“Iron Golems Were Constructs Made Entirely Out Of Iron.”

"These iron behemoths were very powerful, thanks to their magic immunity, [and] poisonous breath attack..."

This 54mm tall model of an Iron Golem is produced by “Wizkids” and can be bought from their Nolzur’s Marvellous Miniatures range. “Highly detailed… primed and ready to paint out of the box”, the artificially constructed creature made its first appearance in the original 1975 "Greyhawk" supplement written by Gary Gygax and Robert J. Kuntz, and “could take a hero’s head off with a swipe of their arm.”

Amongst the strongest types of Golem, the figure was originally treated to a couple of coats of “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna and subsequently dry-brushed quite heavily with “Citadel” Ironbreaker. I then drenched the entire animated object with “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade. This helped blend the brown and metallic paints together so as to create a rusty, time-worn look to the large creature.

"Nolzur's Marvellous Miniatures" WIPs - The Iron Golem was primed, dry-brushed and washed

“Three times as strong as a Flesh Golem”, the model was dry-brushed with (more) “Citadel” Ironbreaker and dabbed with “Mig Productions" Extreme Rust Wash. This product produces a nice rusty orange stain, so specifically targeted the miniature’s joints and gaps between its armour plating. The entire ensemble was then light dry-brushed with (even more) “Citadel” Ironbreaker in order to help blend the Rust Wash in with the metallic areas.

Where I was unhappy with the stain’s final result, I went back in with some “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna and then simply (re)dry-brushed these tidied-up areas with “Citadel” Ironbreaker. I also had the chance to try out my new Psycho brush by “The Army Painter”, courtesy of applying an incredibly thin line of “Vallejo” Dark Vermillion into the Iron Golem’s two very narrow eye slits. Finally, because I wanted to try and draw attention to this area, I then applied a line of “Citadel” Ironbreaker to the construct’s eyebrows…

"In times of war, the mages will raise the husks and remains of the creatures that inhabited the dunes..."

In addition to my latest “Dungeons & Dragons” figure, I’ve managed to finish off a significantly smaller model in the guise of a 28mm scale skeleton for my Empire of Dust “Kings of War” army. However, rather than exclusively populate my Spearman unit with well-armed bleach-boned cadavers, I’ve started the ten-figure regiment off with the deceased animal corpse that can be found on the “Mantic Games” plastic Undead Skeleton Troop frame.

Primed with a double coat of “Vallejo” Iraqi Sand, the two-piece creature was shaded with The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade and dry-brushed using (more) “Vallejo” Iraqi Sand. I then gave the critter a much lighter dry-brush of White, before picking out its collar with a combination of Gold and Strong Tone Quickshade. According to an old "Mantic Games" 2009 news post entitled "Pet Wars!", the skeleton is meant to be a dog, but as my Undead force will have a distinctly Egyptian feel, I figured it could be a cat…