Lost Mine of Phandelver - Flameskull

 

Basically at the same as working on the Abyssal Gargoyles, I grabbed this figure for my Lost Mine of Phandelver campaign.  This is such a great sculpt - so dynamic - I love it!  It is so much more awesome than the Reaper Demi-Lich model I painted the first time I ran this module about five years ago.  

This is part of the 3D Dungeon Labs Etsy shop purchase.

Sculpt: Excellent - this is an awesome sculpt and really brings the depiction in the monster manual alive

3D Print: Excellent - well done - clean

Fitness: Excellent - has the proper base and scale, model matches expectations

Per the monster manual, the flameskull is supposed to be surrounded by green flame (audience says green flame out loud - if you get the joke great, if not go watch Acquisitions Inc. on Youtube).  However, since I was playing with the reds, oranges, and yellow I decided to go that direction with this figure.

The interpretation of the monster is a white skull sitting on the ground and when the characters approach it turns burning hout and jumps into the air 10' off the ground in a burning trail of flame.  I tried to give the look that the skull was white hot and the further from the flame the darker the color - so it was an opposite approach to the abyssal gargoyles.  Additionally this went to a yellow and then pushed into the white on the skull without being true white and has longer transitions.

Not only is this a great looking miniature but because of what's really a simple linear path of the model it was therefore also really good training model for blending airbrushed colors.  So looking forward to putting this one out on the table which is perhaps my favorite part of the entire Lost Mine of Phandelver campaign.

Mantic Games Abyssal Gargoyles (Winged Succubi)

 

Following up on the Green Dragon, my next venture into airbrushing was to see what I could do with red, orange, yellow on some models my son had left over from an Abyssal Kings of War army he built half a dozen years ago.  They've been sitting on my shelf as I thought the sculpts were pretty good and I figured they could be used in a D&D encounter.  In the Kings of War game they represent Abyssal Gargoyles although they don't look like your traditional gargoyles - they look more like winged succubi to me.

What I was trying to do with these figures is to learn how to blend colors together with an airbrush and how tight I could get the airbrush to be in order to get realistic highlights.  I did get some "spitting" which occurs when you get to the end of the paint in the airbrush pot - I learned it's better to be a little wasteful and always have some paint in the pot at the end.  I did no brushstrokes on these other than to tidy up the sides of the base with black paint.

I do have lots of models from Mantic Games from their Dungeon Saga board game and after painting these I'm really looking forward to getting those miniatures opened and painted.  They have some really awesome looking sculpts and an unique look to their models.  My only disappointment is they don't credit the sculptor on their product nor the website so I can't attribute these models - much like the Wizkids unpainted line.

Lost Mine of Phandelver - Green Dragon

 

This is an awesome model of a large dragon (it sits on a 2" base - so tactically it's large - I think that makes it young adult).  This is part of the 3D Dungeon Labs Etsy shop purchase.  I'm going to scale these models with Poor, Average, Good, Excellent in a couple of categories.

Sculpt: Excellent - one of the better looking dragons I've seen and matches what a D&D green dragon should look like.

3D Print: Excellent - well done - clean

Fitness: Excellent - has the proper large base, model matches expectations

This model represents my first attempt at airbrushing.  After receiving the gift of an airbrush, I spent the month of January reading websites and watching Youtube videos.  Then I grabbed the biggest model that was pertinent to one of my current campaigns.  One of the campaigns is the Lost Mine of Phandelver and I had purchased a complete set of miniatures - we started the campaign in a new local game store in Cedar Park, Texas that unfortunately after a few months didn't make it (I understand there was a lot of drama in the ownership group - not for a lack of interest by customers).  We had just arrived in the campaign at the deserted town of Thundertree - so go big or go home - I grabbed the winged beast and started spraying.

I used basically the same techniques I would have used if I had painted it by hand.  I started with a black primer.  Then dark green to a light green layers and eventually mixing some white into the green for the final highlights.  I then hit the belly of the beast with Rotting Flesh as it's a cream color with just a bit of green in it.  Here's a film strip of a couple shots I took along the way...

When I was done airbrushing I came in and tagged all the claws, including the ones on the wing ends, with Bonewhite.  Then finished off the base with basic black - the art design language I'm trying to replicate here is equivalent to a D&D pre-painted mini.

A note on paints... I purchased the Vallejo Game Air paints because they are a 1:1 match for Vallejo Game Color paints.  While I could have diluted in various ways the Game Color paints (and everyone has an opinion on what the proper mix/ratio is of all sorts of various ingredients), it's just easier for a beginner to open bottle and go without having to worry about mixes.  BEST DECISION EVER!  As I was working my way up from dark to light I didn't even clean the airbrush - just kept adding more paint of a lighter green.  The first time I cleaned the airbrush was when I switched to the Rotting Flesh.

Reaper Miniatures Giant Cobra - 77321

 

This is the same model painted two different ways - both have been sitting on my desk for most of 2022 as paint dumps - when I have a bit of extra paint I'd dump it on these models.  I then made an effort to finalize these in-between the holidays.  

I really this model - I find that quality of large models like this (to give perspective the model is sitting on a 2" round base and sits 1-1/2" high) in the Bones format looks pretty good and doesn't suffer the degradation of detail of the smaller figures.  Additionally at $4.49 msrp, it's a great price point versus the $13.79 of the metal version - particularly for a miniature that quite honestly isn't going to last long against your players.

Kickstarter paint total 174 + 2 Giant Cobra = 176

Reaper Miniatures Razormouth - 44026

 

This was the first Bones Black mini I painted and not the Ogre Juggernaut - I painted this in conjunction with the Basilisk in prep for a sidequest event in our Lost Mine of Phandelver campaign that the players to date (mid-April when I'm backposting this) still haven't gone.  This was sculpted by Chris Lewis - a relatively new sculptor for Reaper - it's a cool model.

Obviously I used white on the teeth, lol.  I think the flesh was Scaly Green with Jade Green highlights and maybe the scales were Sombre Grey with Wolf Grey drybrushing.  The fins and claws are Bloody Red to Hot Orange to Orange Fire.

Reaper Miniatures Basilisk - 77371

 

I painted this Basilisk for a side adventure in my Lost Mine of Phandelver campaign, that funny enough, even though I'm backdating this post six months, the player characters have yet to encounter.

This was a pretty quick paint as I was getting ready for that week's session in case they went down the well.  I recall putting an undercoat of black, then used the Scurvy Green, Jade Green, and Foul Green shade to highlight on the body.  Then Scarlett Red and Bloody red for the scales.  I didn't even base it properly because I was really expecting to need it right away, lol.

This is another Bones from the Kickstarter.

Kickstarter paint total 173 + 1 Basilisk = 174

Reaper Miniatures Eando Kline - 89026

 

I needed a group of figures that represented an opposing adventuring group for the excellent Scarlet Citadel - A Dungeon of Secrets campaign by Kobold Press.  This is a great campaign for on again / off again groups because it's a long dungeon crawl and this campaign is with teens which makes it very sporadic.

I didn't have much time to get 7 minis painted up for the next session - and of course, when you're in a hurry to do something is when everything goes wrong.  I don't know why, but the paint on primer just wasn't working and it was being bubbly making pockets of bubbles on the miniatures.  Then I tried to heavily use the game wash on these and didn't really like where that went except for the metal bits - so I've come to the conclusion that it's really only good for metallics.

I wanted to have some element of color that brings these together as a unit so I chose purple pants and red somewhere on the model - although this model didn't receive any red.

This is 7 of 7.

I grabbed these models off the unpainted Bones shelf so I could keep continue working on getting that pile towards being completed.

Kickstarter paint total 172 + 1 Eando Kline = 173

Reaper Miniatures Hobgoblin Warriors - 77476

 

I needed a group of figures that represented an opposing adventuring group for the excellent Scarlet Citadel - A Dungeon of Secrets campaign by Kobold Press.  This is a great campaign for on again / off again groups because it's a long dungeon crawl and this campaign is with teens which makes it very sporadic.

I didn't have much time to get 7 minis painted up for the next session - and of course, when you're in a hurry to do something is when everything goes wrong.  I don't know why, but the paint on primer just wasn't working and it was being bubbly making pockets of bubbles on the miniatures.  Then I tried to heavily use the game wash on these and didn't really like where that went except for the metal bits - so I've come to the conclusion that it's really only good for metallics.

I wanted to have some element of color that brings these together as a unit so I chose purple pants and red somewhere on the model - so this model has a red bow on the first and red hair on the second.

This is 5 and 6 of 7.

I grabbed these models off the unpainted Bones shelf so I could keep continue working on getting that pile towards being completed.

Kickstarter paint total 170 + 2 Hobgoblin Warriors = 172

Reaper Miniatures Cuth Wolfson, Barbarian - 77373

 

I needed a group of figures that represented an opposing adventuring group for the excellent Scarlet Citadel - A Dungeon of Secrets campaign by Kobold Press.  This is a great campaign for on again / off again groups because it's a long dungeon crawl and this campaign is with teens which makes it very sporadic.

I didn't have much time to get 7 minis painted up for the next session - and of course, when you're in a hurry to do something is when everything goes wrong.  I don't know why, but the paint on primer just wasn't working and it was being bubbly making pockets of bubbles on the miniatures.  Then I tried to heavily use the game wash on these and didn't really like where that went except for the metal bits - so I've come to the conclusion that it's really only good for metallics.

I wanted to have some element of color that brings these together as a unit so I chose purple pants and red somewhere on the model - so this model has a red axe handle.

This is 4 of 7.

I grabbed these models off the unpainted Bones shelf so I could keep continue working on getting that pile towards being completed.

Kickstarter paint total 169 + 1 Cuth Wolfson, Barbarian = 170

Reaper Miniatures Juliette, Female Sorceress - 77057

 

I needed a group of figures that represented an opposing adventuring group for the excellent Scarlet Citadel - A Dungeon of Secrets campaign by Kobold Press.  This is a great campaign for on again / off again groups because it's a long dungeon crawl and this campaign is with teens which makes it very sporadic.

I didn't have much time to get 7 minis painted up for the next session - and of course, when you're in a hurry to do something is when everything goes wrong.  I don't know why, but the paint on primer just wasn't working and it was being bubbly making pockets of bubbles on the miniatures.  Then I tried to heavily use the game wash on these and didn't really like where that went except for the metal bits - so I've come to the conclusion that it's really only good for metallics.

I wanted to have some element of color that brings these together as a unit so I chose purple pants and red somewhere on the model - so this model has a red cloak.

This is 3 of 7.

I grabbed these models off the unpainted Bones shelf so I could keep continue working on getting that pile towards being completed.

Kickstarter paint total 168 + 1 Juliette, Female Sorceress = 169

Reaper Miniatures Vernone, Ivy Crown Knight - 77382

I needed a group of figures that represented an opposing adventuring group for the excellent Scarlet Citadel - A Dungeon of Secrets campaign by Kobold Press.  This is a great campaign for on again / off again groups because it's a long dungeon crawl and this campaign is with teens which makes it very sporadic.

I didn't have much time to get 7 minis painted up for the next session - and of course, when you're in a hurry to do something is when everything goes wrong.  I don't know why, but the paint on primer just wasn't working and it was being bubbly making pockets of bubbles on the miniatures.  Then I tried to heavily use the game wash on these and didn't really like where that went except for the metal bits - so I've come to the conclusion that it's really only good for metallics.

I wanted to have some element of color that brings these together as a unit so I chose purple pants and red somewhere on the model - so this model has a red shield.

This is 2 of 7.

I grabbed these models off the unpainted Bones shelf so I could keep continue working on getting that pile towards being completed.

Kickstarter paint total 167 + 1 Vernone, Ivy Crown Knight = 168

Reaper Miniatures Galadanoth, Elf Sniper - 77320

I needed a group of figures that represented an opposing adventuring group for the excellent Scarlet Citadel - A Dungeon of Secrets campaign by Kobold Press.  This is a great campaign for on again / off again groups because it's a long dungeon crawl and this campaign is with teens which makes it very sporadic.

I didn't have much time to get 7 minis painted up for the next session - and of course, when you're in a hurry to do something is when everything goes wrong.  I don't know why, but the paint on primer just wasn't working and it was being bubbly making pockets of bubbles on the miniatures.  Then I tried to heavily use the game wash on these and didn't really like where that went except for the metal bits - so I've come to the conclusion that it's really only good for metallics.

I wanted to have some element of color that brings these together as a unit so I chose purple pants and red somewhere on the model - so this model has a red bow.

This is 1 of 7.

I grabbed these models off the unpainted Bones shelf so I could keep continue working on getting that pile towards being completed.

Kickstarter paint total 166 + 1 Gladanoth, Elf Sniper = 167

Reaper Miniatures Dragonman Warrior - 77060

I needed a dragonborn NPC for a game I was running so I grabbed this Reaper bones miniature.  As I'm backdating this figure from a year ago, I have to think about what I did...

Looks like the entire miniature was based with an undercoat of black and then all the metallic bits of the plate, shield, and sword drybrushed (done first because it would make a mess of all other areas of the model).  I remember then using a dark blue to light blue on the cloak, chest, and shield.  Brown leathers on wrist guard and the blue-greys for the dragon.

It turned out rather well - although I'd love to have a go at the metal version of this one.

This does count towards my Bones Kickstarter total - left off at 165 - so...

Kickstarter paint total 165 + 1 Dragonman Warrior = 166

Lost Mine of Phandelver Campaign

I did a thing, lol, I purchased an entire campaign of miniatures for the 5e Lost Mine of Phandelver which is the introductory campaign for the 5e Starter Set.  It's actually a well thought out campaign module that takes the players from first through fifth level.  I've ran the module for friends and family a couple times and I have an idea of wanting to run this at my local hobby store for newbies.  

I found this set from 3D Dungeon Labs on Etsy.  It's a brilliant idea, the Etsy shop owner has sourced a number of sculpts from various artists and prints them as a complete set.  I love the selection he's chosen and there are 125 miniatures that makes up the complete set of encounters you need for this game module.

Opening the box I was greeted with a listing of all the models as well as a nice dice set of Orion Nebula Light Blue Galaxy.

What a great way to open the box - a set of really good looking dice.

The models were bagged together by chapter and then individually bagged with a tag stating what the model was - fantastic!  Each of those bags was under a layer of what could be best described as artificial straw packaging.  It certainly did the job of keeping all the models safe.

Here are the models for chapter 1.  In addition, I received some bonus models (they were tagged "Bonus" on the bag) - how awesome is that!

The models printed out nicely.  They're a harder plastic that's more model sprue like than let's say Reaper Bones or pre-painted models.  Most of them have the base separate from the model and will need to be glued.  I'll be painting and posting here in order of the encounters in each chapter.

The vendor has a website at www.3ddungeonlabs.com which has a link to their Etsy shop.  Lots of fun eye candy but I think that I have enough here to keep me busy for a bit.

Reaper Miniatures Orc With Axe - 6017

 

Early 2000's a group of us were playing 3/3.5e D&D in person and I would paint some of the models used in our games - hence this group posting of Orcs back in 2003.  Our DM moved up to New York and we used early video cameras over dial-up modems looking at miniatures on a map - an early version of a VTT system, lol.  

In late 2021 our DM found these four models and sent them back to me.  There were a few dings from time and travel through USPS, so I took the opportunity in early 2022 to patch them up.

Originally, I posted these together, but I've figured out the sku number and I'll take the opportunity to post each individually and backdate this post to February 2022 when I fixed them up before putting them back in the display case.

This is 4 of 4.

So this one is interesting - I couldn't find it on the Reaper Miniatures website on it's own - only as part of a four pack with the code of 6017 - which included two of these models along with two of 2124. As I don't have additional copies of those two miniatures this must have been sold in the past on its own - I also reviewed Lost Mini Wiki and didn't come up with anything there.

Reaper Miniatures Orc Warrior of Kargir - 2272

 

Early 2000's a group of us were playing 3/3.5e D&D in person and I would paint some of the models used in our games - hence this group posting of Orcs back in 2003.  Our DM moved up to New York and we used early video cameras over dial-up modems looking at miniatures on a map - an early version of a VTT system, lol.  

In late 2021 our DM found these four models and sent them back to me.  There were a few dings from time and travel through USPS, so I took the opportunity in early 2022 to patch them up.

Originally, I posted these together, but I've figured out the sku number and I'll take the opportunity to post each individually and backdate this post to February 2022 when I fixed them up before putting them back in the display case.

This is 3 of 4.

Reaper Miniatures Orc Warrior of Kargir - 2262

Early 2000's a group of us were playing 3/3.5e D&D in person and I would paint some of the models used in our games - hence this group posting of Orcs back in 2003.  Our DM moved up to New York and we used early video cameras over dial-up modems looking at miniatures on a map - an early version of a VTT system, lol.  

In late 2021 our DM found these four models and sent them back to me.  There were a few dings from time and travel through USPS, so I took the opportunity in early 2022 to patch them up.

Originally, I posted these together, but I've figured out the sku number and I'll take the opportunity to post each individually and backdate this post to February 2022 when I fixed them up before putting them back in the display case.

This is 2 of 4.

Reaper Miniatures Orc Warrior - 2124

Early 2000's a group of us were playing 3/3.5e D&D in person and I would paint some of the models used in our games - hence this group posting of Orcs back in 2003.  Our DM moved up to New York and we used early video cameras over dial-up modems looking at miniatures on a map - an early version of a VTT system, lol.  

In late 2021 our DM found these four models and sent them back to me.  There were a few dings from time and travel through USPS, so I took the opportunity in early 2022 to patch them up.

Originally, I posted these together, but I've figured out the sku number and I'll take the opportunity to post each individually and backdate this post to February 2022 when I fixed them up before putting them back in the display case.

This is 1 of 4.