A Helluva Gift? Jenny's Demon Cabal

    Cobbled together from various sources, Jenny's cabal for Reign in Hell was painted as a present

My days of painting miniatures for other people are mostly over. Well, at least for payment they are! Doing it as a gift...now, that's something I'm inclined to do from time to time. A year or so ago, I painted a Viking warlord stand for Saga for Jim Beegan awhile back (in thanks for his support of Saga in at the Dragons Guildhall in Beavercreek, OH). And leading into this holiday season, I offered to paint Jenny's demons for her Reign in Hell cabal as part of her Christmas present. She quickly agreed before I changed my mind, so I got started right away hoping to finish them in time for her to unwrap!

    Jenny's Demon Lord (Goristro from WizKids) towards over the table at 5" tall

I painted them in four batches as there were 11 figures (the demon lord was HUGE, and easily the largest "miniature" I have ever painted). She gave me free reign (no pun intended) to paint them as I like, but I still ran my ideas past her to get her input. We agreed to go with a dark, reddish skin for her demons. It is kind of the classic demonic look, and would be easy to do with the colors I already had. The skin started out as a dark red craft paint, followed by a Howard Hues Middle Eastern Flesh dry brush. Finally, I did a brush-on highlight of salmon-colored craft paint for the last three batches. A final black wash gave it a nice, dark reddish look and using the same basic skin tone for all the miniatures really pulls the group together.

    I loved the cool wristbands on this figure - for his silver armbands I added in my own symbols

Jenny picked up most of the figures (Armored Demons, Slaughter Fiends, and Devout) from a vendor at CincyCon 2021 who was selling them almost as flea market items. They were already primed and based -- obviously figures he had never gotten around to finishing. She picked up the Spine Demon as a 3-D print from Game Junkie Studios, another vendor at CincyCon. Both the Demon Lord, Corpulent, and Mephit were bought off the shelf Dragons Guildhall and were resin printed miniatures, as well. Other than maybe the Devout and the Mephit, they looked like they all belonged together. It was my job as painter to tie them all together into a coherent looking group for her Judges themed cabal.

    The Demon Lord presents a horrifying visage, and I was really happy with how he turned out

The final figure I painted up was the Demon Lord -- or "Goristro" from WizKids' D&D Nolzur's Line. I know most of these resin miniatures claim to come pre-primed, but I don't necessarily trust that. So, I spray-painted him with arcylic black and then went over him with a 50/50 mixture of black paint and water to give complete coverage. His skin was done as above, with the spines done in a light yellow parchment color with white highlighting. His horns and hooves are done with a slightly dark base color. Although many of the other miniatures in the cabal were given tattoos, this figure has a hairy look to it, so I did not give him any. Instead, I decorated his silver armbands with a series of "demonic symbols" -- literally, that was my Google Image search that I used! I used a mix of metallics on him as I did with most of the other figures, as well. I thought the copper wristbands turned out particularly well, though I can take credit for the incising. That is part of the miniature itself.

 Not sure of the manufacturer, but these four Armored Demons were the first of the cabal I painted

The first batch I painted up was probably the most time-consuming. The four winged demons she planned to use as Armored Demons for her cabal had a LOT of detail. The armor pieces on the arms and waist were very intricate and time-consuming. I started out with the flesh, of course. They were my "test batch," so to speak, and I ended up being very happy with the dark red look. Next, I did the very-involved armor. I painted all of it with a base coast of Iron Wind Metals Steel. This is a dark, almost black metallic color. Jenny was hoping my painting would help her to be able to tell the four miniatures apart. In Reign in Hell, demons can improve their stats from game to game (or get worse). So, I gave each a different metallic color -- copper, gold, silver, etc. The next step was the extensive bone and claw parts of the miniatures. This was done, as mentioned above, in a craft parchment light yellow with white highlight. Finally, I painted the sash around the waist in different colors, each decorated with symbols or other decorations. I should probably have taken a close up of one, but didn't think about it until writing this post.

    My guess is these two minis are "savage orcs," and will be Slaughter Fiends in Jenny's cabal

The second batch was the quickest to paint up. These were two of Jenny's "flea market" purchases at Cincycon. I believe they are "Savage Orcs" to use Warhammer categorization. There was significantly less detail on these minis than the Armored Demons. The horned spines coming out of the head of one of them meant they fit in well with the rest of the cabal's look. I used my Micron pen to give them tattoos after the skin was finished. Their claw weapons I painted as bronze rather than bone to fit in with the cabal's metallic theme, too. The photo of them also gives a good look at how I did their bases. I added a large piece of coarse ballast as a big rock, then covered the rest of the base in fine ballast. I went over this with my 50/50 black paint and water. Next, I dry brushed the surface Medium Gray, washed the big rocks, and then added in lava streams. These were just painted on -- first in dark red, then bright orange, finally with dots of bright yellow. The tufts are "Fantasy Pink Foliage" I'd picked up on a whim in a store awhile back. I thought their reddish look would go good with the lava and Hell theme.

    Jenny's 2nd-in-command Devout and winged Mephit - which probably look the least like the others

I quizzed Jenny a couple times to make sure she really wanted to use the figure she choose for her Devout, or 2nd-in-command. It was obviously a fantasy dwarf to me, brandishing two oversized double-bladed axes. She said the Judges cabal has an "Executioner" for its Devout, and she felt he'd be perfect. I was pulling for the figure that ended up being the Spine Demon, but it was her army! I decided to jazz him up a bit, though. I'd picked up an occult looking altar from Guardtower East at our monthly Saga game day the weekend before. I felt he'd look great standing atop the altar in the center of the pentagram. I did have to use wire cutters to snip him off of his slotta base (stupidly done AFTER I had painted him - thankfully, very little damage was done to my painting in the separation). I think he turned out great, as did the winged Mephit. Her equipment somewhat matched the other demons, and I gave her the same copper and steel metallic scheme. I was worried the green of her shirt might be too bright, but in the long run I think it turned out well. She had lots of detail, too, and was also very time-consuming. 

    Both of these 3-D prints are cool miniatures, but I enjoyed painting the Spined Demon on left more

The final two figures of her cabal are both 3-D prints. One was easy and fun to paint and the other not nearly as much. Which was which? The three-armed Spine Demon looks like a younger brother of the Demon Lord. That was part of the reason I wanted him to be the 2nd-in-command. Jenny found him at CincyCon 2021, too, at a small vendor's booth called Game Junkie Studios (Gamejunkiestudios@gmail.com). Maybe I preferred painting him because it was quick and simple? I gave him tattoos with my Micron pen, as well. He looks truly demonic. The other print was one Jenny plans to use as a Corpulent Demon. Sometimes, it was hard to tell what was what on this figure. What was skin? What was clothes? What were those things over its eyes?? I used faded colors -- beige, gray-green, and gray-blue -- for its clothes. With the skin coloring, I tried my best to tie him to his cabal-mates as much as I could, but he truly is a bizarre, different figure. Jenny liked how it came out, so I guess he was a success!

    Merry Christmas! Don't these guys look like they want to wish you good cheer and happy holidays?

All in all, both Jenny and I were happy with how her cabal turned out. Was it done in time for Christmas? Welll, yes and no. The only thing left to finish off by Christmas morning was the flocking on the demon lord. So, she could see her presents pretty much finished. And they are ready for the next time we play Reign in Hell!