I picked up my first D&D Adventure Boardgames quite a few years ago – when I was first getting into nerd-boardgames again and seeing them as a source of miniatures. Because more is always better, right? 😡 So my group at the time played through Ravenloft, and then we got about halfway, or 2/3 of the way through Ashardalon, but then it fizzled out as we played other games, and even though I painted my way slowly through those miniatures at the time, and then revisited them over more recent years, it wasn’t until last year’s lockdowns that Marouda and I revisited them properly, and in doing so, I picked up the games I was missing – Tomb of Annihilation and Dungeon of the Mad Mage. After opening both games, I basically did that thing where you separatre the models that you think will paint up most quickly and easily… and then put them into tub and forget about them for 6 months or more.
Satin varnish made them a bit too reflective in the photos.
That’s where the three little misshapen lumps of plastic we see today came from. I took a peek into the tub a couple of days ago, after posting up the F̶r̶o̶g̶l̶o̶k̶s̶ Grung models, and pulled them out.
Grey fur, *check*!
The lumpy little sculpts in green looked more like Nurglings to me than anything else, and the name “Zorbo” made me think of Zorba the Greek rather than anything D&D related, and so I did need to look up what the actual fuck these things are supposed to be. And found this illustration alongside this text: “Zorbos were typically around three feet tall, and covered in gray fur. They had sharp teeth, as well as sharp claws on both hands and feet.”
Drop Bear, close relative of the Koala
Anyway, after a little more reading it became plainly obvious that Zorbos are simply silly-named fantasy versions of the very real and very vicious Australian Marsupial, the Drop Bear. Just with “the flesh of elves” and some silly shit about “taking on the aspect of their surroundings to make themselves tougher” added to their existing reputation for viciousness and chlamydia. As an aside, one positive of the recent travel restrictions is drop bear attacks and fatalities are WAY down at the moment.
Here, even a Froglok stands over the lazy little drop bear bastards who can’t be arsed even to stand up.
They’re not good sculpts, nor do they photograph well, but they’re bloody small and simple enough that did at least make it easy for me to paint them, and so the actual painting went pretty straightforwardly, and now I have another three down for Ann’s “Neglected But Not Forgotten” painting challenge and three more little mini-monsters for the D&D boardgaming ready to go!
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
When I first saw the picture I thought Kolas in D&D ? Excellent work on them mate
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Thanks Dave. D&D gonna D&D, amirite?
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Heh, yeah, they looked like koalas to me at first too. 🙂 Well, “not good sculpts,” and all of that aside, they sure do look 1000% better painted up than they would as the unpainted bits of plastic that are in my D&D boardgames, that’s for sure.
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That little is certainly true, Ann – and as part of a (eventually) fully painted set of models, they’ll help the boardgame be mroe fun as it’s played, even if they’re a far cry from amazing centrepiece models.
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Well Az, ya got me googling this as I’m thinking wtf, I never heard of a drop bear?! They must feed on jackalopes! Anyways, fun models, and I like what you’ve done with them.
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If Jackalopes were local, they’d defimnitely be on the food chain for them. From what I’ve heard in local folklore, American tourists are amongst their favourite prey, so consider yourself special there! 😉
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I’m with the crew, at first glance I thought, bugger me some pissed of Koalas !!
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Ha! Cheers Pat. I tried to pull that off with their simple little faces and foreheads. Good to see it came across. 😀
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Great mate a true success then 🤣🤣🤣🐾🐨
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Count me in as another who thought, “koala bears in D&D?” 🙂
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Yeppo… I wonder who originally added these critters in? I wonder if it was an Aussie writer/designer?
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Drop Bears!? Sounds like the Moth Man or Sasquatch here in the states except smaller and less scary 😀 Although then again, there was once such a thing as a Tasmanian Tiger and the little footage of those that exists scares me a bit!
Getting back to the topic at hand, that is a rough sculpt indeed and you have a chuckle at the lack of originality for some of these D&D enemies. I’d have to say these are probably the least fearsome ones you’ve shown off yet! An actual Drop Bear sculpt sounds a lot more fearsome to me 🙂
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Well, they’re actually more scary, since they’re not mysterious and hidden, but instead they drop out of the trees onto your head and then shred you!
If you like the Tasmanian Tigers, you should definitely check out the still-very-not-extinct Tasmanian Devils.
I mean, this guy is being a bit of an idiot for the camera, placing himself in the middle of them during feeding, but they’re pretty entertaining to watch (especially in person!)
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You’re not wrong, mate! Drop Bears are scary even if their name doesn’t sound so bad. I have seen a Tasmanian Devil or two at a zoo. They are quite fearsome little creatures! Last I heard their species were threatened by some kind of contagious cancer which is sad to hear about. Hopefully they thrive in the future so people can do daft things like what you described 🙂
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If my DM added one of those to the table I would leg it. XD
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I haven’t opened the cards for them yet since we haven’t started that box, but I do wonder if they’ll actually be one of those beasts that puts out a radically disproportionate amount of damage to how they look…
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Nice work on the little beasties.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Thanks Pete! 🙂
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I learned everything about dropbears in the documentary Path of Exile. Vicious little buggers.
Those minis are not great, but you painted them well and now they read as Dropbears or shaggy Gremlins.
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