I apologize for the lack of photos of the mini for this guide . I’ve somehow managed to lose said miniature in my thousands of minis, if I find it I’ll update this guide wtih proper pics.

Hey everyone, welcome to Lazy Paint Productions! Today I’ll be going over how I painted the Nolzur’s Marvellous Miniatures Dwarf Fighter mini for Dungeons and Dragons. This guide is for the second, “higher level” mini in the pack. Fun fact, these minis are actually of Bruenor Battlehammer, the dwarf from the Drizzt novels who is frequently referenced in the D&D Player’s Handbook and other books. Note that these steps can be applied to many dwarf miniatures, though. I’ll be going through this in a step by step method for ease of use, and this guide is aimed at more advanced painters who are comfortable with layering, edge highlighting, and want to try their hand at some fun blending techniques!

PART ONE: THE METAL.

1. Basecoat all the armour and shield with Leadbelcher, using a larger basecoat brush to get it done quickly. I recommend keeping a set of brushes just for painting metallics, cause the metallic flecks are really hard to remove from brushes and it will save you tons of time trying. Be messy, and get this all over the miniature. Don’t be afraid to go over the lines.

2. Wash all the Leadbelcher with Nuln Oil, using your standard wash brush. No fancy techniques here, just slap it all over the mini.

3. Drybrushing time! Give all the armour and shield a good drybrush of Leadbelcher to brighten it up. Use a good dedicated metallics drybrush and don’t worry if you get this everywhere.

4. More drybrushing time! Do a second, lighter drybrush with Necron Compound to finish the metal off with a nice highlight.

PART TWO: THE LEATHER.

1. Time to get started on the smaller leathery details. Basecoat the belt, pouch/bag, and bits of leather on the boots with Rhinox Hide, using a detail brush.

2. Pick out all that leather padding that’s peeking out from under the armour and edging some of the chainmail with Khorne Red, still using that detail brush.

3. Wash all the Khorne Red and Rhinox Hide with Agrax Earthshade, sticking to a smaller brush. Try not to get this on any of the metal.

4. Layer up the Khorne Red and Rhinox Hide with their respective base coats. Thin these with a bit of Lahmian Medium, which will give them a slight translucency that will help with the layering (similar to the formula of Citadel layer paints).

5. Give the Khorne Red an edge highlight with Wazdakka Red. It goes without saying, use your detail brush for all these layering steps.

6. Edge highlight the Rhinox Hide with Doombull Brown. And that’s the leather bits done. They add some nice pops of colour to the big block of silver you will have at this point, and really start defining the details.

PART THREE: THE SHIELD.

Now it’s time to worry about that shield. Cause I’m insane, this is gonna involve wet blending for weathering effects.

1. Basecoat the shield with Rhinox Hide. Be careful not to get this on the metal edge. Go for a medium sized brush with a good tip for this. Remember the the back of the shield is metal, not wood, so don’t do that side.

2. Wash the shield with Agrax Earthshade, sticking to that same medium brush.

3. Layer all the shield with Rhinox Hide to reset that basecoat, leaving the Agrax Earthshade showing in the recesses.

4. Here’s the fun bit, blending the weathered highlights on the shield. It goes like this: Put an edge highlight of Mournfang Brown (thinned with Lahmian Medium) on the edge of one of those raised boards of the wooden shield, next to the crack filled with Agrax Earthshade. Then quickly clean off and wet your brush, and start feathering the Mournfang Brown out over most of the board. It will cover about half of the board, getting thinner until it’s barely a colour in the middle. After that, repeat the process on the other edge of that board. Keep doing this on all the raised boards of the shield, and if you pull it off it’ll get a cool weathered highlight effect. Use your detail brush for this.

And boom, you’re done. I hope I described the feathering weathered highlights alright, I was mostly improvising and combining techniques when I did them.

PART FOUR: THE FACE AND HAIR.

This mini has a nice luxurious beard, so you’re gonna want to make it look good.

1. Start off by basecoating the face with Cadian Fleshtone. Go for two thin coats for good coverage, and use a medium sized brush for this. It doesn’t matter if you get it all over the beard at this stage.

2. Basecoat the beard and hair with Jokaero Orange. You may need two thin coats for hood coverage.

3. Dot in the eyes with Pallid Wych Flesh (or white), using your insane detail brush. Then dot in the pupils with some Black.

4. Layer over all of the Jokaero Orange with Troll Slayer Orange. A single coat is all you’ll need, and having the more desaturated Jokaero Orange underneath this will tamper the very bright Troll Slayer Orange nicely.

5. Wash the hair, beard and face with Reikland Fleshshade. Make sure not to get this on any of the other colours you’ve already painted.

7. Layer/highlight up the face with Cadian Fleshtone, leaving the Reikland Fleshshade showing in all the recessed and lower areas. I’ve found it’s never good to highlight the dwarven skin to much or they’ll end up a little too pale and clean looking, so this is all I’m gonna do with the skin. There are ways to get a better look for the skin, but there’s so little of it on this mini I’m just gonna leave it here. If you want you could do a quick edge highlight on the most prominent details with Kislev Flesh.

8. Go in with your insane detail brush, the one with about six bristles, and pick out all the strands of the hair with Troll Slayer Orange for an edge highlight. If you want, you can hit some of the more prominent strands with an edge highlight of Fire Dragon Bright for some extra volume.

PART FIVE: THE JADE STONE BITS.

I painted the pauldrons and some of the trim to look like a green, jade-like stone cause this green stone is unique to and a symbol of the great dwarven empire Delzuon in my campaign, and this character is one of the three kings of Delzuon. So it seemed cool for him to have the stone inlaid into his armour.

1. Basecoat the pauldrons, axehead, and rim of the breastplate with Caliban or Lupercal Green. Use a smaller brush and don’t get this on anything you’ve already painted.

2. Drybrush the axehead with Warpstone Glow. Use a brush like the one you used on the hair for this cause it’s such a small area.

3. Using your insane detail brush again, pick out all the raised designs and runes on the pauldrons and edge highlight the breastplate rim with Warpstone Glow.

4. If you like, you can add a dot of Moot Green onto all the corners and sharp bits of the axehead and pauldrons.

That’s as far as I went with the stone. I washed it with Biel-Tan Green, but it just pulled the colours together to much and ruined the stone effect, so I painted it all over again. It’s super hard to get a good stone effect with chipping and everything on such small areas, so I didn’t even bother wasting my time trying.

PART SIX: THE GOLD TRIM AND DECORATIVE ELEMENTS.

Nearly there now, just time to break up all that silver with another metal colour now.

1. Basecoat the rim of the pauldrons, the goblin head buckle thing on the front, the belt tip, and pick out the little raised rivet things on the shield rim and axehead shaft with Retributor Armour. Use your detail brush and take your time, don’t get this on any other parts of the mini.

2. Wash that Retributor Armour with Reikland Fleshshade, still using that detail brush and being careful.

3. Do some fine edge highlights on all the gold with Liberator Gold. Take your time and be precise with this.

Aaaaand that’s it! The mini is done. I painted the base Mechanicus Standard Grey and washed it with Agrax Earthshade, and left it at that. This is about the standard of a Citadel Parade Ready or a Duncan Rhodes guide, but not a god mode masterclass like Squidmar or Ninjon. As usual, I was as lazy as possible with this while still getting it up to this standard. Hope this is useful, drop a like and comment and join the Lazy Paint Productions Discord Server at https://discord.gg/jZVegD3fUR! I’ll see y’all soon with more guides and reviews!