Inari darted through the dense thicket in front of her, his red tail disappeared, only for a red shadow to reappear under a fallen log, now turning left.

Her heart was pounding, sweat ran down her forehead burning in her eyes. The sun twinkled through the tall branches and orange-red leaves. She loved everything about it.

Over a rock, through a muddy stretch, sliding down a log, across some earthy smelling mushrooms and through the underbrush, a last jump over a shallow river and there she was.

The arrow seemingly missed vital organs, as the deer lay dying in the clearing.It put up a valiant flight. She knelt at its head.

“Forgive me, for my aim was not true. Now rest, you will provide us with food for many days.” She finished with a short prayer and cut the deers throat.

Inari seemed uneasy. His eyes fixed on a nearby copse.

“What is it?” Her eyes looked for movement, but instead she heard a muffled, rhythmic pounding. A few moments later she felt it resonating in her guts.

“Not now, by the gods. Run!” She went back the same direction, over the shallow river, the slippery log. Faster, faster, her heart pounding, ready to burst.

Behind her the trees parted. With long lumbering strides a twisted oak moved quickly towards her, its nose a gnarled branch, its beard moss, its eyes milky amber. She could not tell how it moved, as its limbs bend and cracked with each move, yet didn’t burst.

Down the hill and past the old beech, through the stony path and there it was… the cave. Long gnarly claws grabbed at her, but failed to catch.

In she went, her heart still pounding, blood rushing through her ears. All she could see were searching amber eyes glowing in the dark…

Conversions – going all in

Usually conversions encompass small additions or weapon swaps, but with Reapers Nienna Elven Ranger I kinda overdid it. It started with a simple head swap, as my Bones version had fairly soft facial detail. Then I saw the boob window and weird leaf loin cloth and decided: this shall be my trial by fire. In the end I redid the entire front, added a Statuesque head and a sword from the Agema Republican Romans set.

It was an excellent opportunity to train my sculpting skills, as I never attempted boots or laces. I learned a few things:

• A ratio of 75:25 yellow to blue is optimal for fine detail work.
• Always work in stages. First the tunic, then the belt and so on.
• Do not be afraid to cut away already applied greenstuff. The second time it will come out better.
• Using a Bones mini as a fancy armature is a great way of learning sculpting.

Freckles are a must – painting the ranger

The paint job was fairly straightforward. I wanted high contrast and saturated colours, without being gaudy. Blue, green and grey seemed like a nice combination. I used a combination of Kimera colours and Vallejo. The former are highly saturated single pigment paints and are really nice to work with.

Another area I wanted to improve in were textures, so I tries to apply a cloth texture to both the cloak and tunic. I applied highlights and shadows as usual and then went back in with a fairly thin sand colour, painting thin lines only in the highlighted areas. After this had been accomplished I glazed it again with a medium green.

I also attempted some freckles, that go well with her Red hair. They are subtle, but I felt going too stark with them would look odd .

Hope you enjoy the showcase. If you jave any questions comment below. Until next time and always wield your brush with honor.