Stone Juggernaut

 

This subject is way off script for any of my paint project goals, but the rule of cool wins! This TPK machine comes from one of my long running 3D sculpting subscriptions: "Roleplaying & Miniatures." This sculptor takes his queue directly from subscriber suggestions which are then voted on monthly. Its a pretty cool system, and sometimes my pitch makes the cut! The stone juggernaut was one such suggestion of mine that gained the favor of the masses, and immediately earned a spot on the printer. 

Now, what possessed me to request one, if I have no real plans for it? It is friggin' cool! Stone juggernauts always struck me as one of those horrible and hopeless encounters for PCs - a giant fantasy steamroller made of solid rock set on squishing the heroes to goo? Seems totally unfair! Some are even magic users, which makes me want to evil-laugh. It makes sense that every piece of artwork I have seen of one portrays people running frantically away. Staring down the business end would definitely make me run.

Hobby-wise it was a straightforward project. The hollow print was easy, and the paint-scheme is simplistic; it's just a rock. I couldn't quite figure out how I wanted to handle the base on this boxy construct and I had a few false starts. Eventually I decided to gore-up a flagstone base I had sculpted to represent the remnants of prior victims. It seemed appropriate enough and I don't often do gore, so it was something different. I created the bone fragments and flesh-pulp with a mix of course spices, eggshells, and shredded toilet paper in Modpodge. I think it works pretty well despite being a crude basing technique.

Wight, Monk / Dreadmere Wight

 

My painting has been sluggish with a slew of spring projects to tackle, so while I work on something new here is a piece from the display cabinet that I have never previously shared. This rotten fellow is from the Reaper Bones 4 Kickstarter, and was the first piece I painted when the loot came in. I was feeling inspired and knocked him out as fast as I could as a speed-paint. 

It is a nice standalone piece, and I really appreciate that it is an undead with some character! The living dead are often stripped down to rags, or just bones, so an undead with some personality, or at least personal history, is much appreciated. It is also one of the few robed undead I own - the old manuals are stacked with robed corpses and the concept is nostalgic for me, but they are surprising hard to find as miniatures.

This wight remained unshared for so long mostly owing to how difficult it was to photograph - it has a forward lean which throws much of the model into shadow under natural light. I'm happy with these shots, after a few prior failed attempts, which I achieved by using a vertical light source.

I really enjoy painting the dead; they are one of the few times I allow myself really let loose with a gritty style and "ugly" models, with lots of haphazard washes. Of course, that is a self imposed concept. At one point I remember finding a miniature artist who did everything like that, in a limited unusual color palate to really great effect. I envied the stylistic commitment which I could never fully push myself to adopt.

Wolf Eel Familiar

 Another tiny sea creature from Reaper. I modeled this paint scheme after one of my favorite local species, the wolf eel. Not a true eel, but so cool! They get really big, so this would be a smaller specimen. 

I had a lot of fun with the stippling on this piece. Its a technique used commonly in canvas painting, but rarely gets used by miniatures artists. 

The toothy smile is really fun and not unlike the real thing.

 This may be my favorite of the set, so far.

 

 

Gelatinous Cube

 Wellllllll, some posts just don't seem that impressive. looking at you semi-transparent ooze cube! Given that, I really thought making one was going to be easy - HA! how wrong I was.

 This model is from epic miniatures, printed in clear resin. The model is hollow, presumably so it can sit over another model and engulf it. I'm not a huge fan of that type of gimmick, so I elected to fill the cavity with clear epoxy resin. I made some mistakes here - I was in a rush and I didn't do the optional steps to remove bubbles. As a consequence, the cube has loads of tiny bubbles that give it a foggy look. I ultimately hope to make some cubes with items floating in them, so Ill need to work on getting my resin clear moving forward.

 The second pitfall was the frosty nature of the layers of the print. I initially tried using a gloss coat, and it sorta' worked to clear it up but resulted in some paint checking around "drip" features that needed to be carved or sanded away. the layer was a bit on the thin side to prevent checking, which allowed the print layers to remain more visible. So, I ended up painting on print resin as a coating, then coating that with a thin layer of gloss.

The final obstacle was how to attach the cube to the base I had sculpted and painted (a 60mm base, which broke in half at one point - this project did not go smoothly). I settled on welding it to the base with more clear UV resin, but I left a few bubbles in places, and while it worked out it was far from easy, and definitely messy. still, not a bad strategy (especially since the other option was epoxy resin with very long cure times), but an error would've been costly.

The next one will be better! I plan on two more at some point with different details and "floaters." 

I cant promise better photos, though, they are just clear goo, after all.

Young Green Dragon / Venomfang

 

 

This fellow is an important encounter in LMoP - he may not be the BBEG, but has the potential to be super deadly. What's more, he is almost certain to survive and become a recurring threat. 

Paint wise this piece is pretty simple and was completed quickly. In retrospect I could've upped the contrast - under the bright lights it looks a little washed out. That said, I recall consciously going for a brighter look. <shrug> Just an excuse to revisit the green dragons again in the future; I definitely enjoy green color palates.

A bright spot here for me is the base. I typically sculpt my bases the old-school way with mixed media: polymer clay and green stuff. These days it isn't really necessary, but pushing clay is very calming and lets me really tell the story I want. In this case I was inspired by some unusual terrain I have seen from time to time - elevated grass mounds in flood plains and marshes. Nothing too fancy, but I do like the effect and I'll continue to toy with the execution of the concept. 

This model was completed in 2020, but I have yet to share it anywhere, so it feels like a new accomplishment. I feel like I'm finally making some meaningful progress towards completing LMoP, and That is some nice motivation to push through.

Redbrand Ruffian #2 / Human Bandit

 

The second in my series of ruffians is not nearly as unique, but that is the point! I like to make my groups of baddies to have some unique recognizable elements that can step in as NPCs, and some more generic models I can use in multiple encounters.

You might notice that I went with a model that isn't strictly identical to LMoP stats. I like a variety of weapons on my baddies that make them more interesting to paint and also to play with. A spear will force some tactical decisions that can make game-play more interesting. I think varied equipment is also more fitting of a ragtag group of criminals. More generally, these projects are my interpretation of my favorite modules, so I make changes as I see fit. 

This model was made by Vae Victis, and was really nice to paint. It has an excellent balance of clean detail and feature depth that made it take paint smoothly without being too busy. I resized it a bit, as I do with nearly everything; it is on a 25mm base.

 

 

 

 use repeatedly in encounters