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June 2018

Bomarr, the wood elf monk and his clockwork dog, Kowaki.

Quest for a Clockwork Dog D&D Miniature

Our beloved Dungeon Master at Alpha Omega Hobby has a copy of an old book titled Central Casting: Heroes of Legend. With this book, we roll incredibly elaborate backgrounds where we learn story-enhancing details like the circumstances of our birth or the professions of our parents. Occasionally we’ll even learn of tragedies that befell us in adolescence or of an unclaimed inheritance.

Sometimes, we’ll even come into possession of unusual magical items like Spider Gloves or prosthetic limbs with as yet undisclosed abilities. Or a clockwork dog.

Yes, I said CLOCKWORK DOG.

I really lucked out and acquired a clockwork dog that I anticipate will become a favorite semi-NPC of our party. It’s already done some bizarre things and we’ve only had one session with which to become acquainted.

Given our group’s affinity for Hero Forge custom miniatures and an increasingly contagious propensity for impulse purchases, I knew I’d have to find a clockwork dog miniature for our Dungeons & Dragons Adventurers League campaign.

But who knew how difficult it would be to find ANY kind of mechanical dog miniature that would look natural with our minis?

Who knew?

Within five minutes, I knew. I found all kinds of vicious, snarling, drooling dogs. Cyborg pirate dogs. Dogs covered in weapons that made them look like refugees from Dominion: Tank Police.

But no dogs that looked remotely clockwork or D&D-esque. No dogs that looked like my quirky, eccentric dog that spawned from the pages of Central Casting.

And then I discovered Crossover Miniatures.

While Crossover Miniatures had no clockwork dogs, the did have robo dogs. Three of them. In a single pack (no pun intended). Ten seconds later, I placed my order with full belief that I could paint one up in a way that would look reasonable on our D&D table.

Full Metal Alchemist.

Awaiting a package in the mail, I took inventory of all the metallic Citadel paints in my collection and researched photos of REAL dogs. By the time my robo dogs arrived, I had a game plan ready to go. Here’s what I did:

  1. Spray-primed with Citadel Mechanicus Standard Grey.
  2. Base-coated with Citadel Screaming Bell.
  3. Painted the top half of my dog’s snout, his ears, his feet, and the juncture parts where the legs connect to the body with Citadel Balthasar Gold.
  4. Painted the bottom of his neck, belly, lower jaw, inner-lower front legs, lower back legs, and the tip of the tail with Citadel Leadbelcher.
  5. Painted a middle section of tail, the upper-back shoulder of his front legs and upper-front shoulder of his back legs with Citadel Retribution Armour.
  6. Dotted his left eye with Citadel Abaddon Black.
  7. Dotted his right eye with Citadel Evil Sunz Scarlet.
  8. Washed with Citadel Athonian Camoshade.
  9. Dry brushed with Citadel Retribution Armour.
  10. Dry brushed with Citadel Screaming Bell.
  11. Re-dotted his right eye with Citadel Evil Sunz Scarlet.
  12. Painted the base with Citadel Mournfang Brown.
  13. Washed the base with two coats of Army Painter Strong Tone.

While I lost some of the clearer delineations of mechanical panels and precision painting when I dry-brushed, I’m REALY happy with how much more cohesive and weathered he looks. He’s got that steampunk vibe even though I think he was cast with futuristic science fiction in mind. With that, here are some photos…

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Hero Forge custom miniature of my Way of the Four Elements Monk.

Hero Forge: Peer-pressured into custom D&D miniatures

“If your friends all jumped off a bridge, would you?”

Well, no. But if my Dungeons & Dragons Adventurers League party all bought Hero Forge custom miniatures then yes, I OBVIOUSLY would.

And I did. Our Dungeon Master at Alpha Omega Hobby had one created of himself (not in character). Then automagically, Hero Forge miniatures of our tiefling bard, human ranger, and wild magic sorcerer all appeared. Before I knew it, somehow I’d placed an order for a Way of the Four Elements wood elf monk and a Rogue Thief/Warlock Drow.

Someone must have inadvertently cast “Friendly Peer Pressure” in my general direction. Oops.

After several weeks of procrastination…

Motivated by a PM Dawn Stout (with cold brew coffee!) from Trillium Brewing and the freedom that accompanies Father’s Day, I broke out my supplies to paint Bomarr. Fortunately, I’d primed my miniature over a week ago and I’d also previously acquired the missing Citadel paint colors I needed to fulfill my vision.

And now a blow-by-blow account of everything I did.

If I don’t do this, I will absolutely forget the sequence of events and exact colors I used to achieve my final product. I’m sure this is TMI for some and just right for others. Here we go:

  1. Spray primed with Citadel Corax White.
  2. Painted Bomarr’s under robe in the front and visible pants with Citadel Sotek Green.
  3. Painted Bomarr’s boots, arm wraps, and lone visible sideburn with Citadel Mournfang Brown.
  4. Painted Bomarr’s face and fingers with Citadel Flayed One Flesh.
  5. Washed the under robe and remaining white parts of Bomarr with two coats of Citadel Coelia Greenshade.
  6. Realized that Bomarr’s arm wraps are more likely cloth than leather and repainted with Citadel Zandri Dust.
  7. Washed Bomarr’s arm wraps with Army Painter Light Tone.
  8. Washed Bomarr’s face and fingers with Army Painter Flesh Tone.
  9. Washed Bomarr’s boots with Army Painter Strong Tone.
  10. Dry brushed Bomarr’s arm wraps and boots with Citadel XV-88.
  11. Lined edges of Bomarr’s robe with Citadel Balthasar Gold.
  12. Dry brushed Bomarr’s robe with Citadel Screaming Bell.
  13. Dry brushed Bomarr’s robe again, this time with Citadel Sotek Green.
  14. Dry brushed gold edges with Citadel Balthasar Gold.
  15. Painted wood flooring with Citadel XV-88.
  16. Washed wood flooring with Army Painter Strong Tone.
  17. Washed candles with Army Painter Light Tone.
  18. Dry brushed floor and candles with Citadel XV-88.
  19. Touched up candle flames with Citadel Ceramic White.
  20. Painted candle flames with Citadel Sotek Green.
  21. Dry brushed candle flames with Citadel Ceramic White.
  22. Edged base with Citadel Mournfang Brown.
  23. Dry brushed base edge with Citadel Screaming Bell.

Voila!

All of this was achievable with just the Army Painter Wargamer Most Wanted set of three brushes. The PK-Pro miniature grip was very nice to have, but not entirely necessary. This was the final result:

Hero Forge custom mini of a wood elf monk, fully painted with Citadel paints and Army Painter washes.

And yes, the Sotek Green candles are in homage to Acquisitions Incorporated.

Post-credit scene.

Brushes given a nice hot shower with Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Special Shampoo.