New Etsy Listing- Lesser Beholder

The beholder's been around since the inception of D&D, and is one of the most memorable and long-lived of the monsters which were created with the game. This particular sculpt (technically called a Spectator) is a brand new one, only, as I recall, available for the past week or so. It was packaged along with a pair of even smaller Beholder kin- which while I have yet to list these (and I may not), I'll go ahead and stick at the end of this post.

The color scheme may look a little familiar, as it's the same tones I used on my Doctor Who Zygons. I was concerned at first that it might look a little too lobster like on the caraprace, but it turned out looking really well.

I wanted the tongue and mouth to stand out, and so I painted these a pale, almost corpse-like white. The eyes were inspired by a handy array of concepts in an art book from the LotR films- I have a feeling I'll be referring back to that when I eventually paint this figure's larger cousin!

I tried to differentiate elements of the casing by painting the horns and eye stalks a more reddish tone- it does help to break up the monotony of the armor.

The base is very simple- I just painted the bottom of the clear plastic support a medium grey. I find I often prefer that to a more elaborate set-up, largely as it makes the model more easily transferable to different settings.

And the smaller version! I've grown pretty attached to it, as I really like the disgruntled expression on its face. It's only about the size of a standard human's head, and would work well for a familiar. I've got another of these, which will probably get painted a blue or purple.

As always, check out the Etsy listing here.

Stranger Things in LEGO- D&D in the Upside Down

This build is to accompany my previously posted Wheeler family basement build, and is my rendition of the D&D game seen in the first few minutes of Season One. I built it as an entry to another LEGO contest, this time hosted on Flickr by The Brothers Brick, a Lego blog/news site. I'm reentering my basement build in the contest, but there's a catch- you've got to build the Upside Down (the show's alternate universe) equivalent of your build! I lacked nearly enough pieces to render the basement in the dark tones of the Upside Down, so I had to get creative in constructing an equivalent.

As a constant D&D player, one of my favorite aspects of the show are its heavy nods to RPGs. As I noted, the main cast plays a D&D game which foreshadows the rest of the show in the first episode. As I had already made the basement where the group plays, I decided to make a vignette roughly mirroring the basement's layout, but make it the party's characters venturing into a tainted dungeon, about to encounter the terrible Demogorgon....

....who emerges from a extraplanar portal. This is the closest detail to the show, and is inspired by the gate seen in the basement of the Hawkins Energy Lab in season one. The vines and slime, curiously, are mostly constructed from pieces borrowed from the oldest and most recent Harry Potter lines.

Behind the gate lies further ooze, most resembling the caverns seen in season two. I wanted a warmer color to contrast with the grey dungeon, and brown makes it look suitably wet and mouth-like. While there aren't as many interesting details or techniques featured as in the basement build, I'm pleased with the finished model. The gate and front right corner in particular turned out well, and I like the effect of the two builds displayed side-by-side.

Pictures of the build can also be found on my Flickr photostream, along with the accompanying basement.

Revisitation

The Dark Ages was my introduction to tabletop gaming. I had long been fascinated with the history, culture and language of the British Isles during this period, and a chance encounter with Gripping Beast's line of miniatures showed me a great outlet for my research, and an opportunity to create my own corner of pseudo-history. This is, oddly enough, the first time I've posted any of my Dark Age miniatures on here! I was still developing my skills when I painted my warband, and so until recently I've had no figures from this era worthy of posting. I have started going back and stripping my miniatures (this is the only game I've invested in a completely metal army), to give them paint jobs more worthy of their place in my collection.

My warlord is Gripping Beast's Brodir of Man. Brodir was known as an apostate Christian, practitioner of pagan sorceries. He led a band of  infamous pirates based on the Isle of Man, which culminated in his death by slow disembowelment after he killed Irish King Brian Boru at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014.

The shield reflects his allegiance to the pagan gods, bearing a serpent and the inscription "Odin own you"- a nod to a runic inscription discovered in Bergen as well as the early tradition of dedicating one's victories and kills to the Allfather.

The other two miniatures I've finished are among my favorites, from the Gall-Gaedhil (or Sons of Death) pack. They're meant to represent a group of reavers of mongrel Scottish/Norse/Irish blood, perfect to accompany a minor sea-king like my warlord is supposed to represent. This first miniature's bald pate was too good an opportunity to pass up, and so was tattooed with a Jelling-style serpent design.

Most of my miniatures have some sort of plaid or striping on their garments. In Ireland, the number of colors which could be woven into a leine (a long tunic, like this figure wears) was governed by law, ranging from two or three for a low-class freedman all the way up to twelve for a high-ranking king.

Ireland and Scotland were well-known for their lack of trousers under these tunics- in fact, King Magnus of Norway acquired the nickname "bare-legs" after returning from a sojourn in the isles wearing native fashions.

This last was one of the first metal miniatures I painted, and remains a favorite of mine. The cat-like visor on his helm lends a very menacing air to the sculpt. He has also found favor with his lord, wearing a broad ring around one arm.

The little details like the arm-ring or Brodir's Thor's hammer and the accurate shoe fastenings make a big difference in my appreciation of the sculpts. The British Isles at this time were a great melting pot of cultures, and I love replicating this blend in miniature.

I'll be posting more pictures of my Norse Gael warband soon, having already completed another of the Gall-Gaedhil set and a pair of low-ranking warriors. It'll probably take me a good long while to go through all of my warband, but I'm thoroughly enjoying this project.

New Etsy Listing- Frog Shaman

Bullywog, Grippli, Squog- call them what you will, frogmen have been a part of D&D since 1981's Fiend Folio, although I'd imagine that the Old One Tsathoggua (which also inspired one of my favorite DCC patrons, Bobugbubilz, the Demon Lord of Amphibians) played a role in games before that. This particular frogman sculpt is Mudcroak, Squog Shaman from Reaper Miniatures.

I painted him up as a Strawberry Poison Dart Tree Frog, as I liked the contrast between the red body and blue limbs. He does, however, have some pretty fearsome teeth that few tree frogs possess. Also, the gear he has seems more like that one would find around a coral reef- while frogs don't (to my knowledge) live there in this world, these must have adapted to salt water.

He's also got a fair amount of suitably shamanistic gear- ranging from sacks and dried grass to a pufferfish on a driftwood stick- well prepared to face meddlesome PCs...

This sculpt, along with a pair of warriors has been on my painting pile for a couple of years- I'd had trouble deciding when I purchased them how, exactly, I should paint them- I ran across a picture of some Poison Dart frogs recently, and decided it was high time they get completed.

They'll also go well with another figure on my stack- Reaper's Coral Golem. Perhaps the shaman has awoken his tribe's coral home to defend against attack, or as part of a small-sized force for Frostgrave's Ghost Archipelago.

Be sure to check out the miniature on Etsy as well!

New Etsy Listing- Wraith

This miniature is a striking sculpt from Reaper Miniatures, transferred fairly recently to the Bones line. I prefer a much more realistic minimum to my sculpts than some of Reaper's miniatures, but this is a great, simple, classic wraith.

And, in this case, a simple sculpt deserved a simple paint job! It's just a plain black cloak, animated in the approximate shape of a floating humanoid. All the crevices and folds in the cloth were enjoyable to layer, and I'm pleased with the resulting tattered appearance.

If I had one qualm about the miniature, it'd be that my primer/black basecoat is a touch glossy compared to the grey middle and topcoats. This does give it something of an ethereal look in person, though, and is simply different than how I originally envisioned it.

Check out this miniature and other listings on my Etsy Shop!

Cult of Skaro

With 24 Time War Daleks in the Exterminate! core set and Davros pack combined, I've had plenty of room to play around with variants. To encourage myself to paint the standard Daleks, however, I've tried to space out painting the more interesting varieties. I painted Davros and the Emperor's Guard after six standard Daleks, and now the Cult of Skaro (and a battle damaged Dalek) after nine. For me, painting this many (17, 18 counting Davros) miniatures from a single faction is pretty impressive- I tend to lack the stamina for long term (or at least consecutive) projects.

Part of this is probably due to the speed and enjoyment of painting these sculpts. The only tedious part is painting the 56 balls (or hemispheres, rather) around the central section..
Dalek Sec in particular was enjoyable- I was very pleased with how he turned out, a gloss varnish over the power slats, head and hemispheres really made him stand out in a group. It makes me look forward even more to painting Tom Baker era Daleks, with their grey and glossy black color schemes!

I also corrected an error from my previous Daleks on these (I first noticed it when researching my 9th Doctor Dalek)- there is a silver frame around the lights on top, which I had mistakenly identified as clear.

YANA

Kindly old Professor Yana- found as a child on the border of the Silver Devastation, greatest scientific mind on Malcassario, seeker of Utopia...

And the Doctor's greatest friend and enemy, the Master.

Utopia is a favorite episode of mine. Despite the fact that I knew some of what was coming, it was a great reintroduction for a classic villain, with Derek Jacobi taking center stage as Yana/the Master and doing an excellent job as both. Interestingly enough, Big Finish Productions has brought this version of the Master back in a series of Time War audio dramas. The latter appearances of Jacobi as the Master was the biggest draw for me to this figure, as the Time War is one of my favorite aspects of the new show.

From what pictures I could find of the sculpts online, I was a little unsure of the detail- in person, however, there is plenty, subtler than, say, a GW miniature. While not the best sculpts of Warlord Games' line, they are certainly adequate- with the possible exception of Chantho's face, which seems off to me.

I'm not very pleased with the paint job, however. I made the mistake of using a new, spray primer on them, and it buried the already fine detail. I had to strip them, which failed to remove the heavy primer from all of the crevices. This is unfortunately most noticeable on Yana's face.

Still, the paint work is quite usable,  at tabletop distances the blemishes are less noticable.

Draconian Empire

The Draconians- a race of honor-bound, hierarchical reptiles- and uneasy allies of the Earth's Empire! They first appeared in the Third Doctor adventure Frontier in Space, when the Daleks (aided by the Master) attempt to start a war between the Draconians and the Humans to weaken them up prior to an invasion. They are some of the better designed creatures to emerge from the classic show, and were purportedly Jon Pertwee's favorite alien as he could interact with them much more believably then, say, a Drashig.

First is the Draconian Lord, wearing a green gem showing his status in the Emperor's court. This pose is based on a still of the Draconian ambassador to Earth, but interestingly has the design of a court official on the shoulders.

These miniatures are, as usual, from Warlord Games' 36mm Into the Time Vortex line. They're some of my favorite sculpts thus far in the line, the textures and folded robes really stand out and add interest to what could have been a pretty dull looking release.

Classic Doctor Who creatures are far from the easiest to paint! The mix of often dull tones, bad quality images and confusing prototype materials make difficult even figuring out what, exactly, the costumes looked like to begin with. I wound up taking a slight liberty with the Draconians' cloth robes- they were much darker (a satin in the case of the soldiers seen on the left) in the show, but a lighter tone made for a much better looking figure.

These wound up looking pretty good! I'm pleased with the effect I achieved on the scales in particular- it looks pretty much spot on.

This batch of miniatures are now available for purchase on Etsy- check out my shop for larger pictures and custom orders!

Black Series Imperial Jumptrooper Review

Picked up a new(ish) Black Series figure a couple days ago, so I thought I'd do a quick review. It's the Gamestop exclusive for the year, an Imperial Jumptrooper from the TV show Rebels. I'll admit, I haven't seen episodes with the Jumptrooper yet, having just started the abysmal first season, but I do enjoy my Imperial armor variants!

The figure itself is mostly a repaint of the original stormtrooper mold with a new helmet, gear and shoulder pads. It shares the advantages (great elbow articulation!) and disadvantages (slightly warped feet and legs) as the original, and reuses the peg hole from the sandtrooper backpack for the jetpack. Surprisingly, the large shoulder pads don't seem to hinder the articulation any more than on the standard trooper. Noticeable in this shot is the standard E-11 blaster, which has an excellent drybrush over the entire surface.

The paint application on mine had a couple miscenterings on the belt, but nothing major. The colors (especially on the helmet) look great, the combination of mustard yellow and grey make this character stand out alongside the usually monochrome stormtroopers. I believe the yellow shoulder pad marks him as a commander. The helmet lacks the usual detail around the breathing mask, reminding me of Commander Neyo from Clone Wars.

All in all, it's a good variant trooper with a striking design- perfect to spice up an Imperial display. 

Dalek

One of the most memorable moments of the Doctor Who reboot came early, with the episode Dalek. It's also one of my favorite episodes, so when one of my Cult of Skaro miniatures suffered some surface damage during assembly, I knew what I'd do with it.

The Dalek on show is heavily damaged, with cracks in its casing and a great deal of wear and tear on the surface. I replicated the cracks with scored lines, in several places bending the plastic back from a gash or, once on each side, applying copy paper to a gouge to represent the peeling Dalekanium.

I also applied washes and liberal amounts of drybrushing to the surface, as the prototype is covered in dirt, dust and even verdigris around some of the hemis (or balls) and eyestalk.

I'm very pleased with how it's turned out- now I just need to write a scenario pitting him against 9th Doctor and Rose!

Comparison shot with a standard Dalek.

Warlord Games Zygons

A classic Doctor Who monster, the shapeshifting  Zygons first showed up in the 4th Doctor adventure Terror of the Zygons, where a shipload of them crashed in Loch Ness- their pet Skaraksen even became the Loch Ness Monster. They've shown up twice (as I recall) in the rebooted show, once in the 50th anniversary special, Day of the Doctor, and then in a two-parter at the end of season 9.

These models (from Warlord Games' Exterminate! line) are based on the redesign from Day of the Doctor.

All the red tones were very enjoyable to paint. I went back and did plenty of "research"- rewatching the relevant episodes before I painted them, resulting in a fairly screen-accurate paint job. I especially like the model on the left, the pose (I believe borrowed from a publicity still) is excellent.
These should be fun to field as agents in game- their shapeshifting abilities provide a nice twist to the standard factions.

Next up- the Cult of Skaro!