Some miniatures for Song of Blades and Heroes (Rust Monster face reveal)

[Severian]

A fun pair of monsters! Very different in apparent style but both striking. You're gathering quite a menagerie (if that's the word I'm looking for..).

Did you come to any conclusions about cavern tiles, btw? Half-term is imminent and I'm mulling ideas again...

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks! Yes, I'm trying to match the masses of dungeon monsters with some interesting one-offs. I like the idea of recurring large monsters that are as much obstacle as combatant ("Can we get past that water monster? Perhaps it's sleeping. Maybe it's scared of fire ...").

As to cavern tiles, I'm going to get hold of the "Dungeon Tiles Reincarnated - Dungeon" from Wizards of the Coast. I've seen a couple of reviews of it, and it seems to be very different from the original Dungeon Master Set (whereas the Wilderness is a bit different and the City is almost the same). It seems to have quite a few cavern sections, plus diagonal corridors, round rooms and spiral stairs. From a the reviews, it seems to be great if you've got the original set, with its conventional rooms and corridors, but less use if you haven't. That suits me fine. The originals are still for sale on Amazon, etc., at normal prices in any case.

I'm going to use one of those folders with many plastic sleeves to store the tiles for each room/section - the idea being that I'll have an epic planning/map-making session, then sort the tiles into semi-permanent groups. And then the dungeon/underworld can be revisited many times. I want to give each section a name - even just things like "the crypt", "the great hall" and "the temple" - so that the players get an idea of what their characteristics are and what precautions to take. I'm thinking as much of Gormenghast as Moria for inspiration, though there will doubtless be a bit of the latter. But I want odd things like enclosed gardens and peculiarly large woodlands (maybe a bit like the botanical gardens of Nessus ...). And no-go areas: these will serve as "spawning points" for monsters in games - for example, a staircase from which ratmen ascend: looking down it, adventurers see only myriad pairs of glowing eyes and hear a cacophony of squeaks. So they won't even attempt to descend until they're higher level and suitably tooled up.

[DeafNala]

The Green Fellows & their Descent Comrades painted up WONDERFULLY. VERY WELL DONE once more!
The Barghest is a terrific miniature. I'll have to see if he is in the Descent game I gave Cap'n John...there may be a bit of larceny if he is.

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks!

Yes, there are quite a few gems in the Descent box. I painted up one of the ettins a while back, and he's seen a lot of use in other games. The merriod's a great weird beast, and the barghests are handy critters. I realise now that the beast's face still has skin on one side, so I might line the distinction in with some blood, but given the tawny hide I went for, I won't need to do much more.

Here's the pair of them together:

[Hobgoblin]

Here's an Aly Morrison hobgoblin that I picked up on eBay last week. I didn't quite stick to my plan of painting new arrivals within a day, but I got him based up straight away.

This figure appears to be relatively rare. He's named "Champion" in the C36 listing, but he's really tiny - much smaller than most of the rest of the range. Great figure, though, and part of my favourite range of miniatures.

I've hummed and hawed over what skin colour to go for with these hobgoblins, but finally plumped for the same colour as most of my goblins. As with those, I might do a few black and a few blue or a sallow tone, but I think the livid "fish-white" skin contrasts nicely with reds and greens and blacks, and also nods to demons in some art of the Far East. I've vague notions of getting a samurai/ninja warband painted to oppose the hobgoblins.

In a project carried over from last year, I want to get the bulk of my Morrison hobgoblins painted up - the slottabased ones as a skirmish warband, and most of the solid-based ones as a multi-based HotT army. They'll work together, of course, for Dragon Rampant and other games.

[Jonas]

Awesome! He almost look undead, very scary!

[swiftnick]

Nice work on that Hobgoblin. The temptation is always to paint them with an Eastern skin tone. But as always your selected colour works really well.
I have collected the C36 Hobgoblins twice but for some reason always sell them off. Maybe will go for third time lucky.
By the way I am reading those Gene Wolf books you directed me to.

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks, both!

Nice work on that Hobgoblin. The temptation is always to paint them with an Eastern skin tone. But as always your selected colour works really well.

Cheers! I'm thinking vaguely of various Japanese ghosts and goblins (the distinction is blurry); they're often pallid, ghastly and livid:

I have collected the C36 Hobgoblins twice but for some reason always sell them off. Maybe will go for third time lucky.
By the way I am reading those Gene Wolf books you directed me to.

Excellent - they can be a bit of a head-scratcher at times, but everything starts to fall into place eventually! This podcast is really good - it does a chapter-by-chapter close reading of The Shadow of the Torturer. The hosts tend to goof around at the start of each episode, but they then get stuck into the detail really well. Well worth a listen!

http://alzabosoup.libsyn.com/introduction-and-chapter-1-the-shadow-of-the-torturer

[swiftnick]

Thanks will check that out.
Yes he can be a head scratcher at times. Have just started the claw and I am sure the sudden jump in the journey will be explained.

[Jagannath]

Another lovely job - The C36 set is something I'd love to get hold of and paint eventually, it's a fantastic set of minis (though I've developed an irrational fear of 28mm projects!).

Don't think I've commented on the most recent Oathmark goblins - they look lovely.

[Severian]

Great work on the C36 guy - the skin tone is spot on.

I like your idea of keeping dungeon tiles in plastic sleeves (and some sort of ring binder, I suppose) - a simple solution to remembering what bits are supposed to go where in a recurring setting. Lots to mull over as usual...

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks, all!

I'd hoped to finish this orc tonight, but didn't quite manage it. But I thought I'd take a photo of the shield anyway, to see how it "reads". The orc himself has a strange, almost cheekbone-free face - because, I think, he was remodelled from an earlier C15 armoured orc with a helmet with cheek guards (featured in a yellow cloak near the start of this thread). So he'll need a bit more work tomorrow - as will his cloak, which I keep abrading in painting. The shield needs a bit more work, especially on the lips, I think.

[phreedh]

Shield looks just great, Hobgob. Yup.

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks, phreedh!

Here he is - a really annoying figure to paint, because of the refusal of anything to adhere to the prominent areas of his cloak and boot, and his slightly rough face. Anyway, he's done now.

[Hobgoblin]

And a whole batch of recent beasties - after receiving a deeply unfashionable coat of gloss varnish.

The gnome assassin steadfastly refuses to come into focus - it's an integral part of his skillset.