Miniotaur

First up were the Goblin Archers. These were tiny little buggers, and a “pain to pain’t “.. However due to the fact that they lacked minute details, the painting went swifter then I had hoped.

Splig and his goblin archer army

The fat goblin in the middle is Splig, the first mini boss that our adventurers had to face.. 

Splig, the self-proclaimed king of all goblins

As a side note, all the monsters in Descent 2.0 have a weaker “minion” version and a stronger and tougher “Master” version. In order to differentiate between the two I introduced color differences in the paint scheme..  In the case of Goblins, minions have steel helmets, whereas the master has a gold one, minions' sashes and arm wrappings are beige, while master's clothing are all red etc.. Also in order to further differentiate the minions from masters I decided to paint their bases' rims red since during game play it would be hard to pick out details between masters and minions..

Secondly I moved on to something bigger. The Ettins were up next. An Ettin, as defined in Wikipedia is “a two headed giant (Dungeons & Dragons)... Ettins are filthy… are nocturnal…  live in caves … wield giant spiked clubs…”

Mighty Ettins, two headed giants with an appetite. 

Ettins in Descent 2.0 are quite stereotypical and reflect the D&D description rather well. I applied sepia wash after the base-coat and achieved the “filthy” look rather easily.. In order to differentiate the master from the minion I gave one bronze spikes and a bronze helmet, where I gave the other steel. I applied rust effects on both metals, since a filthy Ettin is highly unlikely to wear and wield shiny weapons and armor.

Ettins, 

As another side (geek) note, for an armor to “shine” it took a hefty amount of daily rubbing and polishing. Since stainless steel was yet to be invented the steel that was worn and wielded would corrode very swiftly and in order to prevent rust daily maintenance was mandatory. Since an anointed Knight of the realm would have more important things to do then polish armor, the profession of “squire” was born. The squire would also tend to the horses, (which required daily maintenance as well), wash, mend, cook etc.. and basically baby sit the Knight, for whom daily toils of the common man were highly beneath him.. Also if not for the squire a Knight would not be able to don his plate mail armor, which had straps and attachments in places almost impossible to reach.

The fleece (at least I think it is fleece) effect was given by dry-brushing in bone white and washed again in Sepia to give the effect of dirt.

Finally I introduced some foliage to the base of the miniatures. I even made a fallen tree, broken by the giant Ettin’s stride J Rock pieces were made from cork pieces as usual and fine sand was used for earth effect.

Also I painted gems for a challenge. These are the gems in their crowns, one emerald, and the other a huge ruby.. 

These two monster groups were required for the first module/adventure of Descent 2.0. So once all of these were ready, we could finally start our campaign…

Next I moved to the Barghests.. A Barghest is “… a legendary monstrous black dog with huge teeth and claws”.. Even though Descent version is not black they are monstrous never the less..  and have somewhat ghoulish, zombieish quality to them.. They are simple huge undead dogs with decayed flesh with visible bones and skulls…

The Barghests.. huge undead-like dogs from nightmares..

So, I painted the fur and the mane with dry-brushing, and washing thanks to the textured surface. For the bones and ripped off flesh parts I used gloss medium to give the appearance of bloody,  fresh flesh (fresh flesh.. ) .. Then I gloss varnished these sections to strengthen the effect. If I had painted them today, I would go for a more purple-red-ish look, to reflect the rotting decayed state of the creature..

Then I introduced some more foliage in the form of grass, bushes, rocks and fallen trees.

Next came up spiders, black base coat with dry-brushing.. Almost too easy.. but the eyes were a challenge.. it took me several hours to get them all right.

Spiders, master on the left, minion on the right.

At last, but not least, the zombies joined the foray with fresh dirt still clinging to their tattered clothes..

The walking dead..

Again mostly washes and dry-brushing was used. Ribs that were visible very a little difficult to paint but all in all they were simpler to paint then the others. 

Next, more baddies join the party.. Merriods, flesh moulders and Dragons!!!