Village Attacks - Dullahan

After finally getting all the Peasants and Hunters done (not covered in this blog) was keen to make a start on the characters proper in the Village Attacks core box. I decided to tackle the Monsters before the Town Heroes and first up for the Monsters was the headless horseman himself, the Dullahan.

I had previously had a lot of trouble getting paint to adhere to the Village Attacks Peasants and Hunters, the base primer would go on fine but anytime I tried to brush on paint it would immediately bead together as though the miniature surface was extremely hydrophobic. For the life of my I couldn’t work out what was causing the issue, was it the particular type of plastic the miniatures were made out of, or were they perhaps covered in some releasing agent? Either way, for the Monsters and eventually the Town Heroes I was taking no chances, these guys would be the centre pieces of any game of Village Attacks that we played, so that I had to look presentable. And honestly, I had absolutely no desire to fight against paint that wasn’t going to cooperate and ruin my relaxing painting time.

Tragic backstory to this blog notwithstanding, it was time to crack on with this headless chap. So, the first thing I did was to give him, and the rest of the Monsters from the core box, a dip in some Biostrip. This stuff is readily available in the UK and is great for removing paint from miniatures. I don’t what, if anything, was lurking on the surface of my miniatures but after coating them in Biostrip for a day and rinsing them clean, it most certainly was gone.

Next up was to get them primed, and for this I used Uniform Grey from The Army Painter. I had previously used Citadel sprays for the Peasants and Hunters but this was absolutely no help with the paint beading issue; most likely because Citadel rattle cans aren’t actually primers but just paint in a can. Using a real primer had helped with the beading issue, but not completely eliminated it, so to make sure that paint would stick I gave each miniature a coat of Vallejo’s Matt Varnish. I used a brush to apply as last time I used it through my airbrush it managed to gum it up something fierce, and I wanted to get into all the nooks and crannies; something an airbrush might struggle with. At long last, I was finally ready to put some colour on the Dullahan.

Wasting no time I gave his suit of armour and allover coat of Leadbelcher, this includes the chainmail showing around his waist and on his arms. After this I paint each of the armour plates with Black Templar contrast paint, leaving the chainmail silver. I was a little worried the Black Templar would dry with a slight green tint but such fears were unwarranted, the armour came out a nice metallic black which perfectly fit for the midnight rider. The final steps were to give the armour plates a very light drybrush with Necron Compound which really helped to highlight the edges and even give them a slight weathered appearance. And lastly to give the chainmail areas a wash of Nuln Oil to help darken it down to match the rest of the armour. I was tempted to use Basilicanum Grey but I decided that would be too dark. For the two medallions on his chest, it was a simple coat of Blood Angel’s Red to help them stand out from the rest of the black armour.

The next largest area on the Dullahan is his cloak, so that is where I set my sights next. Unfortunately, official artwork has said cloak as a very dark grey-green colour. I decided firstly that the Dullahan’s black armour would make him dark enough already and secondly that I wanted to incorporate his Monster Type colour into the miniature for easier identification whilst in play. In Village Attacks the Dullahan is a Mythic type monster, which is red. And a red cloak would contrast perfectly against the black armour. So, I loaded up the wet palette with Khorne Red, Mephiston Red, Evil Sunz Scarlet and Corvus Black. Using Khorne Red as the base colour for the cloak I used a fifty-fifty mix with Corvus black for the deepest recesses and any tears in the cloak. With the shadows sorted, I moved onto the highlights first using a mix of Khorne Red and Mephiston Red on all the raised areas, then using pure Mephiston Red and finally a mix of Mephiston Red and Evil Sunz Scarlet on the folds and raised areas. It was my first time using a wet palette and whilst I might have a lot to learn, I’m nevertheless pleased with how the blends on the cloak turned out.

The final major area on the Dullahan would be the face on the decapitated head. For this, I used a basecoat of Rakarth Flesh as it is perfect for less than healthy skin. That was followed by a wash of Nuln Oil to help darken down the skin tone. Once that was dry, I went back with a layer with Rakarth Flesh on the raised area and highlight the most prominent features, such as the brow, cheekbones and nose, with a mix of Rakarth Flesh and Pallid Wych Flesh. I finished the head off by painting Screamer Pink appropriately into his screaming mouth, and using Mournfang Brown for the hair, which was then followed by a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone. And finally, I used some pure Pallid Wych Flesh to his cold dead eyes.

For the skulls, whip, parchment and tabard I basecoated them in the Army Painter’s Skeleton Bone. The skulls and whip I then used Skeleton Horde contrast paint but finally giving both areas a moderate drybrush with Tyrant Skull. For the parchment and tabard, those were washed with a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone before layering with Skeleton Bone again. I was tempted to paint the tabard red like the cloak, but I feel the off-white compliments nicely with the black armour and aforementioned red cloak.

And with that, he was done. For now. He still needs basing but I’m going to wait until all five of the core monsters have been completed then do them all at once.