I have tons of old Wizards of the Coast D&D miniatures from the 2000s, and I started to repaint them. Most of the sculpts look pretty good, but the factory paint job is often not very good. It’s easy to fix by repainting them and giving them a second life as a painted miniature.

The Arcanix Guard #02 is part of the War Drums set from the old D&D Miniatures line by Wizards of the Coast. It was released in March 2006. I have two of these miniatures in my collection since then. They are female cleric-like or war-wizard like NPC-types. That makes them a nice addition to any collection, because you can always use a divine casting cultist, bandit or city guard.

Here is how the Arcanix Guard looks like:

Basing and Priming

The bases of the minis looked fine, and with their thin feet it would be difficult to rebase them. I just added a little sand to the bases. Then, I airbrushed the figures using black and white primer.

Painting

Two generic female caster-type NPCs with shields are great and could be used for anything. I decided to give them a two different color schemes: I already painted some miniatures wearing blue, and others wearing red. Even though I don’t use them for warbands or the like, why not use two faction colors? Even if you need both Arcanix Guards in one enounter – having them in different colors would mean they are easier to identify on the table.

I liked the golden rods and shields of the original paint job, so I also painted them similar – but I used brass. The other colors (beside the tunic) were also kept similar to the original paint job. Finally, I decorated the base a bit.

Overall, these two were quick to paint and look decent for a couple of quick NPCs! 🙂