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.
These are from my increasingly depleted Greater Undead set. I've got a few vampires/wights and necromancers left but the common archetypes have all been used up.
Not an overly difficult bit of painting, splash some yellows and browns on, wait, then a quick and dirty wash sees them finished. My only regret is not going with a desert base on at least one of the models. I'll keep an eye out for a Egyptian style necromancer to add to the group.
Disclaimer: The central figure might actually just be a severely wounded, heavily bandaged man desperately seeking assistance rather than an ancient, undead ruler.
I've mixed manufacturers here. The third, fourth and sixth are Ral Parthas. I went back to the Southern Death Cult pack and plucked out the zombies. The rest are Splintered Light ghouls from the Greater Undead which could work reasonably well as zombies. The respective styles of both manufacturers is pretty apparent here.
I have to say that these battered undead have the best effort to reward ratio when painting. Green tinting over grey on the skin, brown on the scraps of cloth and some blood effect here and there.
I must say that I prefer the Ral Parthas to the Splintered Lights but your mileage may vary. The central figure is my absolute favourite. Look at him! Lurching forward, axe jammed in skull, gripping his precious handful of flesh.
The first model is my work and was a leftover from a previous Dark Ages project. He's a Celtic farmer from Corvus Belli's Celtic Civilians pack which, as far as I can tell, is no longer in production. I had the old Asterix comics in mind as I worked.
My girlfriend took an interest in painting so I handed over some models into her tender care. The four models on the right are hers. The first pair are from the Splintered Light Greater Undead set and the last two are from Ral Partha's Wood Elf Warband.
The second and third will see action as witches of some kind. I've worked up stats for Wailing Hags below but they are subject to change. I really liked the garish colour scheme on her elven warriors. It would never have occurred to me to go with blue hair and green robes or red hair and blue armour but the colour choice really works well.
