8 December 2021

Dragoth

Dragoth the Defiler, Undead Lord, has just stepped on a Lego brick. And yes, that is my giant wererat on the left in the background, which shows how long this model's been sitting on my desk.

I painted Dragoth and his throne in between doing the Temple Dragon. Reaper has done four versions of Dragoth; this is the Bones version of the newest metal sculpt. I bought him at the same time I got my Dark Elf Queen on Throne. Unfortunately, unlike the queen, I forgot to take any work-in-progress photos... and there was much rejoicing.

The metal version of this model has Dragoth's sword pointing inwards and resting on the plinth; for some reason Reaper decided that the Bones version would test his strength by having him casually dangle it over the side, which looks odd. It doesn't help that the sword is, almost inevitably, bent. I didn't even bother to try fixing it.

Like the Dark Elf Queen, I kicked off by doing his throne first, as it's way more involved than Draggers himself. Well, I say I kicked off with the throne, what I actually had to do first was remove Dragoth to make painting him and the chair easier. Yes, for some inexplicable reason Reaper decided to attach him to the throne, so using a small screwdriver I managed to pry him off without too much effort.


After being sprayed with black primer, the throne was plastered with Mechanicus Dark Grey as a basecoat and Grey Seer as a highlight. If either of you is wondering why I'm suddenly using Citadel paints, it's because my Vallejo Dark and Neutral greys are almost empty and I refuse to pay Amazon prices for something I used to be able to pick up for $3.50 a pot. So they're being replaced but my local game store only does Citadel paints, about which I'm not too best pleased.

Anyway, after a final highlight with Ghost Grey I gave the whole model a wash with Nuln Oil and left it to dry.

Ooo, details. Dragoth's throne is adorned with skulls, bones and flayed skin, so I started by painting all the bones with Reaper Aged Bone and washing them with Seraphim Sepia. The skins were painted with my own flesh mix and washed with Reikland Fleshsade, then I went back to the bones and highlighted then with Bonewhite. 

The skeleton manacled to the back of the throne is still wearing the ragged remains of a shirt, so I painted it Off-White. The skin was highlighed with a mix of my mix and some Basic Skin. Any bones that looked to be an integral part of the throne were left in stone colours. The chains were painted with Plate Metal, then washed with Nuln Oil and hit with Dry Rust and Rust effects paints.


The throne was actually really straightforward to paint and didn't take too long. I've seen painted versions where the edging of the throne is gold or silver, and I did consider that but decided I like the monochrome look better.

And now it's time for Dragoth himself. I have to admit to being done with reds and blues, and I guess silvery armour would be the standard, but I decided to go with greens because why not. Dragoth was also primed black, then basecoated with Heavy Black Green and washed with Nuln Oil. He got an overbrush with Goblin Green and a lighter drybrush with Scorpy Green, and there I stopped. I think the armour works in these colours; it's certainly different and has a bit of an ethereal quality to it (honest).

His head (helmet?) was done the same way but I didn't like it as much, so I repainted it to look like a regular skull, but it needs more shading around the nose. The final bit was his sword, which was just painted with Black Grey and Plate Metal. I drybrushed the hilt with Mechanicus Grey and painted the little teethy bits with Bonewhite.

I was in two minds about basing him but finally decided to go for it, using my last 60mm base. I superglued the throne to it, then painted the base black, painted PVA around the throne and covered it in the black sand I haven't used since my first Gug figure last year. 

Remembering the problem I had with non-drying PVA when I did my Cultists of Hastur, I left the glue overnight to thoroughly dry and then used a large makeup brush to sweep off any loose bits of sand (yes I know this is basic practice, but it's me). I daubed it with matte varnish to seal the sand in place, then lightly drybrushed it with Grey Seer and Ghost Grey as I wanted a desolate setting. I added a couple of Citadel skulls to the left side and the back.

The right side of the base looked a bit empty. I glued four Citadel skulls together, then snipped the end off a toothpick and glued it to the top, and stuck a short piece of plastic rod to the bottom. After painting them bone and the "stake" Chocolate and Flat browns, I glued them to the base. The photo shows that it's not quite perfect, so I'll fill those tiny gaps with some plastic putty at some point.

And this is my 100th post of the year! Go me!

14 comments:

  1. Great work on Dragoth Matt, see what you mean about dangling the sword, very weird pose, but doesn't distract from your excellent painting.

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    1. Thanks, Dave! The dangling sword is a tad annoying. I guess I could have placed him more to his right on the base and then built up a pile of skulls for him to rest the sword on, but too late now. But he looks good and I'm especially happy at how the flayed skin came out.

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  2. Wonderful. even if little weird to my eyes, sculpt and colour choices. I doubt I've had had as much enthusiasm as you seem to have had with all the skulls and other detail on the throne, but you've done a great job. Drafgoth himselfis a good figure too, save for the peculiar sword placement. I can't recollect evr holding a sword like that in all my years carrrying one! Nevertheless the whole ensemble is a tour de force of brushwork, Dragoth colour emit an evil presence, which no doubt you were trying yo achieve!
    All told, a job well done I'd say.

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    1. Thanks Joe! There is a lot of detail on the throne but it didn't take too long to get painted and it turned out looking pretty good. The dangling sword is an odd choice by Reaper, but I can live with it.

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  3. I want to see a version of him actually stepping on Legos. It really does look like that's what he's up to when he's off the throne! :D I like all of the skulls you added to this guy. Its a great use of Citadel skulls. If you're looking for a place to keep honing your skills, I'd say keep working on bone. I think the shadows could have been darker and the highlights brighter on some of the skulls, if you know what I mean. You might try using Rakarth Flesh and a brown/black wash mix for bones too. It can be a really nice gothic skull look instead of the mummy/Egyptian look. A couple of ideas for the future and I can't wait to see what you do next as this is a really fun and creative piece! :)

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    1. I have to say, bone is not my fave colour to paint (although infinitely preferable to yellow) but after the Undead Chariot I do feel a bit more confident using it :-) I should have used more tones on the skulls/bones to differentiate them a bit. The Rakarth Flesh technique looks interesting so I'll give it a go, and thanks for sharing it!

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    2. Bone definitely is a strange color to paint and one other little trick I can pass on is trying to put your highlights and shadows on skulls similarly to where you put them on a face really helps too. I'll be curious to see how you get on with Rakarth Flesh. I think you may end up liking it!

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    3. I'll have to pick up some Rakarth Flesh first, although it looks like Vallejo Cold Flesh is much the same shade :-)

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  4. Love it, all it needs is someone's head underneath that sword!
    The colour of the armour is well cool and something different, I like it - another great piece Matt.

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    1. Thanks! Yeah, the sword really needs something to prop it up a bit, unless this is how Dragoth works out :-)

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  5. Dangly sword aside I really like this model. The green armour looks suitably grimy and spooky too. Good stuff mate

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    1. Thanks, Dai! I'm happy with the green armour, it worked really well.

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  6. Great figure (despite the strange sword position), and lovely painting too, reminds me of "Skeletor" which is no bad thing! 😉

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks, Roger, and you're right, he does have a touch of Skeletor about him!

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