The Grateful (To Be Finished) Dead

It's been a long couple of months since I actually finished painting a mini. I'd start something, set it aside to work on something else, stop painting altogether for a couple of days or a week, and then resume the cycle. With a D&D session looming this weekend, I'll be damned if I'm going to show up empty-handed, so I resolved to finish my three Reaper Barrow Wardens. Anything else I finish beyond that will be gravy, so let's set the main course, shall we?

Now these guys are a cool-looking trio of skellies! Compared to my other Reaper skeletons, the new ones look like they kick ass and take names, while the older pair looks like they should be hanging in my junior-high science classroom.

The Barrow Warden Keeper (left, with the black sword of doom) could easily double as a Death Knight. I like the gray armor and blue highlights, but at first wasn't sure about the tabard. I think the faded maroon works pretty good, in hindsight. And he just had to have a black sword! I think I could have done better making the runes pop, but didn't want to spend too much time fiddling with them.

The Barrow Wardens (Mario, with axe and Luigi, with sword) are an imposing pair. I like Mario's big ass axe. Luigi's lunging pose doesn't quite do it for me - I think something more on the order of an overhead strike would work better. But that's just nitpicking at this point. I knew from the start they would both sport black armor, but I just had to give them a splash of color somehow. I think the shields alone would not have been enough, so the shoulder pads were a natural choice to highlight.

All said, it was a fun project to work on from the base on up (I used spackle on the Keeper's base and tried to make my flagstones blend with those on the OEM base). It feels good to finish a project, ya know? Knowing my DM, they'll see action on the tabletop in short order.