Saturday, 21 November 2015

Dungeon Saga Heroes - Your Quest Begins Here!

"Enter, stranger...."

Dungeon Saga: Dwarf Kings Quest painted hero: Rordin.
In a wild departure from fantasy dwarf designs, this one is a grumpy-looking doorstop.

Despite having a SkypeQuest lined up with Kraken in the near future, I hadn't intended to paint any of my Dungeon Quest models. But I started to tinker with a few and realised - these things are fantastic to paint!

They're certainly on the smaller side of the 25mm scale - my SAGA guys look burly next to them, but they're just about on par with LoTR miniatures. But apart from painting most of the areas with a fine detail brush, it wasn't a problem.

Dungeon Saga: Dwarf Kings Quest painted hero: Danor.
We Will Rock You

For the elf, I wanted to try something different from my usual pale flesh tones - I used Drakenhof Nightshade as the wash, then highlighted with Ushabi Bone. I'm quite happy with the effect: more like the elves of Hellboy II, and less just like a slender-looking human archer.

Dungeon Saga: Dwarf Kings Quest painted hero: Madriga
Named 'Madriga', presumably for her early Baroque singing technique.

This bruiser is the standout hero for me (isn't it always the barbarian in these games?) - good stance, great expression. My only complaint is the amount of skulls he is wearing: a skull shoulderpad is good and characterful; a pair of skull kneepads seems less so; a skull attached to the back of your axe just makes me think it's a satire on certain other miniature companies.

Dungeon Saga: Dwarf Kings Quest painted hero: Orlaf
"What is best in life? Apart from a lot of skulls, obviously."

As I was saying, these miniatures surprised me with how well they take paint and hold detail. Working up from a black undercoat, I was also able to whizz through them pretty efficiently (perhaps less than an hour apiece).

When I initially unboxed my Dungeon Saga pledge, and looked at the blue plastic models, I rated them B+, but to be honest, if all the miniatures are this quality, they're worth the cost of the Kickstarter by themselves.

And for some fun, I dug out the models that inspired this game - my old HeroQuest boys, as painted by 11-year-old me with my Airfix Enamels.

Dungeon Saga: Dwarf Kings Quest painted hero: Rordin.
One of these dwarfs dwarfing the other.
Dungeon Saga: Dwarf Kings Quest painted hero: Danor.
Everybody, yeah yeah.
Rock your body, yeah yeah.
Dungeon Saga: Dwarf Kings Quest painted hero: Madriga
Elvish has left the building.
Dungeon Saga: Dwarf Kings Quest painted hero: Orlaf
By the Power of Humbrol!

So no real difference, as you can see.

Dungeon Saga: Dwarf Kings Quest painted heroes: Rordin, Orlaf, Madriga and Danor.


5 comments:

  1. Hah! Excellent work. I have just started the same four heroes (and some bad guys. And some terrain. And like three hundred space marines. I'm just a nerd who can't say no), and I'd echo your judgement on how good they look with a lick of paint. Corking stuff!

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    1. Thanks - I figured this was my one and only chance to take the lead in the race to get them painted. Expect the balance to be completed sometime in 2017...

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  2. I really like your paint job. Looks very realistic. Great! Started to paint my DS minis too. Would you mind sharing how you painted the bases? I need some inspiration on how to make them look as realistic as yours....

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    1. Thanks! The bases were fairly simple: just layers of drybrushing.
      Basecoat: Chaos Black
      First drybrush: Mechanicus Standard Grey
      Second drybrush: Dawnstone
      Third drybrush: White Scar (very lightly applied)

      Happy painting!

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    2. Thanks! Will try that, sounds easy enough :)
      Happy gaming!

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