Wildspire Miniatures for Dungeons and Dragons

Whilst assembling the minis required for the Master Forge I looked at what is available these days beyond the usual Reaper or Wizkids.  

I found Wildspire Miniatures, and thought they were an interesting collection, but by that time I'd decided what I needed, so filed them under 'possibly investigate later'.

I didn't pursue it any further until I noticed that they had a special offer on one of the boxed sets. 

At less than 50p a mini (and some of them are big) I thought it worthwhile investigating. The price has since gone back up, but they are still under 60p each.

(A quick note, this is an expansion to the Classic Encounters Essentials set, so is, perhaps, a little less immediately useful.  Both sets are available in the Classic Encounters Complete set).

That's a small box for 60 minis!

Well packed though

Contents

An 'Acid Elemental'* and three oozes.  I'll admit I thought these might work nicely for some of the elementals in the forge, though in the end they stayed in the box.

They are nicely detailed, and will definitely get some table time. They might get a wash and perhaps a very light highlight, but they're pretty much ready as is.

Translucent Green stuff

Air Elemental and Gas Serpents*. More nicely detailed minis.  I do have Air Elementals already, notably Reaper Bones, but a bit of variety is nice. I'm not sure what a gas serpent is, but the minis look fun.

Translucent clear minis

Bugbear, cultist, bandit and unholy knight*. All reasonable minis and pretty useful. They mostly have obvious D&D stats (I'd probably use the unholy knight as a wight). There are four of each of these in the set.

 A good set of adversaries for most heroes

Giant worm*, imp, ghoul and werewolf. There are some noticeable gaps on the ghoul and the werewolf, some filler should help here. Again, there are four of each in the set.

I'm sure I've seen all these in films

Dire wolf, boar, harpy and mummy. The wolf is a nice wolf, but small for a dire wolf. It's a refreshing change to have a clothed harpy. Yet again, four of each.

Are you my mummy?

Naga, giant and earth elemental. One of each of these. These are great minis. 

If I'm being picky, I like my earth elementals a bit chunkier and the pose could be more threatening.

Big stuff

First Impressions 

These are good minis, especially for the price. 

There are some odd sizes when compared to the Monster Manual descriptions, but nothing too egregious. 

Detail is generally good, though it's occasionally soft on some (the bugbear's face for instance). For some reason, the translucent minis seem better detailed. 

Most of these will do the job nicely, though not necessarily better than stuff I've already got painted up in my collection.

What's Next?

I've already started painting some of these (expect posts showing them over the next few weeks).  They easily chunk into groups of four so I'm getting through them steadily.

Will I get any more? 

I'm tempted if I find any more on offer. I've looked at the creatures here, but they also do sets of heroes, which look interesting, with a wide variety of species and class, and a good mix of male and female characters.

I'll do another post analysing the range and coming to some sort of conclusion if they are a must have for role players, or just a big disappointment (though how can you be disappointed by that giant?)

*Wildspire do a booklet of stats and various other downloads which should explain what some of the less familiar creatures are.

Wildspire Index

Wildspire Introduction

Painted Bugbears, Mummies and Dire Wolves

Painted Naga, Acid Elemental, Earth Elemental and Air Elemental

Painted Cultists, Harpies and Ghouls

Painted Werewolves, Giant Worms and Wild Boar

Painted Gas Serpents, Imp Hulks and Unholy Knights

Painted Bandits and Ooze

Painted Giant 

Wildspire Miniatures Bandits and Oozes

This is the final batch of the Wildspire minis for now, I'm saving the giant for something a little different. 

The final lot (apart from that giant)

Bandits

Firstly, yes, awful mould lines. I confess I'd got a bit complacent regarding mould lines and model clean up. Perhaps, also, I was rushing as I got towards the end of the box.

Once I started painting I realised just how obvious they are, particularly on the right hand.

If the colour scheme looks vaguely familiar, I based it on the Cultists. I even gave them red bandanas, though this was a nod to the Redcloak bandits in the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure; the fact that the Cultists' hoods are also red is a happy accident (or is it something more sinister?).

They are good minis (or would be with proper prep), looking suitably furtive; actually I think they look more like they are picking pockets rather than demanding money with threats. Detail is certainly better for painting than the Unholy Knights.

The bandits - watch your pockets

Ooze

If you check the Monster Manual you'll find Gray (sic) Ooze, and Green Slime is a hazard in the Dungeon Master's Guide. No Green Ooze though. 

However, Wildspire's stats make it clear that the Green Ooze is simply a recoloured Grey Ooze.

Lovely though the translucent green is, I'm far more likely to want a Grey Ooze or four, so I decided to paint two as Green Oozes and two as Grey Oozes.

Green Ooze 

The painting was pretty much the same as the Acid Elemental. I tried to be a bit more careful with the wash.

Green Ooze

Grey Ooze 

The Ooze was base coated with Vallejo Extra Opaque Charcoal Gray, then I added a few brown blotches (they are supposed to blend in with stonework). The whole lot was drybrushed with VGC Cold Grey and Stonewall Gray.  I think the hints of brown make them a bit more interesting.

And Grey Ooze

Once matt varnished I used Vallejo Gloss Varnish on all the oozes to make them look wet.

These are really good minis, possibly with more detail than the subject merits.

There's a nice bit of detail on the underside of the head? pseudopod? tentacle? Some sort of mouth possibly. Maybe for feeding? It's not obvious from the above picture, so here's an upside down close up.

Detail on the underside

So that's it, apart from the giant, which I've already started painting (probably for Kings of War).

These have been a fun project, and are a great addition to my RPG minis. I'm pleasantly surprised at how well I've kept focused on the project. This is probably because there was a lot of variety in the set, and sticking to just four minis at a time kept up the impetus. 

I'll post a summary of my thoughts on the set, and also look at the rest of the range shortly. I just want to get a group photo done. 

Wildspire Index

Wildspire Introduction

Painted Bugbears, Mummies and Dire Wolves

Painted Naga, Acid Elemental, Earth Elemental and Air Elemental

Painted Cultists, Harpies and Ghouls

Painted Werewolves, Giant Worms and Wild Boar

Painted Gas Serpents, Imp Hulks and Unholy Knights

Painted Bandits and Ooze

Painted Giant 

Wildspire Summary

Wildspire Miniatures Gas Serpent, Imp Hulk, Unholy Knight

Another batch of three different sculpts, and we're nearing the end of the set.

Eleven more minis

Gas serpent

There are only three of these in the set. Why? I've no idea. 

Still, they look nice, and should be fairly easy minis to paint. 

When I painted the Air Elemental I thought the same technique would work fine for these. However, after checking the free PDF, (and realising they are called Gas Serpents, not Vapour Serpents) I wanted something close to a turquoise-ish colour, but still preserving their translucent nature.

As an experiment I tried Army Painter Speedpaint Prismatic Bolt. The serpents have wispy vapour trailing off them, and I wanted this to look a bit different.  So I gave the snakes themselves a coat of the Prismatic Bolt and finished off with the Vallejo Game Wash Pale Gray for the vapour. 

The bases were finished off with Vallejo Game Color Cold Gray.

Gas Serpents, bound to be useful somewhere

Imp Hulks

Next up were the four Imps, or rather Imp Hulks, explaining the bigger size. 

I went for red skin here to match the Monster Manual imp. 

Over a prime (I used Vallejo Surface Primer German Green Brown, but it doesn't really matter what colour, though perhaps not black) I painted a base coat of Vallejo Extra Opaque Dark Red mixed with a bit of black for a really dark red. This was then drybrushed with VGC Red Gore, then Blood Red, Flaming Orange and finally Hot Orange.

Final details were an opportunity to add some extra spot colours, so yellow eyes, grey claws and a poisonous looking green on the stinger on the tail (love that VMC Livery Green).

The drybrushing did get a bit tedious, but the worst part by far was painting the base while trying not to get grey on the imp (not always successfully).

Imp Hulks

Unholy Knights 

I've been looking forward to painting these since I first saw them, they look suitably impressive foes.

After priming I painted all the metals in VGC Chainmail Silver.

Then I did the cloak; black of course, starting with black and then shading up with VEO Charcoal.

The armour and cloak were washed with Vallejo Game Wash Black, which I keep forgetting is a bit too good at covering detail, especially when that detail is rather shallow. I tried to bring back some of the highlights with Silver 

I took the opportunity to vary the colours on the other bits of fabric to help with identification on the tabletop. Then I picked out a few ornamental bits on the armour and sword in VGC Tinny Tin, Brazen Bronze and finally Shining Gold.

The skull was painted pretty much the same as my old school skeletons. There isn't really much detail on the hands, so I painted them as leather gauntlets.  But that looked dull, so I dotted in some VGC Bonewhite and White to give the impression of fingers. It's not my neatest, but it doesn't look too bad.

The whole lot got a wash with Marine Juice, which pretty much covered the highlights on the cloak, so that got another drybrush with Charcoal Gray to bring them back.

I found the Knights less fun than I thought. I was continually frustrated by the lack of detail, so my usual base coat - highlights - wash technique wasn't that effective.

Still, they're done and they're ok. I'll probably use them as Wights or perhaps some sort of undead boss monster.

Unholy Knights

So another batch done, and relatively quickly too.

The collection is growing nicely and I'm very pleased with my progress.

What's Next?

Well, only nine left. I'll get the remaining Medium sized minis done soon and I have plans regarding the giant so I'm saving her for later.

I do have a summary post looking at the whole set and the others available coming soon.

Not many left

I'd also like to get a bit more scenery done to take advantage of Dave Stone's Season of Scenery challenge.

And there's my Undead to return to.

And I'd like to do some more Kings of War stuff too.

I'm not short of options.

Wildspire Index

Wildspire Introduction

Painted Bugbears, Mummies and Dire Wolves

Painted Naga, Acid Elemental, Earth Elemental and Air Elemental

Painted Cultists, Harpies and Ghouls

Painted Werewolves, Giant Worms and Wild Boar

Painted Gas Serpents, Imp Hulks and Unholy Knights

Painted Bandits and Ooze

Painted Giant 

Wildspire Miniatures: Werewolves, Giant Worms and Wild Boar

Here's another batch of twelve painted Wildspire Miniatures. 

The next batch

Werewolves

The next dip pulled out the werewolves.  

These certainly look the part, bipedal wolf-like humanoids with fragments of clothing. Otherwise they have no equipment. 

It made sense to approach these in the same way as the Dire Wolves, so I prepared them the same way.  

As previously noted, they have visible gaps where some of the arms were glued in place, but similar gaps on the Ghouls seemed OK, so I left them. 

I used exactly the same colour scheme for the fur as the Dire Wolves; although the later are small for the official creatures, I think they look just right for a lycanthrope in beast form.

Then I painted the torn clothing with Speedpaints, carefully choosing lighter and darker shades. 

And the next morning I looked at them and I really didn't like them. 

Poor paint choice

The colours look too garish, and there's no real contrast. There's nothing wrong with the fur, so I left that alone and went over the clothing.  I added highlights to the skirt? thing and painted the shirt? With VGC Khaki, highlighting with Bonewhite then Off White. Finally it got a shade of Marine Juice. 

Much better. 

Four finished Werewolves

Giant Worms, or Baby Purple Worms

Next was the Giant Worms. The sculpt is very reminiscent of the Monster Manual picture of a Purple Worm, and Wildspire's own stats PDF suggests they are essentially mini Purple Worms.

They had quite obvious mould lines along the belly. I removed these with a flat file, then used a triangular file to restore some of the lost details. In some cases this left a gap running up the belly segments, but I imagine the worms take quite a bit of damage as they burrow through rock.

I gave them pale bellies using the same method as the Naga. The upper side is a base coat of Vallejo Game Color Hexed Lichen, highlighted by mixing in VGC Warlock Purple and then Squid Pink. No exact ratios, I just used three dollops of the paints on my wet palate.

To tone down the rather pink highlights and add a bit more definition to the underbelly I gave everything a wash of Marine Juice. 

The various spikes were black, with a dot of Vallejo Extra Opaque Charcoal as a highlight. The disturbed earth on the base was painted with various browns and greys.

Baby Purple Worms

Wild Boar

I'll admit that I wanted the Wild Boar to be brown, based on the rather muddy boars I've seen in the Dales.

Wild Boar, what colour?

This also informed my choice of greys for the Wolves and Werewolves so they'd contrast nicely.

A Google search suggests that most boar are closer to dark greys and black, but never mind.  It's fantasy after all. 

I used Vallejo Surface primer German Green Brown and then gave them a thinned coat of VGC Terra trying to leave the belly in the primer colour. While it was still wet I then worked in Beasty Brown  along the haunches and back. I then added Scorched Brown, which simply gave a disappointing muddy colour. I finished off with black along the spine. Yes, I know it's pretty much the same patterning as the wolves, but I think it gives a reasonably believable animal look, spoilt only by my impatience with the Scorched Brown.

Finishing off with dark grey snout and trotters, and suitably off white tusks and they were almost done.

Not the most interesting minis, but not that boring

So twelve more minis painted.  

The Werewolves gave me problems with the Speedpainted clothing and the Worms were tricky, simply because I struggle painting purple (they actually came out a lot better than I hoped).  The Boars are a bit dull, but OK. I very rarely use boar in my games, but painting them has given me some ideas for some Old School minis that I'll one day get around to painting.

What's Next?

That's 40 minis painted, so I'm two thirds of the way through, counting that massive Giant as one (I'm sure Gimli would approve).

Seven of the remaining minis are translucent plastic, so that should speed things up a bit.

Just twenty left to paint

But I'd like to get some of my other ongoing projects back on track, so I might intersperse the remaining twenty with some other stuff.

Wildspire Index

Wildspire Introduction

Painted Bugbears, Mummies and Dire Wolves

Painted Naga, Acid Elemental, Earth Elemental and Air Elemental

Painted Cultists, Harpies and Ghouls

Painted Werewolves, Giant Worms and Wild Boar

Painted Gas Serpents, Imp Hulks and Unholy Knights

Painted Bandits and Ooze

Painted Giant 

Season of Scenery Scatter Terrain for Albion

Dave Stone's Season of Scenery lasts until the end of September, so I took little break between painting Wildspire Miniatures to do a bit of terrain. 

The Dark Shadows campaign requires 'standing stones' for one of the scenarios, and they are thematic for what is essentially 'Fantasy-Celtic-Ancient-Britain' (a statement that I appreciate makes no sense whatsoever). My first thoughts were to do a series of trilithons Stonehenge style, but I recently found a box of very old home cast chess pieces and they got me thinking. 

A collection of terrain pieces

These are from the Isle of Lewis* set, and I made these with my mother back in the early 1970s. These are actually various miscasts, which is probably why they were put away in a box, to be forgotten for decades. I assume the head and shoulders of the rather sombre chap were simply a way to use up excess resin.

They certainly aren't Neolithic in style, not are they carved with Ogham script as the scenario suggests, but they do look like they might be channelling magic of some kind, perhaps trapping it in the knotwork carvings.

The Raw Materials: fifty (ish) year old chess pieces

While they aren't much use as chess pieces, they will make great bits of terrain. Any imperfections are now evidence of weathering and damage and simply add to the effect.

For this first batch I based up seven** of the pawns and the top part of one of the rooks. I used foam board and then built it up slightly with acrylic modelling paste. One of the white pawns had an air bubble right at the top. I tried smoothing it down, but it was a very deep bubble. So I smashed the top off so it would look like a damaged stone.

Painting

Painting was straightforward. I went for a look rather like these actual runestones, a dark greyish brown.

Viking Runestones in the Nationalmuseet in Copenhagen

 

I added lots of green stains as they've been out in the wet Albionian weather for generations. 

Viking runestones have the runes picked out in red; pigment still remains in some of them, and museums tend to recreate this effect. I hinted at this, but most of the colour has gone over the years and lack of attention from the locals.

This took more effort than I thought it would; two coats of Vallejo Game Color Gory Red didn't really show up much. Finally I went over the lines with Vallejo Model Color Scarlet, which seems to do the trick.

Basing

They were based up rather like the boulders I did back in November last year, but I did have to dust off excess grout before the sealant stage (hmm, perhaps it would make good weathering powder?).

I chose quite lush vegetation for the bases; Albion is supposed to be more than a little rainy (clearly not based on the UK this summer at least). The runestones also got a nice flower on each base as well. The broken runestone is clearly functioning less well, just compare it's base.

Three of the stones

Broken stone and broken statue

View from the other side

There's nothing that special about these, but I like the end result and I really enjoyed working with something I started years ago with my mum. They'll come in useful for many games beyond just the Dark Shadows campaign. I think they give a certain atmosphere to a table. While I like the standing stones, my favourite piece is the top of the statue. I'm sure the locals have lots of tales and legends about him!

I should say that the idea certainly isn't original; I'm sure I've seen similar chess pieces used as statues in old White Dwarf battle reports. 

To give some sense of scale, here's a couple of the pieces next to a WizKids hobgoblin (effectively human sized).

Size comparison

What's Next?

I've some more complete pieces that might make good statues, though I'm not sure how well the bishops will fit in fantasy games. The seated king and queen in particular would look great.

I've also got the Wildspire Miniatures to plod on with, and I want to get stuff done for more Kings of War.

* The Lewis chess pieces are twelfth century, found as part of a horde on the Isle of Lewis in the nineteenth century. They are mostly carved from walrus ivory. It is thought that the pieces are from several different sets.

Wikipedia has a useful article giving more detail. 

** Yes I know there are eight pawns on the photo of them as found. I'm keeping the best cast one in case I want to make a press mould for some of that nice decoration.

Wildspire Miniatures: Cultists, Harpies and Ghouls

I'm enjoying painting these Wildspire Miniatures, so here's twelve more.

Since painting the previous minis I've downloaded the PDF of stat blocks from the Wildspire website. There's artwork to accompany each creature, which helped me interpret the detail on some of the minis.

The next batch

Cultists 

A good example of me benefiting from seeing the artwork.

The unpainted minis are busy. There's a lot going on, with texture on the legs, which I thought might be straw, giving a sort of 'Straw Bear' vibe, for the legs at least. There's something strange going on with the belt too, and the head is covered with some sort of fringed hood.

Well the picture makes it clearer (it's not straw, it's a fur fringe along the top of the boots), although the detail doesn't always transfer well to the mini.

In the end I came up with my own interpretation. I chose to paint the fringed hood as hair with a hood on top. Close examination suggests that this wasn't the intention (unless the cultists have really long nasal hair - yuk).

I chose to ignore the gloves and treat them as bare flesh with the cuffs being some form of strapping. The manacles help sell the effect.

Painting was straightforward. I aimed for dull coloured clothing, but emphasised the cult elements with bright red.

I wanted them to look like ordinary folk who occasionally put on the red hood, ritual belt (and perhaps the sacred Ugg Boots) for 'club night'. "Honestly dear, it's just a group of lads getting together for a drink or two and some singing and dancing". Maybe the manacles and leg irons are explained away as percussion, or perhaps it's a stag do?

They are certainly not my favourite minis in the box, but I've grown to like them. The 'prison accessories' suggests that they may be worshipers of Torog, which fits nicely into my current D&D campaign.

The Cult at large

Harpies 

These are one of two flying creatures in the set. They look pretty straightforward, though it might be tricky getting the brush in behind those wings.

They were the worst minis so far for mould lines, particularly along the arms and legs. A combination of knife, file and wet and dry paper (thanks Dave) reduced them somewhat, and I suspect my earlier difficulty trimming them might be due to dull blades.

I approached them as standard female minis, so VGC Dwarf Flesh, AP Flesh Wash, reset, then Pale Flesh for skin tones. Various mostly light colours for the tunic, with some extra detail added to add extra interest.

I did the bird sections afterwards, using Desert Yellow, highlighted with Khaki for the bird feet. The colours were based very loosely on vultures, but there isn't really enough detail to give them fancy wing feathers, it's more just a suggestion of texture.

I'm finding the slightly smaller scale a little difficult to paint when there's fine detail, such as the faces. I've made a fair stab at these, but I'm used to a more exaggerated style of sculpting. There's no chance of me doing more than shading the socket for the eyes. 

It's nice to see harpies wearing sensible clothing, and having bird's feet for both hands and feet is a nice idea.

Not exactly a choir of angels

Ghouls 

More mould lines. A file removed the worst of these.  There are also noticeable gaps between the arms and the shoulders; I relied on a large amount of primer to partially fill the gaps, which seems to have done the job.

The feet are only partly detailed, as if the ghoul is paddling in liquid. Is that why they're called 'puddle bases'?

So I don't forget, they were basecoated Vallejo Extra Opaque Heavy Gray (quite a greenish grey) following with a drybrush of VGC Stonewall Gray. The result is a reasonable light greenish grey, but I wanted something a bit darker and less wholesome. 

So they got a wash of Army Painter Military Shade. Pretty much any greenish colour would do, but I like the fact that it isn't too bright.

Then it's simply a case of doing the remaining clothes to add a bit of individuality to the pack.

I did manage to add a little detail to the face, but I'll admit the teeth were largely guesswork. 

I'm pleased with the ghoul skin tones,  I'll definitely use something like this on any future ghouls I paint. I might even redo some of the WotC minis I started for the Master Forge. 

The ghouls

What's Next?

Well, that's 28 out of 60, so nearly half way, although the giant is probably worth quite a few of the smaller minis, by weight alone if nothing else.

32 to go

I'm still enjoying painting them, partly due to doing just four at a time, and knowing that I can pause or stop any time.

Looking ahead, there are some that I'm not thrilled about, but the advantage of the random dip (I get my wife to do this, so there's no avoiding the selection) is that I can't pick and choose.

I'm saving the giant until the end, but that still gives eight different sculpts left, two of which are more of the translucent plastic.

Wildspire Index

Wildspire Introduction

Painted Bugbears, Mummies and Dire Wolves

Painted Naga, Acid Elemental, Earth Elemental and Air Elemental

Painted Cultists, Harpies and Ghouls

Painted Werewolves, Giant Worms and Wild Boar

Painted Gas Serpents, Imp Hulks and Unholy Knights

Painted Bandits and Ooze

Painted Giant 

Wildspire Miniatures Naga, Acid Elemental, Earth Elemental and Air Elemental

The next four minis are all Large. While it doesn't make much of a dent in the number of unpainted stuff, in terms of volume it's more significant. 

Four big beasties

Naga 

This is pretty obviously a Dark Naga, as shown in the 5th Edition Monster Manual. 

Preparation 

This time I had a go at the mould lines. They don't cut very well, but they do sand down with a file. Whilst not as bad as Mantic's old 'Restic' material, there were still some 'crumbs' that needed removing with a brass wire brush. I have since had some helpful suggestions (thanks Dave Stone) and will be trying wet and dry paper.

Then it was a case of washing and priming (Vallejo Surface Primer Light Gray).

Painting 

The Monster Manual picture shows the scales very very dark blue with red patterns, possibly chevrons? The front (or belly) is a very pale colour. 

I started with the belly, highlighting up from Vallejo Game Color Khaki, through Bonewhite to Off White. Initially I planned on giving it a wash of Army Painter Soft Tone, but I was happy enough with the results without that.

The back was painted VGC Night Blue, but a look through older Monster Manuals showed Dark Nagas are black with red stripes. I think the recent artwork was simply using blue to highlight the black. 

So it all got a wash of 1:1 Vallejo Game Ink Black and Vallejo Xpress Medium.  This darkened it down, but still left a bit of a blueish tint as a highlight. 

This was drybrushed with VGC Night Blue then VGC Ultramarine, paying particular attention to the fancy scales around the head.

The red was a base coat of Vallejo Extra Opaque Dark Red, highlighted up through Red Gore, Blood Red and Hot Orange.  I used the different scales to define the stripes, I avoided doing any stripes on the lower body.

Then it was the final details, eyes, teeth and spines, and done. 

Trust in me

Stripes on the back of the hood

Acid Elemental 

This was a lot simpler. 

After washing, I used Vallejo Game Ink Green to emphasise the deeper areas, then VGC Livery Green drybrushed as a highlight. Unfortunately, the ink has pooled in certain areas and run off others, resulting in a rather scrappy finish.  The base (translucent green) was painted VGC Cold Gray to match the rest of the Wildspire minis. 

The drybrushing has brought out the detail of the face rather well, something that is less obvious in real life, (a rare example of a blogger claiming the photos are better than the real thing).

Vivid green acid elemental

Rear view

Earth Elemental 

I wanted this to look like a collection of rocks, so that meant a variety of colours.

After the usual clean up, wash and priming, German Green Brown again, I picked out different rocky shapes in, variously, VGC Terra, Desert Yellow, Stonewall Gray and VEO Charcoal.

Then the whole lot got a wash of AP Strong Tone.

Once everything was dry, I drybrushed with VMC Iraqi Sand, then Pale Sand, emphasising the face.

One of the rocks has a sort of spiral carved on it, so I picked out this, and the eyes, in VGC Enchanted Blue, with a thin line of Glacier Blue to make it pop.

I did add a bit of green ink to represent moss,  but I'm not sure it really adds anything. 

Mister Rock

The rear of the elemental

Air Elemental 

I'd planned to approach the Air Elemental in the same way as the Acid Elemental, but I wasn't happy with the results on 'Old Heartburn', so I kept this much simpler.

A wash of thinned Vallejo Game Wash Pale Gray. That simple.

I think it's turned out rather better than the Acid Elemental. 

I might give a very light drybrush of white, but I'm not rushing, it might spoil the mini.

Air Elemental

And from the back

Thoughts 

This is a nice group of minis and I'm mostly pleased with the painting. 

The exception is the Acid Elemental, the pooling of the wash and some less than subtle drybrushing don't do it any favours. Shame, it's a nice mini too, even if it's a bit obscure. If it were cast in yellow or red plastic it would make an interesting Fire Elemental. I suppose it could be magical green flame? 

The companion set includes both Fire and Water Elementals. I might use it as some sort of Acid Golem, or maybe a colony of Green Slime?

The Naga is a lovely mini, clearly recognisable as a Dark Naga, albeit with fancier scales. I enjoyed painting it.

I thought the Earth Elemental was a dull looking mini. However, once painted, I really like it.  The detail of the different rocks was lost on the bare plastic, the washes and drybrushing bring it out. 

The Air Elemental was the simplest paint job. The wash has obscured some of the translucency, but it makes it easier to see the details. 

I'll be using this method when I do the 3 Vapour Snakes. 

What's Next?

In terms of the Wildspire Miniatures, that's 16 down and 44 to go. All the remaining ones, bar the Giant, are medium sized, and there's some more translucent plastic still to paint. 

I'm still using the random dip method, I wonder what will be next?

16 down, 46 to go

The Background

You'll notice that I've added to the background set up.  The two platforms come from the Crooked Staff Community Challenge from a while ago.  They give me a large area of height to stand minis on, and the darker colour of the wood is a good contrast for light minis.  I wish I'd had it when I photographed the mummies

Wildspire Index

Wildspire Introduction

Painted Bugbears, Mummies and Dire Wolves

Painted Naga, Acid Elemental, Earth Elemental and Air Elemental

Painted Cultists, Harpies and Ghouls

Painted Werewolves, Giant Worms and Wild Boar

Painted Gas Serpents, Imp Hulks and Unholy Knights

Painted Bandits and Ooze

Painted Giant