My First Monster: The White Lion (Painted Early Sept, 18)

"There once was a beast that wanted to feel how soft its fur was. Since it could not reach its own back, it killed many other creatures and spent time rubbing its paws over them. They say that when the monster finally killed a human, it fell in love with their soft hair and its paws grew into a pair of fine human hands."

- Excerpt from Kingdom Death: Monster, The White Lion Showdown 

The White Lion is the first monster that survivors face in KDM, and that introduction should give you some insight as to what to expect from the game. It's stark, bleak, violent, and incredibly unforgiving. As such, it makes sense to have the first monster encounter embody these elements with its presentation. I wanted to embody this when I painted the White Lion. 

The creature was refreshingly easy to do; the miniature is much larger than your average 50mm miniature, and the details are simplistic yet very striking when done right.

Classic coloring pallet - just as KDM artists envisioned

I went with the traditional color pallet for this miniature. You search this guy online, and chances you'll find one very similar to what you're seeing here. It's a classic and I'm very proud how this one turned out. It's simplistic and neat; the miniature loves a good wash that hugs the nooks and crannies, really helping to accentuate the lion's mane as well as the muscle structure.

The prologue story shows off the lion with a bloody mouth

Note the "human" like hands, and the shading

I did something different with this miniature that I didn't attempt with the smaller ones. If you've glued miniatures together, no doubt at one point, you've encountered times where the miniatures don't fit exactly perfectly. With this one, there were some gaps, mostly because of me. To compensate for this, I purchased a plastic putty that you can use to fill in any gaps. I got mine from Amazon.com. I filled in any gaps, and I think it's made a difference. If you find pictures of this miniature before it's painted you can see the difference yourself (sorry, I didn't take any pictures before painting). It's not perfect - there are still some slight gaps that got accented because of the wash - but this small investment was worth it.

See the slight gap in front of the hind leg?

Even thought this wasn't really a challenging miniature to paint, it's been one of the most fun to paint so far. The color pallet was simple to create, the canvas was very easy to work with. Indeed this almost painted itself. Still, I may touch up the talons later on; I just gave them an ash grey base coat. This is a great introduction to the KDM universe and a great first monster to paint. I'm really glad I had it available early to use in the game. I highly recommend this one!

The first battle can indeed be the most memorable

If you haven't played KDM and you ever get the chance to jump in, just have your friends redo the first ever battle. You'll sweat at the intensity and it's so worth it. Hopefully your friends will have their White Lion miniature painted too, and if the color pallet is different, share!