D&D Monster Manual 21: Wrath of Ashardalon – Grell

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Dungeons and Dragons Wrath of Ashardalon Grell

Oh D&D… why you so crazy?

Today’s ridiculous-looking D&D Boardgame monster is the trio of Grell from Wrath of Ashardalon. There’s a lot of Contrast Paint here, though it’s all been combined with traditional paints and techniques (and a shitload of medium) – so we’re not exactly talking about new techniques here – or anything special I can recall doing. One thing about these particularly-silly looking D&D monsters is that their origins are with Games Workshop – and specifically GW co-founder Ian Livingstone.

What do I mean? Watch this (interesting) video to find out…

23 thoughts on “D&D Monster Manual 21: Wrath of Ashardalon – Grell”

  2. Very cool, I like all of the bright colors. The first time I saw the Grell was in the D&D Fiend Folio many years ago. One thing I remember about FF is I really liked some of the artwork a lot. I tended (and still do) to like to take monsters and give them spells or magical powers they normally wouldn’t have by the book and I remember doing a lot of that grell. After all, they are a giant, floating brain!

    Nice job with the contrast paints. Those seem heaven sent for things like tentacles and surfaces with lots of recesses like brains.

    I think I might bring my spell casting grell back from oblivion and use it again if I ever get back to DMing eventually. They seem one of those monsters, which can be a lot more horrific in the mind’s eye than how they are usually depicted in art or cast as miniatures.

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    • if I were a D&D purist I might be upset (maybe) with a non-standard Grell. With my limited knowledge and just eyeballing the thing I’d be happy to believe pretty much any powers that you attibuted to the thing.
      Good point as well about a description in the mind’s eye being a lot more horrific – even the best drawn and painted images still have the thing looking a little goofy, and having just checked the Nolzur’s model for them – it looks about 1000% better than this one, but still pretty silly if we’re being honest!
      It’s the beak.

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  5. Well, now I know where nerds dropping acid can lead to! 😀 In all seriousness, I think the paint job on these is really great. The colors you chose accentuate the creepiness of their design and remind me of a certain god of chaos. Slaanesh would surely be proud 🙂

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    • Thanks Kuribo – I just went for stereotypical colours for all of the elements of the creature – there’s clearly no “evolutionary” basis for such a hodge-podge of pieces glued together, so I just kinda leant into that with all of the disparate elements.

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  6. That is a rather strange looking beast isn’t, there was a character in the Superman DC universe called the Brain that was quite similar but without the beak! Lovely painting but a bit disturbing all the same.

    Cheers Roger.

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  9. That’s one weird looking thing right enough. I’m thinking it’s something like an octopus with its tentacles, beak and clever brain, but with every part emphasised. It works though, and you’ve done a grand job painting them.

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