The Lizard Project - Troglodon

Hello!

Still painting lizards to add to the old, square based army. After getting through the Saurus Knights and Warriors, it was time to move onto something bigger and more fun, so I moved onto the Troglodon and Skink Oracle.

First thing to say is that I love this 'mini'. After going through the old, regimented Saurus kits these big dinosaurs just look so much more dynamic and interesting, and I was really looking forward to painting it. I didn't actually build this one - I got it second hand, but I did build the Carnosaur so I can say it's a nice enough kit to build with plenty of cool options for the mounted lizards.

The big boy (or girl - I have no idea how to sex a Troglodon) was painted largely with a lot of drybrushing grey and white, and a sepia wash all over. The darker colouration at the top was stippled on, starting with a lighter brown, then darker, then black, getting progressively higher up the back. It was a little inspired by the cool coconut crab Tyranid schemes I've been seeing crop up on social media a lot, and also on looking at some real desert lizards. In the old world lore at least they are supposed to be cave dwellers, so it makes sense to be fairly pale. In my mind this thing probably lurks under the desert sand before popping up to chomp on some unlucky herbivores.

Gold was again some combination of drybrushing and washing with sepia, plus at an earlier stage a use of the classic chestnut ink. I've not used the exact same gold method on any of the stages of the project because I can't remember what I did the first time around, but I'm happy enough with this one, it looks quite muted without looking like a bronze.

The sail on it's back, barbels on it's face and the skink himself were all painted with a blue-greyish tint, to get that slightly unnatural albino look without being too far from the rest of the mini or looking like I'd just primed it white. I'm particularly pleased with how it came out, especially the spots added on, which were deliberately uneven and misshapen to look natural.

Not much to say about the tail, other than it's cool. It's a nice touch that the Troglodon and it's Skink rider both have the split-tipped tail.

And speaking of the rider, here is the Oracle himself. Had fun painting him, in particular the bigger scales on his back which are a slightly different, bone colour to the rest of him, in line with my other skinks. 

And here they are with friends. I think I've achieved the 'stand out, but not too much' look for them. One more unit down. I've only got three minis left to paint, and I'm not sure what order to do them in, so next post could be a Saurus Oldblood, an Oldblood on a Carnosaur, or a magic floating frog...