Sir Rex Raffles

REx is *the* dwarf I've wanted to paint for decades, but felt the eBay prices were too steep to justify a purchase. I painted King Diamond for a friend last Christmas (https://www.nerodine.com/2025/12/king-diamond-imperial-dwarf-commander.html) and as an unexpected thank-you, he kindly gifted me Rex when we met up earlier this year.

This chap can trace his colour lineage back to Wayne England's beautiful Imperial Dwarfs in White Dwarf 135. I would recommend reading this article from the excellent Realm of Chaos blog rather than me rehashing what they've already said so well. You can see the blue and cream as a theme in my dwarfs across various model ranges (https://www.nerodine.com/search/label/dwarfs) and it's no coincidence, as the scheme struck me as impactful and somehow just right for these little fellows.

I don't like painting the chainmail on these older sculpts, so it's rather perfunctory but I tried pushing my NMM on the helm itself as the main attraction and feel the majority works well. The angry squirrel dog monster atop the helm is a mixed bag, but it's fine. Trying to be more precise on my mark marking for the tiny helm was sufficient reward on this piece.

• Cloth. Magic Blue is at the heart of the colour scheme. Highlighted with Ice Yellow or simply white, and shaded with Magenta to make it more interesting.
• Wood. Armour Brown as the main colour, then really whatever else was on the palette to make it lighter or darker in places. It's really about creating texture, then positioning the shield so the longer stripes follow the arm rather than cross them. Very happy with the result.
• Gold. Armour Brown, Yellow Ochre and then Ice Yellow or white. There's a little orange in there in places just for colour interest so it wasn't a straight gradient of yellow.
• Steel. Neutral grays with a little green to reflect the environment in the lower areas.

There were at least four models with a similar pose; two with helms, two with crowns, but this fellow just stuck in my affections and I'm honestly delighted he's now painted and in my army.