Bronzed Barbarian Statue

Welcome back, no awful pun for a title today.  Wait.  No, I lost it.  Descriptive title it is.  This build is great for adding a puzzle or just a splash of color to your dungeons.  Your statue probably won't look like mine, depending on your choice of mini/toy to bronze.  Your needed items will also change but I'll just be going over what I personally used.  You'll have to use your imagination for your statue.  Here's mine:

 That ancient hero is shredded. Good fitness plans in old fantasy worlds I guess.  I wonder what he benches?  If he raged while benching he'd totally get advantage.  Not sure why I like this image so much.  Doesn't matter.  

What you'll need:

• a figure! (either an old mini or a toy.  I recommend checking your local dollar store)
• dollar store paints
• dollar store super glue and hot glue
• dollar store craft knife
• baking soda
• decent wash (recommended) or you can make your own
• decent primer (recommended) and sealer (optional)
• tooth picks
• a Popsicle stick
• an old pill bottle lid
• weapon bits or old plastic
• the base is the lid of an old dice box that carried D6s

 There's not a ton to explain here but I'll go through it all anyway.  I had to start by cutting the old, flimsy base off of my dollar store action figure of a wrestler.  I saved the plastic bits from the base and used them to make the ax head.  Glue the toy onto the pill bottle lid, glue the pill bottle lid onto the square dice lid.  Base complete.  I added some wooden bits (the spikes and placard) for fun details using the tooth picks and Popsicle stick.

  The ax is just a tooth pick and the old plastic pieces from the original toy base.  The shield might not be doable for everyone but hey, depending on your figure you might not need the same weapons!  But I used an old mini base that I had cut a mini off of.  The base was a bit of a mess and I'd never use it as a base.  So now it's a shield!  I used the super glue and baking soda trick to add some metallic texture to the shield and then I added some toothpick spikes to it because hey barbarian reasons.

  Next is paint.  I mixed a bronze (It's still a bit gold) from cheap craft paints.  Mostly just gold and brown.  Doing it again I would make it a bit more brown or add some orange.  I also added some really watery teal to the crevices to show some oxidization.  In retrospect, I probably should have made my own teal wash and just put it over the entire piece, but I'm still happy with my results.

  That's it, that's all.  Feel free to ask about anything I missed.  You now have a nice statue to add to any encounter you want.  Puzzles?  Check.  Living armor?  Done.  Red herring?  Definitely.