One of the easier Hero Quest miniatures to paint is the dread warrior. Their art work on the card is very one note and makes it simple to paint. I was able to get my warriors ready for action using a simple color layout in under 30 minutes.

Dread Warrior Colors

For the colors on the dread warrior I used the following:

• Primer – Lead Belcher spray
• Base for Cape and Tunic – Citadel Wraith Bone
• Cape and Tunic – Citadel Contrast Flesh Tearer Red
• Horns – Citadel Snakebite Leather
• Washes – Citadel Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade
• Mini Base – Vallejo Model Black
• Protective – Testos Dull Cote

Application

Applying the paints is a fairly simple process. Just make sure you allow for drying time between each step. Even while allowing for drying time you should be able to do all the dread warriors in under 30 minutes.

1. Start by applying the lead belcher spray over the whole mini. At this point, do not worry about the cape and the tunic and just cover it all in lead belcher. We will touch up the cape in step 2.
2. Once the mini is dry, using the wraith bone base paint, paint only the cape and the tunic. The reason this is done is because the contrast paint is somewhat transparent and the lead belcher will bleed through if only the contrast paint was applied.
3. Now take the contrast flesh tearers red and go over the cape and tunic that you just painted with the wraith bone. This should have a nice deep red with no lead belcher bleed.
4. For the horns, take some of the contrast snakebite leather and paint directly on the horns. You want to paint directly onto the lead belcher in this case since we want the horns to have a bit of a metallic look.
5. For the wash, start with the nuln oil. Apply the wash over the armor, weapon, and shield with the nuln oil but do not cover the cape and tunic.
6. At this point I used the agrax earth shade and painted the whole mini including the cape and tunic in this shade. I wanted the mini to look a little dingy and the earth shade gave the right feel to me that these guys have been through some battles.
7. Base with vallejo black paint. This paint goes on best when watering it down and a little goes a long way! I find the best way to apply is to put a drop of paint on the paint pallet and just dip the tip of the brush lightly in water then pull a bit of paint from the pallet. That should give you enough to cover the base and if you need more just dip in water and pull paint from pallet again until base is complete.
8. Once dry spray with dull cote for protection.

There you have it. Like I said, nothing really fancy. In my mind these minis did not need much more than this to be tabletop ready. I imagine them the be like these monolithic, emotionless, unstoppable forces, hellbent on hero destruction. This layout certainly fits the bill!