Thursday, August 11, 2016

Kalladrax: Bones I Dragon as Frostgrave Terrain Piece

   A while back I saw a thread on the Reaper Forum, where the poster was painting up his Kalladrax undead skeletal dragon to use as Frostgrave terrain; and I thought that it was a really cool idea, and I decided I wanted to do the same for my Frostgrave games as well.  So, I picked up a copy of Kalladrax on eBay and this past week I got started on the project.
   I prepped the figure in the usual way; soaking all the pieces in a large bowl of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then I gave them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsed and dried them.  I then glued the body, head, and legs together.  I also glued one of the tail sections to the spiked tail end.  The model comes with about 2' of tail in three sections, which I thought was way too long for my purposes; so I set the longest of the three sections aside to test painting schemes on.  Below you can see my experimentation.  I decided to go with the one on the left which was Anita's "Baby Blue", followed by a Citadel "Nuln Oil" shade wash. Then when the wash was dry, I drybrushed with Americana "Bleached Sand", Crafter's Acrylic "Light Antique White", and White.

      So I began by painting all the dragon's bones with Anita's "Baby Blue".
 I then gave everything a wash with Citadel "Nuln Oil" shade wash using a wet brush.
     I then began the drybrushing of the skeleton; first with the "Bleached Sand", then the "Light Antique White", and lastly plain White.
    I painted the dried and rotting wing remnants with Folk Art "Poppy Seed", and then painted the talons and tail spikes with Citadel "The Fang".  When everything was dry, I drybrushed the wings with Folk Art "Gray Green", and then with Folk Art "Celadon Green".  I then drybrushed the tail spikes and talons with Folk Art "Cloudy Day".

I used Black to paint the holes in the skull and in between the ribs.  I then painted the horns an claws with "The Fang", and drybrushed with "Cloudy Day".

    I painted the stonework on the base with DecoArt Traditions "Dark Grey", and then painted the head, and the border on the pillar behind the head, with Ceramcoat "Turquoise".   The treasure chest I painted with DecoArt Traditions "Raw Umber".  When that all was dry, I gave everything a wash with Citadel "Nuln Oil" shade using a wet brush.
  When the wash was dry, I drybrushed the ruins with  Crafter's Acrylic "Storm Cloud Grey", and then Folk Art "Platinum Grey", and lastly some of the "Light Antique White".   Next, I gave the "bronze" pieces a wash with some of the "Celadon Green" which I heavily thinned.  When this wash was dry, I lightly drybrushed those sections with Ceramcoat "Bronze".


     Lastly, I painted everything with White that hadn't been painted yet (That is, all the "snow" areas).  When that was dry, I brushed the White areas with Elmer's white glue, and applied Woodlands Scenic "Snow Flock".
     I was concerned about the whole weight of the dragon being supported on two spindly legs, so I drilled a hole in the top of the ruins and inserted a small section of acrylic rod to help support the dragon's belly.
 I then glued all the parts together using Gorilla Super Glue.  I applied a few Water Effects icicles to the piece before I realized that I hadn't given it its final spray of Dullcote.  I will probably apply some more icicles once I do that, but the weather has been too humid here to do a lot of spraying lately.
(As always, you can click on any photo to see it larger.)







     I'm really happy with how this piece came out.  I think it will be quite the show-stopper when used as the centerpiece on my Frostgrave table at upcoming conventions.

2 comments:

  1. Using an undead dragon as a terrain piece? That is a bit cruel... the dragon wakes up if someone rolls a 20, right?

    Great paint job, and the base looks great too.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you!
      Yeah, I'm looking forward to players reactions when they see that on the table and don't know whether it's "alive" or not. I guess I am evil. :-)

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