Fantasy RPG Dungeon Dressing 2

A gallery of my Fantasy Dungeon Dressing collection.

Part 1 of this series was posted a few years ago, and can be found here. These pieces have been acquired over the years. Some are purpose bought, while others were lifted from boardgames. A few of the items date back to the mid 80's, but a large portion of them were collected on the 00's.

RPG's originally ware a game that played out exclusively in players minds. But my group is comprised of mostly wargamers, hobbyists, and creative-types. We have turned our combats into detailed 3D tactical exercises. A direct result, I have collected various pieces to help visually describe/dictate the tabletop.

Spell Effects

These represent a number of spell effects such as Mage Hand, Invisibility, Living Fireball, Turn to Stone, to name a few.

Doors

Dungeon Doors from Advanced Heroquest and Dungeon Bowl.

Columns

Resin and plastic columns. The marble was painted with a sponge stippling technique.

Traps

Various traps from Mage Knight.

Outdoor Scenery

A small collection of resin outdoor scenery.

Fantasy RPG Dungeon Dressing 1

A gallery of my Fantasy Dungeon Dressing collection.

These pieces have been acquired over the years. Some are purpose bought, while others were lifted from boardgames. A few of the items date back to the mid 80's, but a large portion of them were collected on the 00's.

RPG's originally ware a game that played out exclusively in players minds. But my group is comprised of mostly wargamers, hobbyists, and creative-types. We have turned our combats into detailed 3D tactical exercises. A direct result, I have collected various pieces to help visually describe/dictate the tabletop.

Statures, monuments and obelisks

The three grey pieces and the one front-and-center are pre-painted from Mage Knight. I painted the remaining items. The two light colored obelisks in the back row are from Reaper (?). The three dwarf statues in the middle were made from plastic bottle screw-on caps and GW multi-part plastic figures.

My favorite of the bunch are the two brass lions on marble plinths. They are resin models. I am especially proud of the marble technique (see inset, top).

Loot

Most of these are pre-painted sets from Mage Knight and Master Maze. The large groupings (cloth, crates, bags, etc) in the middle and the barrels in the back were painted by me.

Furniture

Only the two sets of tables with solid back chars are pre-painted sets from Mage Knight. Everything else are a combination of resin and metal models that I painted. The mirror on the tiered stand is one my oldest dungeon decor pieces. The rug under the desk is a piece of plasticard with the ends scored (to make the tassels).

Miscellaneous

A menagerie of pieces that didn't fit anywhere else. I painted everything here.

The pot is also one of my oldest figures. It originally had billowing smoke that culminated into the shape of a wizards face. It broke off, so I decided to re-purpose it. I made the campfire out of small gravel and toothpicks.

Thrones and Magic Items

The left throne is a game piece and the right throne is from Mage Knight. The stone work both thrones are on are GW square bases. I used a small file to carve out the stones. The throne on the left sits atop a 60mm, 40mm, and 20mm base.

All of the magic items (except for the two flying swords) are from Master Maze.

Well, that is it for part 1. The next installment will focus on larger pieces and out door items.

I Smell a Rat! | Fantasy RPG Figure Collection (part 12)

Finally wrapping up this series about 3 months late...

I will make the last entry into this series short. Rats (especially Giant Rats) are a staple vermin in any fantasy setting.

As with many of my 'mobs' and generic baddies, these have been basecoated, ink washed, drybrushed with 1-2 layers of highlights, then details added.

Dire Rats/Giant Rats - All of the individual rats are actually sci-fi vermin--Necromunda Mutant Rats. The Giant Rat Swarm (the large base in the back) are from an unknown company.

Rats - All of these figures are from GW. They are originally from Mordheim, Basic Hero Quest and WHFB minis.

To see the previous posts in this series, see the following links:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | 

Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11

Talisman 2ed Figure Collection (part 7)

The final installment of this series!

Here we have a number of unofficial figures for the remaining official Talisman 2ed characters. I have included the in-game character art this time as a comparison to the figures I have chosen.

The main hurdles in finding/converting Talisman 2ed figures is scale and style. During this era of figure sculpting, GW exaggerated heads and hands and had a sense of humor too. Miniatures were full of character and were themselves caricatures.  The other issue is that 25mm = 25mm--No Heroic Scale here.

So, when selecting a miniature, the most appropriate selections are vintage miniatures and companies that currently sculpt in a cartoonish style at a small (compared to today) scale.

My main source of modern miniatures has been Mega Miniatures. But to my recent chagrin they have closed their doors and sold off their master molds. Last I checked, their website was up with links which company bought what.

The other figures I have used were found in my bitz box, collected over the last 3 decades.

The Templar, High Mage, Champion of Chaos, and Herald

The Templar was an old figure I had. I cut off the helmet crest.

The High Mage is a Mega Mini. I added a small hexagon shaped bauble on top of his staff.

The Champion of Chaos is made from GW's first box set of multi-part chaos warriors. 

The Herald came with a long wire meant to be a banner pole. I added a metal spear in its stead with the plan of adding a small flag. I do not recall where this mini came from.

The Mystic, Master Thief, Sheriff, and King's Champion

The Mystic is a stand in until I find a better suited option. This one is a Mega Mini.
The Master Thief in also a Mega Mini. No conversions.
I found the Sheriff in my bitz box. Also no conversions.
The King's Champion is a very old figure. I think he came with a D&D Battle Systems box set in the mid 80s. He came with a wire banner pole, ad I will be adding a sword in its place.

The Valkyrie and Dragonrider

The Valkyrie is a bit too big, but I have not had much luck in finding a smaller scale appropriate figure. I have a female winged helmet head to replace the original head.
The Dragonrider will be a combination of a mid 80's metal figure that had its sword replaced with a plastic lance and a plastic D&D Miniatures Green Dragon,

For completeness, I have included the in-game character images for these 4 previously shown figures in past posts of this series: The Questing Knight, The Minotaur, The Dragon Priest, and  The Dragon Slayer.

Well, that is it for this series. However, while compiling these posts and pictures, I made note of some later edition characters and home brew characters over on www.talismanisland.com that do not have 2nd edition equivalents. As I find appropriate figures, and finish painting the ones from this series, I will update my progress.

Talisman 2ed Figure Collection (part 6)

Here are the last of my official Talisman minis.

Welcome to my Retro series, where I share creations from yesteryear. Click on the Retro label to peruse all the past articles.

The Archaeologist, Chainsaw Warrior, Scientist and Cyborg.

All four of these minis were painted about 10-15 years ago. There was no conversion work.

There was some extra attention to detail on the Chainsaw Warrior and Cyborg--It was one of my first attempts at a cammo pattern. The Scientist was one of the first figures I was able to get a solid white surface.

The Astronaut, Astropath, Space Marine, and Space Pirate.

The first three figures were painted about 10-15 years ago, where the Space Pirate was painted about 5-6. I inadvertently painted a black ring around the Space Pirates base as I was painting some other non-Talisman figures at the same time.

The Astropath was used as my "early career" Psyker character in our Dark Heresy campaign.

I have seriously considered replacing this mini with a newer style Space Marine (either metal or plastic variety). As Space Marines are supposed to be substantially larger than a normal human, the newer figure's larger scale would fit nicely, however, this figure perfectly captures the illustration on the character card.

4 Toads

Here is where you will see the only gap in my collection. I am missing one of the Toads--The "Pirate" Toad to be exact. These figures are sporting a second paint job, and they show their age (in painting style) the most out of the entire lot! These will be first on my list if/when I go back in for another round of updates.

In the next post, I will show the figures I am using for the official characters that never had corresponding figures.

Talisman 2ed Figure Collection (part 5)

More Talisman Figures...

While preparing this series of posts, I have come to realize that what I have been calling my "first paining" is actually the second. The actual first painting was somewhat of an experiment for me at the time that turned out horrible (and long forgotten).

In the mid 80s, two major art stores in my town went out of business relatively close together. I was able to score about 10 Windsor Newton inks and about 30 Badger Airbrush Inks somewhere in the range of 70-80% off. I was in an inking frenzy!

This long forgotten "first painting" was grey primer with a heavy coating of colored ink over the top. Unfortunately, some of the inks (I think the Badger) were still water soluble when dry. So when applying ink next to ink, the first color would bleed into the second.

Overall, I really liked the look--It was a smooth gradation from a dark shadow to a light highlight. But with the colors bleeding into each other and grey primer muting all the colors, I chose to scrap the project (and never use the Badger or Windsor Newton inks again). As simple light scrubbing in water removed all the ink and I started over, ending up with what  have been calling my first painting all along.

I will continue to forget the original "first painting" described above and refer to the second painting as the first. Which actually makes since, since I was able to go back to primer. As I indicated before, what is significant about the different generations of painting is that I didn't clean the figures, I simply painted the new paint on top of the old.

The Inquisitor, Chaos Warrior, and Necromancer

Sorry for the overexposed pics. The Inquisitor is a first painting, and the other two are third paintings. The only conversion is swapping out the Chaos Warrior's shield to a newer-style textured shield.

The Troll, Orc, and Hobgoblin

Here we have an example of all three generations of painting in order from left to right. This comparison nicely illustrates how my painting style has changes over the years.

I should have got a better angle on the Orc's shield. But I didn't paint it, it is a WHFB decal.

The Questing Knight, Minotaur, and Centaur

Finally we have the first example of alternate figs. Talisman City and Talisman Dragons never had official figures. All three of the above figures are second generations painting. However, the two unofficial minis, the Questing Knight and the Minotaur, were painted at the time when I was painting my Talisman third paintings.

The Questing knight was a gift from my best friend when we were in grade school (early 80s). This knight has seen many hours of RPG time. But he is poorly out of scale with today's Heroic scale minis--I did consider calling him a Halfling Paladin at one time!! But he fits nicely with the older Talisman scale.

The same can be said for the Minotaur. He was an older figure and while bigger than human sized minis, he looked like a pygmy next to his brethren. Compared to the "big" Talisman monster figures he is of similar stature. The Minotaur has the only conversion between this trio. I cut off the top half of his weapon (a club, I think) and added 2 back to back Ork Choppas, creating a crude double headed axe.

That's all for this installment. Until next time.

Talisman 2ed Figure Collection (part 4)

We're just over half way through the series.

In hindsight, I wish I had taken individual shots instead of group shots. Oh well... next time! None of the figures in this batch had conversion work.

The High Mage, Conjurer, Wizard, and Pilgrim

 
The Conjurer, Wizard, and Pilgrim were repainted around the mid 90s. The High Mage was started in the early 00s.

The Elf, Dark Elf, and Woodsman

 
The pair of elves were repainted in the mid 90s and the Woodsman was repainted a second time in the early 00s.

 

The Amazon, Barbarian, Ghoul, and Witch Doctor

 
The Amazon, Barbarian and Ghoul were repainted in the mid 90s and the Witch Doctor was painted for the first time in the early 00s.

 

The Druid, Ranger, Merchant, and Spy

All four of these guys were repainted in the mid 90s.

Over the years I repaint a lot figures. Mostly it is because my current style is preferred over past efforts, but very occasionally it is to re-purpose a mini. As is the case with my Talisman collection. When I came back to finish the handful of figs that were never started, my skill and style was so much better that the figures finished, I started repainting the entire set before moving on the the un-started ones.

That wraps up this installment. Until next time!

Grin and Bear it | Fantasy RPG Figure Collection (part 11)

I love bad puns... and I'm really bad at them!!!  

Today I present a quintet of bears.

1. A plastic toy bear (early 00s)
2. A D&D Miniature Dire Bear (mid 00s)
3. A plastic toy bear (early 00s)
4. A metal bear miniature from "I Don't Remember Co." (late 90s)
5. A WHFB Wood Elf Animal Handlers bear (late 90s)

Short and sweet today. Thant's all today folks. Ta ta!

Talisman 2ed Figure Collection (part 3)

More Talisman...

Now that I am well into this series, I am fully re-immersed in Talisman. I have gone back to www.talismanisland.com and revisited the fan made expansions, picking a select few that caught my fancy. I also looked at 3rd and 4th edition characters that do not have counterparts in 2nd edition. All in all I now have 60 new characters (half with minis already) to add to my collection. In future posts, I will showcase the new characters and expansions.

The Gypsy, Satyr, Thief, and Sprite

The Satyr and Sprite are actually original paint. The Gypsy and Thief are re-paints. All I can say is I faithfully painted the figures like the character art.

The Ninja, Assassin, Priest, and Monk

The Ninja has original paint from back in the late 80s. The other 3 were painted around the mid 90s.

The Halfling, Dwarf, Leprechaun, and Dragon Slayer

The Dragon slayer is original paint, but it wasn't painted until around the early 00s (when I did a batch or re-re-paints on some of my older Talisman minis). The figure is an old GW WHFB Giant Slayer hero model.

The other three figures are re-paints done at the same time as all the other repaints (mid 90s).

The Swashbuckler, Pirate, Minstrel, and Philosopher

All four minis are repaints. I actually lost my Philosopher for about 5 years. He got misplaced somewhere and just showed up. I had been searching the interwebs for a replacement, but never pulled the trigger hoping I would eventually find the original.

Than"s all for now. Take care!!

Motley Crew | Fantasy RPG Figure Collection (part 10)

I think this series is getting a little long in the tooth. I will be ending it shortly and present the remainder of my Fantasy RPG Figure Collection in a different way.

First of we have some felines...

1. A pair of D&D Miniature Guenhwyvar (mid 00s)
2. This is a Saber-tooth Tiger, but I don't remember the foundry that made it (early 00s)

The Saber-tooth is the only one I painted. I don't remember if this was for a generic encounter or painted specifically for a player. The photo does not do the figure justice. All the interim shading steps are lost--There is a dark base coat, an ink wash, followed by 5 successively lighter highlights.

Next we have a variety of small four-legged mammals...

1. A trio of Boars; foundry unknown (late 90s)
2. A D&D Miniature Fiendish Dire Wolverine (early 80s)
3. A D&D Miniature Fiendish Dire Weasel (mid 00s)
4. A quartet  of D&D Miniature Celestial Dire Badgers (late 80s)

In this group, the Boars are the only figures painted by me. Nothing special here... they look in RL pretty much like they do in the image.

To see the previous posts in this series, click below.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9

Talisman 2ed Figure Collection (part 2)

Here is part 2 of the look at my Talisman Figure Collection.

30 years later, I am still impressed by these sculpts. Yes they are comical and disproportionate... but THEY HAVE CHARACTER!!!

The Knight, Warrior, Soldier, and Gladiator

At some point, I replaced the Knight's shield with a newer style--I believe it originally came with the same shield that is on the Soldier. Back in the day, Citadel plastic shields were ground breaking! They had holes smack dab in the middle, which were never as big as the bulbous knob on the shield bearer's wrist. I jest--They really were cool in their day.

The entire range of original Citadel plastic shields!

Speaking of the Soldier, at the time, I was very proud of my freehand shield design. Heck! I'm still proud of it--I'm not sure I could do any better today. The Solder was painted around the same time as the Knight and the Warrior.

The Gladiator was painted more recently and is sporting 3 paint jobs! (I shamelessly admit I'm lazy and rarely strip the paint off my figures when doing a repaint).

The Zulu Warrior, Highlander, Saracen, and Samurai

When I re-re-painted the Zulu Warrior, I spent some time converting him. Actually he is the only original figure that I modified at all (excluding shield swaps). I replaced his horrible spear with a other brand metal one in by bitz box, placing his hand farther back on the shaft (the back part of the spear has broken off). I also made the shield out of plasticard as there was nothing in the GW range that resembled the character's image. lastly, I attached a sword hilt and a toothpick behind the shield.

The Highlander and the Saracen were re-painted at the same time. I never got the plaid to look right, but I passes on the table. There is a little freehand on the Sarecen's shield that I wish I had black-lined. These two were the unfortunate recipients of a near fatal accident--I accidentally grabbed a can of white primer instead of mate cote!! The damage is not terrible, but is noticeable.

I never finished the Samurai. I actually got a little farther painting him the first time around. I hit him with white primer and plocked out a little color during the re-re-paint stage.

That's all for now. See you next time!