Dan’s 2026 Side Projects

With the completion of these Stronghold faction minis, I’ve now finished all the miniatures for the Heroes of Might and Magic 3 board game.

I actually quite enjoyed this brown-green earthy colour pallette.

The green skin was painted waagh flesh, washed biel-tan green, then highlighted warboss green.

The “normal” skin was painted bugman’s glow, washed reikland fleshshade, then highlighted cadian fleshtone.

The horses were painted gore-grunta fur.

The black hair was painted corvus black.

The leather was painted mournefang brown, washed agrax earthshade, then washed skrag brown.

The black trousers, horse miens, behemoth fur and wolf fur were painted mechanicus standard grey, washed nuln oil, then highlighted administratum grey. The behemoth fur didn’t get the wash, but did get an extra highlight of ulthuan grey.

The flags were painted gryph-hound orange.

The teeth, fangs and claws were painted zandri dist, washed reikland fleshshade, then highlighted ushabti bone followed by screaming skull. The bases were painted the same, but without the wash.

The red magic bits were painted blood angels red.

The iron areas were painted leadblecher then a nuln oil wash was applied to the recesses to give a black pig iron appearance.

The bronze armour was painted retributor armour then an agrax earthshade wash was applied in the recesses to make those bits look more coppery.

The thunderbird was painted  flash gitz yellow then drybrushed with screaming skull. The lightning was glazed with lamenters yellow.

The base rims were painted abaddon black.

These are various support units that were in the stretch goals.

Paints used:

• Apothecary white
• Skeleton horde
• Basilicanum grey
• Snakebite leather
• Black templar
• Aethermatic blue
• Iyanden yellow
• Blood angels red
• Talassar blue
• Ork Flesh
• Abaddon black
• Leadbelcher

This faction is a bit odd in that they were never actually in the Heroes of Might and Magic 3 computer game. I think the history is that they were under development for an expansion but it never came out. So I never played with them and don’t feel much connection to them. Still good models though and nice to paint up.

For these I decided to go back to the “traditional” method of a black undercoat, base coat then layer paints on top.

Gold: retributor armour layered with auric gold.

Blue skin: calgar blue layered with russ grey, then fenrisian grey.

Grey hair: celestra grey layered with ulthuan grey.

Yellow wings: averland sunset layered with flash gitz yellow.

Blue scales: macragge blue layered with altdorf guard blue.

Orange scales: jokaero orange layered with trollslayer orange.

Black scales: corvus black.

Pink tongues: emperor’s children.

Bones and horns: zandri dust layered with ushabti bone and screaming skull.

Skin: bugman’s glow layered with cadian fleshtone and kislev flesh.

Red cloth: mephiston red layered with evil sunz scarlet.

Sand bases: xv-88 layered with tallarn sand and karak stone.

Wood: mournefang brown.

Steel: leadblecher layered with runefang steel.

Bronze: screaming bell layered with sycorax bronze.

Green scales: loren forest layered with nurgling green.

These models are from one of the generic expansion boxes. Elemental summons to represent spell effects, a Mithral Golem, and a random hero. Satyrs and Leprechauns occur in the game as events, so don’t really need models, but they’re nice to have. C’thulu has nothing to do with the game, but you know lots of people like throwing in C’thulu models so here he is.

Very simple paint jobs with contrast paints for the most part. The Golem was ironbreaker highlighted with runefang steel.

Bases as per usual for this project.

Mostly contrast paints for this one given these models are particularly bright and poppy.

Grey seer undercoat with white scar on the lightning and magma parts. Also dry brushed over the phoenix.

Basilicanum grey, apothecary white, black templar, iyanden yellow, talassar blue, blood angels red, gryph-hound orange, gore-grunta fur, warp lightning, guilliman flesh, wyldwood, as appropriate.

The lightning was washed either guilliman blue or lamenters yellow.

The Ice Elemental was dry brushed with fenrisian grey. The metal areas were painted ironbreaker.

The Sprite skin was painted bugman’s glow and highlighted up with more and more kislev flesh added. The dress used macragge blue and calgar blue.

The bases were painted rhinox hide and highlighted up with zamesi desert. The rims were painted abaddon black.

This is a 3D print from a kickstarter.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/printomancer/dragonbund-queen-1-12-stl/description

Banana for scale.

The skin was painted ruby skin then layered up pearl pigment toner.

The clothes were painted caliban green then layered up with moot green.

The leathers were painted steel legion then layered up with zamesi desert.

The boot straps were painted corvus black.

The cape was painted pink horror then layered with more and more xereus purple towards the base, and with more trollslayer orange towards the top.

The hair was painted trollslayer orange, washed with fuegan orange, then highlighted up with flash gitz yellow. The dragons were painted the same, minus the wash.

I tried to do non-metallic metal on the spear and metal buckles etc. It didn’t really work well on the spear because the surface was quite rough. The metal areas were painted administratum grey then highlighted with pallid wych flesh.

The dragon teeth and hors were painted  ushabti bone.

The eggs were painted mournefang brown then drubrushed with more balor brown towards the base, then with ushabti bone.

The base was painted caliban green. To achieve a marble effect, I painted lines of ushabti bone, then applied washes of caliban green mixed with more and more ushabti bone in those areas to blur the lines with the green. Then I re-applied the ushabti bone lines.

The fingernails and lips were painted with spiritsone red. The gems were painted with waystone green or  soulstone blue. They looked ok, but you get a better results painting those paints over silver.

These were the last five models from the Heroes of Might and Magic 3 board game. I had planned to just quickly finish them off with contrast paints, but getting a golden button for this project and having Ben mention how much effort I’d been putting in motivated me to put in a bit more effort.

The greens were waaagh! flesh highlighted with skarsnik green. The browns were painted mournefang brown and highlighted with dethclaw brown. The bones were painted zandri dust and highlighted with screaming skull. The metal bits were painted ironbreaker and washed nuln oil. The black areas were painted corvus black and washed with nuln oil. The skin was painted bugman’s glow and highlighted up with kislev flesh. The stones were painted administratum grey.

The stone bases were painted rhinox hide and highlighted up with zamesi desert. The desert base was painted steel legion drab and highlighted up with balor brown then washed seraphim sepia. The base rims were painted abaddon black.

And with that, the Heroes of Might and Magic 3 models are done…

…except wave two arrived the same week these models made it on to my painting desk. I’d guess there’s just as many models in wave two as there were in wave one!

A very unusual mini from Heroes of Might and Magic 3, the faerie dragon.

The yellow parts of the body were painted averland sunset and highlighted flash gitz yellow. The rest of the body was painted screamer pink and highlighted pink horror. The claws and teeth were painted zandri dust and highlighted ushabti bone.

The wings were painted pink horror at the base and tips, with skarsnik green and flash gitz yellow bands in between. Each colour was blended into it’s neighbours to give a rainbow effect. The wings were then varnished with ‘ardcoat.

The tree on the base was painted mournefang brown and highlighted skrag brown. The mushrooms were painted mephiston red and then highlighted evil sunz scarlet. The grass was painted warboss green and then highlighted skarsnik green. The rocks were painted rhinox hide and highlighted up to zamesi desert. The rim was painted abaddon black.