Sunday 12 May 2013

Reaper Bones #1 - The Painting Marathon Begins

My Reaper Miniatures Bones Kickstarter Vampire Level miniatures arrived in the post on Friday and I am flabbergasted by the sheer weight of minis.  

I admit that I was incredibly foolish in not backing it originally when I had the chance and so I've had to resort to ebay to acquire mine.   Which undoubtedly means I've paid over the odds, but even at the £120 I paid, it's still less than 50p a miniature, ie: cheaper than chips.

A big Box of Reaper Bones Miniatures
A big box of Reaper Bones
Reaper Bones unbagged
The first bag unbagged
The conclusion to my Monster Mini Box Level One post highlighted just how expensive it is going to be to put together each Random Encounter level in lead and was frankly quite disheartening.  Therefore, my next project series is going to document painting all my newly acquired Bones minis, starting with those which appear in the Level 1 list.

Rats

Every dungeon needs rats, and mine are no different, so these puppies are first up for the "fun painty time treatment".  I've not painted this particular type of plastic, so erring on the side of caution out came the soapy water and an old tooth brush to wash off any mould release agent before they got primed.

Reaper Bones Rats based but not primed
A dozen Giant Rats based up and ready for black undercoat
The minis are mounted to my base medium of choice (2p coins) and then household filler on top to create the flagstone floor.  This takes an hour or so to set dry giving me ample time to score it with a knife to create the flagstone pattern.

I'm a black undercoat type of guy and just use a can of matt black primer from any car spares shop, and was glad it didn't react with the plastic.

Reaper Bones Rats primed and pink bits painted
Primed and pink bits base coated
Gone are the days when I had the accuity to paint very fine detail so I'm aiming for a stand-off gaming miniature level of detail.  These ain't gonna win any Golden Demons but they'll look a hell of a lot better than Pathfinder or D&D sweatshop paintjobs.

Rats x6 (Sandra Garrity SKU: 77016)

Reaper Bones Rats completed
A dozen rats done.
So what do I think of Bones so far.

The plastic is okay, the density varies from sculpt to sculpt.  Some you expect to have weak points (ie: if the mini is on one leg) and don't and yet others you expect to be stiff and bend at the slightest touch).  This could be a quality control issue with the plastic recipe used in that particular injection mould on that particular day.  It's not a big difference, just noticeable. 

Sculpts are clean and flash free and they are far less flexible than the aforementioned Pathfinder and D&D Miniatures and the size and levels of detail are obviously comparable to their lead counterparts.  All this (and not to mention the cost) makes them a far more satisfying gaming proposition than expensive resin minis.

My only reservation is do I seal them or not?

Score so Far:

Total Bones: 245, Bones Painted: 12

Friday 10 May 2013

Ray Harryhausen Appreciation Blogfest

Thanks to RJ at Gamers & Grognards for suggesting the idea of a blogfest as a great way to honour the passing of one of the greatest cinematic geniuses of our time, Ray Harryhausen.

Some of my earliest memories were sat infront of the TV watching classic monster movies, it was here that I discovered Sinbad and the tales of far flung Arabia.  Of course none of this would have caught my imagination if it weren't for the terrifying duels between man and monster cooked up by the genius animator that was Ray Harryhausen.  It must have rewired my brain somewhat as my favourite setting for D&D has always been Al-Quadim.

Last night I decided to rewatch...

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger


The first monster Sinbad (Patrick Wayne) encounters are the fire demons (Harryhausen's storyboard maintains they are ghouls) conjured from the flames of their campfire as they celebrate ending their return to the city.  These insect headed animated corpses  see off most of Sinbad's crewmates before he crushes them with an inexplicably placed pile of huge logs.

Fire Demons emerge from the camp fire ready to attack
Sinbad tries to return to his boat and encounters the beautiful Princess Farah (Jane Seymore) brother to Prince Kassim who has recently been turned into a baboon by his step mother the Evil Witch Queen, Zenobia (Margaret Whiting) in order to retain the throne for her own son.

Farah then introduces her Uncle Balsora who pleads with Sinbad to aid them by returning Kassim to his true form.  We get introduced to the transformed Kassim as his cage is being loaded onto Sinbad's ship.

Prince Kassim is a pretty mean Chess player
Meanwhile Zenobia, discovering that Sinbad aims to sail to the island of Cascar to seek the aid of the sage Melanthis and constructs The Minaton, a Bronze Golem, to act as her bodyguard, henchman and the oarsman for her marvelous ship without sails.

The Minaton has the strength of 6 men
The Minaton is a really iconic creature  and one of my favourite Harryhausen creations.  Interestingly I discovered that Peter Mayhew (aka Chewbacca) acted as the stand-in during filming, the model Minaton was added later by Harryhausen during post production.

As they leave in pursuit of Sinbad, Zenobia instructs the Minaton to see off Balsora's spies.  The automaton wordlessly obeys, capsizing their boat and skewering their leader.

Sinbad successfully negotiates the treacherous reefs which surround Cascar and meets with Melanthius (Patrick Troughton) discovering that the only way to return Kassim to his true form is to travel to the fabled Shrine of the Four Elements hidden in a green valley in the frozen North of Hyborea.

Zenobia's attempts to navigate the reef fares less well and the ships metal oars aredamaged in the process.  She is thwarted again when Sinbad's ship sets sail whilst her son is still making good the repairs.  In desperation she uses a magic potion to transform herself into a seagul so she can learn of Sinbad's plans.  Unfortunately she is captured by Melanthius who also discovers the amulet containing her transformation potion and uses it to enlarge a wasp to monstrous size.

Melathius fends of a giant wasp whilst the imprisoned Zenobia goads it.
In the chaos Zenobia's glass jar prison is knocked off the table and she makes good her escape, once more transorming her into a seagul and she flees back to her ship.  As bad guys go she has no luck at all however and the remaining potion is not enough to fully transform her back into her human form and she is stuck with a bird like right foot.

When they reach Hyborea Sinbad forgoes the ice tunnel and opts to travel across land.  His party encounter a Giant Walrus which further whittles down his crew.

Sinbad and crew fight off a Giant Walrus
Their journey continues to the temperate valley where they encounter a friendly giant horned troglodyte who shows them the way to the entrance mouth of the valley.

Dione befriends the Troglodyte
Zenobia arrives at the ice tunnel and the current draws them towards a jetty.  This short-cut is the first piece of fortune which goes Zenobia's way and she arrives at the pyramid Shrine of the Four Elements ahead of Sinbad.  However, her luck is short lived as without a key to the temple she uses her magic and the Minaton's great strength to break in.  The Minaton is crushed under a giant stone block in the process, quite a sad end (IMHO) for a quite menacing and well envisaged creation.

A dissapointing end to the Minaton in his hour of triumph
Sinbad rushes to the shrine as Malanthius suspects that Zenobia's forced entry will disrupt the delicately balanced nature of the Arimaspi magic.  They encounter Zenobia at the foot of the great steps in the middle of the temple and Kassim who has by now lost entirely his human traits and attacks and kills Zenobia's son Rafi.

The Troglodyte could have been a contender with his mean left hook
They managed to get Kassim into a cage and lift him high into the cascading waters which form the centrepiece of the shrine.  When the cage is lowered Prince Kassim has been miraculously restored to human form, but the distraught and enraged Zenobia, posesses the body of a frozen Smilodon and tries to kill everyone.  The Troglodyte comes to the rescue enabling the party to escape, only to die in the battle, Sinbad prevails, finally impaling Zenobia on the Minaton's spear.  With the secrets of the Arismapi lost the shrine disintegrates and Hyborea reclaims the hidden valley to ice and snow.

Sinbad is victorious, impaling Smilodon Zenobia on the spear of her own creation.
Sinbad and his comrades return to the city state of Charak where Kassim is crowned Caliph and gives his blessing to Sinbad and Farah.  This happily ever after ending is tainted by the shocking appearance of Zenobia's eyes as the credits finally roll suggesting that she will return...

Wednesday 8 May 2013

Sci-Fi Ship Morphs - Part 5 - Even More Basic Tiles

Here are some more basic tiles for you to fill with your own furniture.

With Doors Without Doors

Daves Mapper

All the tiles for this and previous posts in this series have been uploaded to Davesmapper.com, so go get mapping!

Previous Posts in this Series

Tuesday 7 May 2013

Monster Mini Box - Level One

DMG - Appendix C
Random Monster Encounters
I was originally going to post this on Thursday but the sad news of Ray Harryhausen's death (at the age of 92) has spurred me to post early.  Everyone who roleplays today owes a great debt to his pioneering work bringing some of movies greatest monsters to the silver screen.  For those abut to roll, we salute you.

My recent DIY Gelatinous Cube post got me thinking "how much moolah would it take to put together a monster minis collection for each level of Random Monster Encounter (as per Appendix C of the Dungeon Masters Guide)? 

For those who just want to slobber over pictures of old school minis I've put a pinterest board together showing all the options.

Giant Ant - (Qty 1-4)

Badger - (Qty 1-4)

Dark Sword - Epic Honey Badgers

Fire Beetle - (Qty 1-4)

  • Otherworld Miniatures has their DV4a Fire Beetles as a 3 pack (£9) or a 15 pack swarm (£37.50)
  • Reaper Miniatures do a metal 2 pack of Fire Beetles ($7.99) which they've recast in their Bone Material so should be available soon at a much lower price.

Manes Demon - (Qty 1-4)

Mega Miniatures Dwarves
(Bob Olley)

Dwarf -  (Qty 4-14)

The DMG is not too specific about what types of Dwarves so I'm guessing it's a war party of some variety.  I have plenty of dwarves but if I didn't I would look no further than:
  • Mega Miniatures (via Hurlbat Games Ebay Store) have the old school Metal Magic Fantasy Dwarves range (24 minis) sculpted by master dwarfsmith Bob Olley (£15)

Ear Seeker - (Qty 1)

This creature is too small to be represented by a miniature.

Elf - (Qty 3-11) 

Again the DMG lets us down without going into any detail, so this will probably be a war party again, but why would you encounter a war party of elves in a dungeon, there's still gotta be some logic to it.  You could just assemble a group from player character miniatures, but it is nice to have a group all wearing the same sort of armour and having the same style.
Mirliton SG - Wood Elf Swordsmen

Gnome - (Qty 5-15)

Help me out DMG!! what are these gnomes of which you speak.  I'm going for some sort of war party (if gnomes even have those).
  • Stonehaven Miniatures succsessfully Kickstarted an anime looking Gnomish Adventurers set which has stretched quite a ways expanding the range.  Sadly their webstore doesn't seem to include these new minis yet (If I can help throw some webskills at the problem, let me know guys!!) but you can still take advantage of the Kickstarter pricing
  • Reaper Miniatures do some nice gnome character figures, but I particularly like their nasty looking 06201: Bloodstone Gnome Pulgers 9 pack - but pricey ($39.99)

Goblin - (Qty 6-15)

At last we hit a proper dungeon bash monster, as so many companies do goblins it would be futile to list them all but I like:

Halfling - (Qty 9-16)

I'm beginning to hate you DMG.  Seriously why would Halflings be a wandering monster have we just wandered into their village?... in a dungeon!!

Hobgoblin - (Qty 2-8)

Otherworld Miniatures Hobgoblin Warriors

Humans


Random encounters with humans can be one of 4 different sub types

Bandits - (Qty 5-15)

Mega Miniatures - Thieves Guild
Sculpted by Joseph Ochman
  • Mega Miniatures have their Metal Magic Thieves Guild range sculpted by Joseph Ochman. A Bargain at £15 via Hurlbat Games ebay store .

Berserker - (Qty 3-9)

Brigands - (Qty 5-15)

  •  Mega Miniatures Metal Magic Castle Guard range sculpted by Joseph Ochman.  I'm starting to sound like a stuck record (that's OSR!!) A bargain at £15 via Hurlbat Games ebay store.

Character - (Qty 2-5)

This is actually supposed to be an NPC adventure party.  Clearly dungeoneering is a competitive business, perhaps someone should form a Guild or something.

Kobold - (Qty 6-18)

Dragon or dog varieties, I'm not fussy either way.

Orc - (Qty 7-12)

Pig-faced orcs only, the GW slack jawed ones need not apply for this job.

Piercer - (Qty 1-3)

No commercially available miniatures, I guess I have to make my own then, this will be a fun project (stay tuned). 

Giant Rat - (Qty 5-20)

  • Otherworld Miniatures do their beautiful 5 pack of DV3a Giant Rats (£11) sculpted by Jo Brumby.  A boxed set of 20 is also available for £32.50 saving you some money.

  • Lead Adventure do a 10 pack of really ferocious looking PA26 Giant Rats (€14.95) guaranteed to scare off any meatshields (and some PCs for that matter).

  • Nasty looking Giant Rats from Lead Adventure
  • Reaper Miniatures have recently recast their metal Giant Rats ($5.99) as a 6 pack of Bones Giant Rats ($3.49) but also do two scary looking Barrow Rats ($8.99) a 4 pack of Dire Rats ($6.99) and their 2 pack Rat Swarm ($5.99) which should meet all your rodent needs.

Rot Grub - (Qty 1-3) 

  • Scibor do some Rot & Grub resin bases (€7.52) which would fit the bill, but honestly how hard can it be to model some grubs on a base out of modelling clay?

Shrieker - (Qty 1-2)

I already have these but I know many out there don't and no dungeon would be complete without fungi.
  • Otherworld Miniatures do their wicked 3 pack DM11 Shriekers and Violet Fungi (£11)
    Otherworld Miniatures - Shriekers and Violet Fungi
  • Centre Stage Miniatures have their Shrieker and Deadly Fungi (£7.25)
  • ScotiaGrendel still do their generic resin Fungi (£8) having a patch of fungi appearing as a piece of scenery which is a monster rather than a single miniature has always made more sense to me.  

Skeleton - (Qty 1-4)

I have plenty of skellies, but if I didn't, I would go for:
  • Denizen Miniatures have been selling their Legion of the Damned Skeletons (£1 each) for years and I own a few so have a particular fondness for them.  Frankly their website sucks (Chub, I'd love to help you out with this.) but you can see the whole range at the Lost Minis Wiki.  They are true 25mm and slightly smaller in comparison to other manufacturers but they have honest old school charm and realistic action poses.

  • Steve Barber Models channels Ray Harryhausen with his awesome GMH4 Children of the Dragon's Teeth 6 pack (£7.99)
Steve Barber Models "Children of the Dragon's Teeth" skeletons

Zombie - (Qty 1-3)

I mostly have modern zombie miniatures, so these I actually need.

Few...  That was a monster bit of research!! (geddit)  The upshot of which is that it's going to cost a shedload of dosh, between £300 ($470) and £400 ($625) just to stock level 1.  This kind of backs up my love of paper minis, but they just don't have the same weight.  

Mega Miniatures is closing down!!

After 10 years of operation, they have decided to close their doors and will begin selling off their moulds on 1st June 2013.  Hopefully they will be snapped up by another miniature companies and these OSR mini ranges will live on under new ownership.  I'll try to update this post when I find out who has bought which ranges.

Indian Robot Endhiran

My head is sore (as are my sides) after watching this action sequence montage for Bollywood's take on The Terminator and Matrix franchises, Indian Robot Endhiran.