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My wife doesn't frequent these forums, and that's a good thing. I'd like to paint a model that can be-- with minimal green stuff gotten _close_ to the description of her favorite PC, a Zenith warrior from White Wolf's Exalted. I'm at the point where I think I can make it look neat and I want to make it for our anniversary this August, so I'm starting way ahead. So I guess the big thing is-- what model should I use as my 'starter' to work up from? Help me Dakka, you're my only hope!

The core things are:
Tall muscular but lithe woman
Lots of braids (about twelve but I can work with around that number)
Breastplate armour but sensibly so, not boob plate no belly (though I suspect I could green stuff my way around that
BIG spear, ranging to pike.

Here's a few of her last relevant descs:
She is just about six feet tall, with skin like rich chocolate, and golden, almond shaped eyes. Her long black hair is bound into about a dozen braids, which hang in regular loops fastened back up to her scalp.
She's smoothly muscled, clearly fit.
She's fairly tall for a woman, about six feet; muscular and very dark skinned, with black hair in entirely unapologetic braidlets around her head. She wears a draping wrap with tribal patterns in bright red and white; a breastplate that appears to be ...pure gold? A massive spear rests on her back; it too is mainly gold, with shimmering gems set into its shaft. It -has- to be an alloy; if it was as pure of gold as it looks, it'd probably bend from its own weight.
She looks ...very much like a comic book rendering of a Jungle Warrior Queen. But for all she definitely stands out, she doesn't seem to ...even notice. There's no self-consciousness to her at all; in fact, she projects a massive presence that those around her clearly feel.
She's also glowing with a fiery solar radiance, and has an incandescent golden circle on her forehead. Her eyes match that gold and intensity.
The breastplate is very simple; it has, if anything, basically gold-on-gold detailing (no relief) with some solar symbols. I have previously described as sort of the distilled essence of a breastplate, like a sketch with the minimum of lines to convey the image.

I would suggest a custom figure with such a specific description provided. Check these guys out:
https://www.heroforge.com

Interesting-- thanks! I was hoping to find a relatively cheap model I could work out from, because we're on a budget, but that would definitely work over all.

Have you looked on Reaper's website? You can use their figure finder to find something that might meet your needs.