In case anyone might be wondering what the hero models from these D&D board games look like, here’s the sole example of one that I actually painted. And by painted, I mean it’s been sitting part done on a series of shelves, tables and containers for the better part of a decade now. I can’t answer why I even started this model, as it’s a pretty awful example of sculpting, casting, posing (WTF is he supposed to be doing? Dancing? Throwing a Punch? It’s dancing, isn’t it?) and pretty much everything else. It got painted in reds with gold because ….I think maybe the character card art insinuated these were the colorus to use? Or maybe I chose red because Dragonborn? I can’t recall. I dunno, really. Or care. I did the hair/dreads this week though. I went with yellow because fire, because Dragonborn. Also, the bright colour draws the eye to the model’s head where black or a dark colour would have dulled it down.
This model is a good example of a bad model from 10 years ago. It might be a boardgame figure, and it’s now painted, so it’ll work for that okay, but it’s not great in any way by any means. It only gets it’s own blog post to fit in with the other Ravenloft models, and so I can entertain myself for 10 minutes shitting on it in type. It’s another example of a model that’s now done that I can pretty much never concern myself thinking about again. And if I ever need a Male Dragonborn Fighter armed with an Axe, I guess I’ve got the perfect model to fit that unlikely event….
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
He looks awesome! It looks like he’s cheering on his friends who are actually doing the fighting 😄
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Haha I thought the same.
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Hahah that’s a great interpetation there – I’ll go with that!
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A very strange model, it doesn’t flow well at all, but your painting has certainly elevated it
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We’ve been playing the D&D boardgames in the last week or two, and Marouda has been using this guy in the last few games. I have to admit, simply by being a fully-painted miniature on the tabletop, it ends up looking alright.
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That is an… interesting pose, for sure!
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It’s definitely a pose. That it is…
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The only time I played D&D I was Dragonborn… as well painted as that is it is not quite how I imagined my character advancing to battle.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Perhaps doing some HIIT training FOR battle? (Lift those knees!)
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Disco dragon! (And well painted!)
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Everybody dance now!
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I wonder what the concept art for this one looked like.. I imagine poses like this happen when a less than enthusiastic sculptor is tasked with trying to insert (for example) a super-dynamic Wayne Reynolds pose into 3-dimensional reality.
I like the paintjob – pretty sure I painted mine with inverted colours from yours – r D armour and bronze skin ☺️
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Thanks. I think that could explain it – or simply someone having a fail moment while trying to sculpt something interesting looking and then everyone involved going with “good enough – get it out the door!”
I’ve certainly felt that way *painting* some of these things (including this one!)
Bronze skin sounds interesting.. I don’t know much about D&D things really so I went with safe lizard/dragon colours…
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You’ve done a good job on him but I agree he’s not the most immediately engaging figure. I reckon he’s posing in front of his bedroom mirror, playing his favourite record and pretending that axe is a microphone. Personally I think it’s great to see these creatures from fantasy/sci-fi in more “casual” poses like that, rather than the traditional combat poses were used to seeing. Next week, a space marine in the bath.
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goddamned fucking millennials and their phones and their tiktok videos and their social medias. get off my goddamned lawn!
On that second point, I do have Marneus Calgar on the “throne” (or is it the toilet?) to paint up one day… and I’ve always wanted to use an old-school landspeeder pilot to recreate that classic mini-diorama. I know YOU know the one… 😉
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That would be amazing! I’ll keep an eye out for it making its way into the tray at some stage 🙂
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He has a handful of dice. and he’s about to roll a shitload of sixes baby!!!
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D&D, hope it’s 20s! 😉
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Good point!!
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As it has been turning out, he does indeed roll a ton of sixes!
In D&D.
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Well, fighting and dancing are closely related. 😉
I don’t know if I’ll ever find the time to paint these, but from what I’m recalling…I’m sure you elevated the F out of this model. Most of them are that crap bendy plastic with hardly any detail. So color me impressed with your skills, once again. The highlights on the gold are really cool, and otherworldly. In fact, he would probably fit in nicely as a primitive random SciFi alien. Stone axe is also nicely done. The hair/dreds looks good…but hair on a lizard creature (yea, it’s an imaginary being) just looks so wrong to me!
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Capoeria dragonborn!?
And yeah, there’s a lot of them that are just utter shite, and they do suffer badly from bendy plastic weapons overall. Looks like I’m going to end up painting a couple mroe of the lesser offenders, as well as continuing to work my way through the monsters. Not 100% decided on whether I’m going to start cutting the bigger ones off their warped bases when needed during the process and replacing them with HIPS rounds.
I’d say the way to think of their hair/dreads/whatever is something like the Predator’s – both because the pred’s dreads aren’t really hair, and because – let’s face it – that’s where they took the look from!
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After getting some of the harder plastic WizKids stuff (Nolzurs, Deep Cuts), I think I would probably try and replace any of the minis from those games. That also means I’d have to find the time to paint all those damned things, and that isn’t happening so far.
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Years ago when we first started playing these, I found alternative models for all of the PCs. A mix of Reaper stuff, GW stuff, and a couple of others (I have a RBG model I use for the female human rogue). The monsters on the other hand – are “good enough” 🙂
This model ended up getting painted as something that looked quick and easy, alongside my two alternative “Dragonborn” – both of which will be posted shortly…
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Great work mate 👍🏼
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Cheers, IRO!
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Well, I quite like it! 🙂 Very nice paint job, as always!
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Thanks John. As it turns out as a display model of any level it sucks mightily, but as a tabletop boardgame model it works well enough in practice.
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It certainly is an interesting pose. I feel like they didn’t really think out what they wanted to portray with this guy and so you get something that is muddled and hard to figure out as a result. Even though I gather that he is supposed to be a dragon, he almost looks like he could be a cast off from the Lizardmen army to me (well, you know, if the sculpt and pose were a bit better). I think the bright and bold colors are a great fit for something lizard-like as well and you’ve definitely created a visually striking mini here.
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Thanks Kuribo. There’s clearly a lot of crossover between different visions of reptilian humanoids – the main difference with GW’s entries is the amount of chunkiness (what a surprise!) I have been using these sorts of models as a bit of practice before I start onto my own Lizardmen/Seraphon models down the line.
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That’s smart. The Lizardmen and Seraphon have some great looking minis (I’d even call them classic) so that will be exciting to see!
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Just don’t expect them anytime too quickly! 😀
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Looks more than nice to me.
Love the D&D Adventure series, by the way. One of my fav co-op systems.
Regarding the model, I have to say that I kinda prefer less detailed, bendy models, when they are in a boardgame, for practical reasons: I can just toss them in the box and I’m good to go. Boardgames like Shadespire or Riot Quest have models that, while beautiful sculpts, need a carry case to be stored and transported. I kinda prefer games like Aristeia or Void, under this aspect: less detailed models, but easier to store and transport.
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VOLT, not “Void”.
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That’s definiately true on the fragility of models for boardgames. Playing Gorechosen with the GW stuff (and I’m sure Shadespire will be the same) can certainly be an exercise in hoping nothing gets broken.
Still, unpainted coloured plastic just doesn’t compare to painted models. I guess that’s why the newer D&D boardgames have the pre-painted options nowadays. 🙂
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