steps into the arena with two gladiators from 
Howdy, fellow TMPers. The purpose of this report is to explain how I painted the barbarian warlord for the Alpha 54mm Painting Contest. I hope you all like what I have written, and can pick up something useful for your own painting projects.
Initially, I was provided with 3 figures - a barbarian, a Roman, and a gladiator. I wasn't sure which one to do at first. I decided that the barbarian was the one to begin with, since it seemed to be open to the most options with regard to painting. Upon my initial inspection, I noticed the figure had some small amount of flash (easily filed away).
I wanted to do a more creative base, so I clipped off the base around the feet and managed to break a foot off. With a little patience and a small drill, I pinned the wayward foot to the figure leg, and put another pin in the opposite leg as well. Two reasons for this:
- I like to mount my figures on little wooden blocks for easy painting, and,
- It gives the figure 2 pins to pin the figure to the base I intend to make for it.
Once the figure was pinned and the glue dry, I primed the figure in black. Normally, I would prime in grey, but I wanted this guy to have a more dark, feral feel. Using black primer tends to make figures appear a little darker and more "grungy" (for lack of a better term).
Once primed, I began drybrushing with GW Boltgun Metal. Once dry, I washed with GW Armor Wash and let dry. I then began drybrushing with Bolt Gun again, but only on the raised areas of the armor. Then washed again with more Armor Wash, and repeated several more times. I did this because I wanted the metallic to show up, but I also wanted to emphasize the dark folds of the armor - so there was the need for the repeated washes. By drybrushing the raised over and over, I kept the raised areas shiny, and the folds became darker and darker.
