Bones Wraith

I started working on this wraith way back before Halloween, and just kind of stalled out on her. The big issue was that I was playing around with some OSL from the lamp, and just didn't like it. So I stuck it in the corner of my paint tray and ignored her. Monday night I pulled her back front and center and went at it.



I started by covering over the poorly done OSL, and then highlighting up using a combination of Nightmare Black, Stone Grey, and just a tiny bit of Linen White. For her flesh I used Shadowed Steel and Filigree Silver.

What's more interesting than the figure or the paintjob is that I let it sit there for MONTHS. It's a simple mini. Sure, you can do a lot with a simple mini, but I was aiming for tabletop level... was unhappy with my efforts, and rather than spend an hour to fix it and get it done, I just set it aside.


Hated this OSL...

Oh, and as for why silver skin? I wasn't sure how I wanted to paint her, and asked my bride. She suggested it, and I thought it might be interesting. Not a choice I'd have made, but I like it.

With her done, I'm now at 42 finished minis this year.

Stonehell: Disco Afterparty

Session 50 was played on 10/24. A couple of weeks were skipped due to ReaperCon.

Eiric, wizard 6 (Kat)
- men at arms (Koltic, Pargax)
- linkmen (Lex the Cheeseman)
- Leon (dog)
A-A-Ron, Thief 6 (Henchman)
Orpheus, Human Fighter 5 (Henchman)
Karl, Dwarf 4 (Julia)
- Hobart (dog)
- men at arms (Bollox, Elphon, GoMat)
Daryll (NPC Cleric 6)
Brie, wizard 1 (Apprentice to Eiric) - Stayed in town researching

Brie was pissed. Not only was she left behind while the rest of the party not only killed a demon, and fought countless (nearly 70) hobgoblins, but she missed out on a significant share of treasure! Plus, her researching in the Wizard’s Guild Library resulted in an unfortunate magical mishap. Her mouth stretched much wider and her teeth fell out, only to be replaced by sharp pointy shark’s teeth! Plus a craving for raw meat… She’s taken to wearing veils to cover her face.

To compensate/placate her, Eiric sponsors her membership with the guild, and covers the 1,000gp entrance fee. Eiric then sends her back to the library, while the other members of the party hit the marketplace for new hirelings. The pickings were a little slim with only a single linkman and 2 men @ arms, and they opted to hang out in town for a few more days to see who else would be interested in going into Stonehell. The massive bonuses paid out to the families of the dead helped, as did the carousing. 3 more men at arms decided to join up. Gold speaks very loudly…

Returning to the dungeon, the party goes through the Antechamber, into the Quiet Halls, down to the Reptile House, and then back into the Redoubt without any encounters. Passing back through the hall with the construction supplies, they take the opposite hall from the arena, and come to a locked door. Karl and Orpheus smash it down, revealing the hall that the mountain lions came from.

They pass through an abandoned guard post, cat pen, infirmary, dining hall, kitchen, and cold storage. There is a magic stone in a small cage hanging from the ceiling, which they hide in one of the crates to keep it out of sight. Returning to the hall, they head back around to the sealed door from their last delve, and check it out for clues, but the banging and noises from within send them scurrying away and back to the disco room.

Littered with charred hobgoblin bodies, the party rifles through their pockets for loose change, then continue further down the hall. Looting both the storage room, elite barracks and commanders room, they end up with a decent pile of goods. They set fire to the store room so that no one else can make use of the spare arms left within. Continuing along they discover a section of wall that opens up into a natural cave system, and beyond that a secret bolt hole that has a stashed cache of treasure and magic.

Finding no hobgoblins or other opposition, they press on, and loot another barracks, though there isn’t much gained from that. Moving on, they arrive in in a guard room, a card game on the table interrupted with the big battle....

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Game was paused here for the night

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Kills:
Gains: Loot from Commanders Chamber, Forgotten Room, and loose pocket change from hobgoblin corpses
Loses:

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I honestly am not sure I believe it... 50 sessions... 50 freaking sessions!! How awesome is that??

Sunday Inspirational Image: You'd better be good...

You don't want to end up on the naughty list...



by theDURRRRIAN

Stonehell: Panic at the Disco!

Session 49 was played on 10/3

Eiric, wizard 6 (Kat)
- men at arms (Lindal the Elf, E)
- Naideen(dog)
A-A-Ron, Thief 5 (Henchman)
Orpheus, Human Fighter 5 (Henchman)
Karl, Dwarf 4 (Julia)
- Hobart (dog)
- men at arms (Kanye, Barr)
Daryll (NPC Cleric 6)
Brie, wizard 1 (Apprentice to Eiric) - Stayed in town researching

When your players decide to wade into the middle of the hobgoblin army that has been reinforced by a second detachment complete with a war priest and war wizard, and are spread out over 2 rooms with multiple hallways each… that's the point where theater of the mind just doesn’t do it. Knowing that was exactly the point we were at, I pulled out the battle mat and miniatures. Unfortunately I don’t have that many hobgoblins. Actually, I only have the one… but I do have lots of orcs and some gnolls, so they were my stand ins.









I didn’t take many pictures of the session, or keep track of what happened round by round, so here are the highlights of the battle.

War Wizard, War Priest, and their guards advance in from the south east behind Karl & Co. Commander elite guard advance from the south. More troops come from the west. Karl & Co. are boxed in from all directions but the Disco room to the north.

Hobgoblin crossbowmen and mountain lions attack Eiric & Co. from the west of the Disco room.

Darryl joins Karl & Co. in time for the War Wizard to cast fireball, killing all the henchman, Eiric’s dog Naideen, and hurting everyone else. Those who survive head north into the Disco room.

Kanye used the bucket of poop to dip his arrows into before firing them at the mountain lions and hobgoblins. He dies defending Eiric.

The mountain lions & hobgoblins end up pinned between Karl & Co. and Eiric & Co., and are cut down. The Hobgoblin commander charges with his elite guard, hoping to catch the party in the Disco room. Eiric uses Lightning bolt while they’re squeezed in the hallway, frying even those who made their saves.

As the afterburn of the flash, and the ringing of the thunder subsides, the party looks into the sparkling Disco room littered with hobgoblin bodies, and decides to run for it, rather than try to face the War Wizard and Priest. They backtrack to the forge, and barricade the door with the help of the terrified kobolds who amazingly didn’t run during the battle.

After hours of rest without interruption, they poke their heads out and notice the side passage they skipped exploring before. Seeing a single door, they go to check it out, but it’s sealed shut. A thick wooden beam bars the door shut, and boards are nailed into it, all clearly designed to hold something in. The silence is broken when something within begins to slam and claw against the door.

“Demon!” Someone yells, and the party runs clear down the hall to the barricade the kobolds installed. It’s quickly dismantled, and shifted over to the other end of the hall. Once installed, they continued on in slightly less of a hurry, finding a trash room with a pit leading down into darkness. Across the way an old dusty room full of building materials. Through and around that room, they come to a fighting pit, long disused, but the shadows of former fighters emerged to do battle with the party. They were frightening, but not a real challenge. An impressive hidden cache of treasure was discovered in the arena master’s chamber.

At this point, Eiric called for the party to head back to town. The kobolds headed back to report to Sniv.

Kills: Hobgoblins Commander, 7 Hobgoblin Elites, 13 hobgoblins, 4 mountain lions, 2 Shadows
Gains: 11,000sp, 5,000ep, 7,000gp, 5 pieces of jewelry, 2 scrolls, 3 potions
Losses: Lindal the Elf, E, Kanye, Barr, Naideen

Almaran the Gold

After bringing Almaran home, I worked on touching him up. This is what he looked like when he came home.

Almaran the Gold, Paladin 77058

I mean, low table top quality really. Not terrible, but really a lot of work to go before I'd want to show it off... at all...

Now, I'd love to tell you exactly how I painted him from here, but I didn't take any WiP pics, nor did I keep track of what exactly I did.



His face was cleaned up with young flesh (I think?) and highlighted with scholar flesh. The eyes are soft blue. The hair was highlighted with tanned leather and then Desert Sand (I think...)



The armor got a little more shadowed steel and honed steel, and then Dragon Gold for the accents hit with New Gold to bring it up a touch. The blue is Soft Blue mixed with either Brown Liner to darken it a touch, or Linen White to lighten it.





The flame started with a yellow, don't know which one, then moved onto Fire Orange, Fire Red, and Heraldic Red



The shield was Brown Liner, brought up with Driftwood Brown, and Desert Sand.



Still need to do the base...


Someone's unimpressed by his sword...

On the other hand, I'm really happy with him! Now let's see if I can do Devona justice.

Hangout Figure of the Month: November part 2

Continuing where I left off... I went over the scales to bring out a bit of the color that got muted in the wash, going over the red with Heraldic Red and adding highlights of Naga Green. I also touched up the rattle with Tanned Leather.


I also had to paint the white of her eyes back in.



The problem at this point was the nipples. What color are a medusa's nipples??


Well that's no help...

So I asked online, and got suggestions of the same color as her tan scales, purple, darker green, lighter green, whatever color she wants, and repaint her upper body to more realistic flesh colors...

*sigh*

I went with the same color as her belly scales.

Her cuffs and the ends of the bow were painted with Dragon Gold, and the quiver was weathered with driftwood brown.



Of course I still need to do the base, but other than that, I'm calling her done.

Sunday Inspirational Image: Hengrauggi

In the 2009 Star Trek movie, there was a series of improbable monsters on the ice planet that Kirk was marooned on. Why improbable? Because they were massive apex predators.

On an ice planet.





Anyway, here's this big red one that in spite of its improbability, is kinda interesting looking.

Hangout Figure of the Month: November

For November, we picked the Medusa for the figure of the month both because she's one of the few monster minis armed with a ranged weapon, but also because she's an encounterable monster in Ghost Archipelago.

After washing, scrubbing, and glueing her to a 1" base, I based her with brown liner, and then gave her a coat of Reaper's Dragon Green (I think). Her belly scales were painted with Tanned Leather (again, I think). Eyes and fangs were painted with Linen White, with heraldic red for her tongue, and the pattern on her scales (I'm sure on these two).



The red isn't shown above, but you can sort of see it in the picture below.

At this point I added a bit of greenstuff to the base, used brown liner on it, and then washed the whole mini with Sepia Wash. It ended up darker than I was expecting. Mostly this is because there was a tiny bit of brown liner still in the small well I was using, and so also made Medusa a lot darker than just a normal sepia wash would. Since I wanted it to really shadow the scales, this ended up working out. It also had the benefit of bronzing her skin more than I expected, but I guess when you add sepia and green, that's the effect you get.



Not pictured, but I used Desert Sand to highlight the chest scales, and repaint the bow.

Who You Gonna Call? Part 4

Not a whole lot to tell with this update, just that I added the sand, and painted the bases!






And with that, I'm calling these Paranormal Exterminators done!

F:GA Crew pt. 2

The crew is really taking shape now! It's nice to work with a solid plastic kit again. It's been a long time since I worked from a single sprue and just built the guys on it. Not since my 40K days really... And given that this is my... 5th kit for Frostgrave, it's my own damned fault for waiting this long.

I snipped out all of the hand weapons and the empty left arms to match with them. There were also 2 shields, and a couple of other accessories that I cut off and gave a quick clean up of. I totally forgot to wash them though. Will remember to do better with the next set. After getting them all glued together, I primed them with Reaper's Brush on Primer.



Then, once dry, it was time to get painting! Keeping with my inspirational picture, I selected Reaper's Soft Blue and Muddy Olive as the base for the cloth, and Rich Leather for hats, flesh, and boots. I used a very diluted Brown Liner for the decking. Everything was cut with Flow Improver.



I really need to build/make a better photo backdrop...

Monster Thoughts...

I've created somewhere around 150 monsters over the last 8 years (need to update the spreadsheet). Sadly I've only used a few of them in game. At this point, there are enough to run an entire campaign, including various special holiday adventures.

The urge to take them all, tweak them for Labyrinth Lord, maybe hire someone to do art for them, and hire someone else to do layout, and then put it up for sale... well, maybe someday. For now, we're all stuck with this spreadsheet, and going through the blog. Which reminds me, I need to update the spreadsheet...

The reason I bring this up is that I had an idea for a monster, but scrolled though what I'd done before, and found I did it a couple of years ago. Not the first time that's happened either...

One thing I'm finding is that my thoughts on monsters in RC are shifting a bit as I'm now 50+ sessions into my Stonehell game. I'm increasingly wanting to turn up their lethality or at least their survivability That might be colored a bit by the fact that the 5th and 6th level PCs are hanging out on the second level still. At the moment, they're cutting through most monsters without much difficulty. Add in their front lines in plate, and a conservative adventuring style... well, it's hard for monsters to be much of a challenge. Or to survive more than a round or two of combat.

However, before I go cranking things up to 11, I'm going to see how things go as they delve deeper.

What Kind of D&D Character Would You Be?

I Am A: Lawful Neutral Human Wizard (6th Level)


Ability Scores:

Strength-12

Dexterity-13

Constitution-11

Intelligence-15

Wisdom-14

Charisma-13


Alignment:
Lawful Neutral A lawful neutral character acts as law, tradition, or a personal code directs him. Order and organization are paramount to him. He may believe in personal order and live by a code or standard, or he may believe in order for all and favor a strong, organized government. Lawful neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you are reliable and honorable without being a zealot. However, lawful neutral can be a dangerous alignment when it seeks to eliminate all freedom, choice, and diversity in society.


Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.


Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.


Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

November in Review

Gaming:
Heading into the silly season with holidays, so there are going to be a lot of missed sessions next month, but this month was a pretty solid one. I'm almost up to date on my Stonehell write ups, I revised my carousing rules, and even got a dry run in on the spell research rules, which are gonna need a tweak I think...

My 5e game is going fairly well, though we mostly played DCC this month, and it's the game that's going to suffer the most during December, and not just from missed session. One of my players is moving to San Francisco. Another is off to Australia... It always stinks to lose a player. Worse to lose 2.

Minis:
It's been a productive and fun month! I finished up the Paranormal Exterminators, and thanks to my sister for picking up some fine grit sand, I even got them based. Better pictures to come



The Bones Sith figure converted from Seelah by my friend Bryan at ReaperCon was a quick and dirty tabletop piece, but I'm really happy with how she looks.

My paint at work minis Devona and Almaran the Gold have now come home, and will be finished up there. They've been replaced by some Lizardmen, though they've all been base coated over Thanksgiving, some by my nieces and nephews... in some creative ways. Mostly going to aim to keep their chosen colors and just clean them up.



I also got a solid start on my Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago warband. More greenstuff work on these 7 figures than I've done on anything else, even if it is just adding stamped bases and some cone hats.

I know I've plugged it a lot already, but I'm really really thrilled with the texture stamp from Happy Seppuku. Really happy!! So happy that I made some of the temple courtyard stone bases for some sci-fi minis I've got. More on that later...

Books:
This was a month for reading chunks of series.
First up was the Valley of the Ten Crescents trilogy by Tristan J. Tarwater. An interesting fantasy series that was solid, but nothing particularly special. I liked the second and third books in the series far more then the first one.

I also finished up Hugh Howey's Silo saga with both the Shift Trilogy and the final book Dust. Getting to see how and why the people of the silos ended up being in the silos was great, and, even more than that, the reason that there was such redundancy built in.

I also read the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. While I'm not the biggest fan of the Holmes stories, they do make for good reading on the subway.

Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago. Hardly seems fair to count a rulebook, but I did read it, cover to cover.

Currently Reading: A Quest Lover's Treasury of the Fantastic, edited by Margaret Weis.

Movies:
Thor was so much fun!
Fargo was really really interesting. Visually fantastic, with some wonderful performances all around.

Goals for December:
Finish Lizardmen, Medusa, F:GA Crew, Heritor, and Warden, watch Marvel's Punisher