Wizkids Pathfinder Monsters

 

I've had a whole bunch of Wizkids miniatures sitting around waiting for paint for ages. I decided it was unlikely they'd make it to the front of my queue, so I asked Brushchewer to get them painted. These sculpts, erm, aren't very good. Sorry Brushchewer!

This set are for Pathfinder - a Cultist and a Devil, and a pair of Doppelgangers.

I thought I'd write a few thoughts about using cultists and devils in Pathfinder, although I haven't had a chance of playing Pathfinder yet. So I went to look up Devils and Cultists in Pathfinder . . . and none of their devils look like the model, and their official Cultist stat block doesn't use magic.

So really, these are generic "baddy horrible floaty humanoid" and "baddy spellcaster" than a particular stat block. But both are good reliable stalwarts that you'll be able to fit into a bunch of fights.

Doppelgangers are a pretty well established trope baddy to use in fantasy RPGs. You want to be careful to give ways of players working things out before the reveal rather than just play an undetectable gotcha, but there's a good bunch of options for them.

In Pathfinder, Doppelgangers are a level 3 threat, so something players are likely to see in the earlier part of a longer campaign. The could be a hidden surprise as part of a more complicated plot, a mastermind of a scheme, or a lead to a next arc as players discover a henchperson of the villain was actually some kind of spy or infiltrator...

D&D Minis - Monsters of Wildemount Set 2

Recently Wayland Games held a flash sale of pre-painted Wizkids miniatures, so I grabbed a couple of boxes of Critical Role miniatures. First up is the "Monsters of Wildemount Set 2" box. This is populated with models from their second campaign, set on the continent of Wildemount in Exandria.

The Gearkeeper Construct is probably based on an encounter in Season 2 where the players were asked to deal with an out of control construct. There's a stat block for it in Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, which places it as a pretty hefty mid level threat for players. It's a pretty horrid stabby monster with a whole bunch of nasty abilities that characters will really dislike when they find out about them.

It might be a bit glossy for my liking, but I'll live, I guess.

The Gloomstalker and Moorbounder are monsters from the area known as Xhorhas. The Moorbounders are used as mounts at times in Xhorhas but both are dangerous predators that are pretty well known to fans of Critical Role, so good signifiers for "you're in the world of Critical Role now". The Moorbounders are suitable at pretty low level, while the Gloomstalkers would need a party to have gained a few levels before facing them.

And now, a whole bunch of aquatic villains and monsters, as there was a significant oceanic theme to a good section of the campaign... The yellow critter is a Swavain Basilisk, a big mid level aquatic monster with a few risks for an appropriately levelled party. This sort of monster makes absolute sense in the world as most "low level" commoners and sailors would be absolutely wrecked by it, making it a believable threat.

The other larger monster at the back is a Merrow Shallowpriest, a powerful spellcaster who can either be an end boss for a lower level party, or an excellent addition to a group of aquatic attackers against higher level characters.

At the front on the right is a Sea Fury, a powerful hag that provides a good higher level threat when a "normal" sea hag isn't a sufficient threat. It's got a bunch of spells and abilities that make it a moderate threat, but doesn't just feel like a skilled combatant, as that wouldn't really fit the "feel" of a hag.

Finally, the front left monsters is a Sahuagin, specifically one intended to be used as a Warlock of Uk'otoa, one of the setting's "big bad" monsters that had a chunk of influence on the story of the second Critical Role campaign. It's pretty comparable in many ways to a PC Warlock at the mid levels, but with quite a few more spells available and a couple of neat tricks easily explained as boons of its patron. I also suspect that as a relatively low hit point caster, it's rarely going to end up using all its spells before PCs take it down, but the "use each of these six spells once each" build is much easier to track than a PC with fewer hard choices for a DM to make when they're trying to focus on delivering a narrative.

This isn't a bad set, but it feels like you'd probably want a whole bunch of Moorbounders, and several Gloomstalkers, while both the Merrow and the Suhuagin Warlock are part of a bigger encounter that needs different models. It's definitely not a good "first box of monsters", but a good expansion of odd stuff that will still see some use and provide some interesting challenges to players.

The inevitable indecision of copious free time

 

With Empire LRP finished for the season, and two weeks of holiday booked with a good chunk of it set aside for hobby time, we reach the inevitable point of having too many things to do and desperately trying to avoid failing to do any of them.

Lets have a look at the problem, shall we? On the painting desk, I need to finish up the Mutant Marshes terrain pieces, and paint up the Dungeon Fiends Starter Set. I'm enjoying painting both, but neither are particularly quick jobs, so there's no easy brain chemicals for finishing something here.

The "assembly" tray needs a little sort. With the decision to get my O-12 commission painted, they can all come off this tray and off to a box to await sending away. There's a few half prepped minis that need finishing up, some repairs, and a few "ready to paint" models that live here until the paint tray has space for them. Of course, the first day I was ready to undercoat things, the heavens opened with rain forecast all week.

There's then the Dark Tray of Sadness. Abandoned things, older "in need of repair" models and so on. I probably need to sweep through this to find things to send to commission painters to make this go away, but there's a bit of mental effort needed to achieve this...

I also did a pass through my unassembled Infinity to send another batch of things away to be assembled, on the grounds that felt like a sensible and productive thing to do.

There's plenty of things I can be getting on with in the meantime, I just need to decide which one to do first...

Deathwatch Bikers

 

I got these bikers for my Deathwatch back from Squiggle's Studio recently. While the bikes are discontinued and won't have a direct profile any more, they're apparently going to be acceptable proxies for the Primaris bikes.

I really have no idea how Deathwatch and Space Marines are working in the new edition. I'm also aware that Space Marines usually have a pretty early Codex so I'm not going to be rushing to change a lot of my Marines just yet. Still, I should probably get a game in.

D&D Minis: Critical Role and Other Monsters

 

I picked up a few large Wizkids monsters recently, and thought I'd share a few of my thoughts on them. Some of these monsters are at the higher end of the challenge rating scale, so are likely to be encounters for the latter end of campaigns...

First up, the Androsphinx is a terrifying opponent which won't really be a suitable challenge for players until their highest levels. However, its entirely possible that it could be sought out as an ally or sponsor. The idea that it's locked to a particular location and thus may need assistance from those who can travel from location to location makes it quite a good option as a quest giver.

The Gem Stalker is the weaker of the monsters here, suitable for low to middle level characters. It's a weird creature made by gem dragons to act as their servants. The white circle shows its mechanical base size - a tendency I'm really not fond of in the Wizkids miniatures, but I guess I'll have to live with.

Moving on to some Critical Role miniatures, the Adranach is a huge construct made by magicians. It's a mid to high level threat, and has lots of the weird mechanics that Matt Mercer has a tendency of coming up with. It's another great option for being an ally's companion or employed by an enemies.

Continuing my recent trend for creepy tree monsters, the Wraithroot Tree is a high level threat, infused with necromantic magic to act as a guard for an area or item. It gives me a different look of tree to my recent Runewars miniatures so I have some options.

Last of the Oathsworn Dwarves and Endsong

 

I finished up the last of the Oathsworn Dwarves. She's ended up a little pale skinned, but I reckon it still works for her. It is just a tabletop quality paint job, but getting the last few bits and pieces finished up was a really good feeling.

Meanwhile, "Endsong", the latest Infinity book, has arrived. Infinity books these days are just background books, updating the lore and future history of the setting. They're paired with new miniature releases and new free rules released online. The pre-order bundle this time around included Maximus and a Caskuda, an Exrah and a Bakunin HVT. I'll be selling off Maximus as none of my factions use him, but the rest will be seeing service with my Combined Army or Nomads...

Tanares Heroes - Fantasy RPG Miniatures

 

A while back, I backed a Kickstarter for an RPG extension to a board game called "Tanares" to pick up a whole bunch of cheap D&D miniatures. I sent the first "Hero Pack" off to Blood Medusa Paints to get them painted up.

There were a good variation of miniatures in the set. The variety gives a good bunch of generic fantasy miniatures. The generic nature of the miniatures means that they won't suit a setting with a strong established aesthetic - but that's always going to be a problem that requires shopping around and specific purchases rather than generic ones.

I feel the best use of these characters, if not happening to match a description of a player character in an RPG, are as inspirations for friendly NPCs or dangerous antagonists for your PCs. Some are more generic - our rams head wizard here would make an excellent bandit mage, while the gold robed character could be a good cult leader or priest.

The samurai is a bit of an odd one, and I don't expect to be running a game that wholesale lifts the aesthetic of medieval Japan without any changes. On the other hand, the winged character or the lady with the snake and the raven could be a good inspiration for an unusual character your players could meet.

There's also some pretty generic options that can easily fit into any campaign - a werewolf, orc barbarian or swashbuckler holding a gem could easily slip into any campaign, though the idea of some kind of swashbuckling villain fighting with a magical jewel or spell focus could work really nicely. Jumpy lady is a bit weirdly niche too, but I'm not sure when I'd want to use her.

Finally, not part of the hero pack, there was a medusa who was a free gift with the original Kickstarter. I felt given my painter's business is called "Blood Medusa Paints", I was kind of obliged to send her this one...

Putting lessons into practice - and fixing a couple of things

 

While I was putting away some finished miniatures, I spotted a couple of them had some spots I'd missed. The Urbanmech had a scrape on one of the armour plates at the back. I'm not going to bother taking a photo to show it fixed, but it's now fixed. Still needs varnishing again, though.

I also spotted that a bit of the dwarf shieldmaiden's cloak lining wasn't washed. There were a couple of spots where I'd over-painted, and I'd based coated it again ready for an Agrax wash . . . and then forgotten to do it. So, now washed again, and put in the pile for varnishing. I just wanted to chronicle that I'd spent a bunch of time putting things right that I'd thought of as "finished".

I've been painting with contrast quite a lot in the past couple of years. When I went to Roman's Beginner paint course I learned a lot more about using colour and mixing paint. With a few other pieces finishing up, I got my wet palette out to start painting the Dungeon Fiends Starter Set 1 by Creative Sculpt Studio.

Starting with the greens, I dropped some base coats down for this humanoid ooze person. This is all the same green - with more red added to the green used on the bottom half than on the top half. I'll layer him up from there.

For this troll, I wanted him to be much grimier, so I started with a camo green, with a little more red added as well. This has left his skin looking incredibly dark, but the plan is to build him up from here.

These two simple bits of base coat made me disproportionately cheerful. I've been wanting to try the new techniques and approach I learned at this course, and this is the first time I've had the decks clear enough to start using them.

I'm not stopping using Contrast, though. These Mutant Marshes scenery pieces are mostly contrast work. They're about 80% done already. I need to add the colour for some sores, do a little more work on the fingernails, and then do a little more detailing and highlighting to finish them up.

Some thoughts on my plans for Games Workshop games

 

With more than half the year gone, I thought I'd have a bit of a ponder about my plans for the rest of the year. For September, I thought it would be a good idea to try and get in a game of That There Warhammer 40,000 New Edition. I've got a Deathwatch force that I might need to fiddle about with to make work, but I'll put together an army and find someone to play down at the club.

I do have quite a few commitments in September already - so there's a small chance I won't manage to fit this in. If so, I'll do it in October and everything else can slip to the right by a month in turn . . .

I've still not played Age of Sigmar. This is completely daft, as I really like the look of it. October shall be the month of Age of Sigmar (except if it isn't), and I shall finally play a game of that there fantasy game, and see if I like it.

I had a learning game of Warhammer Underworlds a few years ago. I own a couple of painted Stormcast warbands courtesy of Squiggle's Studio. I have a big pile of unpainted warbands on top of that. Let November be the month I get in a game of Warhammer Underworlds with my own models and a Rivals deck.

As I mentioned, September is a busy month, so everything may slip a month. If it doesn't, I do have December free. So lets have a suitably "stealthy" bonus objective. The club has a Boarding Action terrain set, and I should be able to put together a boarding action team really easily. I'm keen on the idea of Boarding Action sized painting projects, so I'd like to see if it's as much my jam as I suspect it is.