Fantasy – Night Ranger

This week a 28mm plastic mini from NorthStar’s Oathmark Elf Light Infantry set.

His face is just a sliver inside the hood. Hard to paint past the bow, and not easy to photograph either.

This mini would’ve been perfect as the mentor for my daughter’s Ranger character. But alas, I just finished him. I guess if her mentor makes another appearance later, I’ve got a good one to use!

The mini was partially painted as I stumbled on getting the last bits done. Unfinished as he was, he still made it into a few of our Frostgrave games. As we needed some archer specialists in the the game and that was his original purpose. I had started off painting him with the idea of wanting to use various Vallejo greys. I used to have tons of them before I sold them off. So the hangup was likely, trying to figure out what different colors I could use for the small bits (common issue for me) or trying to figure out what color I could use to highlight each part.

That last part used to pose a problem when I first started out, as I relied more on triads/recipes. Like if I wanted to paint grey, it would have been something like Mechanicus Standard Grey, wash, Dawnstone, and lastly Administratum Grey. Using the manufacturers suggested color scheme from dark to light. Since then, I learned it’s not that important. If I get a close enough color to the base, I can just add some white or yellow to make it lighter for highlights. On the other hand, I do like to have the original color on hand…because I use that to fix a mistake or use it to glaze over a highlight that is too strong. This is where that paint diary does come in handy at times.

The Paint Diary

Here are a couple of notations from the diary:

Hair: R9241, Reikland, R9242, R9243, R9243 -> R9008

Pouch: R9301, R9301 & R9032

I use some shorthand, which has been developing over time. For the Hair entry, I used all Reaper paints (“R”) and a wash. I write the number of the bottle down instead of the paint name, because that’s how my paints are organized in the rack. If I used an AK paint, it’s “AK” naturally. I still have a few Vallejo paints and others kicking around, but mostly my paints are AK and Reaper now.

Back to “Hair”. The first number (R9241) is the base color. Then the wash. Then applying a color back over as a base (R2942). Then the first highlight (R2943). Lastly, some final highlights moving from R2943 towards R9008. Basically mixing in a small bit of a bright color (white, off-white, yellow, pink, etc.) until the highlight looks good. Painting smaller amounts of highlights, while increasing the brightness of the paint at the same time.

The Pouch is fairly simple. A base of R9301. Highlight of R9301 and R9032 mixed together. Usually this is a 50/50 mix. I used to keep track of the exact ratio, but that’s extra work and doesn’t serve much purpose. If I ever needed to go back and reapply that highlight for some reason, I would likely eyeball it anyways. Having the colors gives me a clue as to where to start if I was stumped though.

I also tend to write the primer I used on the first entry, though I’ve neglected to do that on a number of recent models.

Next Up: Autumn Ranger

• Fantasy minis
• Frostgrave
• Miniature Painting
• Miniatures