Reaper Miniatures Attic Whisperer - 60125

 

The Pathfinder Attic Whisperer is one of my favorite monsters.  It was originally in the very first Pathfinder Adventure Path module Burnt Offerings as the beginning of the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path.  

A quick hit down history lane... 

Paizo was the sub-contracted publisher of Dragon magazine and Dungeon magazine.  One of Paizo's innovations to Dragon/Dungeon was the concept of the Adventure Path with Shackled City being the first where they would have twelve monthly Dungeon adventures be supported by content in Dragon.  Next was Age of Worms and then Savage Tide.  

In secret, WoTC wanted to go a different direction (4e and online publishing of supported materials meaning no more Dragon/Dungeon magazine). While 3.5e was still strong, they started to kill off their supported vendors and thus they ended their relationship with Paizo.  In order to survive as a publishing company, Paizo came up with an entirely new campaign world Golarion and the Pathfinder Chronicles Adventure Path.  Thus begins Rise of the Runelords which is technically their fourth adventure path concept but the first as a Pathfinder Chronicles Adventure Path and was written in 3.5e (it would be another year before WoTC kills 3.5 for 4e and Pathfinder becoming its own game).

Now for the fun part, although the Attic Whisperer was introduced in Burnt Offerings it wasn't actually used!  It was part of the Pathfinder Bestiary in the back of the module with a note that you could use it as a side adventure at the Turandarok Academy which was a school and orphanage in Sandpoint ran by a retired adventurer.  However, a better use would be in part 2, the Skinsaw Murders has the party in a creepy old mansion - that's where I use the Attic Whisperer.  The Haunted Mansion in 5e's Ghosts of Saltmarsh is another.

As to the mini itself - this is a wonderful sculpt and you get 2 in the package.  It's been a bit over a year since I last painted on metal.

Painting instructions for Attic Whisperer (used Reaper paints)...

Step 1: Undercoat model with black primer (back to metal so I used the spray primer)
Step 2: Use Yellowed Bone on skeletal bits
Step 3: Use Clouded Sea or Meadow Green on clothing
Step 4: Use Black Wash (Vallejo) on clothing
Step 5: Mix Yellowed Bone into either Clouded Sea or Meadow Green for highlights on clothing
Step 6: Use Polished Leather on teddy bear
Step 7: Use Flesh Wash (Vallejo) on skeletal bits
Step 8: Use Dragon Black on base

Reaper Miniatures Kallaguk, Troll King - 77267

 

So much to say about the miniature - this is just a fantastic fun piece and I can't wait to bring this onto the tabletop - it's going to be so much fun.  It's a Jason Wiebe sculpt - what more can I say, I have hundreds of miniatures still waiting to be painted on the shelf from various previous kickstarters.  I pull stuff off the shelf that I think looks cool and useful for my games - they just happen to be Wiebe sculpts.

I started painting this one many many many moons ago and it sat around on the table and received paint whenever the thought hit me to apply some leftover paint - so it has a bit of this and that and is true "fantasy" in color versus a realistic fantastical creature.  However, I think it somehow works and I've gotten to a point with it that I just don't see where adding more paint is going to be helpful and therefore I'm calling it done.

The version of the figure I have is from the kickstarter versus the metal version - as an original bones miniature it has a major failure - the bones pvc material is too flimsy and the heavy solid upper body doesn't "stand" on the two legs - hence the support piece I had to put into the middle from the base to keep the entire miniature from collapsing forward.  I noticed on Reaper's website that as of today, they are still selling this model in original bones - that's sad - nobody should actually purchase this in bones and Reaper should immediately convert this model over to their bones black.  It's a fun model that'll get a lot of ooh's and aahh's at the table and while the metal version is great, it's 5x more expensive at $26 as of this writing.

Kickstarter paint total: 150 + 1 Troll King = 151

WizKids Lich - WZK90020

This is the "other" mini in the 90020 package titled Lich & Mummy by Wizkids.  So in my mummy post I noted I wasn't exactly a fan of the translucent plastic piece.  However, in this model, I think the translucent plastic was well thought out and well done.  I was able to give it a wash of watered down purple and it worked out very nice - the skeleton coming out of the ground was cool enough but this bit of translucent plastic really ties the skeleton to the lich.

I've been playing with using more premade washes lately on these gaming models and with this one I wanted a "dirty" look.  Some it came out okay, the black wash I think needed to be watered down a bit.

Painting instructions for Mummy (used Reaper paints)...

Step 1: No need to primer - already done

Step 2: Use Desert Tan on skeleton

Step 3: Use Brilliant Red on robes

Step 4: Use Twilight Purple on inner robe and collar

Step 5: Use Sunburn Flesh on skeleton's leather bits

Step 6: Use a dark silver (it's a sample bottle so no name) on skeleton's metal bits

Step 7: Use Artic Grey on cloud structure

Step 8: Use Dwarven Gold on robe trim

Step 9: Use Dragon Black on base

Step 10: Drybrush Vallejo's Cold Grey on rock

Step 11: Wash bones with Vallejo's Flesh Wash

Step 12: Wash cloud structure with Vallejo's Pale Grey Wash

Step 13: Wash robes and armor with Vallejo's Black Wash

WizKids Mummy - WZK90020

 

Part of a Lich & Mummy pack from Wizkids - this is the Mummy figure.  Comes with the figure and a clear piece of plastic for the cloud effects behind the figure.  Quite a few of the Wizkids figures have this feature.  Not sure how I feel about it -- some are okay, others annoying, and some are just meh.  Example, I liked the effects on the blink dogs, this mummy figure is okay, and the human wizard was meh (just a bit over-stylized in my opinion).

Painting instructions for Mummy (used Reaper paints)...

Step 1: No need to primer - already done

Step 2: Use Desert Tan on base

Step 3: Use Yellowed Bone on mummy wrap

Step 4: Use Creamy Ivory on boney hand, feet, face

Step 5: Use Creamy Ivory and stippling technique on base

Step 6: Wash entire model with Flesh Wash (Vallejo)

Step 7: Use Uniform Brown on belt

Step 8: Use watered down Clouded Sea on cloud

Step 9: Wash cloud with Pale Grey (Vallejo)

Step 10: Drybrush very lightly the cloud with Maggot White

Step 11: Another wash of cloud with Pale Grey (Vallejo)

Step 12: Use watered down Maggot White and highlight all raised bits of cloud