Dungeon Saga – Part 1

Firstly I’ve decided on a few new years resolutions related to my hobby –

1. I have to paint two models for every one that I buy this year, this is becoming essential as although I didn’t paint much last year I was still buying as normal and all my cupboards seem to be overflowing with miniatures.
2. Clear my painting desk of unfinished miniatures, this may not sound too hard to you but right now there’s probably over 100 models on it in various stages of completion, one of which has been there for 16 years now.
3. Start my Skaven army and have enough units completed for a game by the end of the year.

They shouldn’t be too hard to achieve except perhaps the 2nd but we shall see.

Over the Christmas holidays I picked up a copy of Dungeon Saga from Mantic Games, I was interested in how it would compare to Heroquest in both quality and it’s game play. Although I haven’t played it yet I have begun painting the miniatures and they aren’t too bad, the sculpts are more detailed than the Heroquest miniatures but they are made from a much softer plastic which has some pro’s and con’s such as they bend instead of break if dropped, most figures had warped in the box but hot water straightens them out, hopefully they will stay in the correct pose now that they are painted. The mould lines are also quite hard to remove, the plastic seems to fur up instead of being removed cleanly, I’ve heard that freezing the models first can help here though I’ve yet to try it.

I’ve painted the first batch of undead monsters from the game, the Skeleton Swordsmen, Dwarf Revenants and Ghosts.

I didn’t want to spend a long time on the figures as they are obviously gaming pieces rather than display but I did want them to look like Mantics display pieces as much as possible. Painting Guides are below and I’m now onto the next group –

Firstly I started on the bases of all the figures a Black undercoat followed by a heavy dry brush of Cold Grey, a mixed Black and Umber Wash, Cold Grey, Stonewall Grey, and then Ghost Grey were then dry brushed in progressively lighter coats, finally a heavily watered down Black Wash was applied.

Skeleton Swordsman


Starting with the bones I base coated them all Beasty Brown, dry brushed them Bonewhite and then washed with Sepia Shade, a 2nd lighter dry brush of Bonewhite was then used.

It’s cloak was base coated, Cayman Green washed with Dark Tone, highlighted with  Cayman Green again and then a final highlight of Cayman Green mixed with Bonewhite. The trousers were painted Heavy Brown shaded with Dark Tone, layered with Heavy Brown again and then highlighted with Khaki.

His boots & gloves are Charred Brown shaded with Dark Tone, layered with Charred Brown and then highlighted with Charred Brown mixed with Bonewhite.

The skeletons shield is painted with a base coat of Beasty Brown a dry brush of  Khaki and a lighter dry brush of Bonewhite it was then given a wash of Black and Umber Wash. The shield rim, boss and his sword are Gunmetal, Army Painter Dark Tone, a highlight of Gunmetal and then Vallejo’s Rust effect.

Dwarf Revenant

Firstly the bones were painted exactly the same as the Skeleton Swordsmen above.

The Dwarfs beard was a base coat of Cold Grey, shaded with a mix of Black & Umber Washes, dry brushed Cold Grey and then another dry brush of Cold Grey mixed with Bonewhite and then a final very light dry brush of just Bonewhite
The axe head and the chain mail armour is Gunmetal, Black Wash, Gunmetal highlight, Umber Wash and a final highlight of Chainmail. The axe shaft was painted the same as the shields wood and the grip is Khaki shaded with Black & Umber Washes and highlighted with Khaki again.

The Revenants armour is base coated Brassy Brass, shaded with Black and Umber Wash mix, Brassy Brass was then used again except for the deepest areas then a highlight of Brass Brass mixed with a little Silver was used and more silver was added for the final highlight.

His cloak was painted with a mix of Heavy Red and Black, which was shaded with the Black & Umber Wash mix again, is was layered with the same base coat mix, then more Heavy Red was added, and for the final layer a small amount of Bonewhite was added.

The inside of the cloak, plus the boots and gloves were base coated Black, then layered with a mix of Black, Cold Grey and Charred Brown, more Cold Grey was added to the mix for successive highlights, it was finished off with an Umber Wash

The wood grain on the back of the shield was painted with Beasty Brown, dry brushed Khaki, and then a lighter dry brush of Bonewhite which was then shaded with a mix of Black and Umber Washes. The shield straps are Charred Brown highlighted with Charred Brown with a small amount of Bonewhite added to it and then extreme highlight of just Bonewhite, they were then given an Umber Wash to help it blend.

The face of the shield was painted the same as the Dwarfs cloak with a yellow inverted triangle shape painted on (to represent a sunset sky between two mountains) with Gold Yellow shaded with Umber Wash, then highlighted with Gold Yellow, a mix of Gold Yellow and Moon Yellow, and then just Moon Yellow, a Sepia Wash was then used on the Yellow area to finish.

Ghost

The easiest figure from the game no doubt, the robes are Black, highlighted with a dry brush of Black mixed with Cold Grey, more Cold Grey was added for a 2nd lighter dry brush and then a light dry brush of Earth on the lower robes where they can touch the floor.

The ball and chain is painted with Gun metal, Black and Umber Washes mixed equally, then Vallejo Dry Rust was dry brushed on followed by a highlight dry brush of Vallejo Rust, a very light final dry brush of Gunmetal was then used again.

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