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 

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 

Wildspire Miniatures: Bugbears, Mummies and Dire Wolves Painted

In my last post I mentioned that I recently got a set of Wildspire miniatures, specifically the Classic Creatures Expansion 1. 

I've begun the process of painting them, here's my first batch (about a week's worth of fairly relaxed painting).

Twelve painted Wildspire minis

Four Bugbears

Most of the monsters in the sets come in fours, nicely building up a collection and giving me a manageable number to tackle at any one time. 

So I randomly dipped into the box and came out with Bugbears.

Preparation 

These four were washed, there was quite a bit of mould release agent on them, then they got the hot water treatment to straighten the pole arms.

There are some mould lines on them; not awful, but visible. I did try removing them, but I'm not that familiar with the material (PVC?), and it seemed to tear rather than cut cleanly, so I left them. 

Then a priming coat of Vallejo German Green Brown Primer.  I considered giving them a lining wash and white drybrush, followed by Xpress/Speedpaints, but the detail looks a little shallow in places, so I'm sticking with more traditional methods. 

Painting 

The fur was Vallejo Game Color Plague Brown, which was then drybrushed with a 1:1 mix of the Plague Brown and Vallejo Model Color Pale Sand (the result looking so much like VMC Sunny Skin, that if there's a next time, I'll just use that).

The darker fur was Vallejo Extra Opaque Heavy Sienna, applied first as a thinned coat and then, as that was still drying, neat over a smaller area, especially the head. This gives the effect of the dark fur fading. I picked out some of the tufts of fur with VGC Beasty Brown to highlight.

I tried to give the equipment a mixed look, after all, bugbears scavenge their gear, so some of the pauldrons are leather (brown or black) and one is metallic. They each have a cloth 'skirt' for which I used different colours to identify individual minis. They also have bits of what I thought looked like a gambeson. So those were a dirty canvas colour, rather like the dwarven crossbows I painted a while back.

Metallic areas were given a wash with Army Painter Dark Tone, then everything was given a wash of Marine Juice/Sonic Tonic.

To lift them a bit after the wash, they got a very light drybrush of VMC Pale Sand.

Finally, I picked out eyes and teeth as best I could.

Finishing 

I wondered about basing. Normally I'd remove minis from their bases and rebase on clear acrylic, but this seems to go against the spirit of these 'cheap and cheerful' minis.

In the end I went for a light colour, VGC Cold Grey. Hopefully they'll look okay on stone dungeon floors and in more natural surroundings.

I may texture them with sand at some point.

They were finished with a coat of matt varnish.

The four bugbears

Four Mummies

Having rather enjoyed painting the four bugbears, I took another dip into the box and drew out the mummies. 

Now there's not much to these.  They certainly look the part, shambling corpses wrapped in bandages, but there's nothing really special about them. 

Preparation 

As with the bugbears, these were washed, given the hot water treatment (some of them had gone from undead lurching to drunken staggering) and primed with Vallejo German Green Brown Primer. 

Painting 

They were pretty simple to do. Drybrush of VGC Khaki, then Bonewhite and finally Off White. 

I wanted to do more than that though, so I squinted hard and imagined that some of the preserved flesh was showing in gaps between the bandages (rather like the Heroquest Mummies).

I've seen mummies in museums (including, gloriously, as a child, Tutankhamun) and the flesh tends to be a dark brown.  But that would have looked a bit too much like deep shading on the bandages, so I went for a dark grey instead, VMC Dark Blue Gray.

When I got to the head, it seemed to be partially unwrapped, with a bit of hair and the jaw showing among the bandages.  I tried to make these features stand out, simply to give a bit more interest.

Four shambling mummies Four Dire Wolves My next dip pulled out the Dire Wolves. These have a lot of definition on the sculpted fur, so I tried using Speedpaints. Preparation  After washing - no hot water treatment needed this time - I primed in white. Then they got a lining wash of 1:1 Army Painter Dark Tone and Vallejo Xpress Paint Medium. Finally they were drybrushed white, to approximate a zenithal undercoat. Painting  I wanted them to look like the Citadel wolves I painted back in 2024; greys shading up from a pale belly through darker flanks and finishing with a very dark colour along the spine. I started with a 1:1 mix of Army Painter Speedpaint Holy White and Runic Gray on the belly, face and legs, then, while that was still wet, just Runic Gray on the outside of the legs, particularly the tops, and the flanks. I let this dry before adding coats of Runic Gray and Gravelord Gray, then straight Gravelord Gray. Once that had dried, it was a Gravelord Gray and Grim Black mix. Finally just Grim Black.  Each coat covers a smaller area higher up the body, until the final coat is just a thin line along the spine.  This doesn't match any particular animal that I'm aware of, but I feel that it does look suitably lupine (if I do the boars, I'll give them brown fur in a similar fashion).  I then switched to more conventional painting for details such as the eyes and teeth.

Four Dire Wolves

So are Wildspire Miniatures Any Good?

Now I've painted some of the set, I've a better idea.  I'll do a full proper post if folk are interested once I've painted a few more.  Who knows, I may even get the full set painted this century.

Pros

I like these minis. I've certainly got nicer D&D minis, but not at anything close to this price. They paint up well, and having just four of them is a good number for me to tackle before I lose enthusiasm, almost like the 'palette cleansers' I used to do back in 2021.

They're recognisable for what they are (well, assuming you know what a bugbear is), and I'm sure they'll go well on the table top.

After painting both bugbears and mummies with traditional techniques, I was pleased how well the Speedpaints worked on the textured fur of the wolves; I'll be looking out for opportunities to do this again.

Cons

If I'm being critical, the detail on the bugbears (and other humanoids, but I'm looking at the 'bears here) faces isn't great, though I think I've managed to at least hint at teeth and eyes.  If you're a stickler for correct equipment, bugbears should have shields and use morning stars, though it would certainly be easy to swap the polearm blade for an appropriately spiky weapon head.

The mummies are dull, though this is more a case of the subject matter.  Mind you, even just adding weapons would have made them more interesting.

They all seem a bit small compared to modern RPG minis, which  have got larger over the years.  I would imagine that the bugbears would scale nicely with the first lot of bugbears in the WotC pre-painted line, but I don't think I've got any left for comparison.

The worst issue with size is the Dire Wolves.  In D&D they are large creatures, and have been for multiple editions.  These are on medium bases, though they certainly take up a lot of space on those bases.  It might be possible to rebase them, but that's beyond the scope of this little project.

Whats Next?

I've plenty of stuff I should be painting and building now the D&D adventure is done, but these made a nice little diversion.

This group of 12 minis is 20% of the box, by mini count.

I shall continue to dip in and paint them in groups of four in between other stuff.  I'm keeping track on the photo on the box lid.

Keeping score.  12 down, 48 to go

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 

The Secret of the Thunderforge Playthru

Here's my write up of the face to face session.  

But first, a few points.  I'm no writer, so apologies for the style and the overlong prose. Reading back it seems all about Tharnak, while it's true that this was his character arc, all the players got lots to do.  My note taking may have focused on him, but in play it was very much a group effort.  I didn't take many pictures, mostly because we were all concentrating on the game.  There are more of the minis and the scenery in the relevant posts.

Also, the structure is technically a foundry more than a forge, but the name stuck.  Apologies if this bothers you (it does me, a little).

Now, read on...

Background 

The party were investigating why the northern branch of the dwarf paladin's clan were considered anathema.

To answer this question, they explored the abandoned furnace and forge of the clan, situated in a flooded cavern. 

Previous sessions showed them that they needed to open some valves and shut others to drain the cavern, and in a previous foray, they actually gained entrance to the uppermost levels. Here they were met by the bizarre site of many of the clan, turned to stone! What's more, they seemed to have undergone the process willingly.

The Heroes plus Hangers On

The heroes consist of;

Harrow, tiefling cleric of The Raven Queen 

Kei, dragonborn wizard

Roland, half elven paladin of Bahamut

Tarryn, elven rogue 

Tharnak Thunderforge, dwarven paladin of Kord

Timbers, gnome bard

They are accompanied by Kluku, a construct built in the form of a small dragon, Tordek and Lonar Deepdelve, father and son and Clan chief and heir of the Deepdelves.

Kluku was adopted by the party (especially Harrow) when they met him trying to sell them merchandise in the abandoned Thunderforge market. He has proven useful with his knowledge of Clan individuals.

Some of the Heroes of  Nentir Vale can be seen in one of last years' posts.

Draining the Cavern 

The first stage was to drain the water; accompanied by Tordek, Chief of the Deepdelve Clan, they were able to enter the room containing huge metal pipes with tarnished wheels, presumably some sort of tap?  Water pooled around them, but Harrow was eventually able to open one valve. When Roland joined in, the puddle rose up and attempted to engulf him. Fortunately, the group soon dispatched the creature. 

It was a simple matter then to open the second valve, causing a drop in the water level in the cavern.

But water was still gushing in through the ceiling. 

Earlier, the heroes found a room above the cavern with similar pipework, but with no apparent control, only a blue crystal set in the wall. Time to go back and check further.

Tharnak's use of the Thunderforge motto seemed to bring the crystal to life; glowing runes appeared in a language none of the party understood. Tordek was annoyed; these defences were supposed to require at least two Clans to lift, the ancient Thunderforges were clearly keeping secrets from his clan. 

Harrow mollified him; surely the Deepdelves also had clan secrets?

Kei used his magic (comprehend languages) to try and read the writing, but when he touched the stone, his eyes lost focus and he slumped. His mind was elsewhere, where a strange watery presence demanded to know what he wanted. 

Questioning revealed that it was an elemental creature of water. Despite it's alleged great power, it was compelled simply to control and direct water for the dwarves.  Kei asked it to turn off the water, but the dragonborn was no dwarf to be obeyed without question, what could he offer in exchange?

Quickly Kei asked what it wanted. Would it like the blue crystal? With delight, it seized the thing binding it to servitude and vanished, shutting off the flow as it went.

The players thought this rash. Without the elemental would the forge still operate? Was Highpeak doomed to a dry dusty future? As Kei's consciousness returned, this was something to ponder. 

The water now drained slowly out, revealing a lower wooden bridge, another door in the side of the forge, and a series of mine tunnels leading from the cavern. The Deepdelves suspected that this was a section of their mines that had long been flooded.

The Fate of the Forge Master 

The heroes then persuaded Tordek to remain outside. He was a leader, but no warrior. He agreed, providing his son Lonar accompanied them. At Tharnak's insistence, dwarves were placed at intervals so that the alarm could be raised if needed.

The doors opened at Tharnak's whispered words. "More Thunderforge treachery" Tordek muttered as he took up position just outside.

Entering the Master Forge

The doors had leather seals to keep out the water, and the place was warm and dry. Pillars supported the ceiling and steps led up to doors, presumably the doors that had proven impossible for Tarryn to open in a previous session.

In one corner a cylindrical feature rose floor to ceiling, a faint reddish glow emanating from it. 

Both a ramp and a shaft led below and various tubs and crates littered the room, filled with rubble.

Entering the Ore Floor

A shuffling sound behind the pillars alerted the heroes. What could be moving after 300 years?

Tharnak concentrated; as a paladin, he could sense the undead, and there was an undead creature there. It slunk forward, hissing and licking it's dry lips. It was, or had been, a dwarf. 

Still wearing the remains of its apron and work wear and clutching a metal staff topped by a miniature anvil it approached.

"Ah, rescue, at last. But why did you abandon us for so long? Deepdelve doings I'll wager".

Tharnak, Roland and Harrow watched its approach, the tiefling mentally preparing the blessing of the Raven Queen that should send it to it's rest. But the creature seemed to want to talk, so the heroes questioned it.

In between complaining about how hungry it was, and it's shame at what it had had to do to survive, it revealed that it was Goran, the Forge Master, and son of the Clan Chief. When asked, Kluku recognised him, confirming his tale.

At some point (he seemed confused by the time he'd been shut away) Highpeak was attacked. There were reports of Grey Dwarves in the depths. All dwarves mobilised, but Keldrick, the Thunderforge chief suspected the Deepdelves were behind this.

He withdrew as many of the Clan as possible to the Master Forge. A great battle was fought in the cavern outside (where, incidentally, the bravery of the Deepdelves proved they were innocent of collusion with the dvergar at least). When all seemed lost, Keldrick triggered the defence mechanisms, flooding the cavern and the lower mines.

With a supply of food and drink, they settled down to wait. With the dvergar washed away, surely the other clan chiefs would drain the cavern and release them?

But no help came.

Keldrick issued instructions to his son to lead the apprentices in the regular rituals that kept the forge running and stable, then ushered the rest of the Clan upstairs. A short while later he returned, pale and shaken, locked the doors and sat, sword in hand guarding the stairs.

Now Goran became very upset as he recalled how they ran out of food. Flosi, the youngest apprentice, fell ill and passed away, solving the food problem for a while. 

Eventually, only Goran remained, he glossed over what happened to his father, but did mutter that "he didn't stand a chance against all of us". 

His anger at being abandoned returned and he prepared to attack, exuding a foul stench which caused the paladins to retch.

"They couldn't help, there was a dragon. It attacked and drove everyone away" pleaded Harrow, staying the creature.

He remained suspicious at the timing, but Tharnak commanded him to stand down. Recognising, perhaps, the Thunderforge blood, he declared his watch over, bowed and offered up his staff, begging the adventurers to save the foundry which he feared was dangerously unstable. Harrow offered to finish the undead creature's existence, but Tharnak took that responsibility.

Searching the area revealed that the round structure in the corner was the top of a furnace. Peering in, the heroes were surprised to see it was still lit (and very hot).

Rummaging through the various tubs and bins, the heroes found they contained ores of different kinds.  Strangely, some of the more valuable pieces accidentally fell into Tarryn's pockets.

Disturbingly, there were also gnawed bones, among which was a fine sword, a key and a ring.

The sword had clearly had three gemstones embedded in the hilt, though they were now missing. The ring matched the ghostly ring the ghost placed on Tharnak's finger when they first arrived in Highpeak, and the key opened the doors at the top of the stairs, to Tarryn's delight (they had previously tried to open this from the other side, but the poor thief only rolled a 2).

Descending the slope, the adventurers reached a mezzanine level. Wooden flooring partially concealed the floor below, flickering flames near the ceiling illuminated the area.

Descending to the mezzanine level

View from the other end of the room

But as the heroes explored further, the flames moved! Three bat like creatures wreathed in fire flew at the intruders.

Roland swung at one with his glaive, cutting it in half caused a burst of flame. Seeing this, the heroes resorted, where possible, to ranged attacks. 

Lonar was determined to prove his worth and charged towards one of the bats but slipped and fell (natural 1). As he recovered, the characters were assaulted by more of the bats. They made quick work of them with arrows, magic missiles and, where necessary, glaive and the Forge master's staff. With the creatures destroyed, the party were happy to tell Lonar that he had finished one of them off.

During the fight, Tharnak discovered that the staff protected him somewhat from fire and seemed especially effective against the elemental creatures.

(This encounter made the most of the partial nature of this level, and being able to place the two levels on the table.  Sadly no proper picture of the encounter in play, but the next picture does show three levels with the heroes on the mezzanine in the middle and Lonar sprawled on the floor).

Fighting the Fire Bats

In haste to get to the heart of the forge, the heroes quickly looked around, then descended the ramp to the floor below.

The forge had a spout angled towards the centre of the room, which was covered in sand. Investing this revealed that the sand was of some depth. 

It also disturbed something.

A vaguely humanoid figure formed out of the sand and attacked. No chance to parley, it only wanted to destroy.

Despite it blinding Tharnak with a storm of sand, the heroes proved their worth.  Roland's use of his glaive at distance proved especially useful, and the Forgemaster's Staff walloped lumps out of the thing. Shatter spells seemed less effective against it's sandy nature, but it soon collapsed back onto the floor under the combined assault.

The Sand Thing attacks

The party were surprised when opening the furnace door released a stream of molten metal. The foundry was still operable after all these years, though they could find nothing that looked like it could stabilise the forge.

But there were steps down, so down they went.

The bottom of the foundry was a large octagonal pillar supporting the cylinder above. Wooden walls surrounded the central area and a lift platform rested below the square shaft. The adventurers tried to get this working, but whatever mechanism drove it didn't respond.

But their main focus was the foundry base.

Like the water room high up in the forge, there was a crystal engraved in Primordial, but this one was red.

When touched, a voice asked if they wanted to access 'The Chamber of the Tooth". Of course the party said yes, and found themselves transported to a room the same size as the basement.

A rainbow swirl of colour lit the place and many of the party felt a strange itch or buzz as the energy in the chamber was intense.

The only features here were six large crystals and, corresponding to the foundry, a large tooth thrust through the floor.

Coloured energies swirled around the tooth. 

The crystals spun on their axis, four were irregular shapes and glowed red. Their spin was erratic. A fifth was similar, but a much paler colour. The ghostly shape of a dwarf could be seen trying to control it. The final crystal was regular and shone with a clear light. Another dwarf spirit was controlling this.

Tharnak recognised the latter as the ghost that had treated him earlier, the party was sure the other spirit was that of the Forge Master.

Kei quickly deduced that the crystals controlled the flow of energies from the Elemental Chaos. Presumably the tooth somehow let them through?

Four of the crystals clearly needed attention. Kei and Timbers could use their knowledge of arcane procedures to do this, but since the whole device undoubtedly referred back to the Dawn War, the cleric and paladins could too; different path, same destination.

Tarryn elected to stay on watch, and, after brief consideration, Tharnak joined her. He did attend classes back in the temple, but the finer points eluded him and he felt he could add little to the crystal work.

Before the heroes began, Harrow (I think) called on the Raven Queen to bless their work. Then they set to.

As soon as they began the energies around the tooth coalesced and two fiery spirits appeared.  Tharnak and Tarryn tackled these, and they were soon dispatched.  As the rest of the party concentrated, their crystals began to loose the angry red colour, but they needed more attention to stabilise them, alas, Harrow took longer than the rest, giving more fire spirits the chance to attack, but they were no match for Tarryn and Tharnak.

As the last crystal turned clear and spun smoothly, the energy from the tooth flowed pure and clear.

The ghost of the elder dwarf bowed to the party and turned to Tharnak "you are a true Thunderforge" he said.

And that's pretty much where we left it, time was passing, and many of us had long journeys.

Some more story was revealed as we packed away.  The tooth was that of a Primordial (presumably a dead one!) that pierced the veil between the Elemental Chaos and the material Realm.  The dwarves didn't know where it came from, but it allowed them to access very high temperatures for the foundry and forge, and control them too a very fine degree.  This was the Secret of the Thunderforges.  Keldrik (the last Clanmaster) had found out the Deepdelve secret, and it wasn't anything to do with the dvergar.  He didn't feel it appropriate to divulge it though...

I'll finish by thanking my players for turning up and making this an amazing gaming experience. 

Look out for more posts showing the minis and the terrain, and I may even waffle on about some of the choices I made.

Artefacts From my Gaming Past - Initiative Tracker and Game Board

These don't look particularly exciting, but they were an important part of my roleplaying, including the long-running D&D 4E campaign. 

Game board and Initiative Markers

The little name tiles were used to track initiative.  They are magnetic and we used a metal note board, changing the order each combat, and sometimes during combat as folk delayed and similar. 

Whilst fairly humble, this board and the tiles were present every session from Winterhaven onwards.

The surviving names are Fyodor (NPC bard, briefly run as a PC and finally retired in favour of Switch, halfling rogue), Kathra (dwarf fighter with a complicated life and death story arc), and Ozzie (multiple resurrected wizard and school founder).  The red edged tiles originally simply read Creature 1 etc.

If the initiative tracker has been around for years, then the board is even older. 

I made it from one of the fold out paper mats that came with the first D&D Miniatures Game Starter Sets back in 2003.  It's similar to the card sheet included in an early Adventurer Magazine.

I glued it to 3 mm thick card salvaged from the skip at work and covered the surface with clear sticky back plastic. It handles both dry erase and wet erase markers.

The total size is 22 inches by 34 inches and it folds down to a quarter that size. 

It saw use in the Miniatures Game as well as during my 3/3.5 edition days and well in to 4th edition. Although I was printing out floor plans - I remember one of a wizards' tower from B10 Night's Dark Shadow (an excellent adventure), designed on Dundjinni, and printed out on many sheets and with lots of ink - but for most play this board did the job, and even provided the battle ground for the siege in the first chapter of B10.

It's real strength lay in the ease of sketching out an encounter area or battle-map on the fly, which helps avoid the DM's feeling of wasted effort if the players avoid an encounter with ready made floorplans.  It's quite liberating.

As always, this artefact post is really more about the memories than any actual value of the artefacts. These remind me of the fun I've had playing role playing games over the past many years.

Do you have any gaming related stuff that you've used over many years?

*EDIT* I just found a couple more trackers,  soon I'll have the full party.