Caverns on the cheap for D&D

 

Not much painting going on right now, but I did get to pull out my cheap and easy cavern tiles for our D&D game over the weekend. So I'll show these off instead.

These are made from carboard, paper towel, toilet paper and white glue (PVA). I showcased the DM'sCraft YouTube channel a few posts back and he has a stack of cheap and easy ways to make terrain, including caverns.

The stalagmites are DwarvenForge, but everything else (excluding the miniatures of course) are made from cardboard and Paper Mache as the DM's Craft shows. Painted it up with cheap acrylic paints. Its sold and can take a beating and it worked great on the table as you can see. Not the best cavern terrain available but is the cheapest and you can make as much of it as you want in any shape you want it. You can see the different shapes I've used in the photos.

The tile above was made from a rubber gym mat. Very light weight but it does turn up at the edges a bit.

The sabretooth tigers are from Iron Wind Metals.

I'm pretty happy with these. Cheap and do the job nicely.

Krampus, the Christmas demon, from Reaper Miniatures

 

Happy New Year and a very Merry Eastern Orthodox Christmas to you all. Got to love the mix-ups caused by different calendars across the centuries. Anyway, this just means that I'm not out of the Yule season yet with finally finishing this mini!

Krampus is a Christmas demon who punishes naughty children, kidnapping them on the 23rd of December. He carries a Christmas Bag of Holding made from wicker and brass (you can see the naughty kinder trying to escape) and carries a Ruten to swatch the backsides of misbehaving children and adventurers alike, making him a perfect baddie for any Christmas adventure.

There is a good write-up for his stats for 5e of D&D over at DMDave's blog (find it here), and there is an excellent video for an encounter with Krampus from Professor Dungeon Master (PDM) below. Both also give good backgrounds into who Krampus is.

Can our plucky adventurers save the naughty kinder before Krampus carts them off to turn them into goblins (or worse!).

Krampus is definitely going to make a cameo for my RPG groups next Christmas themed adventure at the end of the year. Only 11 months to go!

May you have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year

 

The Birth of Jesus (Luke 2:1-15, New International Version)

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while^[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.”

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

 

May you have a wonderful Christmas (free from overweening bureaucrats taking away what doesn't belong to them!) and a restful New Year!

Twas the Knight before the Night before the Night before Christmas...

 

A Death Knight that is! (bohahahahaaaaaa). OK all puns aside, this dude is a GW Oldhammer Vampire Counts Lich. This model I have slightly modified in order to make it more wraith like so that it appears to hover in the air rather than stand on legs. Its taken some time to paint as I always got some way along completing the paint job and then would put it down. And now its finally finished!

Its almost here. Just a few more sleeps.......

Otherworld Miniatures Standing Gargoyle

 

Here another thing that can animate to scare your players. This thing is an Otherworld Miniatures Gargoyle (Standing). Its a superb miniature, nicely balanced with the wings affixed, and its currently on sale from Otherworld Miniatures if you want one. I highly recommend it!

Might even get another one myself.

Reaper Miniatures Stone Lurker

 

This dude was just too cool not to have one. Its a Reaper Miniatures Stone Lurker (the plastic version). A nice cheap mini to cause chaos and confusion amongst your players when the stalagmite they are hiding behind suddenly comes to life. Not that I would eeeeevvvvveeeerrrrr do that to my players.

I envision this creature "eats" by crushing its victims in its stony maw at the top of its "head" and then leaving the mushy, wet mass that results to slowly seep into the creature. Its slow metabolism means that it only needs to "eat" once every few months or years, depending on the size of its last meal. Hence it can sit dormant for ages before suddenly animating and reaching out to grab a victim.

Reaper Miniatures Anubis Guard

 

I needed some last minute statue decorations for our next game of D&D and I realised that I had these two Anubis Guards from Reaper Miniatures hanging around in my pile of unpainted shame. So out they came for a quick paint job.

Done and dusted! Just in time too for this weekend's game.