I printed off bunches of forest hex tokens - so this hex was pretty easy to get painted up and ready to go on the board. I actually expanded a bit more southwest than originally planned as that hex is the Ulden Forest and didn't need anything more than trees.
If you're following along on my Hexton Hills printing of the Kingdom of Aglarion, then this hex starts the fourth ring around the city of Onadbyr to the southwest...
One of the more interesting and intriguing ideas Wizards of the Coast did in their 5e adventures was to place a mysterious obelisk within the adventure. Individually they're just an interesting location with some having more powerful attributes than others but not key to the singular plot of that adventure. However, taken together over time there is potentially a plot that these are the artifacts holding back vast evil. I think the Witcher books, video games, and Netflix film series had a similar somewhat magical obelisk like monoliths that controlled magical power and teleportation. One of the obelisks located in the adventure Out of the Abyss has teleportation powers as well.
I came across these while perusing Makerworld for D&D type of items and figured I'd print these off as they can be used in all sorts of tabletop terrain from D&D to Warhammer battles.
The shorter version is actually the original. Then I did some experimenting where I kept the X and Y dimensions of the base the same but then extruded upwards the Z axis within the software. Overall, there is something else interesting, well a bit of a problem actually and I couldn't figure it out. It's hard to tell because of the flat black (which is purposeful), but one side of the inner panels has a glitch which is almost scarlike. I printed the original version first and thought huh. Then I printed the modified version and that ended up with the same scarlike glitch but on the opposite panel. That makes no sense.
I airbrushed a flat black and then brush painted the runes using Reaper's Retro Emerald #09694 I picked up several years ago at the Reapercon event.
The eastern length of the map uses individual pieces of border which is perhaps my only unfavorite/disappointment to date with the Hexton Hills hex tokens. Each bit of border and each half-hex are unique. Ideally, you'd want a single piece that incorporates 2 or 3 combinations of the border piece with the half-hex. The individual pieces are not only more difficult to work with but they aren't as sturdy when snapped together - they really just want to fall apart - if it wasn't for the magnets on the magnetic whiteboard it would just fall apart.
If you're following along on my Hexton Hills printing of the Kingdom of Aglarion, then the combination of these hex tokens generate the eastern border of the map from the corner up to the North Bay...
The falling off was the hard part as the water token is the lowest point of all the hex tokens so it's not possible to physically change the hex tokens. Using some blu-tac I set the ship at about a 35 degree angle. I need to think more about it before permanently using superglue to lock it in place. Maybe painting a bit of a white water edge where the ship is angled and then using a dark blue on the other side of that edge to represent the ship falling into the abyss? I can come back to this at a later date.
If you're following along on my Hexton Hills printing of the Kingdom of Aglarion, then this set of hex tokens represents the southeast corner of the map...
Fun with a seahorse! The seahorse represents a section of the map called Sea Horse Cove - a bit of a play on words with it representing a difference from the Calhay Sea. This tile is actually a tile and a half-tile along with the first piece of border on the map.
The borders were airbrushed Black and then, maybe regretfully because it's a lot of work to handpaint and then fix any mistakes, I decided to paint Vallejo's new Stonewall Grey on the indentions (I mention "new" because the latest version of Stonewall Grey is more grey than the old version which matched up with Games Workshop's Fortress Grey which had more white in it). Each bump and each indention represents individually approximately 2 miles of scale on the map.
The width borders from Hexton Hills are actually quite nice. Not only do they have longer pieces but those pieces include the top piece of hex integrated into the 3D print making a really tight and nice solid piece to interlock the other hex tokens together. The length tokens, that's another subject coming up in another post - let's just say they're a real pain.
If you're following along on my Hexton Hills printing of the Kingdom of Aglarion, then this hex starts the completion of the sea to the borders. I want to get all the sea complete as it represents the southeast corner of the map and then I can use that point as the starting point on the magnetic whiteboard and work in the -x and -y directions...
Okay - a freakin' lighthouse - how cool is that! Even though I don't have a use for it, I'm very tempted to print out the full size piece and give it an amazing paint job - I can add it to my sample Hexton Hill pieces which I've placed into the display case for now.
To make it jump out a bit dramatic, I painted the lighthouse, it's foundation, and the bridge with a stone grey. I washed the foundation and bridge with a black wash to darken it up a bit. I had painted Dead White on the lighthouse tower and then Scarlett Blood on the tower's mid parapet and roof. The remainder of the hex is the same of what's been printed and airbrushed previously.
If you're following along on my Hexton Hills printing of the Kingdom of Aglarion, then this hex continues the second ring around the city of Onadbyr just to the northeast of the city along the coast and just past the Tomb of the Constructor...
This was a fun hex to airbrush and paint - it's the Ethereal Cloister. Now in the book it's supposed to be a sunken temple located just beneath the waves in the middle of the ocean. I've taken the creative liberty to modify it just a bit to be this island in the middle of the ocean with a ruined stone circle of the ancients and I'll probably add an undead or ghostly encounter of some type within the central ruin - or I might make it a beach with a bit of a jungle infested with killer apes which they'll need to encounter before getting to the overgrown stone circle - either way, it's going to be fun!
If you're following along on my Hexton Hills printing of the Kingdom of Aglarion, then this hex continues the second ring around the city of Onadbyr to the east in the Sea of Calhay just past the maelstrom...
Continuing around the Calhay Sea we get to the Compass Rose. This was actually a tough little piece to paint as it was so tiny and the compass wasn't flat - the 3D design has the lines of the compass on the texture of the sea.
If you're following along on my Hexton Hills printing of the Kingdom of Aglarion, then this hex continues the second ring around the city of Onadbyr to the southeast in the Sea of Calhay...
It does continue the second circle around Onadbyr and I'll come back to the land side after completion of the sea. I think right now I need to get the corner completed.
Here it is with the edge of the world piece - not quite done, but I was able to attach it and this drives to the corner of the whiteboard. If my math is correct, I need 2" on the bottom and up to the very edge on the right side. This piece lets me measure that and I'm barely able to move all the other pieces into the right spot.
If you're following along on my Hexton Hills printing of the Kingdom of Aglarion, then this hex is going to sit west of Sobruz Quarry and Penitentiary and south of the Mud Funnels - this continues the second hex ring around Onadbyr like so...
I'm going to switch to filling out the sea to the southeast. All the tiny magnets on the bottom of each hex token individually isn't that great - but when you add 77 magnets together (11 hexes of 7 hex tokens each) the mass becomes difficult to move. If my calculations are correct - I need to have this map start at the very right edge and be about 2" from the bottom. I think I'm pretty close where I have the mass located on the magnetic whiteboard but it's best to get down to that corner point and build out from there as soon all those little magnets, might as well be superglue on the whiteboard.
Much more to come! I have them 3D printed - now they need painted and magnetized - and I have a little surprise as well.
The farming and woodcutter communities come together in the town of Willow Creek which sits in the heartland of the Onadbyr Plains and the Willow Creek Plains. While the hex token for Willow Creek sits in the upper corner of this hex, there will be plenty of farmland all around when all the hex pieces come together.
If you're following along on my Hexton Hills printing of the Kingdom of Aglarion, then this hex is going to sit northwest of the mountain Tomb of the Constructor and continues the second hex ring around Onadbyr like so...
We start to head one more hex out in all directions from Onadbyr starting with a continuation of the River Nenock to the northwest.This is an interesting tile as you have the tip of the swamp to the south and to the northeast is the southern tip of the Onadbyr Plains which is like the breadbasket states in the US. The Nenock river divides the two feature sets. Technically the Kings Road runs along the northern side of the river. Due to the scale I'm working at with the limits of the Hexton Hills set (ie - there's no hex token with a river and a road running parallel to the river), I'm going to think about painting in the road at a later date. Also, my players have a map which has the road on it - these tiles provide additional feature/encounter detail and perhaps events that occur which they're not aware.
One of those events is the mud funnels - the title to this post - this event occurs on the very center hex token. As it's an event and not a terrain feature, I didn't paint it in - but I might run another 3D print of the center hex token and paint it up a bit differently. We'll see and I'll decide that later. Since the hex tokens are magnetized being careful of using the same polarity, I can snap another hex right on top and the magnets will hold it into place at the time the event occurs.
There are some new colors added to the palette here...
* the swamp hex token. I'm using the same Ultramarine base color but I'm mottling it with an old Reaper Master Series color called Clouded Sea (technically I think you can still order it but you have to purchase 12 bottles as a special order of 9194). I received this color long ago when I purchased some mini's direct - many times Reaper will throw an extra something in the package and this color quickly became one of my favorites. This hex is again interesting because the river hex token have the Ultramarine base highlighted with Electric blue and gives a very different look than the same Ultramarine base mottled with Clouded Sea which gives off a dark/mysterious atmosphere.
* the farm fields - looking at overland maps of US agriculture there are golden yellow fields but also green fields and red/orange fields (I have no idea what crop that is but it looks cool). There's so much green already on all the various hex tokens so I wanted to limit the amount of additional green. The bright red is also unique and therefore limited as well. The red/orange is Vallejo's Hot Orange which is brush painted and the field green is Vallejo's Goblin Green base with a light coat of Escorpena Green - the reason for the mix is Goblin Green is too much like the Sick Green base and Escorpena Green is too close to Light Livery Green used as grassland highlights and on the deciduous trees - using Goblin/Escorpena Greens together gives a textured color that's easy to replicate across many hex tokens.
If you're following along on my Hexton Hills printing of the Kingdom of Aglarion, then this hex is going to sit northwest of Onadbyr and part of a second hex ring around Onadbyr like so...
Wow! What a great dragon by Sandra Garrity - is just too bad they don't make this one in metal or at least bones black. This was an original Kickstarter and according to Reaper's website at the time of this publishing it's still only in "classic" bones. So you lost some details in the eyes and teeth but the real problem is that this model doesn't want to stand in "classic" bones as the pvc material doesn't have enough stability to it. I found I was able to super glue the feet to the base in a bit of a wider stance.
However, that didn't keep the model from wanting to fall backwards to the right - 3D printing to the rescue! I found an appropriate "rock" from the collection which had a groove in it. I then scaled it down to fit right where the tale goes into the groove to keep the model upright and look natural.
This is a "huge" model which is based appropriately on a 3" round base from Reaper. The last couple of pictures show the scale. The sorceress and the cleric are medium size on a 1" base. The Owlbear is considered large on a 2" base. Then there's the dragon which according to Reaper is 6" tall with a 10" wingspan!
A model of this size is perfect for the airbrush and indeed, as this model has been sitting on the shelf for more than a decade, it was airbrushing water hexes for my Hexton Hills project (where I'm always looking for other minis to airbrush when I have extra paint in the pot) that got me to take this "miniature" off the unpainted shelf and into the paintbooth.
With the name Deathsleet and given Reaper's description, this is intended to be more white dragon than blue - but besides color, the main difference according to standard Dungeons & Dragon lore... the main horn is straight up (1-3rd editions) and actually curved slightly forward in 5e whereas with the white dragon the main horn is curved towards the back. My players won't know the difference and I have an encounter in mind for a blue dragon - so blue it is!
As to airbrushing, this model started off with Ultramarine Blue and then Electric Blue. I believe that I used Leather Brown but I didn't note or set aside the color used for highlighighting - I think it was Bonewhite. All out of the airbrush. I also hit it with a highlight drybrush using Vallejo's new Sunrise Blue which is a highlight color for Electric Blue. The underbelly and the horn was done with a paintbrush and that was Plague Brown with a drybrush of Bonewhite. I then picked out the eyes, teeth, talons with a brush as well and called it done.
Kickstarter paint total 213 + 1 Deathsleet = 214
