Reaper Bones 77351 Cultist: Palette Cleanser 1

This is the first of my Palette Cleansers. I dipped into a box of unpainted minis and grabbed this cultist. 

Picture taken from the Reaper Miniatures website. 

I painted some of the more recent cultists last year for the DnD campaign (they still need properly basing, another job for the near future). Those had a specific colour scheme to match their role in the campaign and originally I'd planned for this mini to be part of them.

However, I've plenty Kraken Cultists, so I think I'll go traditional black and red for this chap.

I removed the integral 'brocoli' base and glued a bent wire into a hole drilled in the body. Robed minis with a large contact point with the ground are great for this. The wire helps pin the mini to a clear base and also gives something to hold on to. 

After washing I painted the bulk of the robes with Vallejo Extra Opaque Charcoal. The sash was VGC Gory Red, the sleeves and under robe was VGC Cold Grey, the flesh, VGC Dwarf Flesh, any leather was VGC Charred Brown and the wide belt was VGC Tinny Tin (Vallejo must have been running out of names at this point). 

I then washed the charcoal and the red with VGC Black Wash and left it all to dry. 

Next session I gave the outer robe a drybrush first of the charcoal, then adding in some VGC Stonewall Grey. The sash was highlighted with the Gory Red then with increasing amounts of VGC Blood Red. This didn't work out as well as I hoped, but it looks OK from a distance and the dark red suits his evil look. 

The under robe was given highlights by mixing the base colour with increasing amounts of VGC Ghost Grey. The leather was first painted VGC Beasty Brown, then with VGC Leather Brown, And a final highlight of VGC Khaki. 

The belt was highlighted with VGC Brazen Bronze with VGC Glorious Gold on extreme highlights. When dry I gave it a wash with VGC Black Green Ink to give it an aged look. He's clearly stolen it from some tomb. I've used this technique for old bronze before, notably on the wraiths here. Various details on the belt were painted VGC Gunmetal with VGC Chainmail Silver, I originally painted the plaques with skulls on like this, but changed them to black to give more contrast. 

The flesh was washed with VGC Flesh Wash, then highlighted with the base colour, with VGC Pale Flesh mixed in for the final highlights. 

The cultist was then given a coat of gloss varnish, then matt varnish, and finally based. 

I'm very pleased with how this has turned out. I've no idea when or where he will get used, but that's not the point of the Palette Cleansers. 

Now I have to decide what project to paint next. I'll probably take something I've started and finish it off.