Here we see 3 fierce protagonists approaching a fully stocked dungeon's complement of monsters. Almost all of these miniatures are from the Reaper Miniatures' Bones 1 Kickstarter, which started soliciting pledges back in July 2012. I've painted lots of these, but I still have dozens left. I'm now trying to concentrate on my remaining Bones 1 miniatures before I move on to the many other miniatures I hope to paint well into my golden years.
I've basically painted most of the Bones 1 miniatures I really wanted to paint, and now I've got miniatures I am not so excited by, don't anticipate a use for, or were intimidated by. Ghosts and dragons are not that much fun to fight, because it's hard to hit a ghost, and dragons are so devastating.
I also added skulls to the terrain under some monsters to add menace and warn the players, kind of like the skull-and-crossbone 'poison' logo. Without the skull, maybe that big green dragon is friendly; but the castoff demon skull tells you that the green dragon killed a demon, and the dragon considers murder too inconsequential to dispose of evidence, and the fearsome demon too inconsequential to keep as a trophy.
My theme for this batch is "green," so I picked out mostly green-oriented characters, creatures, and monsters; and I used some UV-reactive paint for extra grooviness. Please imagine our adventure in a lush, mossy swamp or forest setting...
Let's start with the monsters:
3 kobolds guard the entrance. These are Bones 1 "Dungeon Attack" kobolds, based on the "Bloodscale Kobolds" by Ben Siens (SKU 77010).
Get past the kobolds, and our heroes face 2 lizard men. These are Bones 1 "Swamp Things" Lizardmen, based on the "Lizardman Spearman" by Gene Van Horne (SKU 77154) and "Marsh Troll" by Jason Wiebe (SKU 77152).
But others have died before you here, and their spirits do not rest easy. These are Bones 1 "Haunts" cast in fluorescent green translucent plastic, which I have emphasized with glow-in-the-dark and fluorescent paint. From left to right: a curtain of ghost-animated skeletons form "Nightspectre" by Julie Guthrie (SKU 77099), the cloaked "Grave Wraith" by Bob Ridolfi (SKU 77097), "Spirit" by Jason Wiebe (SKU 77098), tragic "Labella DeMornay, Banshee" by Julie Guthrie (SKU 77096), and a seductive "Ghostly Summons" by Julie Guthrie (SKU 77095).
As if my camera's poor focus isn't problematic enough, I tried to emphasize an ethereal effect with the paint, and the translucent material just doesn't facilitate high-contrast photos. At least you can really see the green glow of the material and paint in the UV photo.
The boss monster of this domain is a fierce green dragon: the Bones 1 "Fire Dragon" by Sandra Garrity (SKU 77109), on a 3-inch base.
Now let's look at our protagonists; I painted all of these for my wife's use. She constantly inspires me, lightens my burden, and is the color in my life. And they're done in time for St. Valentine's Day, with reddish elements. (I also used some UV-reactive paints for fun.) From left to right:
A bearded druid in a purple coat with a friendly raccoon on his shoulder is Bones 5 "Dreadmere Hero" 1100, based on "Aurelio Endrino, Bonehenge Warlock" by Bobby Jackson (SKU 03843).
More in keeping with the green theme, 2 green-skinned female half-orc druids 3D printed by online sellers; I got 2 of them so my wife can have a choice of avatars:
"Female Orc Shaman" by Cast n Play has a curvy hourglass physique: features of more traditional female beauty; with dancer-like attire.
"Female Orc Druid" by Andrea Tarabella's Artisan Guild has a blocky, bodybuilder's physique: little body fat, revealing bulging muscles; with stone-age attire.
It occurs to me that these different powerful green-skinned heroic figures parallel a pair of different powerful green-skinned comic book superheroes "The Savage She-Hulk" and her cousin "The Incredible Hulk;" in that one appears 'athletic' whereas the other appears 'muscle-bound.'
I didn't plan this, but all 3 of these protagonists' miniatures have wide stances. However, the cast miniature (the bearded druid in the purple coat) 'cheats' by concealing its legs with a long overcoat, stabilizing the figure and making it easier to de-mold; whereas the 3D printed figures do not, exposing their legs and making for a much more dramatic pose.
I'm glad for 3D printing, because it allows for more expressive poses and features than with casting and traditional sculpting tools, and because it allows digital sculptors to work independently of capital-intensive casting factories, thereby somewhat democratizing the means of production. Put another way, I can't find female half-orc miniatures from Reaper which look like these, and yet there is clearly a market for these views of what an orcish female could look like, and how players want their game characters to be represented.
However, there is unfortunately an element of 'buyer beware' in this developing market:
- The wide stances of both orcish ladies wouldn't easily fit on a 1" circular base, even at only 28mm scale (no smaller scale was available, and the measure of their stances was not specified by the seller).
- More frustrating was that one of the figures' 3D-printed layers separated at an elbow and knee, requiring tedious re-gluing. Modern 3D printing typically involves depositing layers of plastic from the bottom up, like a stack of hundreds of irregular pancakes. This layer-separation issue is a problem not exhibited by cast miniatures (for obvious reasons), and I question the minature's resilience during tabletop play.
If you're reading this, please feel free to comment. As per my color wheel cycle system, I actually painted a batch of orange and a batch of yellow miniatures between the red batch I posted about previously and this green batch, but I didn't bother to post an article about them, because I feel like nobody reads them.
* "Green" in the world of miniatures typically refers to original uncasted miniature sculpts, often constructed by hand in green epoxy putty; you might find this putty sold in stores as "Kneadatite" or "Green Stuff." Similarly, "greens" are these miniatures themselves. Also similarly (but perhaps more confusingly) "greenware" can refer to unfired clay sculptures or pottery.
