Faith and Fury

Remember that WIP shield I showed when I finished my skeleton spearmen?
Well, it's done, and so is it's owner.

I present to you, Hieronymus Lightbringer, Paladin Solar:

Hieronymus, as a Paladin*, has dedicated himself to the concept of the Sun as representation and symbol of the Light Divine. Hence the sun in splendour on his shield.

The miniature was originally a Paladin of Menoth from Privateer Press' Iron Kingdoms Miniature line. I filed away all his Menoth-specific details and removed his chimney-like helmet. The latter I replaced with the top half of a bare head from the GW plastic Bretonnian knights sprue.

To prevent confusion about what he is I wanted to stay clear from the tradional Menoth colours, but still get a sense of purity and faith. To achieve this I went for clean, shining metal, blue and (off)white as a contrast colour. 
The mini really demanded I took my time highlighting and shading his armour to prevent him just looking like a lump of metal, and to really emphasize his bulk and weight.
I'm quite pleased with how he turned out. Especially when sat next to the rest of my heroes. He looks like a tank, and then there is the ludicrously heavy/large sword. He's clearly got to have more than mere human muscle and determination driving him to be even moving around, let alone fight as vigorously as he looks to be doing!

Speaking of the rest of my heroes, here is a little shot of the collection as it stands now:

As you can see, the shelf is getting somewhat crowded... And I'm not nearly finished with this!
I'll need to re-arrange my display cabinet at some point, or find a way to add extra shelves to it...

*: A little background note: In my (as yet loosely defined) personal fantasy/chivalry setting Paladins are not really a religion or Order in the strictest sense. Paladins are holy, spiritual warriors who take one concept, often an abstract or esoteric one, from their religion or the chivalric ideals and dedicate their entire being to it. They are Knight-Mystics who channel the divine in their fighting skills. Most, if not all of them are wandering ascetics. They serve no lord but their own ideals and their otherworldly patrons/inspirations. As much apart from Knights as Knights stand apart from the peasantry, they are universally considered beings of awe and wonder.

The New Faith views them with some doubt and reservation as, while their ideals are pure and wholesome and they inspire piety and good in others, their practices and beliefs are often almost shamanic, at times borderline paganistic…