Of Dice and Army Men

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Dragon Rampant - Arachnid Army

8/22/23

Welcome back fellow Grognards and Young Guard!

Quick installment this week. Another army I have had in the pipeline for some time; the Arachnid Army!

All miniatures are from Reaper Miniatures. Just another army I always wanted to put together, but never had rules to run. That issue was solved by Dragon Rampant.

For this army, think Drow and Underdark. These could easily be fielded with Drow or Dark Elves.

ARACHNID ARMY... 38 Pts.

Spider Queen Sorcerer (Elite Rider, Wizardling, Level-Headed)...10 pts.

Arachnid Warriors (Elite Riders)...6 pts.

Arachnid Warriors (Heavy Riders, Mounted Missiles)...5 pts.

Arachnid Warriors (Heavy Riders, Mounted Missiles)... 5 pts.

Giant Spiders (Lesser Warbeasts, Web Attack)... 6 pts.

Hope you enjoyed this installment of Of Dice and Army Men!

Spider senses are tingling...I'm closing in on last year's record breaking painted miniatures total year.

63 miniatures to go to pass 2022!

Until next time, keep your torches handy in the under dark, keep looking up. You never know what could be crawling in the shadows above... and GAME ON!

PAINTED MINIATURES SCOREBOARD:

2021 Painted Miniatures: 169

2022 Painted Miniatures: 214

2023 Painted Miniatures: 152

Sunday, August 20, 2023

Fantasy Terrain - Mushrooms!

Welcome fellow Grognards and New Guard!

Well, I went a little off game plan. I ended up taking on an unscheduled project. This time it was some opportunity terrain.

Recently, my daughter and I were walking around Hobby Lobby (a national craft chain store in the USA), when my daughter said, "hey Dad, you need some shrooms!" Completely caught off guard, I turned, ready to have another kind of discussion with my daughter, when she laughed and pointed to the Fall decorations on and a pile of mesh bags filled with foam mushrooms.

These things are bagged either all brown capped or in mixed bags of orange/ yellow/ red. Of course, they were also 40% off (which means Hobby Lobby was still making 200% profit). I saw them and the lightbulb went on. I love my daughter. She knows her father well and apologized for the unscheduled project she had now launched me into. LOL.

We then wandered back to the wood craft section, where also 40% off, were the wood shape cutouts. I picked up some wooden ovals and some circles for bases. The plan was set in motion...

Nuts and bolts, I cut the Styrofoam stem lengths to various heights, alternating colors. A little hot glue (and a nice hot glue burn on one of my pinky fingers) and these were fixed on the wooden bases; 4 mushrooms to each oval base, 3 mushrooms to each circle base.

Each mushrooms bases was coated in, oddly enough, a paint color called "mushroom". Worked for me. A second coat was applied to the stems only. I then added some accent lines to the underside of each mushroom to replicate the "things" you see on the bottom of mushrooms. The stems and mushrooms undersides were washed in a black wash.

Next I painted white dots on the tops in varying patterns, to give more of a fantastical vision. Once dry, I brushed on a matte coat on the mushrooms caps tops to protect the white paint.

Using my standard acrylic textured and colored medium, I loaded up the bases. I added rocks, and small stone work and grass to each base.

I was able to make 8 oval 4-mushroom stands and 8 circle 3-mushroom stands from what I purchased.

Should make a great Dragon Rampant battle field or one for Fistful of Lead - Might and Melee or Core Rules use.

Hope you enjoy!

Bagged Mushrooms

3-Mushroom Stand

4-Mushroom Stand

Next up...the Arachnid Army! (Really...)

Until next time, watch out for the Cheshire Cat, and GAME ON!

PAINTED MINIATURES SCOREBOARD:

2021 Painted Miniatures: 169

2022 Painted Miniatures: 214

2023 Painted Miniatures: 136

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

Dragon Rampant - Army of Anubis

Greeting Fellow Grognards and Young Guard!

Welcome to another installment of 'Of Dice and Army Men'.

Today I present the Army of Anubis! Ever since I saw the Mummy Returns and the Anubis Warriors (and the Scorpion King), I was hooked into wanting to put together an army for the table top, but I didn't have any rules to use them with at the time.

Fast forward to today. Dragon Rampant gives me that ability to field any models I wish that fit the bill for the army I want to build. Avatar of Anubis is a 3D print purchased off ebay. Scorpion King, and Anubis Guard are Reaper Miniatures. Anubis Warriors and Archers are Crocodile Games Miniatures. Scorpions are from WizKids. For your enjoyment, I present, the Army of Anubis!

ARMY OF ANUBIS.....36 Pts.

Avatar of Anubis (Elite Foot, single model, w/ Enchanted Weapon)...7 pts.

Scorpion King (Elite Rider, single model)...6 pts.

Anubis Guard (Heavy Foot, reduced model unit) ... 6 pts.

Anubis Warriors (Light Foot) ... 3 pts.

Anubis Archers (Light Missiles) ... 4 pts.

Scorpions (Lesser Warbeasts) ... 4 pts.

Avatar of Anubis

Scorpion King

Anubis Guard

Anubis Warriors

Anubis Archers

Scorpions

Next up...the Arachnid Army!

Until then, may the blessings of the Magi be upon you and GAME ON!

PAINTED MINIATURES SCOREBOARD:

2021 Painted Miniatures: 169

2022 Painted Miniatures: 214

2023 Painted Miniatures: 120

Sunday, August 6, 2023

Dragon Rampant - Stone Giant Army

Welcome back fellow Grognards and Young Guard!

Having been on a Giant Army kick, I finally put the finishing touches on my last Giant installment, the Stone Giant Army for Dragon Rampant!

This time I mixed it up a bit and went for a variety of troop types not seen in my other Giant armies. The army theme, of course, was stone.

What better to fill the ranks of a Stone Giant Army than Earth Elementals, Stone Golems and Gargoyles, either carved and brought to life or summoned by the Stone Giant Carver himself!

The Stone Giants, Stone Golems, and Gargoyles are all Reaper Miniatures. The Earth Elementals are 3D prints purchased from on ebay.

Hope you enjoy! I've got a large backlog of painted models to photograph and post, so let's get started!

STONE GIANT ARMY....44 pts.

Stone Giant Carver (Elite Foot/ Wizardling w/ three spells)...8 pts.

Stone Giant Warriors x2 @ 6 pts each (Elite Foot)...12 pts.

Earth Elementals x2 @ 6 pts each (Greater Warbeasts)...12 pts.

Stone Golems (Bellicose Foot w/ Fantastically Shiny Armor, represents stone bodies)...6 pts.

Gargoyles (Lesser Warbeasts w/ Flying)...6pts.

Stone Giant Carver