More 'Spirit Animals' & Diminutive Nasty Redcaps

    My last batch of minis in 2025 might be the smallest -- diminutive Redcaps, most converted Conquest

There is a good chance this may be my final batch of miniatures finished in 2025. Actually, it is two batches. I started the five 28mm scale animals way back when I was hurrying to get things together for a Halloween game of Devilry Afoot. I left these five with just their base coats completed, and there they say for weeks and weeks as other batches were started and finished. Last week, though, I sat down and planned out how to reach my goal of having my Painted Miniatures total exceed my Acquired for the year. I knew these five would not take long to finish and time was of the essence.

    Lurking on my painting desk for weeks, the final 5 'Spirit Animals' got finished up in one day

In the end, I finished the painting of all five in one session. Pulling up Google Images of Fox, Badger, and Raccoon on the laptop next to my painting desk, I began with the fox. I did a light dry brush of terra cotta over the red brown base coat. Next, I took a fine point brush and applied the white patches to where the photos said they belonged on a fox. Finally, I did the same with the black. Other than the flocking, the fox was done.

    'Which way did the fox go?' Well, he (or she) lurked on the corner of my desk with its base coat done

I followed up with the two badgers. Over the gray base coat, I did a black dry brush. Although I think the coat of a badger is more complex than that, and also contains lighter colored hairs, I couldn't figure out a way to do it effectively. Next, I took the white and did it on their faces. Next, it was the black patterns. Not all badgers have identical markings, but I took the ones that seemed to be most common.

    Thanks to a music video Andy S sent me, I will always say, 'Badger, badgers, badgers...!'

Finally, it was on to the raccoons. Same thing as with the badgers, a black dry brush, followed by the white patches and then the black ones. I also did the rings on the tail. I think the raccoons are my favorite as their coloring is so iconic they seemed the easiest to duplicate. Next, I did my standard flocking on all five bases. I went with just two tufts on their bases as I didn't want these low-to-the-ground figures to be overwhelmed by all the grass.

    The 2 raccoons were my favorite of this batch of 5 spirit animals with their distinctive markings

Part Two of the plan to finish in the green on Miniatures Painted involved Redcaps. What are redcaps? Well, they're malevolent little goblins of Celtic mythology. They wear hats that are dyed red by soaking them in the blood of the people they have murdered. Vicious little buggers! I would have to paint 10 of them to exceed my Miniatures Acquired by one, which was likely more than I will ever need for a game of Devilry Afoot or Sellswords & Spellslingers. 

    The redcaps with the sickle sword and halberd were the ones from Nolzur's Marvelous Minis

Two of the figures are actually sculpted as redcaps -- from the Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures line. The rest come from a very cool company, Conquest Games, and their Myths of Albion Line. These inspired looking figures include a batch of little guys called Svartalfars. I had bought several packs of them earlier this year, thinking they would make good goblins when I started painting my 28mm Dragon Rampant army. When the figures arrived, I was shocked at how tiny they are. Jenny looked at them and said they were 15mm scale. They're technically not, but they are pretty much that size. They were too tiny for goblins, I felt

    I took 8 of my Conquest Games tiny little 'Svartalfar' and gave them caps made of green stuff

However, they could be modified as redcaps! It would involve me going outside my comfort zone and sculpting their caps with green stuff. I am not very well practiced or skilled at it, and I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to do that. I considered just painting them "as is" with their little bald heads. However, in the end, I decided to give it a go. After reviewing some "How To's", I sat down one afternoon and pulled out my ribbon of green stuff. I snipped off a small piece with an X-acto knife and began kneading the blue and yellow sections together. I liberally watered it down, dunking it in water every few minutes. I don't know if I purchased a bad batch of it a few years ago, but I regularly get hard shards that don't mix. I've learned to cut those out and throw them away until all that I'm left with is soft, pliable, and thoroughly green.

    These were probably 3 of my favorite sculpted green stuff caps of the batch

Next, I shaped a tiny little cone with it and pressed it down on the head of one of the Svartalfar. I would say that, for the first one, I had to retry it about a dozen times. As I finished each one and set the figure down so it's cap would dry, I went on to the next. By the eighth and final miniature, I had to retry and start over on the cone only a few times. In my opinion, some turned out much better than others. It was hard to blend the brim of the cap onto the head, which is the reason I had to redo each little hat so many times. In the end, I'm fairly happy with how they turned out. Not ecstatic, but for such tiny little figures, I think they look okay. They're certainly not as good as the purchased redcap hats. They'll do for minis I likely won't use all that often.

    Close up of 5 of the redcaps -- I think they have very expressive (and nasty looking) faces

Still, I was worried that the greenstuff wouldn't adhere to the heads. So, the next morning, I mixed up a batch of two-part, 5-Minute Epoxy. I took a tiny paint brush I didn't really need anymore and painted it onto the join between the cap and the head. I hoped this would seal it onto the figure and prevent the caps from being knocked off if the figure were dropped. Next, I primed them with brush on, Liquitex White Gesso. The next day I began painting.

    More murderous little buggers - you can clearly see the better detail in the center Nolzur's redcap

For the skin, I did a base coat of Raw Sienna. The next day, I dry brushed their skin a bright tan color called Maple Sugar. In addition to being very small, the miniatures don't really have a lot of equipment. Each figure has a tunic or loin cloth, which I painted in a variety of colors, dry brushing them a lighter highlight color the next morning. Most have shields and clubs, a few stone axes, and the Nolzur's figures have a sickle-shaped sword and a halberd. I made sure to do all metals in bronze, as a common theme in Celtic myth is a Faerie vulnerability to cold iron. 

I chose three shades of red for their caps -- red-brown, Blood Red, and Cardinal Red. Each got a highlight in a lighter tone, as well. The shields were done a dark brown on the inside and I tried to give them a wicker look on the outside, with Autumn Brown base coat and Khaki dry brush. I painted leather for all the straps, belts, sheaths, and such. Their faces I did similarly to my Orcs. I used a pale yellow for the eye "whites" with a dark brown pupil. The mouths I painted Blood Red, picking out tiny teeth with the same pale yellow. With a final brown wash over the skin, leather, and tans or yellows, and a black wash over the grays and caps, I was done with all 10 of these guys. 

    Looking down at a band of redcaps lurking in a rocky area, hoping to waylay and murder a traveler

I added some tiny rocks to their bases before flocking, as the legends refer to them inhabiting rocky or craggy areas. I also toned down the green grass, using less of it than I normally do on a figure base. The tufts were all ones with brownish grass, as well. Redcaps are supposed to haunt desolate places -- not fertile fields, if I am remembering the legends correctly! 

And with that, my likely final batch of miniatures for the year was complete! It had been a near thing, but I ended up painting more miniatures than I bought this year. Of course, purchasing figures for two new projects this year (orc and goblin army and Devilry Rampant) had made it more difficult. I did it, though. I think before I make any figure purchases in 2026, I'm going to thoroughly review what's in my unpainted lead pile. Surely there is something in there that I want to paint, right?

SUCCESS!!! All three categories ended up with more painted than acquired!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 306
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 307

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 62
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 80

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 144
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 213