Presenting ... Bob Moss

When I saw this Classic Treant from the Nolzur's Marvelous Unpainted Miniatures line by WizKids, I couldn't resist buying it. It looks like it came straight out of the first edition Monster Manual.

Whether I end up using it for Shadowdark, I figured the sculpt, with all that texture, would be easy to paint, and I was right.

I sprayed it with a dark brown basecoat (Rustoleum's Espresso paint+primer) and drybrushed the trunk in lighter shades of brown craft paint, then a golden yellow, then a light gray.

I did the leaves the same way, starting with a dark hunter's green, adding successively brighter shades, and finishing with a light drybrush of bright yellow.

The eyes were ivory, then an antique maroon for the colored part, then a dot of bright yellow for a highlight. I then added grass and plants to the base, and Bob's your treant!

My latest obsession ...

 Shadowdark!

After hearing good things about it on the you-tubes, I picked up a hardbound copy of the Shadowdark RPG from its publisher, The Arcane Library. 

Shadowdark uses modern mechanics (such as d20 difficulty checks and advantage/disadvantage) to provide an old-school experience (dungeon crawls and emergent narrative). Part of that OSR vibe is that characters don't get experience for defeating bad guys, just for finding treasure. This mechanic inspires out-of-the-box thinking instead of just trying to kill everything that moves.

The writing is concise and reminds me of the Holmes Basic rulebook--sections are one or two pages, and concepts explained in a few paragraphs. Part of that is character creation: Roll 3d6 in order for each stat, pick an ancestry and class, roll for starting money, and you have a PC in under 10 minutes.

My gaming group is mostly wargamers, but they've expressed willingness to try out this D&D-type experience, so I hope to have a scenario prepped for them soon. I'd like to eventually turn it into a West Marches-style sandbox campaign, but for now I just want to run a dungeon crawl.

Has anyone played this RPG? Does it sound like something you would be willing to try? If my description of Shadowdark sparks your interest, you can get the Quickstart Set for free. Let me know what you think!

Behold!

Presenting: The Eye Tyrant; a.k.a. The Sphere of Many Eyes, a.k.a. The Beholder!

This figure depicting the classic D&D monster is from the Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures line by WizKids.

My wife purchased this casting and asked me to paint it for her to take to the office, where it will sit next to the giant I painted for her last year.

I was again very flattered that she asked me to paint a mini for her. Although she's not the gamer I am, she does appreciate my creativity and encourage me to pursue my hobby.

For this minature, I primed it black, then did a lot of drybrushing various shades of color-shifting paint from the craft store (mainly Blue Flash and Purple Flash, using Red Flash, White Flash, and Yellow Flash for the eyeballs. I also used some Army Painter Speed Paints around the mouth and tongue.

This model does come with six of its eyes sculpted onto the main body, and you have the option of adding plain eyestalks or eyestalks shooting magical beams (my spouse chose the former).

Here's a top-down view in case you're curious.

And the figure is very large when compared to human-sized minis; making for a terrifying opponent in the dark lower levels of the dungeon.

Or, in this case, menacing the other miniature next to my wife's work computer. Either way, I enjoyed painting it!

Still around

 I know it's been awhile--OK, a year since my last post. I have fallen out of the blogging habit, with no real motivation to post more regularly.

Don't worry, though! I am still gaming and still painting miniatures. As proof, here is some sort of giant model I picked up at a flea market last year. I think it's from a Vikings boardgame.

This figure was very easy to paint, thanks to the sculpting and to the Army Painter speed paints I was using.

I was planning on using him in Oathmark, D&D, or Frostgrave, but instead my wife took him to put on her desk at work. I'm flattered she likes my work that much!

Who knows, maybe I will start blogging more soon. Meanwhile, happy gaming.

Alien statue

This piece of scatter terrain was simple to make: a dollar-store action figure (Final Faction) glued atop a pill bottlecap. 

Painting was also straightforward: black primer and a couple of shades of purple heavily drybrushed, including some color-shifting purple to give it an otherworldly glow that's even more apparent in person.

It's a tall piece of scenery for D&D, Stargrave, Frostgrave, Song of Blades and Heroes, or pretty much any 28mm sci-fi or fantasy game.

Silver dragon

I know it's been more than a month since I've posted. I've done some gaming and gaming-adjacent activities, but I just haven't been motivated. But I am proud of this Dungeons & Dragons mini, a WizKids young silver dragon--it was quick and easy to paint, and I bought it at my wife's suggestion (along with another one for her to paint).

For the drake itself, I chose all metallic colors: gunmetal gray, sterling silver, regular silver, and pearlescent white, in various undercoats, washes, and drybrushes, and some color-shifting white to highlight the creature's horns. The rock the beast is crouching on took some burnt umber and a drybrush of tan, then linen. Like I said, quick and easy.

I don't know when I will get this in a game--or even which game (D&D, Frostgrave, Melee/Wizard, Song of Blades & Heroes ...), but at least it will be ready.

Another bookcase

Some more scatter terrain as part of my quest to apply pigment to castings, this time a bookcase from the Reaper Bones line. I don't feel as guilty not doing a traditional human/humanoid figure, because I feel like I put nearly the same amount of work into this piece of furniture (what with painting all the individual books and all). 

Plenty of detailing on this casting, although I'm not a fan of the company name and copyright symbol on the back of the thing (which now that I think about, I could have sanded down). Paint, wash, and drybrush really brings out the wood grain.

Because the bottom of this piece isn't flat, even after some sanding, I glued a small section of actual wood to the model to keep it steady and upright. As you can see, it goes well with 28mm figures.

Another addition for my skirmish games (D&D, Frostgrave, Melee/Wizard, Song of Blades & Heroes, etc.). And as you can see, it's part of a matching set--although I painted this slightly different than the first one I did.

I'm very pleased with how this model came out, and I like it better than my initial version. But I want to ask people veiwing this blog, does it look like there is that much of a difference? Please let me know.

Some furniture

I've been behind on my self-imposed schedule of At Least One Miniature A Week (thanks to a difficult spaceship build and videogames), but these two packages from the Reaper Bones line, the bed and the set of table & benches, should nearly catch me up. Very easy to paint, thanks to washes and drybrushing, and I've got two more (or four, if you count the parts of the kitchen set separately) items ready for the game table.

If you run skirmish games or roleplaying games, you can always use more set dressing, and these pieces will come in handy across a variety of rules. As you can see, they're approximately 28mm scale and will work in my games of D&D, Frostgrave, Melee/Wizard, Song of Blades & Heroes, and so on. Meanwhile, I will start sorting through my pile of bare casting for the next mini to paint.

Water weird and well

This week was more quickie paint jobs, this time a couple of water weirds from the good ol' Reaper Bones line of minis. And since I like the idea of "before & after" versions of the same thing, I chopped off the critter from one model, giving me a nice well or cistern for your dungeon crawling pleasure. 

The chopping off part worked well, since the exacto blade made a circle of unnatural stillness in the otherwise bubbling water, ready to lure in the unsuspecting adventurer.

I've always been a fan of the translucent miniatures, and I do like how this came out. Now I have some dungeon decor/scatter terrain for use as a scenario objective, or just a nasty surprise.

As a bonus third figure, I took the creature that I had lopped off from the well and glued it to an acrylic base. Now I have a water elemental-type being that can appear anywher on the game board (but probably in or close to a water feature).

All in all, some fairly productive work for me today, and I hope everyeone else is getting a chance to accomplish something hobby-related. Thanks for stopping by the Dreadnought.

Duo of centipedes

 

Following up on last week's critters, here are two more creepy-crawlies, a pair of Reaper Bones giant centipedes. Again, easy to paint up and suitable for use with any dungeon-crawl or skirmish game.

Ticks (6)

I wasn't in the mood to paint, and thought about skipping my weekly miniature work, and then I saw these giant ticks from the Reaper Bones line. Fairly easy to paint, and now I have some critters that you might see in your games of D&D or Frostgrave.

These were fairly easy to do, but it took me a long time because sometimes it's hard for me to concentrate on painting. But hey--that more figures I can now say are done!

Another Ogre completed

 

No, not that kind of Ogre ... this model is an Ogre Chieftain from Reaper Miniatures' Bones line. 

I had fun painting him, but such a large figure was more challenging than the smaller castings I've done lately.

For a color scheme, I decided to go with Gary Gygax's description from the original AD&D Monster Manual: dead yellow skin, green hair, and black teeth (actually I used dark gray with highlights, and the fangs came out brighter than I intended).

In the end, this felt like I never would finish it. I would try to do something, make a mistake, attempt to fix the mistake, make another mistake ... I finally called it done when it looked like most of the blunders cancelled out one other.

Like I said, working on this substantial mini made it hard for me to keep on-task. Since I needed a break from the big guy every now and then, I did some quick paint-ups of a couple more familiars (also Bones minis).

I'm happy with the expression on the little red guy, but the tree creature doesn't really have much of a face. But a base coat and drybrush gives me something to put on the table.

So that's three more miniatures painted this month, for a total of eight figures! If I can keep up this habit, I should get a lot done this year. Thanks for reading, and as a reward, here's a group shot of this week's work.  

As you can see, quite a size difference. See you next time, and keep painting!

At least one miniature a week

Last year was a shitshow, for so many reasons, and then 2021 said, "Hold my beer and watch this." No in-person gaming, of course, and I was not very productive when it came to minis or terrain or even this blog. So in order to motivate myself and keep my mind off current events, I decided I will paint at least one miniature a week this year. 

Here's the result for week 1: a female martial artist from Reaper that's been sitting primed in my closet for several years. It's not an award-worthy effort--I paint to a tabletop standard, where figures look good at arm's length or more--but it's done. Completing this figure to where it can go on the mat gave me a sense of accomplishment (and material for this blog).

My gaming buddies are able to crank out mini after mini, week after week, but it's harder for me. I don't know whether it's laziness or a short attention span, but my eyes are bigger than my concentration when it comes to painting gaming miniatures. So I'm gonna use this weekly showcase to get in the habit and inspire myself, and hopefully my fellow gamers.

I don't have to be a great painter of miniatures. I just have to paint. The more I apply pigment to figure, the easier it will become. See y'all next week.

So here's a thing I painted

This is some sort of beholder-adjacent critter (spectator) from WizKids' line of Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures.

I had fun painting this guy and his two companions (gazers) from the blister pack. They came already primed, and on plastic stands. I added an acrylic base to make the big guy more stable.

I'm a sucker for these out-of-the-ordinary creatures. You can't really tell from these photos, but I used color-shifting paints on the eyes.

I don't know if I will use this figure for D&D, but it will come in handy as a demon or other monster for our Frostgrave games, which we're still playing.

I have a hard time getting motivated to paint minis, even to a tabletop standard, so I am proud to get this out of my unpainted pile and into my gaming pile. I need to work on another one for next week.