D&D Monster Manual 22: Wrath of Ashardalon – Rage Drake

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Dungeons and Dragons Wrath of Ashardalon Rage Drake

Next up we have the Bad Dog from Wrath of Ashardalon – the Rage Drake. Because apparently it’s not a canid of any kind (even a magical one), or even a duck or goose, but a form of Dragonkin. Well, alrighty then. The model’s base was as warped as warped a base as I ever did see, and even immersing it in hot water, then cold to do a reset didn’t work, as it then re-reset to the warped horrible state that it arrived in. So I found a 50mm round base and cut it off its integral base, glued it down, and then a little roughly added some acrylic paste and scored in those dungeony flagstones.

Dungeons and Dragons Wrath of Ashardalon Rage Drake

I then primed it white and browsed the internets to see what the fuck a Rage Drake is, and what it’s supposed to look like. Most renditions were in the red-to-dark-red range and looked pretty much how you might expect. Not bad by any means, and there are some very nicely painted examples out there. The one that resonated with me though, was one painted in much the same way as I ended up painting mine, with the scales in the skin repurposed to give a lava-through cracked earth (skin) look. Doing something like this would both make the Rage Drake look much mroe defined from Ashardalon (a Red Dragon) and also serve as a bit of practice for that Citadel LotR Balrog that I need to paint eventually.

Dungeons and Dragons Wrath of Ashardalon Rage Drake

It’s a decent model, given the context of it being from an 8-year-old boardgame. certainly more than a few ranks higher than some of the shit I’ve painted from the much more recent Shadows of Brimstone sets in the past few years – but given even this, it’s not a model that compared well with the stuff produced by Citadel, Reaper, Mantic’s newer stuff, or any number of other manufacturers. Instead of looking at this as a drawback, I’ve recently changed my perspective on these D&D models. I’ve been painting them for and as what they actually are – they’re boardgame models from an older boardgame that are meant for the tabletop, not the display shelf. It doesn’t mean they can’t potentially look good, but it does mean the point is to get them from start to finish in a reasonably fast time and don’t sweat the small stuff.

Dungeons and Dragons Wrath of Ashardalon Rage Drake

With that in mind, the Grell I showed yesterday were started one afternoon and completed by the following evening. This Rage Drake was started one evening and completed by the following afternoon. Some of the scales were badly defined and kinda messed up the lava look. Check out the front left shoulder on it and you can see it. Because of the base, the flagstones on this one are a bit deeper and stand out more. Here’s the thing – neither of those details are things anyone but myself is going to care about, and I could spend a bunch of time tweaking those small details, or I could just finish the figure and move onto the next one. Spend that extra time and energy working on a tiny freehand tattoo on a better model. Or playing a game. Or whatever. If a board game model falls somewhere within the first three of the below categories, then it’s good enough to call done and move onto the next thing:

Great —- Good —- Good Enough for the Tabletop —- Bad —- Shithouse.

I think I achieved that much!

oh, and on that very topic – I can see I forgot the wash on his base to tone it down and tie it in with the other models in my D&D Dungeons. I’ll do that tonight or tomorrow, as it’s easy and not nitpicky in the way I just described. This thing is also probably/possibly large enough to figure in as another submission for Ann’s Miniatures of Magnitude Challenge for May & June. I’ll get a scale shot in later, probably alongside Ashardalon once I finish him!

37 thoughts on “D&D Monster Manual 22: Wrath of Ashardalon – Rage Drake”

  9. This looks brilliant, you really couldn’t tell that it’s an old boardgame model. I think that’s the highest form of praise in these cases! Love the furnace-hot look, it definitely has that Balrog vibe.

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    • Thank you, Mikko – it’s one of the better D&D models from this cohort, but yeah I do appreciate the compliment. 🙂 Good Balrog training for the future as well. Hopefully I can find another model or two that can benefit from the same technique before I get to the big guy!

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  10. I think you’re a bit hard on this one as the drake looks sensational! You should absolutely channel what you’ve done here to the Balrog as most people do not paint that miniature very well and the scheme you used here will work perfectly on it. That is a shame about the base being warped as well. Good on you for sticking with it. That is the kind of thing that would make me want to give up and the base isn’t too noticeably different than the previous D&D minis. Really inspiring work and I look forward to seeing more of these minis as each sculpt is very different from the last.

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    • Thanks mate – you’re too kind once again. I doubt I’d have bothered to make fixing the base a priority if not for the fact that
      1) the figure looked like it’d be an easy paint and more importantly..
      2) we’re playing WoA so it has a place in the game we’re actively playing through.
      So naturally, we haven’t seen the thing at all…. actually – it’s the ONLY model we haven’t yet encountered…

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      • It was in last night’s scenario. (Finally!) One of Marouda’s characters hit it, then got hit by it, then my rogue burned two cooldowns (and Marouda burned a reroll card to help me) and we pwned it before it could tear us a new one.
        All while simultaneously running away from Ashardalon…

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  12. I feel like you’re being a bit harsh on yourself with the critique in the last paragraphs; this monster looks really good. Certainly unless you have super-powered eyesight it’ll look more than good enough at tabletop range.

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  14. Pingback: Miniatures of Magnitude Painting Challenge Round-up | Ann's Immaterium

  15. Hey, this is so awesome. I stumbled over this article because I am trying to research model painting, We got Wrath of Ashardalon as well and I really would love to paint the figures. However, I never have done any miniature painting and I feel a bit lost as to where to start my purchase of colours. I feel that every youtube person uses 20 colours on one model. Obviously, 6 basic colours won’t do, but how many would you really need and which should I choose to make it look even half as awesome as yours. And I understand you need washes and thinners… I really like your style and thought maybe you could give me a tip? or a resource to look at ?

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    • Hi there and thanks for the kind words. Hoenstly, I’d start with a paint set like this one:

      I’m using the Amazon US link since I’m not sure where you are, but it’s easy enough to work it out from there. Vallejo are high quality paints that work well for beginners through to pros. There’s also enough variety there that you can mix up a huge amount of in-between tones and lighter/darker variations of the colours.
      Similarly, brushes for starting out would be something like this:

      and maybe something like this as well for the rougher and more basic work like base coats. disposable brushes, basically.

      I’d also invest in some premade washes. You can either go in hard with a set like these (they’ll last you for years and years!) https://www.amazon.com/Army-Painter-Warpaints-Quickshade-Wash/dp/B0714QL55V/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=army+painter+washes&qid=1604483329&sr=8-1
      or just get the key washes – I’d recommend Army Painter Dark Tone (black), Soft Tone (light brown) and Strong Tone (dark brown).
      I’d also suggest getting either some Games Workshop/Citadel Lahmian Medium for thinning paints and washes.
      oh, also some spray primer. Ideally, Black, White and Grey – and matte (or satin) for all three – not gloss. You then use the most approriate primer for the colour scheme you want for the model, based on the brightness of the colours and how vibrant you want them to be.
      Any other questions – general or specific – just ask away – and welcome to the painting hobby! 🙂

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      • Thank You so much for taking the time! I really appreciate it!

        I did have that starter set on my shortlist – so it’s great to get confirmed I was on the right track. And your other advice is also very welcome… I got lost in the washes and intensifiers and don’t get me started on brush sizes 🙂

        A bit of a basic question about some of my figures. They look a bit .. well wonky in shape. I saw someone use hot water on other figures but his looked more substantial. Did you do any correction on the miniatures to get swords straight or such? One of my legion devils cam nearly lying down and I could swear he is not supposed to take a nap 😉 I just don’t want to make it worse by … in the worst case, melting the little devil….

        Liked by 1 person

      • No problem at all. Fixing warped PVC/board game miniatures is pretty easy. The Hot Water Trick.

        Depending on what you’re fixing, you might just dip a weapon in the hot water, but when fixing warped legs, I’d recommend using tweezers to dip them, and then once they’re reset put them down on a kitchen countertop and then carefully pour a little cold water onto them to set them. You can then run them under the tap or dip them in ice awater afterwards, but the counter works well to get them set flat quickly.

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  17. Hi, sorry if you’ve covered this elsewhere but I can’t find it. How do you do the putty and scoring for the bases? I am painting the same set, my bases are rubbish and yours are amazing;)

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    • Hey mate, thank you and no worries.
      Using a modelling tool, I carefully smear a thin layer of acrylic texture paste onto the surface of the base taking care to not get it onto the feet – though you can kinda sponge it off the feet edges with a wet brush if you need to – something like this.
      https://josonja.com/products/texture-paste
      Leave it to set slightly for a little while, then score in the flagstones.
      The tool I use for both the smearing and the scoring is in this set – 5th from the right (can’t believe I found a pic of the same set – I’ve had mine for years) anything similar should work, though.
      https://polymerclay.com.au/12pc-Steel-Clay-Carving-Tool-Set
      The lines on the base rim are just painted on.
      hope this all helps!

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