Arcane Arts

If your entry point into miniature painting is Dungeons & Dragons or other tabletop RPGs, this is the book that speaks your language. Noxweiler Berf is a professional miniature painter who has worked on projects for Critical Role and Dimension 20, and he writes the way a dungeon master runs a session: with enthusiasm, humor, and a sense of adventure.

Why Start Here

The book is structured as a series of quests rather than traditional chapters. You start by choosing your first miniature and work your way through increasingly ambitious milestones, from understanding color and texture choices to developing scenic bases that tell a story. It is a clever framework that gives beginners a sense of progression and accomplishment, the same kind of leveling-up feeling that makes tabletop RPGs addictive in the first place.

Berf covers all the essential techniques, but he frames them through the lens of creating characters and scenes for the gaming table. When he teaches you about washes and dry brushing, it is in the context of making a dungeon-crawling fighter look battle-worn. When he discusses basing, it is about building a tiny piece of terrain that adds atmosphere to your game night.

The tone is approachable and never takes itself too seriously. Berf is good at making the hobby feel welcoming rather than exclusive, which matters when miniature painting forums and communities can sometimes feel intimidating to newcomers.

What to Expect

At 176 pages, the book moves at a comfortable pace. The quest structure means you always know what to work on next, and each milestone produces a tangible result you can bring to your next gaming session. The focus is firmly on tabletop RPG miniatures rather than army-scale wargaming, so if you are painting individual characters and monsters, this is a better fit than books aimed at Warhammer regiments. If you want a broader, more technique-focused foundation, start with “Painting Wargaming Figures” instead.