Talbot The Cleric

I've been playing in a sporadic D&D campaign with some friends for years - after several years our DM recently finished his Ph.D. (congrats Jer!) and our game got upgraded from "sporadic" to "semi-regular".  Shortly after 4th Edition debuted, we all decided to make the switch, and I went with one of the new races and a class I had never played before - a Longtooth Shifter Cleric.  Up until now I had actually never painted my a model to represent my character in a RPG - I just used one of the pre-painted figures from the D&D Minis line, or borrowed a mini from our DM.  I decided it was time to remedy that and went looking for a model that fit the bill.  I found this model over at Reaper:

(picture from Reapermini.com)

I liked the look, and since I was ordering more parts for my Freebootas anyway, I added him to my order.  A few days later, he showed up:

...he was gonna need a bit of work, so I got started - first of all, I knew I was going to use a custom base, so I needed to remove his current base.  I clipped most of it away with my flat clippers, then shaped the feet with my jeweler's files:

I noticed that his mace lost a bit of detail on the segment that was up against his leg - I used my pin vice to drill the "cutout" shape:

Next I decided he needed to look more "longtooth-y", so I went with the obvious choice:  Mutton chops!  I pretty much slapped some Green Stuff to his face and started shaping it:

They actually came out pretty well.  My next step was to pin his feet:

And I mounted him to an old soda cap for painting:

...I pretty much painted him in one go on my day off, and didn't really take any "in-progress" pics - here he is finished:

(I will be posting a tutorial about the scenic base soon).

Overall I was pretty pleased with how he came out.  I wasn't aiming for competition-quality - I have a game this weekend, and he's going to be thrown in my backpack every few weeks with my books & dice and hauled across town, so a bit above tabletop-standard was the goal.  Here's the paint schematic for those who are interested:

- Armor (gauntlets/shield):  Based w/ GW Boltgun Metal, washed with Badab Black, highlighted w/ Mithril Silver.  Insignia on shield: GW Tin Bitz

-Armor (chest plate): GW Shining Gold, washed w/ Gryphonne Sepia

-Robes (blue): 50/50 mix of GW Ice Blue & Vallejo Imperial Blue, with just a bit of GW Space Wolves Gray; washed with GW Asurmen Blue

-Robes (red): GW Mechrite Red, washed w/ GW Baal Red

-Robe (border): 50/50 mix of Vallejo Bald Moon Yellow & P3 Brown ink; washed w/ GW Devlan Mud

-Leather (bags, belts, etc): P3 Brown Ink

-Leather (boots): GW Snakebite Leather; washed w/ GW Devlan Mud

-Hair: Vallejo Black, drybrushed w/ GW Adeptus Battlegray

-Flesh: 70/30 mix of GW Dark Flesh & Elf Flesh; washed w/ GW Baal Red

-Vial on belt: GW Warlock purple, (cork) GW Bestial Brown