The Santa Dwarves Demise (Part 1)

by | Jul 16, 2024

I recently acquired a small lot of the old Battle For Skull Pass dwarves. An incomplete assortment for sure, and heavily pre-painted. Not quite "one think coat" level, but close to it. Each unit was painted uniquely which I suppose was don to differentiate them more easily during a game The unit of warriors was particularly interesting as they are painted in red with white trim, thus my working nickname for them of "the Santa Dwarves". 


Santa Dwarves bring the xmas cheer. In July. 

The idea of taking the time to strip the paint off feels tedious to me. And those white beards do look like they could take Contrast Paint well... so what if I just painted directly over them? 

Got my new base! 

The first thing to do is to rebase them. Even these guys look better on the 25mm bases. I'm not a fan of models standing sideways or not facing forward, so I am going to remove the slotta tab off the bottom of the model and re-glue the models centered on a 25mm base.


Here is the single dwarf that I painted over a decade ago. I'm going to update this scheme a bit, as it's a little too basic for my current tastes, and then I will try to copy it over onto these Santa Dwarves. With a little bit of time I was able to get the first guy painted. 

The goal. 

The first of the restored dwarves.

The scheme is Caliban Green with a Woodland Green (a very old Citadel paint from the late '80s) layer. There is no additional highlight as I'm trying to keep with a simple scheme here. Plus I think the simplicity of it works. I used Nuln Oil Gloss on the axe and the armor. A few coats of Agrax Earthshade on the beard, Skeleton horde Contrast Paint on the horns. My trusty old Ral Partha Copper on the armor trim which bext had a Reikland Flesh wash over it and a highlight of Mitheril Silver on top of that. And that was pretty much it. 

Here he is next to the original miniature from years ago, as well as beside another of his brethren who is next in line for a refresh. 

The results. 

So far,, I feel good with the results. I'm going to try to get this unit done by the end of the week, but we'll see what life has in store for me.