I'VE GOT A FEVER! AND THE ONLY PRESCRIPTION.....is more Owlbear!

The funny thing about miniature painting as a hobby is sometimes you'll think you are "done" something, or you have "enough" of something...that's never actually true.

After my most recent Owlbear run a friend pointed out that I didn't have the super-fantastic Gale Force 9 Owlbear, and then he sent me one.

There is so much to like about this model I barely know where to start.  One thing that separates the Gale Force 9 Owlbear from the other models currently on the market is they've gone much heavier on the feather texture as opposed to the bear fur.  Personally I really like this as it makes the creature feel more alien and strange than even the idea of an owl/bear hybrid is to begin with.  The one bear element that the model has retained that I really like is the unbelievably dangerous looking claws.

Overall this is an amazing model that has tons of texture and is a simple joy to paint.

At some point in the not too distant future I see an encounter with a ton of Owlbears attacking a town or village my PCs are camped out in.

Okay...so I think I've now...actually...exhausted all the Owlbear model options currently on the market...again...for now.

-Jay

Liam The Sorcerer Druid

Today's addition is a new character model for an upcoming Ravenloft game I'm hoping to play in.

One of the things I really like about 5th edition D&D is how subtly flexible the system really is.  It doesn't (at the time of this writing) have  the seemingly limitless specialised character options previous versions of the game had but it's surprising how many truly unique character types you can create either by use of the feat system or through creative multi-classing.

Years ago I ran a Ravenloft (2nd edition) game that centred around one of my favourite adventure/campaign/box-sets of all time; Castles Forlorn.  Castles Forlorn has tons of stuff in it that really appealed to me; ghosts, vampires (sort of), a Scottish highland theme, and time travel!  I haven't touched the material in years but when a friend suggested a 5e Ravenloft game with characters native to Ravenloft I pulled out my Castles Forlorn book (a reprint of the original content from DMs Guild) for inspiration.  I decided on a red-headed Druid.  In Forfar (the land of "Forlorn") red-heads have a traditional innate magic ability.  I decided to replicate this in 5e by having my character have started life out as a wild magic sorcerer before becoming a true Druid.  This will be my first experience both playing a multi-class character as well as trying the multi-class spellcaster rules (until my Saltmarsh character Garkas levels up again....).

For my miniature I stared with another Games Workshop Mordheim human and once this time added a head and arms from the Frostgrave Sailor sprue.  I also added a backpack because at this point adventurer miniatures without backpacks just look wrong to me.

So that's Liam ready for action.  He won't be nearly as powerful as other members of the party right off the bat but I'm hoping he's interesting to play and should be different than anything I've played before.

-Jay

Generic Brit Fantasy Warrior Miniature

(least inspiring post title ever)

Usually when I paint a single miniature it's either because it's something I need for a game or its some sort of cool critter that I don't have but wish I did.  Today's addition is neither of those things.

I might be trying out the Advanced Fighting Fantasy rules (or I might not)...

I might need a replacement character for my current Warhammer Fantasy Role Play game (or I might not)...

I might need an additional sword armed warrior for Frostgrave and/or Rangers Of Shadow Deep (or I might not)...

But in any event if I need figures for any of the things listed above, they're all basically one figure.  A friend recently hooked me up with 2 sprues of the old Empire Militia/Mordheim Human figures so I had a good base to work up from for something slightly different from a traditional D&D 'sword and board' style fighter.

In addition to the Mordheim sprues I used a head from the Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago sailor sprue and added a backpack from some Napoleonic-era soldiers I had kicking around.

I really like this figure because he looks and feels a bit more like an adventurer collecting his gear as he goes and bit less like an optimised RPG character.

I can't wait to figure out what game I actually painted him for :)

-Jay

The Fiend is currently accepting applications

I've been running a couple of D&D games lately but haven't been playing in as many.  The one game I have been playing in semi-regularly is about to get an upgrade!

A friend decided to run a group of us through the original U series of AD&D modules using the current 5th edition rules set.  That first module series from TSR's UK division consisted of; Sinister Secret Of Saltmarsh, Danger At Dunwater, and The Final enemy.  We had just concluded the first module in the series (Sinister Secret Of Saltmarsh) when Wizards Of The Coast announced their next campaign book is Ghosts Of Saltmarsh, which is apparently both a 5th edition update of the original trilogy along with a bunch of new material for supporting nautical adventures.

Coming out of our last session my character, Garkas, had begun the process of recruiting sailors to his cause.  His first two recruits were a pair of brothers from Saltmarsh but I'm sure more loyal followers lie in his future.

Doing these figures also gave me the opportunity to use my new green stuff roller that has wooden boards as it's texture.  I really like how these turned out and even though I'll be sticking with cobblestones for most of my fantasy bases my revised Garkas model (Captain Garkas?) will definitely use this basing style as well.

For my first two sailors (I'm sure I'll be adding more soon) I used the plastics for Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago.  With the expansion of the Saltmarsh gaming material I'm super glad to have gotten these as I think a bunch more sailor models are in my future.

This also might be the push to get off my butt and move from Felstad to the actual Ghost Archipelago and get some more games in using the Frostgrave rules.

-Jay