Dragonborn Paladin which has really been a staple D&D character since 4th edition was published a few years back.  Having said that I've personally never played one or used one as an NPC so I had never gotten around to painting one.  One of the other issues with the Dragonborn is that when they first came onto the scene as a playable race the models that were available were largely underwhelming so I didn't rush out to grab any.

Fast forward to now o'clock and the WizKids line has some really nicely detailed and proportioned Dragonborn character models.  I got one of their Dragonborn Fighter packs and it came with two excellent looking choices.  The only issue out of the pack is that one figure was armed with an axe and the other was armed with a mace while Grant's character uses a sword.  Luckily I had an extra Reaper figure kicking around that had a somewhat fancy and over sized sword that looked like it would be a good fit for the model.

When it came time to paint I had somewhat stupidly painted myself into a corner.  After buying the model I rushed to get it started so I base-coated and washed the armour before I asked Grant what colour dragon his character would be.  In my head I was thinking of chromatic (red, blue, green, etc) dragons and never stopped to consider he might choose a metallic dragon.  He went with silver and that's when I realised I either needed to start over or find a way to create some contrast between the armour and his character's skin/scales.  I gave the armour an extra black wash to darken it a bit more than normal and then after painting his skin two shades lighter than his armour (boltgun metal for the armour, chainmail for the skin) I gave the skin a thinned down blue wash. I think it turned out okay but if and when I paint the second Dragonborn from the pack I got I think I'll plan ahead a bit more.

I'm pretty happy with how this turned out and its nice once again to have added a figure that is something completely new for me.

-Jay