Mantic Dwarf Berserker Lord – March Might & Magic Painting Challenge

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Mantic Dwarf Berserker Lord

After my first post in awhile the other day, I’ve started looking a bit more at posts from others (aside from Bogenwald, who keeps tuirning up in my email with short & sweet posts that have been easy to keep up to date with). Yesterday morning, I saw a new post from Ann, of the Immaterium where she was introducing a painting challenge for April, and mentioned that her current (March) challenge ended on the 3rd of April. if you’re reading this blog, there’s a reasonable chance that you know I do enjoy a painting challenge, and also that I burned out on running them (amongst other things) late last year. So seeing a challenge that ended in 2 1/2 days, what could I do? I sat down at my mostly-abandoned painting desk, spied a model that was basically 90% base coated with a small touch of shading done and finished that fucker up over the course of the day (in between going out a couple of times to buy apocalypse supplies.)

Mantic Dwarf Berserker Lord

That fucker, in this case, is the Mantic Dwarf Berserker (not a Slayer, oh no!) Lord. One of Mantic’s older metal models, but very much one of their better ones from the early era. I painted him as a Slayer, because those are the models he’ll be going alongside in my collection, and without too much extra-fanciful decoration, because amongst the Slayer models I’ve accumulated over the years, this guy makes for a nice solid grunt rather than a Lord.

Ann’s March Challenge, the “March Might & Magic Painting Challenge” is still up for a few minutes under another 24 hours, so it’s also possible (but not guaranteed) that I may be able to complete a second model that fits the “Might” category. I’ve even been working on it a bit today (yeah, it was started months ago) but there are SO many little detaily bits that it could easily go either way. Thanks, Rackham!

Oh, and a huge thanks to Ann as well – if not for your post, I wouldn’t have gotten motivated to finish this guy or probably do any painting at all much more beyond the very generic desire to get rid of a few annoying cages off the desk.

46 thoughts on “Mantic Dwarf Berserker Lord – March Might & Magic Painting Challenge”

  1. I always wondered what happened to slayers who’d already gone bald when the time came to take the oath. If they still had plenty of hair they can shave it, spike it and dye it to get that traditional mohawk – but what if they don’t? Do they just have to die without honour or is there a dwarven cottage industry making wigs for bald slayers? Now we see the truth! Needless to say he looks great, good to see you back in action mate 🙂

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    • Cheers mate. I read recently that Male Pattern Baldness mainly affects the toip of the head and not really the crown (or corona!) around the edge, so yeah – I think the options for Slayers are really limited to the “Michael Jordan” or the “almost Keef”.

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      • I’ve heard that as well. I know there is a fairly common operation where they take skin from the back of the head, etc. and graft it onto the top as a way of dealing with hair loss.

        This guy looks very good with not much hair on his head, though if he is an older guy and not simply going bald young, I have to say he’s probably a pretty tough and skilled fighter to last as long as he has. I wouldn’t think that “Berzerker” is one of those careers that you go into for the retirement benefits.

        Very nicely painted by the way, and I’m glad my little challenge inspired you to paint this guy up. He’ll certainly be a wonderful addition to the line-up. The tattoos were a nice touch as well. I was thinking of putting some on that second dwarf I did since there was plenty of real estate on his (also) bald scalp.

        Liked by 4 people

      • Actually, I’ve heardof that operation as well. I think I’d just suck it up and shave it all off rather than go through that. Clearly this guy has tried a similar thing, only using troll scalps, and not actually stitching them on. Hasn’t worked yet, but he’ll keep on trying…
        And thanks for the challenge. A painting challenge not run by me was clearly what I need(ed) right now! 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Glad to have you back, hope you’re feeling better. Nice gem of a model, very different in style to the sculpting direction Mantic took with their Dwarfs from that point onwards. Hope there’s more Mantic bits from you in the future!

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    • Thanks Curis. I’m a little better. Got a few monkeys off my back but there’s still a lot more shit to sort out. I’m a bit of a hair-trigger motherfucker still, which isn’t totally ideal, but as the bullshit slowly gets done I’m able to ease down bit by bit.

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  10. Great to see some new work from you, Azazel! I have missed your wide ranging taste in miniatures and often find myself inspired to paint something that has nothing to do with what I’m interested in playing after visiting your site which is a credit to you.

    This is a pretty cool sculpt (I always enjoy painting up a dwarf as well) and the fur looks great as do his tattoos. I haven’t investigated many of Mantic’s minis though I did like painting their Walking Dead miniatures when I dabbled in that game shortly before deciding on MESBG as my game of choice. I shouldn’t because I have enough to paint as it is, but I might take a peek at their website one of these days! 🙂

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    • Thanks, Kuribo. I’ve got a bit to post up from my backlog – basically when I stopped posting last year but kept painting for a bit, and then I feel like I should do some sort of roundups – at least for my own models. Whether I manage to do the community ones in any decent timeframe will depend on what happens with work – Work at home obviously being a lot less stressful than needing to go out right now, not to mention trimming off all of the fat of travel time, dead time, etc. I’d hope that if we have to go in again that bullshit like meetings will be off the table, but who knows?
      The thing with painting is that as long as you’re enjoying yourself it’s all good, and there are enough small-force skirmish games out there that you can justify pretty much anything you like and just paint 4-15 dudes of whatever type. The TWD stuff looked surprisingly good, but as I’ve never watched or read the series, I have no pull or conneciton to it, so it was just a collection of admiddedly pretty nice, but not inexpensive models. I almost bought the game, but the discounted SE wasn’t discounted enough – and then it sold out from the local place I was eyeing it at!

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      • That makes sense and I hope that working from home helps with that. I’m still in plenty of meetings that are a waste of my time unfortunately but that’s working for you. I have some extra hobby time so I can’t complain too much.

        I read the TWD comics and they’re pretty good but even with that, I didn’t feel the compulsion to collect all of the characters or play out particular scenarios after playing the starter set. It just didn’t create the immersion I needed to really enjoy the game. I think it was probably a matter of me picking a game for a franchise I wasn’t passionate about and so I think you holding off on buying those minis was wise. I think/hope I found a game that will scratch my post-apocalypse itch but you’ll have to keep an eye on my site to find out more 😉

        Liked by 3 people

      • Well Fallout is certainly a worthy setting – if only Bethesda would stop shitting on it! I’ve seen the game(s) but have been lucky enough to keep myself from being tempted via having too much to paint already 😀

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  15. Annnnnd he’s back, killing it! Nice work Az. Glad to see you painting again, and like usual…I have a crap ton of posts to catch up on. I forgot about your dark metal work. I’m sure I have your recipe jotted down somewhere. I did find out the other day that the VMA Gunmetal is just slightly darker and perhaps smoother than Leadbelcher. I really like that VMA metal line, and so glad that you mentioned it at one point. Cheers!

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    • Oh damn it, just used that VMA Gunmetal tonight and it is NOT darker than Leadbelcher. Maybe the pot wasn’t fully shaken up when I used it. At any rate, hope no one makes a mistake on my part. “Now, I have to burn this mini, because Faust said…!”

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    • Hey thanks homeboy! Thie metal here is Vallejo’s Plate Mail Metal Surface Primer with some highlights added before being hit with the old AP Dark Tone. For darker metals I use the Vallejo Model Air “Metal Black” (or Black Metal for savageddt) 😉 with various mixes of the Surface Primer as required for the target tone. 🙂

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      • Oh interesting, I’ve almost finished a model using VMA black. It comes out pretty dark, and I’m not sure if it was the look I wanted. I’ll have to try mixing it up some as you suggested.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Black or Metal Black? Very different things! I use Vallejo Airbrush primer black as my go-to, all-putpose black paint. Nice and thin, perfect coverage. Just decant it from a 200ml bottle into the little droppers and you’re golden!

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  16. Pingback: March 2020 Might & Magic Painting Challenge Round-up! | Ann's Immaterium

  17. Pingback: Wizkids Deep Cuts Miniatures Cage & Chains (“Paint the Crap You Already Own!” April 2020 Challenge) | Azazel's Bitz Box.

      • Thanks amazing times. Same to you – I am pretty safe its just a bad time here in the US right now. we are ok, but it’s been tough emotionally for most. I’ll be posting soon again (I hope).

        Liked by 1 person

      • Yeah its looking pretty rough over there right now in a lot of places. A real shame you guys lost John McCain a couple of years back – it may be my ignorance on the finer details, but I feel like he’d have been a truly sensible and respected voice over there in a time like this.

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