Arena Rex, Finally Started.

The first Kickstarter I actually backed was Arena Rex by Red Republic Games which is a mythical Gladiator game using very high quality 32mm resin miniatures. It was like many kickstarters delayed a fair bit and by the time it arrived I had lost much of my drive to get these figures started. I also did not want to rush them and so put them to one side as the Analogue Painting Challenge was around the corner (more worries about rushing).

In the end I waited even longer before I finally got started properly. The first figure I choose to paint actually turned up before the kickstarter was funded as a gift for mentioning the project on my blog. I had started it when I received it but was unhappy with my progress so it sat unfinished for about two years!

The figure is Aquila and was the face of Arena Rex in the pre-production days and remains for me the figurehead of the range (pun intended). For $23 you get the multi part figure, base, activation token, stat card and art card. The figure was sculptured by Sebastian Archer and the detail is incredible, and far beyond my skill to truly do it justice.

I copied the shield metal finish from the fine work by Benjamin Williams, the first finished Aquila I saw and probably the first one done professionally. I originally was going for a sand effect finish on the base but changed to a totally black finish as I feel it brings out the colours of the figure better. The white flecking you can see in the images does not show up quite so much when looking at the model but I will be going over the black again as it looks to be the varnish having a bit of fun.

The cloak for me is one of the best painted parts of the model but was the easiest to get done. I went with a wolf pelt look and layered the successive lighter colours via the old and trusted drybrush method.

I also followed Benjamin's lead with the metal rather than leather armour look, it is Fantasy after all. I used five different metal finishes and added washes to various parts to give further variance. One mistake was to cut the end off the swords hilt thinking it was just a run off, shows how important it is to look at lots of images of the model before getting out the scalpel.

Overall I am quite pleased with the finish and it has me fired up to paint up more of these figures. Next Arena Rex model will be Vargr which is again sculptured by Sebastian, I hope to get it started in the next few days and finish it rather quicker than I managed with Aquila. I can see me buying more of these figures when I have the ones in my collection all finished and a few games under my belt.