'Antihero' from BrianB - 'Uhtred of Bebbanburg'

Uhtred of Bebbanburg is the protagonist of the Saxon Stories series by Bernard Cornwell. A reluctant participant in Alfred the Great's fight to unite England he was as likely to fight on the side of the supposed villains the Danes, murder a priest, or act more than a little rashly as he was to save the day. I think he falls in the category of an Anti-Hero. 

I used the leader figure from the Gripping Beast Thegn box-set of plastics with a couple of modifications. I sculpted some fur onto his cloak to give him a bit more savage appearance and of course modified the prominent cross on his chest to an amulet of Thor.

I couldn't remember a good description of colors from the books but I always imagined him in grays and other dull colors so I went with a sea grey for the cloak but gave him a touch of color on the hem of his jerkin. I hand painted on a wolf's head for his shield as the traditional heraldry of Bebbanburg and gave him overall a little bit of weathering to give that fresh off the battlefield look.

'Myth' from BrianB - 'Merlin & Lancelot'

Since I was knee high to a sarsen stone I have always been fascinated by the Arthurian legend, particularly Merlin. So when this round came around I knew exactly what I wanted to paint. I had picked up the Musketeer Miniatures Romano-British Arthurian figures for a dungeon delve project that I started last year. I haven't gotten much further than making a test piece of terrain ( which the figures are photographed on) so I took this opportunity to advance the project a little. 

My painting for this duo was strongly influenced by Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles so Merlin was done in black druid robes and I tried to keep the rest of the colors matching with the setting. I really love this Merlin figure and although there are a few different "historical" Arthurian miniatures out there as soon as I saw this one I bought the whole set. 

Also in the pack came a Lancelot figure so he got some paint as well. I tried to add some white to his armor as in the books he has a suit of scale enamelled white. Also in the story Lancelot's emblem was a fish eagle but I couldn't figure out how to add that around the shield boss so I decided to go with a pair of fishes instead. Seeing all of the recent fantastic freehand shield designs everyone has been submitting I decided to try one as well.