Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work we go. - Traditional dwarven folk song.
We've seen mostly armed dwarves in my last few posts but the ratios are reversed here. The first dwarf is from Splintered Light's Dwarf Adventurers set, all the others are from their Dwarf Treasure Hunting Set.
The warrior is fine, a piratical sort but the rest came out really well. Really, really well by my standards. I was able to play around with some gnome-esque colour schemes, everything just worked, colours all clicked and I really enjoyed every second of my painting time. Used a mix of washes for the lantern and it came out exactly as I wanted.
Sculpt-wise, I'm very impressed by the Treasure Hunters, every sculpt is a good one, none jump out as proportionally "off" or weirdly posed. Thankfully, I've got about half the pack left to paint.
My goblins are reinforced by some command types from Splintered Light's Goblin warband.
Firstly, on the far left, a wizard in patchy robe, perched on a rock and festooned with amulets. I did consider a Night Goblin colour scheme but, again, any combination of 15mm mini, black clothing and my skill level would make for a poor finish. The second and third are leaders of some sort. The burly spear-goblin is straightforward enough but the running goblin with severed head is a great, animated pose.
Stylistically, there's something about most of the Splintered Light goblins that suggest they are a cut above the usual green hero-fodder. The musician and standard bearer are in keeping with that style, well-equipped and warmly dressed. The flag could do with an icon but that's a job for Future Me as I don't think I've got the skills yet.
When added to my stash of painted goblins, this batch gives me another full size Dragon Rampant unit.
My miniatures have been seeing regular action in a Pathfinder campaign for the past few months but as a wargamer at heart, I needed to try something a little grander than shuffling them across a quick-wipe hex map. As it happened, I had a friend willing to playtest Dragon Rampant.
We present the isolated dwarf settlement of Bail Eantua. Generally, the bearded folk are found below ground but these lumber camps are not uncommon in the Old World. The dwarves have been gnawing away at the forest for some time and, amid reports of shadows in the trees, people have started to vanish.
Some of my Dark Ages and WW2 terrain is repurposed for the cause. I was concerned that the table was a little too heavily forested but it seemed to work out well.
Determined to root out any threat to the relentless march of progress, the local Alliance garrison has arrived. The force is led by a Wizard (Elite Foot-Spellcaster) who has brought his bound Fire Elemental (Greater Warbeast) with him. The local human regiment (Heavy Foot) has been joined by a veteran dwarven militia (Heavy Foot).
With the interlopers approaching an ancient boundary marker, the arboreal guardians rouse themselves to action. The force is led by a Grand Ent (Cunning Greater Warbeast). His troop consists of a trio of Dryads ( Invisible Scouts), Treemen (Elite Foot) and Forest Wolves (Lesser Warbeasts).
Some teething problems with the rules handicap the forest folk for the first few combats as we were rolling six rather than twelve dice for their attacks but we manage to plough on to a satisfying conclusion, regardless.
The battle opens as the human regiment marches bravely into the sacred clearing, lay into all about them and are slowly reduced at great cost to the forest folk. They finally break and are encouraged off the table by some ranged fire.
The Fire Elemental takes heavy damage in a running battle with the wolves and falls back. The guardians of Nature hold the centre briefly but as the Wizard advances it becomes clear that the forces of the forest folk are spent and the Ent and Treemen are wiped out. The surviving wolf wisely flees.
By this time, the Dwarfs, having spent the game marching very very slowly through the woods find themselves called on to earn their keep. The Dryads have been playing a dangerous game leaping forward and shooting in a bid to bring down the heavily damaged Elemental in the enemy rear. The dwarves catch them in the open and their axes make short work of the willowy pests.
A single wolf flees into the brush, mournfully howling a tale of utter defeat. Another tract of the great forest is opened for logging.
Rules-wise, Dragon Rampant seems perfect for my purposes. The games are fast, book-keeping is minimal and I can use any models in my collection. The table space required is quite modest which pleases me as I tire of setting up 6x4s. I'm already looking at my Undead, Goblin and Elf stockpiles and composing lists.
I present two classic D&D monsters here. A Mind Flayer from Dungeon Encounters 1 and a Grell from Dungeon Encounters 4. There's a few of these packs on the Splintered Light website which contain a lot of the staples. The only issue is that gathering groups of certain monsters would involve multiple sets.
So the Mind Flayer... well I saw the robes and cloak and thought of Dr. Strange. I think the scheme works, it's got that rich arcane vibe. The Grell was very quick to paint up with only three major elements, brain, beak and tentacles. Both sculpts are easy to work on and the Grell is just so pretty. Whether they'll see play is another matter.
And now we come to the end of the road. These are all from the Dwarf Treasure Hunting Party.
On the extreme right, we have a... barrel, painted in honour of a friend's RPG character who was a master of hiding in plain sight. On the extreme left, we have the jauntiest dwarf sculpt ever, you can actually hear his chirpy Hihohiho-ing as you look upon him.
The second and third are a pair. We have a heavily laden pack pony (Bill, is that you?) and his callous owner. The dwarf is a good sculpt, the pony is a great one.
The fourth model is amongst the finest in the set, absolutely fantastic sculpt, everything about it draws the eye. I love it.
The poor huddled masses of many a fantasy setting, I've devoted some attention to my goblin grunts. These are from the Splintered Light Goblin Warband. They will provide the rank and file for my Goblin war party.
The Yellow-bellies have survived in their ancestoral region while their larger brethren and rival tribes have been hunted to extinction by adhering by their most sacred code: A good run beats a bad stand.
Nothing new to report here, the sculpts are as the others I painted previously, slightly smaller than other sculpts but detailed and free of any blemishes. I tried painting them in the traditional dress of their people (brownish rags) but the dirty yellow is more appealing.
I present more Splintered Light dwarves. The first three are from Dwarf Adventurers, the last two are from Dwarf Treasure Hunting Party.
I find the first model slightly amusing as he's clearly skinned a teddy bear at some point and now wears its fur with unjustified pride. The second model had a cultist vibe about him so I went with a sun-worshipper icon on his chest. The third model has a face that screams drunken oaf. The nice bronze age helmet, ragged cloak, exposed belly and pose combine very nicely. All three are easy to paint and rich in detail.
The last two are the standard hewers and carriers. I enjoyed the mix of colours across all the dwarves. I think the fifth model is a little too garish but as usual, good enough is enough for me.
