Category Archives: Board Games

D&D Monster Manual 36: Temple of Elemental Evil – Earth, Air, Fire and Water Elementals

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Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures Temple of Elemental Evil - Earth, Air, Fire and Water Elementals

Back to the D&D Board Game series today – The four eponymous villains from the Temple of Elemental Evil box. Each of the foursome took a rather different style of painting.

Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures Temple of Elemental Evil - Air and Water Elementals

These first two of the models come in a dark but slightly transparent plastic – The Water Elemental took some Contrast Paint, as I actually painted it alongside the three from Drizzt. Because of the dark plastic, though, it turned out much, much darker. The extra-swirly details on this model also rendered the look of it rather indistinct. As with the Drizzt models, I drybrushed a bunch of Vallejo Foam Effects white to give it a slightly better look. I’d still call the Pathfinder models far superior to all of these Boardgame models.

Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures Temple of Elemental Evil - Air and Water Elementals

The Air Elemental on the other hand was another Contrast Paint Experiment fail – it just looked awful with both grey and white attempts (each of which I quickly washed off). In the end, the best option to make it look like a decent Air Elemental was to go properly white, and then give it some subtle shading. Sure, it looks a little like a snowman, or a soft-serve-ice-cream-swirl-man, but trust me – it looks a lot better than stock. Once again, though – I think the more recent Pathfinder models are better.

Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures Temple of Elemental Evil - Earth and Fire Elementals

The next two models again both take different tacks. The Earth Elemental was another Contrast Paint experiment that had an …average outcome. I don’t recall which of the paints I used here, but it did give the Earth sculpt a real “prepaint-dip” type look, which can pretty plainly be seen in these pics. I gave it a drybrush to finish off, because, let’s face it – it’s a mediocre sculpt that doesn’t deserve more time than I gave it here. Good enough for gaming.

Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures Temple of Elemental Evil - Earth and Fire Elementals

Finally, the Fire Elemental started with a yellow spray – the same bright yellow spray used to base coat the Yochlol. Following this was a paint wash of thin white to brighten the deepest parts of the sculpt, then after it dried, a redo of yellow, then orange, red and then a very dark grey for the highest (coolest) points, including the fingertips, “ears”, and end of the tail. A few layers of drybrushing to give a kind of OSL-effect, as well as a black wash to finish the base in order to increase the OSL-shadow-contrast on the floor.

Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures Temple of Elemental Evil - Air and Fire Elementals

This final pic gives us a sense of scale for the two larger elementals next to an ogre, as this pair are my final submissions for Ann’s Miniatures of Magnitude Challenge for May & June! Wrap-up post for Ann’s challenge (with a group scale shot) tomorrow!

77581: Mudgullet the Froghemoth (Reaper Bones) D&D Monster Manual 34/Realm of Chaos – Nurgle’s Children 2020 #23

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Reaper Bones 77581: Mudgullet the Froghemoth

Well, after finishing Goremaw the Rather Large Worm and maaging to get him posted up yesterday, I immediately got stuck onto today’s model – another Reaper Bones feature. This time, Mudgullet, the Froghemoth – also from the Reaper Bones III Kickstarter campaign. The
“Froghemoth” part seems to have become a deleteted reference now. I guess because “Frogehemoth” is apparently a real D&D thing. Something I only learned yesterday via accidently seeing one pop up on Amazon. When I saw it appear as a goal during the Kickstarter, I assumed (for some reason) that it was an original creation. More fool me to think that Reaper had any originality at all. They’re a decent company with generally nice-to-very good models and products (sticky Bones excepted), but let’s face it – pretty much everything they do is based on D&D or some other IP of someone else’s. I mean, we ran on GW for their lack of creativity and plethora of obvious pop culture references, but Reaper apparently just comb their way through the Players’ Handbooks and Monster Manuals and whatever other splat book they can get hold of…

Reaper Bones 77581: Mudgullet the Froghemoth

So back to Mudgullet here – Yesterday when I discussed the fact that I’ve had three big, annoying Reaper Bones models taking up way too much space around the house, I suggested that I might be able to get another one of them finished. This is the second of those three that I was referring to and hoping I might be able to get completed – and also one of the oversize models that was destined for the next Tray anyway. Thanks once again to Ann’s Miniatures of Magnitude Challenge for May & June for giving me the impetus to actually get the damned thing finished, like, NOW. TODAY. (Actually yesterday by the time this goes up, but as I type this the PVA on the base tufts are drying alongsiode the final coat of gloss varnish.)

Reaper Bones 77581: Mudgullet the Froghemoth

So when I actually saw this thing pop up in the stretch goals for the third Bones KS, my own D&D-limited mind went to different place. I thought of Warhammer’s Nurgle Plague Toads, by Forge World. Clearly, the Froghemoth model would fit in with my Daemonic Nurgle force as a gigantic daemon. A Greater Plague Toad, if you will. I’ll just find some appropriately epic Nurgle Daemon rules, and use it as a proxy in friendly games. It’s got a lot more chance of that happening than actually being used as a D&D Froghemoth! The base originally seemed to have a kind of aquatic theme, with a pile of roe behind Mudgullet. I added a few resin skulls and then painted them all in bone, so they kind of fill an ambiguous, dual purpose. Are they supposed to be skulls, or eggs? Yes.

Reaper Bones 77581: Mudgullet the Froghemoth

One final point on the whole Nurgle thing. Yes, I was “lazy” by just painting it green and calling it Nurgle. If you see the real plague toad models, they’re covered in pustules, torn skin, tri-marks of Nurgle and so forth. Now, if I cared more about this model, I might have attempted to go to town with greenstuff and putty. Now, I wouldn’t have been able to do nearly as much as the amazing job Pandora’s Bitz Box did there, but even so – but – this big arse chunk of heavy, cheap, underdetailed, sticky bones PVC just doesn’t warrant that kind of time investment. Even enough to add triad-pustules. Nope, I had enough trouble fighting the tackiness of this damned thing. Even with liquid greenstuff used as a primer coat and AK Interactive’s paint-on Matte varnish on top, some of it still remains tacky. Nope. Proper care and work goes to proper models. This thing is painted, and it looks decent – I call that good enough!

Reaper Bones 77581: Mudgullet the Froghemoth, Nurgle Plague Toads, Oldhammer Beast of Nurgle, Oldhammer Plague Bearer of Nurgle

So will I get the third of the giant Bones models completed in time for Ann’s Challenge? Maybe. There’s just under 5 and a half hours left of June here in Australia as I type, or I could go with another 23 or so hours for the US West Coast. I think Ann allows stuff to be finished and posted up by the 3rd of the moth for her challenges, so I just might. The painting is about 95% done, but there’s a lot of flock to add and have dry, so perhaps it’ll be done, perhaps not… Either way, it’ll also be something that qualifies for my own The Jewel of July challenge that begins in just under 5 and a half hours!

I do also have two more smaller-but-still-larger-than-an-ogre models that I may be able to finish by the 3rd that would also fit in Ann’s challenge. Wish me luck!