Make no mistake, there are plenty of figures around here to paint were I so inclined, but the inclination has been sorely lacking for the past while. But one Sunday I got it into my head that painting the dragon from the Arena: The Contest game that three of us Kickstartered and received in November would be an attainable goal, and significantly improve the look of the game.
I found a half-can of black primer, dusted off my brushes and prepared to get to work, but first I had to decide what colour to paint it. As a collective, we had recently agreed to back an expansion for the game which includes a collection of 5 uniquely sculpted dragons: red, blue, black, white and undead. The dragon we have can stand in for any of them in a pinch (and until the Dragon Collection is released in 2021), but there are also rules for green and gold dragons. Since Tamarand, the Gold Dragon, is the focus of a special player-vs.-player scenario pitting 4 characters against a player-controlled dragon, it seemed like a good choice.
I drybrushed all the scales on his torso and limbs a dark metallic gold but did his wing-arms and bones and face in a golden brown. I had just started painting the wing membranes and realized the scheme wouldn't work - there was far too much contrast, so the wings looked like they had been dropped on from another creature, or worse yet, another model.
So I re-painted the wings structures black and then drybrushed them gold, like the body, taking care to leave the lighter coloured membranes alone. Eventually I washed the wings with an ink before brushing over them with a khaki, getting something at least close to the effect I wanted.
I also blended a bit more metallic gold into his face before picking out the details of his teeth and tongue. In the end, I think he turned out pretty well.
Sadly, the hero models in the game are not nearly as detailed as the monsters, due to being colour coded and made with a softer plastic (something else Dragori Games is addressing when they do their expansion), so I probably won't be painting them. But after finishing the dragon, I saw another opportunity to improve the look of the game fairly easily - painting the plastic walls and doors.
Even unpainted, these 3D accessories elevate the appearance of the game significantly, but the idea of putting the painted dragon next to something bereft of shading and pigment was discouraging, and besides, painting them would be mostly drybrushing anyhow.
Off to the neighbourhood game store I went (after going to Kingsway and discovering that Comex, my go-to for hobby supplies, had moved to a new location in Old Strathcona) for another can of black primer. Laying them out for spraying filled two pizza boxes, and I primed the doors in white on a third box so I could ink them and bring out the pattern of the wood grain a little.
A week ago last Thursday I had the house to myself with Fenya at her night class, Glory at dance, and Audrey at choir, so I buckled down after dinner and got all the walls drybrushed before bed. The doors and levers, despite being the size of perhaps two wall sections, look almost twice as long to complete the next day. In the end though, they turned out looking pretty nice, and match the colours of the cardboard counters supplied with the game, which is critical for determining how much damage they have taken.
I've had the chance to play with the painted set three times now, two of them being dragon fights (with Tamarand standing in for red and blue varieties) that don't need as much in the way of walls, but are no less fun. I love how much the walls and doors add to the feeling of immersion, and how much more of a dungeon-crawl vibe they give the game than most of the actual games of Dungeons & Dragons I played years ago.
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| Photo credit: Earl J. Woods |
The next goal is to start painting the rest of the monsters included in the game - orcs, vampires, golems, zombies, skeletons and ghostly dwarves - to give the opposition a little more character before we start playing the campaign version of the game.
Hopefully this painting bug sticks around for a while!
(Note: Arena is not being sold in stores yet, but they are releasing a "1.5 version" of the game with the improved hero models for US$69 + shipping as part of the expansion Kickstarter beginning on Feb. 4.)
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