King under the metal Mountain

[Kallstrom]

Welcome, welcome, thrice welcome!

Here I will post pictures of my painted dwarf miniatures. I have collected dwarf miniatures on and off for 15 years, and I have amassed quite a unique and large collection. Posting pictures here of the dwarf models I manage to paint will hopefully motivate me to paint up some more dwarfs from time to time when life allows. The most unique aspect of my collection is that all dwarfs have different sculpts so no two dwarfs looks the same. So if that sounds interesting, keep an eye on this thread!

All dwarf models in my collection are lead miniatures in the 28mm scale, and they are from all kinds of manufacturers. The very first dwarfs I painted were put on 20x20mm square bases, but I have since they re-based my dwarfs on 25x25mm square bases and will be using that standard going forward. Most dwarfs are left intact, but I might do some slight conversion work on some of the models. I will also use some thematic unit fillers from time to time - so if that does not float your boat you have at least been warned in advance.

Since dwarfs are mostly a combination of just painting beards and armor there are not many ways to differentiate them from each other when put on display en masse, but I will most likely use the terminology used by Games Workshop in their Warhammer Fantasy universe to sort the dwarfs into different categories (so largely based on their weapons of choice, and sometimes some other odd detail that makes them stand out as a group). An example could be "Longbeards" for older and more veteran dwarf warriors, which can be distinguished by their long white beards and grumpy attitude. Another example could be "Slayers" as a term for unarmored dwarf warriors that stands out with their distinctive crest of hair shaped like a mohawk.

In this first post I will show pictures of all the dwarfs I have painted thus far. My dwarfs have an icy snow theme for their bases, and I paint the dwarfs themselves in mostly muted colors slightly inspired by the houses and factions in the northern part of the world from Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice & Fire.

[Various Dwarf Heroes]
The dwarf on the far left is a famous dwarf engineer from Warhammer Fantasy: Burlok Damminson.
The dwarf on the far right is one of the Dwarfs of Legend from Warhammer Fantasy : Lastro Lupintal


[A Runelord mounted on an Anvil of Doom, with two Runepriests]​

[Dwarf Slayer characters and Doomseekers]
Some famous faces from Warhammer Fantasy on the front row left side: The Slayer-king Ungrim Ironfist and his son Karagrim Ironfist.


[Evil Dwarf Heroes]
A ghost, a tyrant, and a death knight walks into a bar...​

[Dwarf Warriors with spears]
Inspired by the movie "Braveheart".



[Dwarf Warriors armed with guns]
Some on foot, and some on skis.



[Dwarf Miners]


[Dwarf Longbeards]


[Dwarf Hammerers]
The King's bodyguards.


[Dwarf Slayers]
​

[Dwarf Rangers]

[Artillery and Dwarf Crew]
Grudge Throwers (catapults), a Goblin-Hewer (axe thrower), and a Bolt Thrower.
Organ Gun, Flame Cannon, Rocket Battery, Cannon.​

[Gyrocopters and Gyrobomber]
From two angles.​

 

[Kallstrom]

Since I could only attach a fixed amount of pictures per post, I will also add my two pictures of some unit fillers.

[Unit fillers]
​

 

[The Serene Badger]

Welcome, welcome, thrice welcome!

Here I will post pictures of my painted dwarf miniatures. I have collected dwarf miniatures on and off for 15 years, and I have amassed quite a unique and large collection. Posting pictures here of the dwarf models I manage to paint will hopefully motivate me to paint up some more dwarfs from time to time when life allows. The most unique aspect of my collection is that all dwarfs have different sculpts so no two dwarfs looks the same. So if that sounds interesting, keep an eye on this thread!

All dwarf models in my collection are lead miniatures in the 28mm scale, and they are from all kinds of manufacturers. The very first dwarfs I painted were put on 20x20mm square bases, but I have since they re-based my dwarfs on 25x25mm square bases and will be using that standard going forward. Most dwarfs are left intact, but I might do some slight conversion work on some of the models. I will also use some thematic unit fillers from time to time - so if that does not float your boat you have at least been warned in advance.

Since dwarfs are mostly a combination of just painting beards and armor there are not many ways to differentiate them from each other when put on display en masse, but I will most likely use the terminology used by Games Workshop in their Warhammer Fantasy universe to sort the dwarfs into different categories (so largely based on their weapons of choice, and sometimes some other odd detail that makes them stand out as a group). An example could be "Longbeards" for older and more veteran dwarf warriors, which can be distinguished by their long white beards and grumpy attitude. Another example could be "Slayers" as a term for unarmored dwarf warriors that stands out with their distinctive crest of hair shaped like a mohawk.

In this first post I will show pictures of all the dwarfs I have painted thus far. My dwarfs have an icy snow theme for their bases, and I paint the dwarfs themselves in mostly muted colors slightly inspired by the houses and factions in the northern part of the world from Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice & Fire.

[Various Dwarf Heroes]
The dwarf on the far left is a famous dwarf engineer from Warhammer Fantasy: Burlok Damminson.
The dwarf on the far right is one of the Dwarfs of Legend from Warhammer Fantasy : Lastro Lupintal
View attachment 14814

[A Runelord mounted on an Anvil of Doom, with two Runepriests]​

View attachment 14815

[Dwarf Slayer characters and Doomseekers]
Some famous faces from Warhammer Fantasy on the front row left side: The Slayer-king Ungrim Ironfist and his son Karagrim Ironfist.
View attachment 14821

[Evil Dwarf Heroes]
A ghost, a tyrant, and a death knight walks into a bar...​

View attachment 14816

[Dwarf Warriors with spears]
Inspired by the movie "Braveheart".
View attachment 14817
View attachment 14818

[Dwarf Warriors armed with guns]
Some on foot, and some on skis.
View attachment 14819
View attachment 14820

[Dwarf Miners]
View attachment 14822

[Dwarf Longbeards]
View attachment 14823

[Dwarf Hammerers]
The King's bodyguards.
View attachment 14824

[Dwarf Slayers]
View attachment 14825​

[Dwarf Rangers]
View attachment 14826

[Artillery and Dwarf Crew]
Grudge Throwers (catapults), a Goblin-Hewer (axe thrower), and a Bolt Thrower.
Organ Gun, Flame Cannon, Rocket Battery, Cannon.​

View attachment 14827
View attachment 14828
View attachment 14829
View attachment 14830

[Gyrocopters and Gyrobomber]
From two angles.​

View attachment 14831
View attachment 14832

I like the miner emerging from the ground!

 

[Brother Meredith]

These are excellent!! Thank you for sharing! So much character & charm.

 

[symphonicpoet]

Nicely done! I particularly like the banner bearer with the warriors with guns. Lovely fellow. Lots of beardy goodness. And the Metal Mountain King feels properly Halloweeny, since we're playing Peer Gynt. (I've always thought Hall of the Mountain King in particular feels like Bilbo sneaking around Goblin Town with Thorin and the boys. Except it doesn't end particularly well, since he clearly gets caught at the end of the piece. And yeah, I know it's not actually about that, but I met the Grieg bereft of context long before I'd even heard of Ibsen. My apologies to the playwright.) Anyway, lovely stuff!

 

[Eric]

Wow, where to start on that pile of lovely dwarvern wonder! Stunning army.

Firstly the snow/ice bases are very nice, they offset the colours of the Dwarfs well I think and it's always nice to see something a bit different. I think (and should I be suprised after the quantity of Dwarfs?) you've got beard painting down to a fine art, all the beards look really nice and a good mix of colours.

The war machines are wonderfully crazy and the flying machines are very cool, are they all fully scratch built? Certainly using trees as flying stands is interesting and I think I quite like it, certainly makes the pieces more scenic, I wonder if I'd just want a little more separation between the tree and flyer myself? Unsure. Anyhow they are cool, I've always had a soft spot for Dwarf flying contraptions.

Some brilliant faces in there, very nice skin tone and eyes. I always think a good face really helps bring Dwarf models to life.

Love the black/white shield patterns - very nice to have unique designs, but have the colour palette keep them all together. I think possibly those longboards are my favourite of them all if I really had to pick (although the loader chap with the snowball is a nice touch given the theme).

What did the poor chap on the standard in the slayers do to deserve that!?

Amazing collection, and so beautifully painted. Do they see the battlefield much?

 

[Mostyn]

Thanks for sharing. So much to admire - and lots of lovely old school goodness snuck in their too. I'll even forgive you for posting a dead goblin in October!

 

[The Serene Badger]

How did you do the beards? My beards are getting better but could definitely do with some improvement, so all tips gratefully received!

 

[Kallstrom]

Thank you all for the lovely comments! I am glad that you all are enjoying the pictures!

To answer some questions:

• When I paint the beards I usually go with these steps:
  • Remember that all sculpts are not made equal, some dwarfs have beards that are perfect for painting and some just end up looking rough no matter what I try. You win some, and you lose some, but life goes on - and when mixed into a unit and beset on all sides by more beards they are drowned out by the overall look of the group anyway.
  • Remember that even though the more common colors are things like black, brown, and blonde there will always be variations that can take the highlights in different directions which makes for an even broader spectrum than those three common colors. So for example, some blonde beards I start with a more bright yellowish tone and some with a more brown tone. I can then highlight that color with a lighter color that complements the chosen base color, and depending on the color I choose I can get even more variations! More unusual hair colors like orange or red I use more sparingly. If I paint a beard on an aged dwarf I tend to go for more different styles than just always go with a bright white. Just like in real life peoples hair will look different as they age, some will go more towards grey and others to white. Some additional variation can be seen on top of that as some for example can have white beards but they will be more cool or warm in color depending on what color the beard was in their younger days. So when I paint a unit of aged dwarfs I sometimes start with a "normal" color and then paint white or grey over the first color to create an aged look.
  • But no matter the color I choose I tend to always choose something that would make a nice addition to the colors that are already present in other areas on the model, and it also helps to make the beards stand out on a model that already has problems with their limited amount of areas that are not skin nor armor. So if a model is clad mostly in black it might look better with a brighter beard, and if it has a lot of leather or wood components that are different shades of brown you might want to stick to using a completely different color on their beard (or at least another brown color that has not already been used on that model!).
  • I try to achieve a passable result with as little effort as possible. So I almost never go beyond a "base, wash, highlight" step when I paint. To make things even easier I often use a Contrast or Speedpaint to cover the beard completely, and then I just drybrush another color to catch the most raised areas of the beard. Some Contrast/Speedpaints looks better than others when used for beards, at least in my opinion. So it is all about experimenting and finding out which combinations that you think looks the best!
  • Generally black hair is highlighted with a subtle blue color, because grey can give it a more aged look than one is going for. Generally blonde hair is more about using brown/beige/tan colors as a base than using yellow if one wants a more natural look. With brown hair I have found that mostly anything goes, but that might just be my opinion!
  • Just like we all can have different colors and shades when it comes to hair compared to each other one can also have slightly different colors when it comes to one's beard, hair, and eyebrows! For example, one could have a more graying look on top of the head, a more vibrant color for the beard, and a darker color for the eyebrows. So some slight variations are no problem at all!
  • If it is of interest I could maybe do a very simple tutorial to show what I mean. Just let me know!
    
• All the war machines that has some sort of effect going on from their barrels, as well as all the flying contraptions, are scratch built by me with some kit-bashing, converting and a liberal use of green stuff. From time to time the creative itch gets the better of me and I just have to create something unique to get it out of my system, and these creations are the product of those kinds of projects. And yes, those flyers are really cutting it close flying right over those tree tops - but that is only because I wanted to try and avoid the use of flight stands or rods to support their weight. I have played around with the idea of making some sort of "high flyers" with the rods being hidden inside some sort of clouds underneath the ships but in the end snow-covered trees felt like a more fitting addition to this icy army.
  
  
• The poor lad on top of one of the Slayer standards I have named "Lucky Loki", and the idea behind that was that the runic standard gave a (albeit meager) protection against ranged attacks, and that lore-wise the dwarfs had picked up on the fact that Loki here had an uncanny habit of deflecting arrows. So tying him to a pole and using his talents to help shield his fellow dwarfs from harm seemed like a logical thing to do. That, or he could perhaps be a dwarf that was unwilling to take the Slayer oath and therefor had to be dragged into service by his kinsmen.
  
  
• My collection has not seen battle much (but I guess all things are relative). I reckon that my painted models have fought in around 16-18 battles, almost all tournament games, these last couple of years. I used to play a lot more overall about a decade/decade and a half ago but nowadays a lot of other things are taking up my time. I do however have some pictures from some of the games that I have played, as seen here below!

[The Dwarfs defended a keep from a siege by the abominable ratmen]
Although the dwarfs put up a mighty defense the Skaven managed to swarm over the walls and win the day in the end.


[Slayers have fought in epic duels to the death with monsters from all over the Old World]
Vampiric terrors, ogre tyrants, orc wyverns, mumified dragons, chaotic giants, and much more. They all learned that a Slayer will go to any length to claim another monstrous trophy - or die trying!


[Always outnumbered, but never outmatched]
Even though dwarfs are deadly over short distances, their short legs gives their foes plenty of time and ample opportunity to charge them in the flank and rear. But no matter how many waves the ocean throws at the cliff the water will always break upon the unflinching rock!
​