15mm Dungeon: Treasures and Traps

 

Working on more Dungeon scenics at the moment, namely treasure piles, trade goods and some traps for the unwary. These are a combination of scratch-built and store-bought items, often including various accessory pieces as described in previous posts.

We’ll have a look at what’s on offer, and then send our reporter on the scene, Harry, to check them out….

First up, a combination of some translucent resin ‘crystals’ as gem piles, and coin/precious stone hoards, all based on the single squares that came as part of the original TT Combat tiles set:

I’d sourced the dome-shaped bead pearls via EBay with a view to use them as sci-if scenery, but thought they could at a stretch stand in here as variously sized precious stones; they sit atop some scrunched up aluminium foil ‘mounds’ with a bit of gritty flocking gel added, then painted up as coins - well, they had some bronze and gold paint slathered on in haphazard fashion…..

The coloured beads come in huge packs of all sizes, down to tiny dots in all colours, so are worth looking out for in the crafting section of retailers - they also hold paint well if you want to change them into something more utilitarian.

Next up, a straight out of the packet photo of the very useful barrels, chests, vases and vessels in the Crom’s Anvil range at CP Models:

https://cpmodels.co.uk/shop/cas1503-cargo/

Unfortunately, I don’t think the resin vessels are still for sale - as they are some lovely and varied shapes:

These paint up very nicely, and are a good scale match for large 15mm items, here again mounted on the single tile squares:

They should provide plenty for the adventure party to root through !

These are joined by a couple of the similarly scaled scatter pieces, to which I’ve added an accessory sword  and an extra vase, and a rack for bottles, made out of sprue scraps:

https://cpmodels.co.uk/shop/cas1505-scatter-scenery/

Now, you can’t have all this treasure lying about without it being defended, and in true D&D style, I’ve been playing around with scratch building some terrifying traps…..

First up, a trio of acid traps, built up onto the ‘drain’ squares tiles from the TT Combat set, with some additional skeletal remains from the old Pendragon ranges - the large yellow acid ‘bubbles’ are some of the pearl beads seen above, stuck down with flocking gel and suitably painted:

Our intrepid Cave Ape, Harry, is sent out to investigate……Hmmmm….that treasure pile looks tempting, but…..

Better move on and leave them unmolested Harry, why not head along that narrow corridor over there….. just be careful crossing those grates in the floor:

In fact, be VERY careful:

Argh ! - spike traps !

Some cocktail stick tips mounted into spare tile squares, slide up under the grates - let’s hope Harry gets the point and treads carefully (groan……):

Talking of treading carefully - next is a scratch built wobbly bridge, made from more sprue scraps from the tile set:

Mind the gap, Harry !

Phew….. made it into the next corridor…… uh, oh, what’s next:

Looks to me like another spike trap, this one designed to spring into the corridor and flush you down the hole ! …… at least Harry is too large to fit down it…… or maybe he made his Dexterity saving throw:

So, what’s next ? - I think Harry has had enough of the traps for now….. I wonder what’s through this arch?

Uh - oh, Harry….. out of the frying pan into the fire !

It’s the Lair of the Liche King !

Let’s hope Harry makes it through until the next instalment…… 

15mm Dungeon: Bring out Yer Dead !

 

No self-respecting dungeon is complete without its garrison of the undead - whether liches or zombies or skeletons……lots of skeletons…… and my small scale effort will be no exception - I’m looking to include lots of re-animated skeletal warriors, alongside, as plot points, some freshly dead, who could go either way…..

First up is the absolutely superlative resin piece DFE01 ‘Mummified Wizard on Throne’ from Alternative Armies:

https://www.alternative-armies.com/products/dfe01-mummified-wizard-on-throne

This really is the most characterful piece, and puts me in mind of one of the early sequences in Schwarzenegger’s Conan the Barbarian, when he finds the Atlantean sword in the tomb:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmnbK9VR7VM

To my eye, it’s a spot-on match, just lacking the sword ! - so, I felt I had to have a go at one, and produce a nice focal point for the dungeon….. I just wished I knew how to produce cobwebs in 15mm !

The piece is mounted into a block of blue foam, suitably weathered in the usual way, topped by a Crom’s Anvil fire bowl, with some rubble at its feet and a few of those XPS foam bricks at the border, all mounted on scrap plasticard. ….. some outlines of geometric shapes hint at long faded decoration…..

I went ahead and added a sword, provided by Donnington Minatures’ EQ52 straight sword accessory pack:

https://shop.ancient-modern.co.uk/equipment-123-c.asp 

I initially tried for the same dry-as-dust brown appearance in the Conan movie, but this proved to be very bland looking in such a small piece, so carried on and added colour to both mummy and his throne, very much in the vein of the pictures on the Alternative Armies website, which are very atmospherically done.

If there was one small criticism of the piece, it is that the mummy himself is a bit on the small side - of course, he is seated, (and decomposedly dehydrated !), but appears slight next to most 15mm standing minis - hopefully, however, the grandeur of his setting makes up for this. 

No Undead King worth his salt would be without a set of eternal guardians, so I went ahead and continued with the Skeleton Guard set, again from Alternative Armies:

https://www.alternative-armies.com/products/hot99-skeleton-eternal-guard

This a great group of Skellies in costumes of assorted historical periods, in some nice poses - I used a needle file to add some battle damage to the shields and nicks in the sword blades before painting:

I must admit, I think I went a bit overboard with a triad of paints to represent ageing and rust - it’s a difficult balance to get right on minis as small as these - so in close up, more brownish and  splodgey than I’d like, but at normal viewing distances, not too bad:

Now onto another tranche of figures, including some of the slightly less dead, to be used as plot points - will they re-animate as adversaries? - or just serve as something to plunder by our party of thieves and rogues (whilst the Lawful Good look on in disgust….) ?

A mixture of minis here - a trio of the supine skeletons from Alternative Armies ‘Dem Bones’ set, with added swords and shields from Donnington as above, as well as the various fallen warriors from their ‘Original’ range, a shield pile, and an unfortunate chap locked into a pillory:

https://shop.ancient-modern.co.uk/casualties-97-c.asp

https://shop.ancient-modern.co.uk/cb32-man-in-pillory-2607-p.asp

I roughly free-handed some designs onto the spare shields, also trying to represent some marks and cuts to their faces, as well as splurging plenty of rusting effect overall - the fallen warriors had a final dry-brush of grey to try and bring out their unhealthy state - but this has rather dulled the finish, although perhaps appropriately - they are not in the bloom of their youth anymore !

I imagine that the pillory victim might still be alive when found by an adventure party - is he an innocent victim with useful information, or will he turn out to be something more untrustworthy….. ?

Finally, and rounding off this catalogue of the departed, a view of the finessed tunnel collapse victim from an earlier post - I’ve added a few scenic tufts to the base, which I think makes it a bit more interesting, and  the all-important treasure / object of interest - a magic sword - we know it must be magic, ‘coz it hasn’t rusted !  :-)

Next post : Traps and Treasures !

15mm Dungeon: Creepies and Crawlies !

 

Getting back on track recently, with some more traditional dungeon denizens; to whit - all that creeps and crawls !

A range of the gross, horrifying and down right disgustingly ooze-laden critters that would frighten any self-respecting adventure party, have climbed their way up onto the workbench, and squirmed their way under the paintbrush……

First up, some very Old-School blasts from the past that have been part of the Lead Pile for a very long time - the dungeon low-lifes sculpted by Barry Minot for Pendragon Miniatures:

http://www.miniatures-workshop.com/lostminiswiki/index.php?title=Image:Minot-pen-PD58.jpg

These are a selection of six horrid bug-like things, that although for 25/28mm miniatures, scale well as larger insectoids alongside 15mm:

Now the good news is, that these and all their companions are back in production at the Wargames Design Workshop - that have a great range of long-oop designs, and they are cheap as chips, to coin a phrase !

https://wargamesdesignworkshop.co.uk/product/24-creepy-crawly-lowlife-4-sets-of-6-different-critters/

Alongside offerings from Dixon and QT Miniatures, the Pendragon catalogue is a goldmine of nostalgia - if you like somewhat lumpen, odd-looking minis - just right for my dungeon, I say !

https://wargamesdesignworkshop.co.uk/product-category/our-brands/pendragon/?orderby=price

Well worth a scroll through, if you’re looking for something unusual…..

Accompanying them, and from the same stable, some ‘acid spitters’, that I’ve painted up as a giant caterpillar and a pair of maggots, seen here with two of Alternative Armies’ superlative slugs:

https://wargamesdesignworkshop.co.uk/product/pack-of-3-acid-spitters/

https://www.alternative-armies.com/products/549-giant-slug

Enough to give anyone nightmares ! - I went for a fairly true-to-life paint scheme on these, rather than something more Fantasy-looking, as to me all these sculpts are close enough to pass for the real thing - but I have some more left over in case I want to add more variety later.

Next up, some straightforward Games Workshop plastic spiders and rats - the latter are nice and toothsome, and the former have enough detail to allow you to finesse them as much as you like - I just went with a simplistic yellow-kneed tarantula look - as a confirmed arachnophobe, these also have the advantage of not looking too realistic !

Having made a small water feature earlier, I thought it deserved at least one self-respecting inhabitant, so made use of some 3D printed items I got from a seller on EBay, to produce an octopus, a fearsome land-crab, and a rather glum-looking giant toad:

 

Finally, for something a bit different, I had a bash at Irregular Miniatures’ 15mm Lurker mini - probably one of the better sculpts in their range - I guess it’s designed for HOTT-like shenanigans, but should not be out of place as a hidden assassin-type in the dungeon - he might not be as creepy as the above, but it is definitely crawling !

Lots of fun was had producing these, and hopefully they will get quite a lot of use as random encounters in any adventure - I think there’s always room for these before introducing anything more exotic.

Talking of exotic, the final flourish is the inclusion of a Plague Icon from Fenris Games, which I’d like to think of as some sort of summoning apparatus for all of the creatures - an object that attracts or sustains them, that could be a plot point that a party might have to destroy or deactivate:

Ostensibly for 28mm, I think another nice fit as an object of interest alongside 15mm:

https://fenrisgames.com/shop#!/FGCTH24-Plague-Icon/p/46775396/category=8719520

Fenris’ stuff is a bit on the pricey side, but always beautifully produced, all sculpts sharp and clean, with some really interesting and unique designs.

Next up, some more Dungeon dressing - namely, Dead Dudes !

 

15mm Dungeon: Monster Mash !

 

From my laboratory in the castle east

To the master bedroom where the vampires feast

The ghouls all came from their humble abodes

To get a jolt from my electrodes

They did the monster mash

(The monster mash) It was a graveyard smash…… 

I know, I know, perhaps not your traditional Dungeon monsters - but I’ve been having fun with a few examples of monstrous miniatures, who at least might be found in creepy crypts and castles, if not down in the vaults…..

I reckon you’ve gotta have a few ghouls and ghostlies, alongside the gnolls and kobolds - and as it was my first time in years in painting 15mm, they would not necessarily be a loss to the overall cast if practising on them didn’t turn out too well.

First up, I had a bash at some zombies - figured you can’t go wrong with something that shouldn’t be anything other than a bit of a mess - and lashings of bloody ichor could hide a multitude of sins:

 The trio at the front in the photo above are from Alternative Armies, and appear in generic ‘medieval’ or plain clothes, so would be useful in a number of settings - the chap at the rear with the rusty sword is the excellent ‘Rotting Monk’ from Ral Partha Europe - a really characterful sculpt, hunched over with robes full of holes.

http://www.ralparthaeurope.co.uk/shop/fantasy-15mm-singles-c-195/undead-c-195_202/di533b-rotting-monk-2-p-3906.html

I think they scale well alongside each other - the poses from Alternative Armies are a bit stiff looking - but what do you expect from a Zombie !

I went a bit overboard on the strips of hanging flesh around the faces, so these are definitely not for the squeamish…..

On close inspection, the monk suffers from what I call ‘Fried egg eyes’ - perhaps not out of place for his ilk - Frankenstein’s Igor etc, but a mark of my inexperience at this - I don’t usually need to paint eyes on 2mm minis  - so this will need further practice before I let myself loose on an adventure party…..

Talking of parties, there’s something a bit ‘Discotheque’ about the poses of this next group - I reckon if you lined them up just right, they could spell out “Y-M-C-A” :

These are some great looking Mummies from Alternative Armies - with good animation, and nice loose bandage wrappings - again, for me, it’s a bit hard to paint in the eyes - so I just went for glowing green blobs !

Continuing the Monster Mash theme, more dance partners in the form of the genuinely scary-looking ghouls from Crom’s Anvil at CP models:

These have nice menacing poses, with bony taloned fingers reaching out for their next victim - or perhaps they’re doing the twist…… I wanted to go for a sort of rigor mortis blued-corpse effect for their skin colouration, that only half worked …… I can assure you that any resemblance to Smurfs, living or dead, is purely co-incidental.    ;-)

Next up, a couple of ghosts or spirits - I’m not quite sure where these are from, as they came in an EBay purchase lot - the sculpting/posing says Alternative Armies to me - but they didn’t jump out in perusing the catalogue….

The green skin has come out a bit lurid - but I thought it would make a decent contrast with the white robes and add a bit of ‘pop’….. I had ambitions of doing a graduated colouring from a sultry whisp of darkling smoke at the base, moving up to pure white  at the head, as if they were materialising, but it didn’t really come off - I went a bit heavy with the Army Painter soft tone wash - so they just look muddy - must be the Shades of agricultural labourers…….

Finally, accompanying the apparitions, the doyenne of all dead dudes, yes, it’s Dracula himself !

Unfortunately he also came with the EBay lot, so not too sure of his pedigree either…..

He appears with some suitably spooky columns - that are 3D prints ostensibly for 6mm scale miniatures - topped with Crom’s Anvil fire bowls - I wanted to have these to illuminate evil goings-on in the dungeon, and tried for a sort of marbled with green effect that is a bit slapdash in the photo, but doesn’t look too bad at tabletop viewing distances.

Dracula also came with with some bats as familiars, that I tried mounting ‘in flight’ - again, not sure who made these, but most of the manufacturers listed in my last post make their own examples.

A splodge of filler not so subtly hides the bent paper clip flight posts - but not so bad when seen from above.

Anyway, lots of fun was had working on all these, even if they are a bit of a cop-out in not being true Fantasy Dungeon dwellers……

Next time, I’ll be showcasing more monstrous things- in this case, all that creeps and crawls !

 

15mm Dungeon: Roll Call and Resources

 

Thought I’d begin to set down just who and what will be populating this dungeon adventure, and take a look at the miniatures available as well as some inspirational online resources for adventures in 15mm.

In the photos above and  below, you’ll see the characters that will form my first go at an adventure party - all the usual suspects of course, to whit, female and male magic users, a ‘ranger’ type, a female and a male fighter, a thief, a ‘barbarian’ and a dwarf  - all except the barbarian, who is by Alterrnative Armies, are from the ranges by Ral Partha Europe:

Next up are the ‘Baddies’ - a Sorcerer, a Druid, an Anti-Paladin, and a Sorceress - (again, from Ral Partha) these will very much be employed in the role of the controlling entity for a particular dungeon, that might be themed according to their talents - the Druid might oversee lots of creepies, crawlies or creatures, whilst the others could be surrounded by the undead, summoned monsters or goblin or orcish henchmen:

 

Alongside these I plan to work on all the classic encounter creatures and life forms - from gelatinous cubes to spiders, from trolls and troglodytes to lurkers and mimics, from kobolds and gnolls to giant rats and dragon folk…… basically anything that takes my fancy, or has a nostalgic edge from those half remembered days of playing D&D many moons ago…..

I’ve been choosing figures very much on the basis of what I like the look of, rather than adhering strictly to the manufacturer’s categories or descriptions - an example is the thief  in the second photo above - he’s actually a torch-bearing leader of the peasant militia of the Empire faction of Ral Partha’s Demonworld Classic:

http://www.ralparthaeurope.co.uk/shop/demonworld-15mm-c-76/demonworld-classic-c-76_151/the-empire-c-76_151_80/4140-peasant-militia-10-p-4366.html

I just like the look of him being up to something semi-nefarious, hooded, with torch held aloft !

As I work my way through painting various figures, I’ll plan to post the details of each, and work on some comparison photos as well - which I always find useful in starting new projects. It might be a while before I get around to those seen above, as I’m gradually increasing my skill level in this new scale - why start on the intricate garments of the sorcerer for instance, when you can splash some black in the direction of a spider and call it done !

I’m going to be basing the majority of miniatures on plastic tiddly-winks of around 22mm in diameter, painted up to resemble the dank, verdigris stained surfaces of the dungeon - sizes can be seen here, with UK penny and tuppence for scale:

As to where I’ll be getting the figures and other items- I’ve put together a short resources list as follows, starting with the principal manufacturers here in the UK, with some of my comments:

Alternative Armies - an expansive range of great designs, covering Hordes of The Things and tabletop fantasy armies, with useful character and single monster figures - always having great sales and deals - as I write, they’re currently having a 20% off sale across the board for the month of August - the sculpting can sometimes be on the softer side, and some of the figures are quite slight in heft or small in height: 

https://www.alternative-armies.com/

Ral Partha Europe: a very large range of both army and group sized figure packs, alongside a huge collection of individual figures, covering probably everything you’ll ever need  - the sculpts are very crisp and detailed, but perhaps on the ‘chunkier’ side of things….. certainly tall, although not scale-crept any larger than 15mm:

http://www.ralparthaeurope.co.uk/shop/demonworld-15mm-c-76/demonworld-universal-18-c-76_147/

http://www.ralparthaeurope.co.uk/shop/fantasy-15mm-singles-c-195/

CP Models: stock the Conan style, ex-Crom’s Anvil range, alongside their own fantasy offerings - some useful decor / -ative items here, like scenics and terrain:

https://cpmodels.co.uk/product-category/15mm-ranges/

Copplestone’s amazingly detailed and characterful ‘Barbarica’ range - Conan-style writ large but then writ small - how he gets such style into such small figures, I’ll never know - although that said, these do scale (perhaps quite rightly) on the ‘heroic’ side against other manufacturers, whilst being perfectly compatible:

https://www.copplestonecastings.co.uk/list.php?cat=18&page=1

Old Glory UK: has the excellent ranges from Blue Moon manufacturing - some lovely Gothic Horror pieces alongside some very useful items across the historical range, as well as Steampunk/Cthulhu-esque and even ‘The Mummy” style figures for Egyptian adventures:

https://www.oldgloryuk.com/15mm-Blue-Moon-Manufacturing/50

Irregular Miniatures: Very much Old-Old School sculpts, perhaps a bit of an acquired taste, but always something useful to be found amongst their vast and varied offerings:

https://irregularminiatures.co.uk/

The Little Corporal in the UK stocks the superlative offerings from Splintered Light Miniatures - some really classic minis here, scaling well alongside Ral Partha’s:

https://thelittlecorporal.co.uk/

A close up gallery of their figures can be seen in this forum post here:

https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/15mm-dungeon-crawl-figures.732199/

Dragon Frog Games in the UK has the Battle Valor fantasy ranges: lovely sculpts - a bit on the large side, but in context, some very useful items -check out the Special Edition figures category:

https://www.dragonfroggames.co.uk/page/battle-valor-games-15mm-fantasy-miniatures

Peter Pig offer their own Fantasy range, with some great ‘Araby’ types, alongside all the classics - they are probably the slightest in ‘heft’ though, and smaller in height than the other manufacturers, but useful, nonetheless - chaps on flying carpets ! - an Arthurian Wizard ‘Shazamming’ a victim…… !

https://www.peterpig.co.uk/19%20Fantasy.html

Essex Miniatures have their own classic Old School range, but more importantly also have very useful things like shields packs and other accessories - always worth looking through the Medieval ranges, too:

https://www.essexminiatures.co.uk/collections/15mm-fantasy

https://www.essexminiatures.co.uk/collections/15mm-shield-packs

Ancient and Modern Army Supplies - or more traditionally, Donnington Miniatures have their own Medieval ranges, and again, some very well made scenic and ancillary items that might be of use - I’m a big fan of their casualties, individual weapons and camp and baggage items:

https://shop.ancient-modern.co.uk/casualties-97-c.asp

https://shop.ancient-modern.co.uk/camp-and-baggage-119-c.asp

https://shop.ancient-modern.co.uk/equipment-123-c.asp

Chariot Miniatures stocked by Magister Militum - an extensive traditional fantasy range, with some useful individual figures:

https://www.magistermilitum.com/scale/15mm.html?cat%5B0%5D=59679&cat%5B1%5D=61918&p=5

Honorable mention should go to Skirmish Supplies,who always have a selection of various manufacturers available at good prices: 

https://skirmish-supplies.co.uk/page/fantasy-15mm

To conclude, just a few words on some of the sites that I’ve been using for inspiration \ envious longings with regard to the potential for using 15mm:

Old Ben’s amazing ideas thread of Cthulhu-inspired small scale skirmish over at The Wargames Website that sold me on the idea:

https://www.thewargameswebsite.com/forums/topic/innsmouth-15mm-cthulhu/

The gorgeous work at Warchest on Copplestone’s incredible Barbarian range:

http://warchest.co.uk/blog/index.php/15mm-copplestone-barbarian-reinforcements/#more-3147

“It does what it says on the tin” - beautiful work and bountiful ideas on starting a 15mm Dungeon:

https://15mmdungeon.wordpress.com/

And finally, some lovely individual threads of work here over at the Lead Adventure Forum:

https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=76266.0

https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=76334.0

https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=95296.0

https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=116324.0

All great stuff - if a little intimidating in terms of the standard of work - hard to believe the minis are only 15mm! 

Next time, I’ll be having some Monstrous fun……. ;-)