Duellists, Dragons & Demons – Spring Clean Miscellany 2026

With my demon and duellists done, there’s just some dragons to go. There are 14 of these figures, all sculpted by Andrew May from Meridian Miniatures, based on medieval marginalia. The figures are beautifully simple in design.

My plan is to keep things quite simple. 2 to 3 bright colours for each figure. No wash required, as there isn’t that much recessed detail on the sculpts. Just a base coat and then a couple of layered highlights.

14 models is a bit much when not painting things in a uniform scheme, so I’m breaking them into two batches. That way I have the mental bandwidth to think about colour schemes as I go.

Below are the base coated and then finished models. The base coat pictures are a little dark, but give a reasonable general impression of the process.

Rather than write about each dragon figure in turn, it probably makes more sense to just write about each colour, as they repeat across the different dragons.

Red. Base of Citadel Khorne Red, followed by Vallejo Model Colour Flat Red, then Vallejo Model Colour Orange Red.

Green. Base coated with Vallejo Model Colour German Camo Extra Dark Green. Highlighted with Vallejo Model Colour Flat Green, then Two Thin Coats Ethereal Green. Finally, a thin coat of Vallejo Game Colour Sun Yellow.

Blue. Vallejo Model Colour Prussian Blue as a base, with a 1:1 mix with Vallejo Model Colour Pastel Blue highlight, followed by just Pastel Blue.

Yellow. Vallejo Game Colour Bronze Fleshtone as the base, then Vallejo Game Colour Sun Yellow, with final highlights using Vallejo Model Colour Flat Yellow.

Pink. Started with a base of Vallejo Model Colour Violet Red, then Citadel Emperor’s Children, with a final highlight of 1:1 Emperor’s Children and Vallejo Model Colour Off-White.

Purple. A base of Citadel Naggaroth Night, followed by Citadel Xereus Purple, and then Xereus Purple 1:1 mix with Off-White.

Brown. Vallejo Model Colour Burnt Umber as a base, then Vallejo Model Colour Flat Earth followed by Vallejo Model Colour Light Brown.

Orange. Based with Vallejo Model Colour Orange Brown, then highlighted with Vallejo Game Colour Orange Fire, followed by Orange Fire 1:1 mix with Off-White.

Teal. Citadel Thousand Sons Blue base, then Vallejo Model Colour Blue Green, with 1:1 Blue Green and Off-White to finish.

Grey. Vallejo Model Colour Medium Sea Grey as a base, with two progressively lighter highlights made by mixing with Off-White.

White/ Off-White. Citadel Deepkin Flesh as a base, followed by Vallejo Model Colour Off-White and then Vallejo Model Colour Ivory.

Cream/ Buff. Vallejo Model Colour Middlestone to start,  followed by Vallejo Model Colour Buff, and finally Vallejo Model Colour Ivory.

(Big wall of text there, go back and look at the pictures, they’re probably more interesting!)

Finishing off the duellists was just a matter of basing them up. I used a mix of grout, sand and craft paint to cover a large round base to help disguise the puddle bases on the figures.

After that, a simple application of lots of tufts. I went for a much more wild landscape than depicted in the film, simply to create a bit more interest and contrast.

There’s not much to this pair of figures really, so painting was relatively quick. Base colours were as follows:

• Skin – Citadel Dwarf Flesh
• Shirts – Vallejo Model Colour Pastel Blue
• Red breeches – Citadel Khorne Red
• Yellow/gold detail – Vallejo Game Colour Bronze Fleshtone
• Grey breeches – Vallejo Model Colour London Grey
• White/silver details – Vallejo Game Colour Stonewall Grey
• Blond hair – Vallejo Model Colour Middlestone
• Dark hair – Vallejo Model Colour German Camo Black Brown
• Boots – Vallejo Model Colour Dark Sea Blue

Leaves our pair of duellists at an ugly stage, but things will improve…

Washes next. Vallejo black wash was used on the blades, boots, dark hair and grey breeches.

Citadel Reikland Fleshshade was used to the skin, blond hair and red breeches.

The shirts were left alone, the idea being that the blue will act as a suitable base to white, adding enough depth and colour contrast that a wash would not be necessary.

Time to layer up some highlights to finish.

Anything white was initially painted Vallejo Model Colour Off-White, then given a second highlight with Vallejo Model Colour Ivory.

The red breeches had the base colour reapplied, followed by Vallejo Model Colour Flat Red and then Vallejo Model Colour Scarlet.

The yellow/gold details were first highlighted with Vallejo Game Colour Sun Yellow, then Vallejo Model Colour Flat Yellow.

The grey breeches just had a single highlight of Vallejo Model Colour Medium Grey.

Skin was initially highlighted with Citadel Kislev Flesh, followed by Citadel Flayed One Flesh.

The blond hair had Vallejo Model Colour Buff highlights, whilst the dark hair had the base colour mixed with a little Buff to lighten it.

Boots were painted with the base colour, and a second highlight with the base colour mixed with a little Ivory.

I’m pretty happy with how the pair have come out, I just need to think about how to base them.

Next up for this project will be the duellists. I believe these two are sculpted by Paul Hicks, but they are obviously inspired by the protagonists from the Ridley Scott film The Duellists. The two main characters from the film are Gabriel Feraud, played by Harvey Keitel, and Armand d’Hubert, played by Keith Carradine. The former belongs to the 7th Hussars, the latter the 3rd Hussars. Luckily the figures look to depict the second duel, so no dress uniforms to worry about, only the breeches will vary in colour.

Feraud from the 7th needs scarlet breeches with yellow/gold detail, whilst d’Hubert of the 3rd needs silver grey beeches, with white details. The only decision to make is choosing which figure represents each character.

There wasn’t much left to finish after the last post, really just the robes. These had layered highlights, starting with Vallejo Model Colour Prussian Dark Blue, and then a couple of increasing lighter layers made by mixing Dark Prussian Blue with Citadel Altdorf Guard Blue.

The freehand pattern was sketched in with a white. The orange parts were painted Vallejo Model Colour Orange Brown, before being brightened with Vallejo Game Colour Flame Orange. The fins were painted with Buff, and the lines were Dark Prussian Blue.

The base is autumn flock blend mix from Gale Force Nine.

Not many work in progress pictures, as I got absorbed in the painting and forgot to reach for my camera.

I paused after starting sketching out the freehand on the back of the robes, as I’m sure I’m likely to mess it up at some stage and I wanted to capture it at a reasonable state first!

Two washes were used on the body. Vallejo black wash for anything grey, brown or dark sea blue. Citadel Reikland Fleshshade was used for everything else.

For the red flesh, I went back in with the base colour (Citadel Khorne Red), and then layered some highlights with Vallejo Model Colour Flat Red, followed by Vallejo Model Colour Orange Red.

The trousers were given an initial highlight with Vallejo Model Colour Dark Sea Blue, and then a second highlight with Dark Sea Blue mixed with a little Pale Sand. The sword hilt was painted using the same colours.

The boots and belt had a first highlight of Vallejo Model Colour Flat Earth, and a second highlight of Flat Earth mixed with Pale Sand.

Metal areas had a highlight of Vallejo Model Colour Medium Grey, followed by Vallejo Game Colour Stonewall. I attempted some scalloped edging to the sword blade, by I’m not hugely convinced it has worked out as intended.

Struggling to remember what else I did… the yellow cloth on the belt was Vallejo Game Colour Bronze Fleshtone, followed by Vallejo Game Colour Sun Yellow, and a final highlight of Vallejo Model Colour Pale Yellow.

The pattern on the bellyplate started with Brone Fleshtone, and then had Vallejo Model Colour Old Gold painted over the lines.

The flower pattern was sketched in with Stonewall, then Citadel Pink Horror followed by Citadel Emperor’s Children. I might revisit the pattern when the rest of the model is done.

I’m yet to paint the blue robes, and the freehand on his back needs finishing up.

A bit of a false start with this project. Some time away over Easter with my family meant I had no chance to really crack on after identifying what to paint for this year’s Spring Clean.

Back after an enforced hobby break, I was eager to get going. The ogre is oldest unpainted figure in this project, so was the logical starting point.

I knew that I wanted to paint the hat separate to the body, as otherwise it would be an absolute pain. I also should have realised that the belly plate was going to create some awkward painting angles once assembled, but sadly I did not.

Working from a white spray prime, the hat was given a base coat of Vallejo Model Colour German Camo Black Brown on the underside, and Vallejo Model Colour Middlestone over the top and edges. A wash of Vallejo Sepia was then liberally applied. Highlights are likely going to be achieved by drybrushing, we’ll see when I get there.

Base colours for the rest of the figure were as follows

• Flesh – Citadel Khorne Red
• Robe – Vallejo Model Colour Dark Prussian Blue
• Trousers/belly plate/sword grip – Vallejo Model Colour Dark Sea Blue
• Belt/boots – Vallejo Model Colour German Camo Black Brown
• Sword/scabbard – Vallejo Model Colour London Grey
• Cloth on belly plate – Vallejo Game Colour Bronze Fleshtone
• Hilt/scabbard head – Citadel Retributor Armour

Baring a few touch ups, ready for some washes. As this is a pretty large model, I’m tempted by some freehand patterns in a few places. Let’s see whether my enthusiasm holds when I get there…

Time for the Spring Clean Challenge is here once more. I really like to use the Spring Clean as an excuse/extra motivation to paint up odds and ends of figures that I have accumulated that don’t really belong to any particular current project I’m working on.

Duellists, dragons and demons are the target for this year, mainly as I liked the alliteration in the title. Only a handful of figures here, so this should be relatively achievable with maybe scope to expand if I make good progress.