From BartekR: A red dragon (20 points)

My next submission is a bit of a throwback to a smattering of early me hobby nerdness. The miniature: Archon Studios "Durkar, the Sovereign Serpent".

This was included with an Army Painter paint set, so another one for the squirrel challenge! I didn't actually know who Archon are but turns out they make minis for a range of tabletop games including  Masters of the Universe, Trench Crusade, and Dragons & Lasers(?!?), which range this belongs to.

There was the question of which colour to paint the beast. The booklet that came with the paint set showed a red dragon (aparently part of AP's learn to paint series), while the Archon Studios page for the mini shows a gorgeous gold paintjob. In the end, red got my vote -- sealed by that most intoxicating of drugs: nostalgia...from and for:

- Every illustration of Smaug I remembered from childhood (especially those by the brothers Hildebrandt, Michael Hague and Tolkien himself);

- Every piece of artwork from the original Dragonlance series of modules and books with a red dragon; and...

...the one, the only...

- D&D Basic red box cover art. This set - borrowed at that - was my first real intro to fantasy gaming (circa 1983), at about the same time as gamebooks (the gateway drug of Choose Your Own Adventure through Fighting Fantasy, Wizards, Warriors & You, and the wonderfully light-hearted Grail Quest series).   

Painting process: Black undercoat, white xenithal and drybrush. Started with a red contrast paint (ivory for the claws and chest) before highlighting and washes. The base is part of the mould so a lot of metallics and washes. 

Comparison photo against some Warlord Games minis (28mm and epic)

Scoring: The miniature is 165mm tall (Archon Studios webpage) so I have no idea where this falls in the points matrix. This is where I have to seek Saturday Minion Sander's wisdom for adjudication. 

"Do you see?"

 

Oh dear, now I have to decide what amount of points to give this beasty? Well I have checked the Challenge annals and most precedent seems to hint at scoring it as a 40mm vehicle which is 20 points, I do hope you are happy with that? As to the painting and the story behind your creation: those are truly awesome! I have seen these models up close and know you have really done it up admirably!

Cheers Sander