Dungeons And Dragons Eight Week Project

A(nother) New Project

I've been trying to clear the decks of ongoing stuff ready for an important project. The Thursday evening Dungeons and Dragons group is finally getting to play face to face!

So far we've only played online, and we've been going for many months, but at last we get to play without all the embarrassing pauses and connection issues.  Without Roll20, we can use maps and minis, my favourite way of gaming.

 

I want to have as complete a collection of minis for the game as possible, but that's not as easy as it seems. 

The party are currently exploring my fifth edition version of the fourth edition module, Madness at Gardmore Abbey, but I've added plenty of optional content, and I've changed large parts of the adventure to fit my vision and hopefully avoid some of that 4th edition feel*. 

So there's a big list of potential mini requirements.  Some stuff may be encountered before the live game day, so could be 'wasted' effort; others might never be encountered (again with the effort), so where to start?

And can I get it all done by mid August?

Characters

Well character minis are a must, even in games where I've used card standees for monsters I've stuck to 3D minis for the player characters. 

There are six (yes, six!) player, so that's probably the first target.

Creatures

I want to avoid spoilers, but they have done a fair bit of scouting out and general information gathering, so they've a rough idea of the various creatures they are likely to meet, including...

A dragon and it's kobold minions, various undead (they've already neutralised one necromancer), a Fae knight and his retinue, four minotaurs, quite a lot of orcs and some mercenary bands. 

There are more of course, but I'll try and keep them as a surprise.

Not Just Minis

And then there's terrain.

For the most part I'll use hand drawn floor plans, though I'm keeping open the option to make something suitably grand if time allows. I will be using some furnishings and props, probably some of my Mantic Terrain Crate bits where possible.

I might try building some extra bits, it will depend on time and need.

I had hoped to build some Orc's Drift terrain for Dave Stone's Terrain Challenge in July and August, but I might have to see if dungeon terrain and props count instead.

Planning Ahead 

I accept that I'm not going to get everything ready in time, so I'm going to have to plan smart.

If the PCs are a must, special creatures are also important, but I can work out a list of the most likely encounters. This will also help when planning the terrain and props.

I've still got quite a lot of the WotC prepainted dungeons and dragons minis, so I'll be looking through to see if any of these will be appropriate (no doubt regretting selling off so many). In some cases I've got Reaper Bones minis that I prefer, but if time is short, the prepaints may well get used.

Expect a few waffling posts where I overthink this.  I'll try and post (spoiler free) updates here, but I may be a bit quiet for a while.

Ulterior Motives

Long term reader's know about my Orc's Drift project (check the tag on the right if you don't), where the idea wasn't just to do stuff for the Orc's Drift Campaign, but to have armies and terrain sorted for many other games.

It's the same here.  I hope to have painted up quite a few minis from my 'loft of shame' for RPG use, and it should also help me sort through some of the stuff and decide what I want to keep and what I can get rid of.

* Firstly, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed 4th ed when it was released; I did, after all, run an eleven year campaign using the rules.  

However, I found most of the published adventures suffered from a need to follow one path through, fighting everything in the dungeon in order.  Partly this is due to the aggressive scaling built into the game; the first adventure, Keep on the Shadowfell (actually published just before the release of the game, and, in theory is an exemplar of the new system) requires exactly this plodding through.  Individual encounters may have multiple paths and loops within them, but there is only one real optional section in the dungeon.  This focus on tactical rather than strategic play was, for me, the main reason I eventually decided that 5th ed was a system better suited to my wants.

Madness at Gardmore Abbey is one of the later 4e adventures, and is a huge pack.  It is generally reckoned to be the best of the official adventures, and is much less set in the approach the players can take; an aspect I play on to the maximum.

Forgotten Heroes Challenge - Mina Murray Finished

Challenge Complete

Ms Murray is finished, my entry to Carrion Crow's Forgotten heroes Challenge.  

I've really enjoyed converting and painting her, although I don't think I've quite done her justice. 

Hmm, missed a spot when matt varnishing.

 

I'm not happy with her face; detail is shallow (it's one of West Wind's earlier sculpts; nice, but they got a lot more detailed by the time they produced the Empire of the Dead range) but I just couldn't settle on the correct shade (pale flesh) and I really mucked up her mouth - she looks more like Heath Ledger in the Batman film than a Victorian gentle lady.

Colour Choices

I chose fairly muted colours for her clothes, apart from her signature red scarf; I wondered why the combination of green, white and purple (the hat band and rosette) seemed familiar, it's the colours of the suffragette movement, though that's a little after Mina's initial involvement with the League, perhaps she inspired Emily Pankhurst?

Moving On

Anyway, enough rambling. What's next?

Well, I've a big project coming up, more on that another time, but I'd like to return to Mina and friends eventually.

Mina flanked by Dr Jekyll and Mister Hyde

Jez suggested I need Mr Hyde to accompany her, and I've got the rather nice West Wind Productions model.  There's no conversion required, so Hyde wouldn't count for the challenge.  He also mentioned an invisible assailant, so I've made a start on it, though I may save it for next year's challenge.

Current progress on 'The Invisible Assailant'

Thanks to Jez for having me, it's been a lot of fun and I hope to join in again next year.

Citadel Giant Restoration: Part2

Following on from part 1, the giant has had a bath in Dettol. I found a good sized tub, actually a Haribo sweet tub picked up from the local newsagents when empty, and a full bottle of Dettol. The remaining leg came off while being fitted in the tub, so now everything more or less fit in a large takeaway tub, placed inside the sweetie tub in case of spills.

Bathtime for the Citadel Giant 

Taking Time

I left the giant in the bath for a week, then gave all the bits a good scrub. This didn't quite remove all the paint, but it did loosen most of the glue joints, so I was able to dismantle the giant further. 

Then it was back into the Dettol again for another week. For a big job like this, it pays to be patient. 

Even this didn't get everything cleaned,  so he got one final Dettol bath.

The giant disassembled

Here's the giant, still with some traces of white primer. The gloopy texture made me wonder if it might even be white emulsion paint as this was quite commonly used at one time, especially before dedicated model primers were readily available. I've been guilty of this myself, but it's really not recommended.  At all.  Seriously, just don't do it, you're better off using standard acrylic paint if you can't find any primer.

One thing that's puzzling me is the glue. That brownish rubbery substance is what's left.  It's still stubbornly stuck around the joints, but all the components have now separated pretty much on their own. 

I'm not aware that two part epoxy glues behave like this, could it be some sort of contact adhesive?

Regardless, it peels off pretty easily. 

Once out of the Dettol,  there's still a bit of cleaning required. Orlyyg, in his excellent blog article, warns against just washing off the paint/Dettol gunge as it just congeals. He suggests neat washing up liquid before using water. 

My current method is to wipe everything as clean as possible with paper towels, then give everything another bath, this time in Isopropanol.  I've had this recommended as a paint stripper as well,  but have had no success (see my final post on my experiments).

Once thoroughly cleaned in Iso, it can be washed if required. 

The giant is now stripped and cleaned, but there's still that broken ankle to fix. That's the task next time. 

Forgotten Heroes Challenge 2 - Mina Converted

This was never going to be a massive conversion project. In fact, as you'll see, I've got as far as the base colours. 

Back to Basics

First job was that solid base. I started with a razor saw, but either it's getting blunt, the metal was particularly tough, or I'm getting weaker in my old age. I switched to a small saw from a Parkside set from Lidl, which did a reasonable job. It's quite a wide set* though, so I had to be careful with positioning so as not to lose any detail. 

Lost her Bottle?

I wanted to remove the bottle, and found a suitable right hand holding a knife on the Frostgrave Soldiers 2 sprue**.

The original hand plus bottle was easily removed, the donor hand trimmed and holes drilled for pinning. 

I have to admit that the hand is a bit large, even though the sprue is of female soldiers, but the Westwind mini is quite petite. I trimmed the hand so pretty much just the knuckles show,  hopefully it won't be too noticeable. 

The Scarf

I had a couple of goes with the scarf; I tried tissue paper with the intention of soaking it in PVA once I was happy with the shape.  But I struggled with the tissue, it kept tearing, and I didn't like the shape.  Then I tried newsprint, a material I'm much more familiar with.

I cut a long thin strip and creased it laterally.  I wrapped it round her neck,  then soaked it in water to make it easier to 'sculpt'. Once I was happy with the shape,  I dripped liquid superglue on it, which hardened and set it in place. 

After doing all this I found some nice strong foil that would have been even better, ah well.  I'll save it for future projects.

Base Colours

On to painting, and I needed to decide what colours to use. There's plenty of options in the source material, so I wasn't short of inspiration.

In the end I went for fairly plain colours. If I ever get the Irene Adler mini and convert that, I'll choose something brighter and fancier, but this is Mina being covert (rather as she is when investigating the Rotherhithe tunnel in volume 1), not Mina mixing in high society.

Still some shading and highlights to go,  but I'm confident that I can hit the deadline on the challenge. 

*The 'set' of a saw is the distance between the outer edge of the teeth.  The teeth are bent out slightly to help smooth cutting,  but this does mean that quite a bit of material is removed.

** I considered using an arm from the Frostgrave Wizards 2 set holding a book, as a nod to the cover of the volume 2 collection, but it looked far too large. 

Artefacts From My Gaming Past; Early Miniatures on Film

This old photograph turned up the other day.  I'm pretty sure it dates from the mid 80's.  At the time I was experimenting with photographing my painted minis, and this is one of the results, perhaps the only surviving picture.  At the time I was getting a lot of Photography help from a good friend (the owner of Kerwyn) and also from one of the photographers at work.  We tried all sorts; extension tubes, filters (actual physical things, not software effects).  The main limiting factor was the cost of having the film developed.

Horde of Goblins and Orcs

The minis are a mixed bunch.  The wargs and goblin rider are from the old Minifigs Mythical Earth range, the grey skinned orc on the left is a Citadel Fantasy Tribes orc, and I think the tall yellow skinned goblin might be Ral Partha, as is the standard bearer.

There's a Minifigs Dungeons and Dragons goblin just peeping out on the right, and a couple more of his friends behind the front rows.  Just visible at the back is the head and scimitar of a Mythical Earth orc.

The background looks like artwork of Sauron, probably taken from a calendar.  The minis are resting on a copy of The Silmarillion.

Wallowing in Nostalgia

Whilst there's not a lot to say about this, it tugs the nostalgia strings for me.  It's a good example of my painting from around 40 years ago, and it shows that I was experimenting with different skin colours for my various orcs and goblins.  In fact, not a single bit of green skin anywhere!  There's even an attempt at shading on the chap front right.

Also, a pleasing mix of manufacturers, something I've gone back to recently, but once I started playing Warhammer Fantasy Battles, I pretty much side-lined all the non Citadel stuff.

Well I hope you enjoyed this little dip into my old memories.  Perhaps you also have something to remind you of your gaming youth.

Hobhounds for Ashak Rise Complete

Ashak Rise Minis Finally Finished*

I've finally finished the remaining Hobhounds for Ashak Rise.  I'd got six of the Ral Partha Karmanthi Demons left to bring the pack up to ten; with the two proper Hobhounds and the other two Demons already painted,  this finishes off the orc forces for the battle. 

The remaining six hobhounds

The Paint Scheme

I tried to match the painting to the earlier mini, though actually I think they look better.  Briefly,  they are painted all over with Vallejo Model Color Orange Brown, followed by a stripe of Vallejo Game Color Charred Brown along the spine.  Before this was completely dry, I used watered down VGC Charred Brown to extend the dark colour down the flanks, becoming less intense away from the spine.  Then a drybrush of VMC Sunny Skin Tone, especially on the undersides. To add shade, I gave them a good coat of  'Marine Juice/Sonic Tonic', then finished off by painting the various spikes etc in VGC Khaki, then highlight with VGC Bonewhite.  Eyes and nose are just Vallejo Extra Opaque Heavy Charcoal. 

The Finished Unit

So here's Hobhound handler Grashak Kra of the Severed Hand tribe, with his pack of beasts. 

I'll admit to being a little intimidated by six models all requiring similar paint jobs, but when I got round to it they were fast and fun to do.

So that's all the minis for Ashak Rise finished; Dwarves, Pack Beasts, Orcs and Hobhounds.

Of course, I still need to look at the terrain, but perhaps not quite yet?

* Yes, finished, really!

Though as I've mentioned before, I'll return to the Severed Hand and add more models, just not anything required for this scenario.

Forgotten Heroes Challenge - Mina Murray

Another Distraction

Here I am, working my way through the Hobhounds for Ashak Ri... Ooo squirrel!!

In other words I've found another distraction. 

I first heard about the Forgotten Heroes challenge on Dave Stone's blog. It's run by Jez of Carrion Crow's Buffet and it looks great fun.

Given the amount of stuff I'm in the middle of doing, I thought I'd keep this low key, one mini, and I already have plans.

But what to do?

I've long enjoyed Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neil's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novels*, and some of Westwind Productions' Empire of the Dead minis are obviously meant to represent the League members; Alan Quartermain, Nemo, Griffin and both Jekyll and Hyde. 

But there's one glaring omission; Mina Murray. I already have a potential base mini for her, (actually a 'harlot' from West Wind's Vampire Wars range), essentially just a Victorian lady. 

Throughout the series Mina wears different outfits, so I'm not trying to match any particular costume, but to make it properly Mina, she needs a long red scarf. (If you don't know why, I won't spoil the surprise).

This should be easy to add, putty or possibly tissue. She also needs something other than a bottle in her right hand.  In the stories, Mina doesn't use weapons often, but in an early appearance we see her with a knife, so I'm sure I can find something suitable.

Mina Murray

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, from the cover of book two (Artist Kevin O'Neil)

Mina goes undercover (Artist Kevin O'Neil)

The Westwind harlot

Rear view of the mini

This harlot mini is the best dressed of the pack, long dress, coat and a hat that reminds me of Eliza Dolittle. Mina certainly does dress in a similar manner, as shown in the second picture of her above.  

If I want a classier version,  Westwind also do a great mini in the form of Irene Adler, but I don't have that mini (or if I do, I can't find her).

This should be a fairly quick distraction,  just one mini with a little bit of light conversion. 

If I like the result,  I've got the rest of the League to paint. 

Deeper Motivations

But why this sudden shift to Steampunk? Well, T'Other One's foray into 7TV got me thinking about a cast for myself.  I toyed with various ideas, such as the kids from the old D&D cartoon, but nothing quite hit the mark. Then, while sorting through more from the Attic of Shame, I found a box of minis from the Westwind Kickstarter.  I got a lot of the stuff, but never got around to doing anything with it. This might be my excuse to finally paint some of them. 

I suppose they'd make a cast for 7TV,  but since they are all major characters,  I'm not experienced enough with the system to see how that would work. 

I also have the Empire of the Dead 'Nemo and the Crew of the Nautilus' pack, which would probably make a better 7TV cast. They are easier to stat up as a Star (Nemo), Co-star (Broad Arrow Jack) and various cast members.  

And a random thought.  'Heart of Ice' details Jani, Nemo's daughter, following her dad's account of a voyage to the Antarctic. T'Other One is currently building Antarctic terrain for Beneath the Mountains of Madness, so I'm sure we could do something based around that. 

* There's a lot of information in the Wikipedia article about the League (I couldn't find a web page directly connected to the creators - the books are available in the usual place you'd expect to find them).

I really enjoyed them, especially the multiple references to other works of fiction, something I first came across in Kim Newman's Anno Dracula (incidentally, he wrote Warhammer fiction under the name Jack Yeovil).

Be aware though, that the League stories are definitely 18 rated and NSFW.