Category Archives: Board Games

D&D Monster Manual 88: Tomb of Annihilation – Chultan Zombies, Skeletons and Skeleton Key

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Dungeons and Dragons, D&D Monsters, Tomb of Annihilation, Chultan Zombies, Skeletons and Skeleton Key Miniatures

A quick and dirty post for today – another couple of trios of D&D models that took me forever to get prepped and then painted in a couple of quick sessions for each set over a couple days – mostly waiting for washes to dry. These first models are “Chultan Zombies”. What does “Chultan” mean, many of you might ask? Well, as a not-really-a-D&D-guy, I had to look that up myself as well.

Dungeons and Dragons, D&D Monsters, Tomb of Annihilation, Chultan Zombies Miniatures

It seems that the Chultan are a society of humans who have sub-Saharan features but dress in a more Northern African style – visually they appear to based somewhat on the Nubian Kush.

Dungeons and Dragons, D&D Monsters, Tomb of Annihilation, Chultan Zombies Miniatures

So… it then appears that the Chultan Zombies are simply Chultan individuals who have foiund themselves in the unfortunate situation of having become dead, and then… undead. Based on the name, I expected something a bit more Cthulhu-esque, but then that’s down to my ignorance of the wider D&D background. Anyway, so with that I wanted to give them pale dusty robes and make their base skin tone a bit darker, but then lighten it up to represent their new, somewhat drier and dustier situation.

Dungeons and Dragons, D&D Monsters, Tomb of Annihilation, Skeletons Miniatures

The second trio of models are simply called ….Skeletons. They have some distinctive armour on them that might mean something to D&D fans. I just painted them (and the armoured tabards) as old, rusty metal.

Dungeons and Dragons, D&D Monsters, Tomb of Annihilation, Skeletons Miniatures

Overall these were painted quickly with a lot of wash action,

Dungeons and Dragons, D&D Monsters, Tomb of Annihilation, Skeleton Key Miniature

 

The final model is called “Skeleton Key”. I don’t know what the hell it’s really supposed to be. My best guess is that it was a bad, cringey, nerdy joke from some D&D writer back in the day that’s survived and been codified over the years – much like the even more fuckstupid “Mon’Keigh” which I’ll never forgive Gav Thorpe for.

Dungeons and Dragons, D&D Monsters, Tomb of Annihilation, Skeleton Key Miniature

But anyway, it’s a Skeleton with a pony tail and a giant key-thing sticking out of the top of it’s head. So …yeah? So with these done, I”ve now got another 7 models done from The Tomb of Annihilation boxed set…

Marvel United: The Thing and Human Torch

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CMON, Spin Master Games, Marvel United: Ben Grimm the Thing Miniature, Johnny Storm the Human Torch Miniature

Another couple of Marvel United miniatures today – and the final pair of April’s models. We have Ben Grimm – the ever-lovin’, blue-eyed Thing and his close compatriot, Johnny Storm – the Human Torch! Unfortunately I didn’t get Red or Sue completed in time for April and still don’t have them done for the intended group shot, so we’ll have to come back to the other half of the team once they’re done…

Originally, The Thing was one of the “easier” models that we’d picked out for Marouda to paint, but when we started playing through the Fantastic Four box I decided to take the lead on getting the FF to the painted stage and so painted Ben up fiirst.

CMON, Spin Master Games, Marvel United: Ben Grimm the Thing Miniature, Johnny Storm the Human Torch Miniature

Johnny was produced in a pretty nice clear red plastic, so I had to decide how best to paint him. I’ve seen some renditions of this model with Johnny’s blue uniform and human flesh painted in, with the flames around him being either left clear or painted in, but with models like this being on the less common side I preferred to lean into the transparency, so gave him some all-over treatments of thinned orange and yellow contrast, doing my best to remove it from the raised areas of the model and just adding in Johnny’s eyes, mouth and the Fantastic Four logo on his chest in white. Not especially realistic, but something that works for me in the comic-book context (and – let’s face it – also would for a fantasy or 40k model).