My final D&D boardgame models for a little bit. I mean, there could (and probably will) be more of them in a week or so, and I’ve got another pair of the heroes started and a trio of villains ready to get to work on, but they’re not the top of the priority list until at least next weekend.
These Gnolls, like the previous post’s Bugbears are on the upper tier of the boardgame minis, being very much Nolzurs’-level sculpts. In the case of these Gnolls, I can appreciate a lot more of what the sculptor was trying to do, and my only real criticisms are with the PVC material that the sculpt was created in which turned several of the finer details into chewing gum.
The model was pretty obviously based on this piece of artwork, with the spear replaced with a bow. I’ve found this sort of thing to be pretty common with later licenced D&D minis -where a sculpt (often digital) is made to match the artwork, right down to the details of stuff on their belts, and then any variations are made from that, but with minimal variation. This is fine to an extent, but that’s something that (again) I have to credit GW for – their reused digital sculpt assets do have various accoutrements added to them in various combinations to make the individual models more unique – even on models like Space Marines or Stormcast! I’ll have some examples in later posts where I’ve found Nolzurs’ models that are pretty much the exact same digital sculpt as previous figures – only reposed.
As you can see, these Gnolls are big lads. I did have to check, and sure enough, in D&D they are large and in some sort of charge. My main experience with Gnolls has been in EverQuest, where they’re shorter than the average human and can be found in great numbers down in Blackburrow and also that place outside the halfling town from memory.The colours I used were broadly inspired by the artwork, but I varied them a little with the overall aim to keep them looking manky and dirty. Ratling Grime Contrast makes for a nice, dirty wash!
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
Excellent work on your Gnolls mate, You’ve done a great rendition of the artwork, which reminds me of a anthropomorphic version of a hyena
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Thanks Dave – I guess that’s what they’re supposed to be. Furries cosplaying as Hyenas!
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Funnily enough, read Dave’s comment just after I’d had the thought “half man, half hyena, but BIG”! Nice work on these! 🙂
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Haha nice alliteration with the “half man, half bear and half pig” there John – love it! 😀
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Brilliant stuff mate, these three look like trouble!
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Thanks Alex – they look more like minibosses at this size!
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Nice work on your Gnolls! Yea, the Nolzur D&D Gnolls are larger than what I thought. I’ll have to go back to the original Monster Manual to see if the size has changed over the years, as the newer ones look too big to me. It also challenges my mindset…Hyenas tend to be lower tier on the carnivore chain. So would it really make sense if Gnolls were the top tier of the evil Humanoid chain? I guess the size difference is another reason why I chose to go with the Northstar Gnolls for our D&D games. But like all of D&D, they can be whatever you like!
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Yeah, they looked way too big to me, and even when I checked a D&D Wiki (which said they’re about 7′ tall) they still seemed too large – both the 7″ and also the models if they’re supposed to me “only” 7’…
Yeah, at this size, they’re Ogre-competitors – not exactly scavenging Hyenas. I always pictured them as about 5′ on average, and that’s how they were depicted in EQ1 which based a lot of stuff on the D&D of the day, so perhaps they have “grown up”…
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I’m home now, so I can look this stuff up. 1e: Large Size 7 plus feet. 5e: Medium size. So, I think they probably messed up on the mini scale. I still never pictured the original Gnolls as 7′ though, so I guess I’m sticking with my medium sized minis. Of course in D&D, taller/bigger monsters are often used for bosses or some variant, so there’s still a use for them even if the scale bothered you.
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Seems like these gnolls are using an older scale then. Seems that the book originally came out in 1985(!) and the board game in 2015. So looks like it was in production as a licenced product while 5th was being released so if gnolls are still tall in 4th it makes sense, as the sculpts would not likely be fully unique 3d assets to this game…
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The first Monster Manual was 1977. 5th was out in 2014. But the boardgames are likely made by a different group as they’ve been using a different set of rules. I think loosely 3e. It would make sense if they also used monster stats/descriptions from those rules. So yea, I think you’re on the money there. If I could stomach 3rd – 4th rules, I would know for sure but there’s better things to spend money on! 😉
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Yeah the first three boardgames were made by WotC but the first was released in 2010, and subsequent ones have all needed to remain backwards and forwards compatible. So assume at least 2x years pre production and we’re back in 2008ish. These newer ones are licensed by WizKids but still have to have that compatibility with the first three.
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Ah ok, that should them right at the release of 4e. So the rules would be firmly 3e or 3.5e. Which makes sense. The 4e rules were much different from what I’ve heard. Trying to mimic MMOs. 🤢
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I do remember hearing about that MMO-fication from other people in the gaming store that I used to visit to play my Warhammers. Height of games like WoW at the time, I guess!
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The gnolls look very nice indeed, mate. They’re quite busy sculpts and while that rarely puts me off, I can’t help but think they might have been even better with a little less variety in rags/armor/clothing. Either way, they look pretty imposing and should be fun to face off against in-game!
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Thanks mate – I think if these sculpts were produced in HIPs plastic or metal that would make some of those details a little better defined – and either of those would just make the model easier to clean up over PVC, and frankly easier to care about and do a better paint job rather than something to concentrate on getting done fairly quickly. Having said all that, they’re certainly one of the better D&D sculpts I’ve gotten up to.
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