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!