Nolzur’s Iron Golem – Wave 10 Review

Looking for a monster miniature to impose a presence on the tabletop? Want a miniature that is nice to paint? If so, then take a look at the Nolzur’s range of fantasy miniatures. There is a great range of good quality miniatures that work well with fantasy roleplay adventuring using the old school, pencil and paper approach and tabletop tactical maps.

Nolzurs Iron Golem is a case in point and an excellent miniature and it’s set at a great price point. This will be an impressive and imposing miniature to place in any encounter. When a model like the Iron Golem is placed on the map, players will appreciate its presence and its threat level, as well as the thematic addition.

The quality of the miniature is very good. It is sturdy and although my copy has a little curve on the blade, which is noticeable on inspection, it doesn’t detract from the overall quality of the piece. There is good detail for painting with clearly defined areas so it’s quite an easy model to paint. Visually it is impressive, but equally from a tactile perspective it is a nice miniature to handle. It is a miniature that will stand the test of time as appropriate for a construct miniature. It has a large round base which is nice and firm, although it would’ve been better if it was square to match the tactical map grid squares as a large sized model.

Painting

For painting, as with the Nolzur range generally, the Iron Golem is already primed which is very useful. The paints I used were from both the Citadel range - Nuln Oil, Ryza Rust, Fuegan Orange and Vallejo Game Colours – Tinny Tin, Bright Bronze, Gunmetal, Silver and Heavy Grey.

I wanted to create a brown-red colour theme and the metallics range from Vallejo are very useful for this. This colour scheme allows you to bring out a sense of heat emanating from within the Iron Golem. So rather than simply using iron-based colours, the Vallejo range allows for that reddish brown look to manifest.

The brushes I usually use are straightforward. I use a very thin 00 for detail and a larger 5 brush for some of the dry brushing highlights.

The main colour I used was Tinny Tin for the body with different layers and Nuln Oil for a wash. I added a little Ryza Rust to give a sense of wear and tear and the added orange to enhance the redness and heat effect. I also added a hint of red for the eyes. The Iron Golem model has good attention to detail which is great for the shades and washing. You can see good cracks and edges for the wash to sink into and bold edges for highlights.

The sword was simple starting with gunmetal, adding a black wash then adding silver overcoat, and is quite distinct visually from the Iron Golem body. The base is simple with a coat of Heavy Grey with a black Nuln Oil wash over to contrast with the body and create an uneven cave floor effect.

Finally, to bring out highlights I went with the Bright Bronze to add a dry brush layer to edges and prominent flat areas to add dimension to the model and to reflect the inherent metallic nature of the Iron Golem. I have found dry brushing a very useful way to add highlights and layers of colour to miniatures, so this is recommended.