Painting Flosi

A little while back I showed an old Asgard Dwarf Thief mini, Flosi, my first ever D&D character figure.

I've decided to get some paint on him, so I started by stripping his original paint off, using Dettol (see my series on paint stripping starting here for details). Then I gave him a new sword from a box of old metal bits.

Then it was a fairly straightforward process of primer (Vallejo White Surface Primer), followed by base coat, shade and highlight.  My colour choices were a nod to the original, though I decided that his wide collar was part of his leather jerkin rather than a separate item.

	Base Coat	Shade	Highlights
Flesh	VGC Dwarf Flesh	AP Flesh Wash	Reset, then add VGC Pale Flesh
Leather armour	VGC Earth	AP Strong Tone Wash	Reset then add VGC Khaki
Belts etc	VGC Scorched Brown	-	VGC Beasty Brown then VGC Leather Brown
Blue tunic/hose	VGC Night Blue	VG Black Wash	Reset then add VGC Magic Blue
Green tunic/hose	VGC Sick Green	VGI Black Green	Reset then add VGC Goblin Green

I knew I was never going to get an outstanding result: there just isn't the detail on the mini, but I have managed to paint a few highlights on which helped. I also added a red trim around his collar, which adds interest and breaks up the rather large amount of brown. I even had a go at eyes, mostly because I tried painting eyes all those years ago when I first painted him.  They aren't great, but they'll do.

When it came to basing I had a bit of a problem. I painted him just because of the nostalgia factor, not expecting anything much worth using in a game. However, I now think he's good enough, so I wanted to base him to fit my other skirmish dwarves and that means a round slotta base. If I'd planned this beforehand I'd have removed the integral base, drilled the feet and glued wire into them etc. Instead I had to remove the base after painting. I gave Flosi a good coat of gloss varnish, then carefully trimmed the base close to the feet using my clippers.

Then it was a slow process of gently removing the excess metal with a large file.  I was a bit over enthusiastic here, and took a bit much off his front foot, but once he was pinned to a round slotta base and texture and flock etc applied, he looks fine./

I started Flosi with no intention of ever actually using him, but now I have been wondering about putting together a dwarven Frostgrave band. I've got a few dwarves already who could start the band, and Flosi could be a thief in the game. Frostgrave doesn't have rules for different races but many people have fielded all goblin, halfling, orc or elf warbands just using the rules as is. With a thief's speed of 7, Flosi is one speedy dwarf. Clearly a natural sprinter.

I've a few more unpainted dwarves that would fit in the warband, so they may get painted up soon (ish). I think the best choice for a dwarven Wizard would be an Enchanter, which I already have with my Norse warband, so there's no real need for them but it does feel like a fun project to do.