Zero to hero: painting the Dark Souls Sentinel

As far as iconic adversaries go, Dark Souls’ Sentinels are up there for me. What does this have to do with boardgames, you ask? I backed Dark Souls: The Board Game on the original Kickstarter and was very excited about it, being a massive fan of the video game.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t blown away by it upon playing it, and as a result it’s been languishing at the back of my games cupboard for a good long while now. But while the game might not be smashing it out of the park, the miniatures are pretty cool – so time to stop procrastinating and actually paint some! 

For context, I painted a ghoul recently with Citadel Contrast paints and liked the look. But nobody remembers the ghouls, so I wanted my next foray to have a little more character. Enter the Dark Souls Sentinel. 

Getting started

Using zenithal priming and a quick wash of contrast paints created something I was happy with. But given my main enjoyment from this Kickstarter has come from the mins, why settle for happy? I started over again, and this time managed to document my steps while I painted the Dark Souls Sentinel.

Instead of a Zenithal prime for the sentinel, I used a Retributor Armour rattle can from Citadel. The various shades of gold in Dark Souls’ Sentinels make a bright gold tone a good place to start.

Retributor Armour gives extremely good coverage and is a good place to start now building up our shadows. This is where good old Agrax Earthshade (also from Citadel) comes in. The brown in Earthshade complements the gold perfectly and gives a nice warm tone.

Whilst the shade might not be a striking change, it does add some important shadows to the detailed inlay of the halberd. At least, I think it’s a halberd. I never finished my medieval badge at Scouts due to a shocking case of tetanus. It also fills in the chainmail, giving some more depth to the miniature.

Next, I am going to play around with some Citadel Contrast paints over the Retributor Armour and Agrax Earthshade. First up is Guilliman Flesh. This is usually used for pinky flesh tones, but over gold it creates a warmer, more coppery tone. This goes on everywhere except the flat of the shield, his tunic and the chainmail.

Now we’re talking. The Guilliman Flesh provides a copper/gold look which is a good representation of the Sentinels in the game. What’s more, it further reinforces the shadows and highlights even more detail for us.

Adding colour to the Dark Souls Sentinel

Next I am going to use two more contrast paints. The chainmail gets Gore Grunta Fur, while Talassar Blue is added to the detail on either side of the tunic.

The Gore Grunta Fur over the Retributor Armour creates a darker tone. It becomes something closer to brass, which I find works quite well on the chainmail here.

The Talassar Blue is not in keeping with the aesthetic of the game, but I wanted to create something a bit more striking and I love the result.

I also painted the face of the shield, and the sharp/pointy bits of the halberd with Thrash Metal from the Metal n Alchemy range from Scale 75. The tunic was filled in with Ivory by Vallejo Model Color range. Next, the finishing touches.

I painted the white/ivory of the tunic with the contrast paint Apothecary White hoping to add some depth. If I’m being honest, it’s done very little. I would probably aim for more of a bone colour in the tunic, if I were to try this again. That, or try the contrast paint Skeleton Horde.

I’m happy with this overall, so will be trying my hand at a few more of the Dark Souls Sentinels and the rest of the miniatures. Let me know what you think in the comments section below!