Big Lizard In My Backyard

 OK, so my Five Leagues From The Borderlands solo campaign wound up needing a Ravenous Lizard as an opponent. After reviewing my collection, I had nothing suitable for use and so I rolled up a different encounter. But the need for a possible future Ravenous Lizard remained, and I saw an opportunity at Dollar Tree in the form of a small Jurassic Park toy Allosaurus. It wasn't quite an Allosaurus, it had a snaky droopy tail instead of the long stiff one assumed by modern paleontology. But it was perfect for a fantasy desert giant lizardy thing.

So the first step was removing it from the toy base and putting it on a proper 40mm round gaming base. I prepped the base first, and then secured the toy using a pin and Krazy Glue. The tail didn't want to glue down quite right, but with a little work I got it to look "mostly" right.

Next, I primed both the toy and the base with two coats of black gesso applied by brush. I use the Bob Ross brand because it is economical, but any brand would have sufficed.

I painted the belly and the inner thighs an off white, and the rest of the Ravenous Lizard a neutral brown. The inside of the mouth was done in dark red, and the eyes and claws were blocked in dark brown.

 With the colors blocked on, the next step was applying the Shading Wash. I make mine from acrylic floor polish and artist's inks.

Once the shading wash was dry, I gave all the colors a three=stage highlight, did the eyes in a dull orange, and flocked the base. I wasn't sure the spots would turn out well, but overall they did. If I were to do ot again, I would do smaller, solid spots on the head in a symmetrical pattern.

Svetlana, Frost Giant Princess

OK, so I finished repainting the skin and hair on the Frost Giant Princess, as well as getting her on a larger base. She was previously caucasian with brown hair (and a green-skinned Forest Giantess before that.)

This is the original metal model from Reaper Miniatures.

Tortles In The Dust: Game 5

OK, so I played through the fifth game of my solo Five Leagues From The Borderlands campaign. Our Heroes are currently on a Quest to learn the ways of The Dust, so they can lose all those negative effects from being Outlanders. We started off In Camp, where we were visited by a Wise Healer, who gave much needed aid to Tundaline. We were Living off The land, and both Tundaline and Plodo were able to do some more healing. Tundaline was back on her feet and ready for adventure! Rukacta did some Training, gaining an experience point. As we were In Camp, there was no trading to be done, and our Research had no results. We did know, however, that a an artifact called the Jewel Knife Of Kemseht was in an underground temple storage complex some distance away. As we travelled there, we encountered a Sociable Physician, and added Suroush as a Friend. Once there, Our Heroes prepared for the descent into the tunnels. The party would Include Weppi, Tundaline, Plog The Elder, Quicktoes, Rukacta, and Vashti in her first outing (note that I used a placeholder miniature from the collection for Vashti, this is not the model that I will be using to represent her; I haven't acquired the miniature I want to use yet.)

Entering the tunnels, Quicktoes scouted ahead. Using his secret Hobbit Senses, he determined this place wasn't just storage, but a tomb as well. Two additional Exploration Markers and three Skeletons were added to the already present Blood Stained Renegades led by a Grim Knight.

OK, rather than 11 turns of "Weppi and Tundaline crept forward" interspersed with a few melees, I'm just going to do the Highlight Reel. Quicktoes Explored the first marker, finding some hidden tools worth 2 gold. He and Rukacta were then overwhelmed by the bad guys. Weppi moved forward like a tank, destroying everyone who was in front of her. One enemy ran away. Tundaline uncovered the next Marker, yielding a suit of Partial Armor. The Skeletons were defeated. Vashti uncovered the third Marker, which turned out to be the Jewel Knife Of Kemseht. We then fought our way out of the tunnels, with Weppi and the Grim Knight engaging in a multi-turn battle wherein they were both very good at hitting one another but really bad at getting through armor. Eventually Weppi prevailed, and the battle was over.

Quicktoes was just knocked out. Rukacta seemed dead, but the application of some Sage Flower revived him, leaving him with a damaged weapon. That's okay, we have spares! We gained a Gold Coin from the Grim Knight. And finally, drum roll please, the Quest Step roll was a 1, meaning we had completed the Quest! We are no longer Outlanders to The Dust! We ended the Campaign Turn once again In Camp, preparing for the next leg of our journey.