Female Monster Adventurers for Frostgrave

This is one of the more interesting ideas for a Frostgrave warband I have put together, an all-female "monster" warband.  I had started this before the Into the Breeding Pits expansion was announced, but I think they will work well with the new material. 

They might make a good Beastcrafter warband, as the author describes them as being a more animalistic type of magic, Read more at his website The Renaissance Troll.  

Krokuta, Gnoll Cleric, Reaper # 02955

Looking for a goblin female was a bit difficult, so I went with a gnome female and gave her green skin. Not very d&d goblin, but maybe Warcraft.

03196: Petra Posiedew, Gnome Sorceress

03263: Ferrunk, Female Bugbear Cleric

The two "sisters" shown below will be a ranger and a barbarian in the warband.

02708: Janara HalfOrc Female & 03019: Lathula, Female Barbarian

Darkhold Goblins

Some time off for the holidays as allowed me to reduce the lead mountain a bit. I picked these Dark Hold Goblins from Rebel Minis at Nashcon earlier this summer. Finally finished them this week, and will hopefully play them in a 5th Ed game with my kids.





These are sculpted by Bobby Jackson and are definitely worth having if goblins are your thing. They are the right mix of comical and menacing, so they could be used in a variety of settings or flavors. The casting and production quality is top notch, very clean and no flash.

If your inclined to make a purchase, Rebel is running a sale until the New Year. I might pick up the goblin minions and maybe the duckmen. I have always received quick service from Mike at Rebel, so if the Darkhold/Runequest design interests you, they have some great stuff.

Link to Rebel Minis.

Female Adventurers

Here is a quartet of female adventurers from Reaper Bones plastic. Below, a female paladin and wizard, both ready for some Frostgrave action.

The caster is from Bones I, and the problem with indistinct facial details are particularly noticeable on that figure. The severity may vary from figure to figure, but it has improved on the most recent Bones release.

Below, the two female adventurers from the Dragons Don't Share set. Fine details on the face and clothing are noticeably better here. 

The two face off against a Warg, also from Reaper Bones. The terrain tiles are by Acheson Creations. Cast in a hard plastic, they paint up very nicely and will work in a variety of situations. Check for updates later.

Oriental Adventures into 5th Edition: Korobokuru

     Oriental Adventures came in 1985 at the tail end of the 1st edition/AD&D era. Released as a hardcover, it introduced many concepts such as skill proficiency, comeliness, and honor. Of course, the real draw was new classes such ninja, samurai and wu jen. Other classes, such as barbarian and monk were repurposed to better fit the new setting. To an 11 or 12 year old who grew up on Kung Fu Theater every Saturday afternoon, this was a prize. From the classic cover to an Asian bestiary, this is an AD&D collector's essential..
       The setting of Kaan-Tur was initially meant to be the Oriental end of a generic European medieval world, probably Greyhawk. In 1987, it was specifically stated to be in the Forgotten Realms. A later edition of Oriental Adventures (for 3E) would place the story in Rokugon, of Legend of the Five Rings Fame. A good book, but one that was at cross purposes with itself. Many of the races and classes it contained were not a part of the setting the book described, and so the book never worked to a coherent whole.
The original Oriental Adventures contained only three non-human player character races, all of which I will adapt in the coming weeks.  First, the dwarves of Kara-tur:

KOROBOKURU

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The Korobukuru are a race of eastern dwarves who make their home deep in the jungle, on snowy mountains or in remote forests.  They rarely venture outside of their villages, and avoid contact with humans and other intelligent races.

Dwarf monk from Reaper Miniatures

Standing about 4 feet tall, the Korobokuru are nonetheless stout and powerful. Their long, hairy arms and slightly bowed legs and sparse beards give them a comical appearance to many humans. Nonetheless, they are extremely strong and hardy
Korobokuru live in small settlements where they farm, hunt and work at simple crafts. They are often considered primitive by settled and more advanced peoples, though the korobokuru’s pugnacious and boastful nature will not tolerate insults. Korobokuru adventurers who travel outside of their villages are most often barbarians, but might also include rangers and druids.  

KOROBOKURU NAMES

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Names are very important in Korobokuru culture. In addition to the clan name, parents give children a name or nickname at an early age. Upon reaching adulthood, another name is taken, which is mostly kept secret. Only very close family members or companions are told this secret name.

Male Names. Akihi, Horohoro, Isonash, Koshaman, Menkakush, Mici, Nupur, Pasekur, Resak, Takhaka,

Female Names. Api, Hotene, Katekemat, Kateyui, Mina, Oki, Opere, Nupeki, Pirka, Saki, Toitoi, Umoshmatek,

Clan Names. Hakket, Jomo, Kapo, Karafuto, Niputay, Ponape, Yezo,

KOROBOKURU TRAITS

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Your Korobokuru character has a variety of characteristics in common with all other Korobokuru.

Ability Score Increase: Your Constitution Score increases by 2 and your Strength increases by 1.

Age. Korobokuru mature at the same rate as humans, but they are considered young until they are 50 years of age. On average, they live about 350 years, although rare ascetics among them may live much longer.

Size. Korobokuru stand between 3 ½ to 4 ½ feet tall and average about 125 lbs. Your size is Small.

Alignment. The majority of Korobokuru are chaotic or neutral, especially in their relations with outsiders.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.

Type. You are of the humanoid type.

Darkvision. Accustomed to the dark forests and the night sky, you have superior vision in the dark. You can see in dim light within 60 feet as if you were in bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You cannot identify color in the darkness, only shades of grey.

Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against poison and you have resistance to poison damage.

Hardy. You have advantage on all Strength and Constitution saves against magic.

Toughness. Your hit point maximum increases by 1, and it increases by 1 every time you gain a level.  

Languages. You can speak Korobokuru, Trade and Hengeyokai.

Close to the Wild. You have proficiency in the Nature skill. If attempting to identify plants and animals of your clan's native area, you have Advantage on skill checks.

Oriental Adventures for AD & D at rpgnow.com

Conversion notes: This is basically a 5th edition hill dwarf with a few changes. They have the nature proficiency instead of a tool proficiency. A couple of gnomish traits (small size and magical resistance) replace the armor and weapon proficiencies and bonuses. The names are borrowed and adapted from Ainu names. Korobokuru are a part of Ainu folklore and the Ainu thought the dwarves were the previous inhabitants of their northern islands. 

Goblin Villagers

My painting project for the week were these goblins from Rebel Minis from their Dark Hold line. They are 20mm to the top of the head. The sculptor is Bobby Jackson, and as you can see, the poses, character and expression is excellent. The casting is also top quality. Very little clean up required, and all are single piece figures.

I will possibly make use of them in a Frostgrave warband. They would certainly be very good low level minions for an unscrupulous wizard.

Order Rebel Minis

Minotaurs

Now that the Minotaur is a semi-official PC race for D&D from the online Unearthed Arcana, I thought I should paint up my Reaper Minotaurs in case any of my players wants to try one.  I am generally not opposed to creature races and I generally like "kitchen sink" campaign settings, but...the Minotaur is way out there. 

The is the Minotaur from the first Reaper Bones. Very Greek, looks like something Kratos would fight.

From the second Reaper Bones are these two Minotaurs. On the left, is a failed experiment.  I wanted a white bull as a Minotaur, but I struggled with the armor. I probably should have gone with an iron black look, but a did a blue glaze over chainmail silver and arrived at a neat way to do metallic colors. It still doesn't look right for the bull, but on another figure it would work. On the right is a basic gladiator type, pefect for a PC barbarian or fighter.

And from the back...

Other beastmen types:

The goatmen might make a good substitute for smaller, PC sized Minotaurs. Keeping them as goatmen, you could replace the Goring Rush feature with a Climb feat - move up rocky and sheer surfaces at normal speed.  Less practical than the Minotaur, but a cool companion for a mountain dwarf. 

Hobgoblins

In traditional D&D/d20, Hobgoblins are criminally underused. Mainly because, I think, they are average for the goblinoid creatures - they're humans, basically. Not as sneaky as goblins, nor as brutish as orcs. Not as savage as bugbears, and not as pack minded as kobolds.

I particularly like this one, shown above and below. While dual wielding with a sword and an axe, his pose is particulary dynamic. Of course, the pose came at the price of separate pieces for the arms. Fortunately, they fit well and stayed secure with my mix of superglue and epoxy glue.

As with almost all of Reaper's metals, the production quality is excellent. Flash lines are minimal, and the white metal is substantial. The heft of the metal may be a psychological bonus more than anything, but to me it helps justify the prices I pay today compared to twenty years ago.

If I had to put in one complaint, it is the facial sculpture. A little too simian/Planet of the Apes. OTOH, somebody might use these for just such a product. 

On the eve of the Reaper Bones III launch, a couple of wishes for the project:

1) These guys in plastic. I'll want at least two more as extras.
2) Other hobgoblins - archers, rogues and shamans
3) Female goblinoids - orcs, ogres, hobgoblins and goblins
4) Kings or tribal chieftains.  Whatever is appropriate.

Collection of Reaper Bones II Bad Guys

This past week's work on Bones II was a few of the common enemies low level players generally encounter. Reaper's Bugbears are especially fun to paint. On many smaller character figures, the Bones plastic is indistinct on detail.  On the very large creatures, there is a tendency to distort under its own weight. However, there is a definite sweet spot on the large to giant-ish size creatures for the Bones line.  The cost saving over metal is significant and the loss of detail is minimal.

Two Gnolls with morning stars. This again plays well to Bones' strengths. On a metal figure, a long metal extension would bend and eventually break off.  In Bones material, the morning star is flexible and if it bends in shipping (as swords and spears often do), that matters not. 

Bugbears

I need some Bugbears as I run some kids through the Lost Mine of Phandelver D&D 5E adventure. Luckily, I got a small horde of them from Reaper Bones II.

Bones from Bones II

For the foreseeable future, this will probably turn into a Reaper Bones II blog, as most of my fantasy painting will come from the just delivered load of plastic sitting beside my painting table.

However, this first offering is from my new painting partner, my 5 year old son.  He wants to play and undead army in our new favorite skirmish game, Open Combat, so he is claiming most of the skeletons and zombies as his.  He did the block painting and the washes, while I did the touch ups and basing. 

I am a proud Dad, and what's better, is that he is ready to paint even more.  This is probably the real strength of the Bones Kickstarters - lots of cheap but good miniatures for young painters and novices. 

The Griffin

This week's work was on a Griffin from Reaper's Bones line.  The sculpt is fantastic - detailed and dynamic; the production quality is also excellent.

I am not overly proud of my paint job, but it looks fine on the table.  A mini of this quality should have received more attention but with a pile of Reaper II in the Hobby Room, this will have to do. Actually, the only real shortcut is on the basing.  The Griffin really needed a higher built up base, like a cliff edge from which to attack.

As a DM, I can't recall ever using a Griffin in a game.  I picked this up mainly because a) it looks fantastic and b) it will work great in the Of Gods and Mortals miniature game.

For comparison purposes, here is the Griffin beside a Reaper player figure. I don't think the Assassin has much of a chance.

Goblins and Kobolds

The release of the new D&D starter set with included adventure runs an encounter - spoiler - with goblins early in the module. Of course it does - how can an adventure for 1st to 5th level characters not have goblins?...Only if it has kobolds instead.

Here are small force of kobolds and goblins in honor of D&D obviousness.

My goblins are always blue, by the way, because of this guy: 

If you haven't read the Goblin series by Jim Hines, then you must not like laughing. Funny, but not ridiculous, and a nice subversion of your usual fantasy tropes. 

Kitsune from Stonehaven Minis

I recently received my Elven Adventurers Kickstarter from Stonehaven miniatures.  In hindsight, I wish I went in for more than what I did...which is probably what every company should hope for if they really want to use Kickstarter to launch an ongoing operation.

The two I really wanted were these Kitsune (Japanese fox shapeshifters).  For the most part, I think Eastern fantasy creatures are really overlooked by most manufacturers.  

The sculpting and casting are both excellent - though a bit flat when viewed in profile.  It was either from production or shipping but both of their arms can be "pushed" a bit to remedy the situation.  From a design standpoint, I like the overall theme and detailing.  The male looked very much like a merchant and was painted accordingly.  The female kitsune did not go in the cheesecake direction that many sculptors of anthropomorphic characters follow but looked very much like an assassin or gladiator.

Stonehaven currently has a kickstarter running for fold flat paper terrain done in their distinctive sepia art style.  If paper terrain interests you, Stonehaven has a solid record of delivering on their previous projects.