Kings of War Kingdoms of Men - Speedpainting Oathmark Humans 4 - Hero

With two units done, it's time to add the Hero who leads the force (actually I painted him alongside the Mounted Scouts, but he deserves his own post)

While looking at the cavalry sprue I noticed the fancy crested helm for the commander and decided it would look great for a Hero. I used the cloaked body from the infantry sprue with the aforementioned helm and a right arm with raised spear from the cavalry sprue.  There was a little bit of plastic surgery required around the shoulder to get the arm to fit better, but it was a simple operation.

When I painted the first Spear Phalanx I thought that two of the bodies might be wearing metal armour (plates riveted to a jerkin), though I painted them all as leather with metal studs.  For this Hero I explored the metal plates idea, and I think it's worked out really well.

He was given a zenithal prime then the metals were painted using Vallejo Game Color Chainmail Silver.  I also painted the metal studs on his armour and on the helm with VGC Shining Gold.  

I used Speedpaints for the rest of the Hero.  The scheme was pretty much the same as the Spear Phalanx.  He got a nice cloak of Army Painter Speedpaint Hive Dweller Purple, which came out less successfully than I hoped. 

The Hero after Speedpainting

Given the rather disappointing result of the cloak I decided to drybrush some extra highlights, he is a character mini after all.  This was simply lighter purple and lilac on the cloak, blue and yellow on the relevant fabrics, including the plume on the helm.

I'm really pleased with how he looks.  The extra stage of drybrushing some highlights has helped make him look a bit special.  I don't think its a necessary step for ordinary troops, but it definitely helps with any characters.  Also simple choices such as the gold shield boss make him stand out.  I'm tempted to do a bonus Army Standard Bearer with another one of the infantry bodies.

So that's 280 points done (I've given the Hero the Inspiring Talisman).  Now on to the rest of the infantry.