No creature is as emblematic of the Fantasy genre as the dragon. Before A Song of Ice and Fire, before Dungeons and Dragons, even before The Hobbit, dragons had been the subject of myth and legend throughout many cultures. Whether they are portrayed as the protective deities of Chinese lore or as the monstrous beasts of European tales, dragons typically possess great power and cunning, making them ideal “bosses” for stories and games alike.
Having previously painted Valyndra, the eponymous Lieutenant from the “Lair of the Wyrm” expansion, it may come as some surprise that she was not the first draconic character to be featured in the Descent 2nd Edition chronology. That honor falls to Belthir, the dragon hybrid Lieutenant from the core box’s “Shadow Rune” campaign. This character has an alluringly enigmatic past. He belongs to a “rare” race of creatures, wears eye-catching armor, and apparently has a reputation for being “ruthless”, much like the mysterious bounty hunter Boba Fett. (Also like Boba Fett, his mystique is quickly undone. The very next expansion featured the Hybrid Sentinel monster group, meaning his race is not that rare or interesting. And his defense rolls are only mediocre, meaning his armor is more pretty than protective.) His backstory also makes mention of the nearly forgotten “Dragon Wars,” piquing our interest in much the same way that the “Clone Wars” did in the original Star Wars. However, these conflicts were apparently so un-interesting that they were also forgotten by the development staff at Fantasy Flight Games, receiving no further reference in future expansions. Sigh… such superficial lore.
In regards to gameplay, Belthir dose pose a pretty significant threat to the heroes. While his health and defense stats are less impressive than some other Lieutenants, he can be a very aggressive damage dealer. His attack pool is decent (gaining a second red dice in Act II), Reach gives him additional range, inflicting Poison can chip away at health, Fly grants him great mobility, and his Act II ability Cry Havoc allows him to perform a move coupled with an attack… that targets every hero through which he just moved! This could potentially lead to an eight damage attack with poison targeting up to three heroes! With this combination of abilities, there is virtually no space for a hero to safely occupy.
The miniature for Belthir is a bit of a mixed bag. Compared to other first-wave releases for the game, he is among the larger and more interesting pieces. If nothing else, at least he is not a human like Baron Zachareth and the Farrows. While his wings give him some extra size and visual appeal, the attachment point on his back was rather obvious and gave them the appearance of a detachable jetpack rather than looking organic (this was minimized with the use of some white glue to disguise the gap and blend into the surrounding musculature). His face was poorly formed and had a mold line running directly across his mouth, one of the most frustrating and baffling flaws of miniature design that is, unfortunately, all too common. His armor also had many mold lines and soft separations between the plates, with his pauldrons being very rough and misshapen in general. Worst of all, his tail has a very large, unnatural crease in it, making it look more like the tail of an inflatable T-rex suit rather than that of a living being. And at the top of the tail… buttocks. Smooth, shiny, naked buttocks. Dragons are, of course, fictitious. But look at the tails of alligators, iguanas, even horses. The tail is just a continuation of the back. It does NOT originate between the buttocks looking like it is held in place with a strong clenching motion! Sigh… moving on.
When it came to painting the miniature I had a few decisions to make. First of all, the character art for Belthir is somewhat ambiguous in regards to colors. Due to the darkness of the image, much of his body is completely obscured. The release of additional artwork for the Embers of Dread digital campaign helped to confirm that his armor is greenish and his skin is fuchsia, but I decided to grant myself some artistic license considering the other discrepancies between the two images. I chose to attempt to create an iridescent look for the armor plates, similar to that seen in the first picture. The flesh was desaturated a good bid to avoid the fluorescent tones seen in the second image. In order to diminish the wonkiness of the tail, I added a freeform scale texture to the area.
For his base, I chose a desaturated night-time palette mimicking the rocky background of the Embers of Dread image. With all of the complexity and garishness of his body, I think this contrast helped to balance the piece and avoid drawing the eye in too many places.
Despite his shortcomings, Belthir was actually rather fun to paint. After having painted so many human heroes and lieutenants, a dragon hybrid stands out as a nice bit of variety. There should be another hero coming before too long, so stay tuned as we tie up the contents of the core box campaign!
Armor/Scythe:
The areas of greenish metal were initially blocked in with a 1:1 mix of VMC Dark Sea Blue (70.898) and VGC Sombre Grey (72.048). Individual plates were then base coated with VMC Emerald (70.838). A nonmetallic metal approach was applied with VGC Verdigris (72.096) mixed with Emerald used for highlighting. Areas of shade were created with a range of colors, starting with pure Dark Sea Blue, followed by a 1:1 mix of Dark Sea Blue and VMC Blue Violet (70.811), and blended into the green with a 1:1 mix of Blue Violet and Emerald.
Flesh:
Belthir’s flesh was painted with a complex set of colors. Initially, a base coat was applied with a roughly 2:1 mix of VMC Violet Red (70.812) and VGC Scrofulous Brown (72.038). This was followed by several layers of the base tone mixed with progressive amounts of VMC Brown Rose (70.803). Point highlights were applied with VGC Heavy Warmgrey (72.148), and then blended back with the lightened base mix.
Wings:
The leathery parts of the wings were base coated with a 1:2 mix of VMC Violet Red (70.812) and VMC English Uniform (70.921). This was lightened in several stages with the inclusion of VMA Sand (Ivory) (71.075), followed by highlights of pure Sand (Ivory). Some shade was applied to deep recesses with the addition of some VMC German Camo Black Brown (70.822) to the original mix.
Leg Wraps:
The areas of wrapping were blocked in with VMC German Camo Black Brown (70.822). The individual bands were then base coated with VMC Olive Brown (70.889), highlighted with VMC English Uniform (70.921), and point highlighted with a 1:1 mix of English Uniform and VMA Sand (Ivory) (71.075).
Red Areas:
The runes on his belt buckle and his eyes were both base coated with Schmincke Titanium White, then glazed with VMC Vermillion (70.909).
The loincloth was blocked in with VMC German Camo Black Brown (70.822). A base coat of VGC Heavy Red (72.141) was applied to the entire area, followed by some shadows with a 1:1 mix of German Camo Black Brown and Heavy Red. Layers were added with mixes of Heavy Red and VMC Flat Red (70.957), with final highlights of Vermillion.
Base:
The entire base was covered with a 3:1 mix of VMC Dark Sea Blue (70.898) and VGC Sombre Grey (72.048). The rocks and grassy patches were blocked in with a 1:1 mix of Dark Sea Blue and VMC Black (70.950). The rocks were then painted with mixes of the three colors, with highlights being pure Sombre Grey. The blades of grass were painted with 1:1 and 1:2 mixes of Dark Sea Blue and Sombre Grey.
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