Nanotechnology: Bugbear Gang Leader touchup
Earlier today, I got a hankering to paint. I decided to play around a little with a Bugbear Gang Leader, partially with a though toward distinguishing him from the pack so he could serve as a stand-out villain in an upcoming adventure. Here’s the original paint job:
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To spice him up a bit, I first added some color inside his mouth (a coat of wine red and a coat of Christmas red). Then I picked out the details that looked to me like metallic clasps and such, and gave them a single coat of metallic gold (I think of it as bronze or brass). Although a suit of leather studded with bone instead of metal might not be all that practical, I thought it was a cool idea, so I gave all the studs a coat of ivory. Then I mixed some ochre into the ivory and used it to lighten up the bugbear’s claws, which originally were painted the same color as his fur. I tried to mix up some brown to color the leather straps on the bugbear’s hammer and mace, which were originally painted the same iron gray as the weapons themselves. I’m not quite happy with the color I got, and will probably try to get a bottle of a better leather brown color before I apply any clear coat sealer. Finally, as cheesy as it might seem, I reddened the eyes of the skull on the bugbear’s hammer.
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This was a very easy repaint, within the reach of my meager skills. I’m happy with the results; this guy is now different enough from the other bugbears to stand out on the table.
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Nice job, how well do your repaints hold up to handling? I always worry with the soft plastics the paint won’t hold up. My experience with soft plastics in wargaming has been pretty mixed, some things hold up ok, others seem to flake right away.
Brett, I paint over the repainted sections with a clear matte acrylic sealer, usually just one coat. I’ve never had a problem with chipping or flaking. You can see that I’ve painted colored rings around the bases of the minis in the picture; that was to tell identical minis apart on the battlemat. Those are usually two coats of paint plus one coat of acrylic sealer, and they hold up very well when sealed. I also repainted some of my son’s Imaginext toys, turning a red dragon into a white dragon, and that one too has held up great for several years of heavy play. I’ve had no luck whatsoever with Legos, though. I’m no painting expert, but the guides that I’ve read indicate that the soft plastic is more porous and therefore holds paint better than hard plastics. That fits my own experience. One of the miniatures that we use in our ongoing campaign is one that I repainted slightly (just changing the hair color to fit a player’s preference) and we’ve had no problems with that touch-up either.