Preface
I’ve been feeling at a bit of a low ebb of late. Last year was pretty challenging personally and professionally and unfortunately this year is not shaping up all that differently. On top of that, there have been precious few opportunities to game due to my availability and lack of awareness of the local gaming scene. My confidence took a huge hit last year at the hands of some former colleagues so I've felt increased social anxiety about trying to seek out gaming opportunities and it's all woven together into a bit of a mess that's currently proving tricky to overcome. This has proved doubly frustrating because I tend to get inspired by the thought of being able to put minis on the tabletop, so finding the motivation to paint has been difficult as well, but a few weeks ago I had an idea that seemed worth exploring.Back in 2014 when I was time rich and money poor, I painted up High King Belegar Ironhammer just after he released for Warhammer Fantasy 8th Edition. Being a bit short on cash having finished him, I popped him up for sale on eBay and to my delight, not only did he (and the Runesmith I’d painted alongside him) sell for a reasonable sum, but the buyer commissioned me to paint up a unit of Dwarf Hammerers as well. I was pretty chuffed with that.
I rarely revisit projects, usually preferring to move on to something else pretty quickly, but the more I thought about it the more I wondered: with the benefit of 12 further years of painting experience, how would I approach painting Belegar now? What changes would I make and what would that mean for the finished result? I decided to find out.
The Project
Having got the mini ordered, I started looking for some good quality reference photos of the Warhammer studio’s version of Belegar but despite extensive googling, the internet kept coming up short. The boxart of the current iteration of the kit as ‘Dwarf King with Oathstone’ would be of limited use because the mini has been given a different paintjob so as to distinguish it from the original, but then I remembered that Belegar was released along with the very first issue of the ill-fated ‘White Dwarf Weekly’ which had some brilliant close up photos of the mini (along with his rules so hobbyists could get him on the table right away).
I knew I’d had a copy of WDW#1 back in 2014, but inevitably because I now needed it, it had gone in the recycling at some point since then. Thankfully, I was able to track down a second-hand copy in very good condition for only a couple of quid, and the cover and two page spread showing some lovely closeups of Belegar proved invaluable planning and reference material that I referred to throughout the project.
I'm not going to go over every single aspect of the mini, but I've picked out a few of the most prominent areas below for discussion about the different ways that I approached painting them this time around.
Base
The Oathstone was then layered up from a basecoat of Mechanicus Standard Grey with shading applied directly into the recesses. After working up through Dawnstone, Administratum Grey Seer and finally Pallid Wych Flesh, to a finish of stone I was happy with, I started in with some glazes of Athonian Camo and Mortarion Grime. Working across the whole oathstone, I tended to focus the darker green in the deeper recesses and lower areas while the lighter, yellower Mortarion Grime went more on the upper areas. Once I was happy with how this was looking, a glaze of Mournfang Brown helped suggest a build up of dirt around the base of the stone.
My thought process all the way through was that a more weathered Oathstone was in keeping with the narrative of Belegar’s ongoing struggle to wrest Karak Eight Peaks back from the clutches of the Skaven and Greenskins who occupy it. This stone was carved by one of his ancestors and having been recovered from one of the sundered holds of Angrund and cleaned up as best as possible it is used not just as a reminder of oaths that have been sworn but of the grudges borne by King Belegar and his people as well.
From what I can remember, I decided to paint the first rendition of Belegar as a younger man… er, I mean dwarf. My thinking was probably along the lines that it would be easier to achieve a nice smooth finish with flaxen hair than with grey/white. This time round though, I was determined to render Belegar would as he would have appeared in the twilight years of his long life. ‘Eavy Archive provided just the recipe in the form of white beards from the (re)release of the Dwarfen Mountain Holds for The Old World in 2024.
For the filigree and detailing across Belegar’s armour, I took a different approach:
The trim on the cloak of the 2014 mini was painted using a ‘non-metallic metal’ approach. I thought long and hard about emulating this on the newer version, but ultimately I felt that metallic thread would add a little touch of ostentatiousness to the mini. Belegar is a Dwarfen king after all, and as both masters and appreciators of metals, why wouldn’t a Dwarf have a cloak embroidered with golden thread? This also meant I could make the embroidery look quite ‘cold’ to contrast the warm red of the cloak itself.
Speaking of the red, this was also approached much differently to the earlier version which I think was just Khorne Red shaded with Carroberg Crimson. This time around I started with a basecoat of Mephiston Red which was shaded using first Khorne Red and then Khorne Red with a little Abaddon Black mixed into it. Thinning the paints with Lahmian Medium, rather than washing them over the whole cloak, I painted the Khorne Red into the folds and creases of the cloak, waiting for each layer to dry before adding another in the areas I wanted to darken down further. Once I was happy with how that was looking, I added the Abaddon Black and carefully painted it around the embroidery and into the very deepest folds. From there I tidied up a few slips with Mephiston Red before highlighting up through Evil Sunz Scarlet, Wild Rider Red, Cadian Flesh and finally a vary sparing addition of Tau Light Ochre as a pin highlight.
Over the thirty-odd years I’ve been painting minis for, I’ve gone back and forth on the ‘TMM vs. NMM’ debate but whether it’s age or experience, where I’ve ultimately landed is that both are valid tools in the painter’s toolbox and what’s more important that picking one technique over the other for the sake of complexity or skill is thinking about what you want it is you’re wanting to do and then selecting the technique that best lets you do that. I’ve come to a similar conclusion with Object Source Lighting, or ‘OSL’ too – done well it can create a fantastic sense of atmosphere and realism in a piece – Victoria Lamb’s Fiery Angel is a perfect example of this. Executed poorly, and often with little understanding of how light behaves, as we saw when the use of airbrushes for miniature painting rose in the early 2010s, it can hands down ruin a piece.
I digress though. For the contemporary version, I opted for TMM and I think it was the right choice: it’s fitting for a warrior of his stature and renown to be wearing such finery and it’s in keeping with the overall tone of the miniature.
Because I sold my original Belegar and I wasn’t great at taking photos back then, it’s difficult to do a precise ‘side-by-side’ comparison between the two, but I think the results speak for themselves. Now that’s not to say that my original wasn’t nicely painted, but the difference between my painting style and capabilities of 2014 compared to 2026 is stark. I can’t remember how many hours I put into the 2014 rendition, and I haven’t really kept track of how long I’ve taken on the 2026 version, but I don’t think time is as much of a factor in the difference as it might appear to be. I think what’s made more of a difference is the amount of ‘effort’ put in and the improvement in skill and understanding that the last 12 years have enabled me to make that effort without it feeling too much like it is effort (hopefully that makes sense!)
Interestingly, I think I have the Covid-19 pandemic to thank for some of that as I spent much of 2020 and 2021 painting single Necromunda miniatures and made a conscious decision that while doing so that I would make a conscious effort to ‘push’ my painting abilities. In some cases, this was simply doing my best to mirror the boxart of a mini, while in others it was trying new things like sponge chipping and weathering paints to lean into the grimy realism of the Underhive.
While the volume of miniatures I was turning out was nowhere near as high, I began to feel much more satisfied with the quality of my finished work. At the same time, the repetition of trying to paint each mini as well as I could and of finishing miniatures ‘from the inside out’ helped to make my work neater, built up my confidence and established a new ‘baseline’ of what I could do. Aside from the welcome ego boost, this continues to make it much easier to plan projects (because I either know how certain techniques or colour choices will work and how I could achieve them, or I don’t know how to achieve something, so I’ll need to research it and figure it out). All of which has meant that when I can get into the right groove, I can consistently achieve better results from the time I spend painting.
So, was it worth going back and repainting a miniature again twelve years later? Absolutely. It’s not only been fun to revisit what is still such a brilliant model, but it’s also been great to be able to see just how far I’ve come on my hobby journey since 2014 and I guess to also begin to wonder where I might be in another decade or so’s time.
As always, thanks for reading (I know this was a long one, so I’m doubly appreciative) and happy hobbying.
My thought process all the way through was that a more weathered Oathstone was in keeping with the narrative of Belegar’s ongoing struggle to wrest Karak Eight Peaks back from the clutches of the Skaven and Greenskins who occupy it. This stone was carved by one of his ancestors and having been recovered from one of the sundered holds of Angrund and cleaned up as best as possible it is used not just as a reminder of oaths that have been sworn but of the grudges borne by King Belegar and his people as well.
Beard
I think the winning ingredient in the recipe is in using thinned grey layer paints for shading which is not only a bit more controlled than using shades, but it also creates a softer the transition between colours and gives a more ‘realistic’ white for hair which was perfect for a mature dwarf and highly experienced dwarfen king. The grey/white tones also provide a perfect contrast for the warmer gold jewellery which got rather lost amongst the blonde beard of the earlier version.
For the Shield of Defiance and Hammer of Angrund I used the gold I’ve been playing with for Galdhrim Warriors, which is:
Gold
The gold across the 2014 version of Belegar was all painted in the same way – Auric Armour Gold, shaded with Seraphim Sepia and that was that. For this version I wanted to add some variation between his weapons and wargear to better reflect both the skill of Dwarfen artifice and Belegar’s status as a king.For the Shield of Defiance and Hammer of Angrund I used the gold I’ve been playing with for Galdhrim Warriors, which is:
- Basecoat Retributor Armour;
- Shade with Seraphim Sepia, then recess shade with Drucii Violet;
- Layer/highlight Liberator Gold;
- Fine highlight Stormhost Silver
For the filigree and detailing across Belegar’s armour, I took a different approach:
- Basecoat Retributor Armour;
- Glaze Lamentors Yellow, then recess shade Seraphim Sepia;
- Highlight Liberator Gold;
- Fine highlight Stormhost Silver
Cloak
Speaking of the red, this was also approached much differently to the earlier version which I think was just Khorne Red shaded with Carroberg Crimson. This time around I started with a basecoat of Mephiston Red which was shaded using first Khorne Red and then Khorne Red with a little Abaddon Black mixed into it. Thinning the paints with Lahmian Medium, rather than washing them over the whole cloak, I painted the Khorne Red into the folds and creases of the cloak, waiting for each layer to dry before adding another in the areas I wanted to darken down further. Once I was happy with how that was looking, I added the Abaddon Black and carefully painted it around the embroidery and into the very deepest folds. From there I tidied up a few slips with Mephiston Red before highlighting up through Evil Sunz Scarlet, Wild Rider Red, Cadian Flesh and finally a vary sparing addition of Tau Light Ochre as a pin highlight.
Over the thirty-odd years I’ve been painting minis for, I’ve gone back and forth on the ‘TMM vs. NMM’ debate but whether it’s age or experience, where I’ve ultimately landed is that both are valid tools in the painter’s toolbox and what’s more important that picking one technique over the other for the sake of complexity or skill is thinking about what you want it is you’re wanting to do and then selecting the technique that best lets you do that. I’ve come to a similar conclusion with Object Source Lighting, or ‘OSL’ too – done well it can create a fantastic sense of atmosphere and realism in a piece – Victoria Lamb’s Fiery Angel is a perfect example of this. Executed poorly, and often with little understanding of how light behaves, as we saw when the use of airbrushes for miniature painting rose in the early 2010s, it can hands down ruin a piece.
I digress though. For the contemporary version, I opted for TMM and I think it was the right choice: it’s fitting for a warrior of his stature and renown to be wearing such finery and it’s in keeping with the overall tone of the miniature.
Conclusions
Interestingly, I think I have the Covid-19 pandemic to thank for some of that as I spent much of 2020 and 2021 painting single Necromunda miniatures and made a conscious decision that while doing so that I would make a conscious effort to ‘push’ my painting abilities. In some cases, this was simply doing my best to mirror the boxart of a mini, while in others it was trying new things like sponge chipping and weathering paints to lean into the grimy realism of the Underhive.
While the volume of miniatures I was turning out was nowhere near as high, I began to feel much more satisfied with the quality of my finished work. At the same time, the repetition of trying to paint each mini as well as I could and of finishing miniatures ‘from the inside out’ helped to make my work neater, built up my confidence and established a new ‘baseline’ of what I could do. Aside from the welcome ego boost, this continues to make it much easier to plan projects (because I either know how certain techniques or colour choices will work and how I could achieve them, or I don’t know how to achieve something, so I’ll need to research it and figure it out). All of which has meant that when I can get into the right groove, I can consistently achieve better results from the time I spend painting.
So, was it worth going back and repainting a miniature again twelve years later? Absolutely. It’s not only been fun to revisit what is still such a brilliant model, but it’s also been great to be able to see just how far I’ve come on my hobby journey since 2014 and I guess to also begin to wonder where I might be in another decade or so’s time.
As always, thanks for reading (I know this was a long one, so I’m doubly appreciative) and happy hobbying.
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