Reaper Bones Anirion aka Raistlin Majere

This isn't Raistlin Majere from the Dragonlance series of books and adventures. Honest.  He just looks quite a bit like him!

This is actually Anirion from Reaper but he holds such a resemblance to the complex magician from the Dragonlance books I couldn't resist painting him to match.  I didn't quite go as far as giving him pale gold skin but he has similar robes and shares the same white hair and crystal topped staff.  I did a lot of blending on the robes both on the red and blue sections prior to adding the gold runes.  It started with quite a dark Scab Red then progressed through Blood Red all the way up to Lava Orange, needless to say there were quite a few layers between the three colours.

Once the blue hem was finished I debated whether to add the gold runes or not as I was a bit concerned I'd mess it up and ruin all that blending work but I think it worked ok.

Games Workshop Plaguebearer

Over the last couple of days I've been working on two more figures for my upcoming Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition game.  If you haven't had a look at the new version I highly recommend it, they have managed to capture the feeling of adventure with some straightforward rules that encourage role-play and simplify combat without making it boring.  Anyway enough about that.

For my players, STOP READING NOW!!!

For the rest of you, this miniature is a plastic Games Workshop Plaguebearer, now I don't like Games Workshop much for various reasons but sometimes they have the miniature that fits the role I need filled and this is one of those occasions.  I needed a new one eyed monster called a Nothic and the choices were very limited.  

I could have bought one of the D&D Miniatures but they are difficult to find and expensive compared to the cheap Plaguebearer.  Its also much more scary I think and for the encounter it'll be used for that's going to be important.

I used Citadels Technical paint, Nurgle Rot for the first time on this model and like all the other Technical paints I've tried this was excellent.  In fact these technical paints are the best thing Games Workshop have done in the last ten years in my opinion. 

I used Rotting Flesh as a base with a Blood Red wash over the boils and intestines which were painted a light pink.  The Nurgle Rot was then layered over the open wounds and boils to build up a real gloopy mess.  It dries slightly translucent and very shiny and looks extremely unhealthy.  I love it.

The sword I wanted to look like chipped Obsidian so a black base with a sharp white highlight seemed to do the trick, I might gloss varnish the sword to make it look more glassy.

Overall I think he looks like you might catch something nasty just by looking at him.

Reaper Bones Halbarand the Cleric

This is another character for my upcoming Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition game.  I've painted him as a Tempest Domain Cleric. 

I tried a new technique of basing the armour with Kommando Khaki building up successive layers of white, unfortunately the photos don't really show this very well.  My only available time to photograph my miniatures at the moment is during the hours of darkness (which sounds much more sinister than it is) and its messing with the lighting quite a bit.

The cloak and surcoat come out ok although they are a bit shiny even after a coat of Anti-Shine.

I'm waiting for a delivery of my next character, a Barbarian from Scibor you can see in the photo, i'm going to base him on a regular 30mm base for tabletop and i'll paint the giant head as a display base for when he's not being used. 

So while i'm waiting for him to arrive i'll be painting a Chaos Plaguebearer next for a secret mission!

Bones Oswald the Overladen

Have you ever had a real look at your Dungeons & Dragons character's equipment list?  The spare sword, the two winter blankets, the cooking pot, half a dozen torches and a lantern, all those extras that every self respecting Adventurer (aka Mobile Murder Machine) needs to survive in style?

Well if you have you might want your very own Hireling to follow along after you carrying your possessions, who knows he could do your laundry and cook your meals too if you needed him to. 

With that in mind i've painted my latest Bones Miniature, Oswald the Overburdened.  I used to have a Citadel miniature similar to this one many years ago who was holding a torch and even had a kitchen sink tied to the top of his pack, I might have to see if I can get another.  I rather like the idea of my adventurering party being followed around by a gaggle of peasants like in Monty Python's Holy Grail.

Anyway, painting wise he was fairly straightforward, individually each part of the model is simple but the sheer volume of different items to paint really put a strain on my pallette.  I only have so many browns afterall and this fella has a ton of pouches, barrels, wooden handles etc.  Overall i'm happy with him, I hope you like him too.  

Bones Turanil, Male Elf Paladin

I took to calling this one the Pretty Boy Peacock Elf while I was painting him, the shield design is so different to most that you see it was a bit intimidating to start with, but once I began it was really easy to paint the peacock and deceptively easy to just keep adding more and more highlights.

I wanted to echo the peacock colours of vibrant blue green and gold in the rest of the model but the green was too much and made it look a bit undefined,  I like to keep my colour schemes fairly simple as I think they have more impact that way.  I free hand painted the wood grain on the inside of the shield which worked out better than expected and the gems on the sword came out nicely too but the face didn't translate too well into the Bones material and some of the detail was lost, not enough to affect the usefulness of the miniature though.

Actually, this is another character for the 5th Edition D&D game i'm going to run so the player will have to be happy with it too I suppose.  With his large shield and longsword and heavy armour he's clearly a Defensive Fighter,  so will add some much needed control to the battles i'm going to throw them into.  I have to dmit i'm really looking forward to having the whole group of seven heroes painted and together for a group shot.   

Bones Galladon, Male Wizard

I'm going to be running a Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition game in December and am getting some Player Characters ready in advance. This is the first, Galladon the Enchanter of Emberwood.  I didn't want him to look like Gandalf so went for a blue theme and tried out illuminating the first letter on the scroll like in ancient religious manuscripts.  I think it worked ok.

I'm going to have seven players for this game and I don't hink any of them have played 5th Edition yet so it'll be a bit of a challenge but the system is really good and i'm sure they'll enjoy the adventure I have planned for them.

Originally I intended to run a humorous game and have the players play Goblins, Orcs or even an Ettin (the Ettin was going to be played by two players who would argue over what to do each round) but when I put some thought into it I realised that the funniest encounters have never been written to be funny but became that way due to the players themselves.

With that in mind, the seven characters i'm making up will be fairly stereotypical and hopefully the players will breathe life into them.  

What do you think?  Are deliberately funny adventures more amusing than the serious ones that get derailed by crazy players?