is after something that has presence, that actually looks like a small stand of tropical bushes, and is cheap, tough and portable.
I'll intersperse this account with a number of photographs of the figure in various stages of painting, while in the text I'll simply mention what colours I used in the various areas of the miniature. All colours used are from the Vallejo Model Colour range, except where noted differently.
One thing I did differently on this figure from my first figure of this contest (the German Leader) is that I leaned closer to true, classic three-layer painting - in that I did not always (or even at all) used thin layers of translucent paint, but instead often just applied the colours in one covering layer. This was mostly a function of a lack of time (I had a big game to prepare terrain for, as well as the usual timesinks involved with having an almost two-year-old running around the house 
), but I actually actively continued this once I noticed I was doing it, to see whether this would actually work on a 54mm figure (as opposed to a 28mm, where this is more common).
Anyway, on to the various colour areas. The tunic (only barely seen on the figure) and the shield are done with 982 Cavalry Brown, 908 Carmine Red and 817 Scarlet. The design on the shield, which is of course just the transfer, was not painted over. I usually would paint over the entire transfer, as I have with the reds, but the black lines of the design itself were a bit too small for me to comfortably paint another colour into, so I left them as they were.
The armour areas - and this includes the face, as the figure seems to be wearing a full-face helmet - were drybrushed with 863 Gunmetal Grey, 865 Oily Steel and 997 Silver.
The leather pteruges (the leather strips around waist and shoulders), as well as the belt holding up the scabbard, were painted with 846 Mahogany Brown, progressively lightened with 917 Beige. The fur, which I took to be a bear's, was painted with 822 German Camo Dark Brown, and drybrushed with 874 U.S. Tan Earth and 914 Green Ochre. The remaining leatherwork (shoes, scabbard and some odds and ends) were painted with 983 Flat Earth, again lightened with 917 Beige.
For the standard, the following colours were used:
- Wood:
- 822 Dark Brown
843 Cork Brown
843 Cork Brown + 917 Beige - Bronze:
- 822 Dark Brown
998 Bronze
998 Bronze + 996 Gold + 997 Silver
Wash with 983 Flat Earth
998 Bronze + 996 Gold + more 997 Silver - Decorative Tassel:
- Foundry Charcoal Black 34 A, B and C
Nearing the end of the painting phase, I transferred the figure to the rectangular base supplied with it, and added an arrow (again supplied in the accessory pack) to it for some more dramatic effect. I applied a thick artist's gesso (really, more of a mortar) to the base, to provide some relief and to hide the seam between the figure and the base.
And that was that - the base was painted brown, and drybrushed with two successive layers of lighter brown (I used craft paint for this), and some static grass was applied with superglue.
All of the above leads to the finished figure...