Some random items after a long period of inactivity

The first two miniatures are the androsphinx, Kamaljiori (Monsters of Exandria Set 1 #2), and an Adranach (Monsters of Tal'Dorei Set 2 #1) from the Critical Role Miniatures line.

Sphinxes from the Critical Role universe have both lion and eagle tails, but I'm not a fan of the design choice. However, as it turns out, the unwanted tail feathers were a perfect fit for the Reaper peryton that I bought 8 years ago.

The next miniature I've been working on is the Reaper Graveyard Golem (Bones 77526).

The miniature consists of five pieces in the newer Bones plastic. One of the parts was short shot, but I didn't actually notice until I was already finishing up with painting.

One of the things I didn't like about this sculpt was that it didn't have a right hand, so I did a bit of modification to make it fit my vision of the figure.

I was thinking about adding some crows perched on the "wings" of the golem, but it didn't feel quite right with the new, more action oriented pose.

The final miniature is Azael the Unfaithful from Rackham Miniatures. I think that in the Confrontation lore she is supposed to be some sort of undead, but I thought she would make a good fallen angel, so I decided to add some wings to the figure.

I based her look somewhat off of Nanael from Queen's Blade, with one withered wing, and one normal wing.

The right wing is from the Radiant Idol (Eberron: Rising from the Last War #32) from the Icons of the Realms Miniatures line.

While the left wing comes from a Deva (Snowbound #15) from the Icons of the Realms Miniatures line.

Snowman

Evil snowmen have been a staple of pop culture horror for a long time. Most people are probably familiar with them through the direct-to-video movie Jack Frost, or from Dr. Who, or even from Scooby Doo cartoons.

The Snowmen (2012 Christmas Special)

Scooby-Doo! Haunted Holidays, 2012

A Scooby-Doo! Christmas, 2002

Jack Frost, 1997

One of the earliest depictions of the evil snowman however, is in the cartoon The Snowman from Ted Eshbaugh Studios.

Atlas Obscura hosts an interesting article on the history of snowmen (which may provide some insight to the source of the resentment motivating these snowmen).

I don't think there was ever an official snowman monster in D&D, but a snow golem first appeared in Ship of Horrors for 2nd ed. AD&D.

The 2nd ed. version of the snow golem is described as an 11' tall armored figure sculpted from snow, which seems like something requiring the skills of a trained sculptor to create.

Giorgio Vasari writes in Lives of the Artists
(Le Vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori,
ed architettori) that after an unusual
snowstorm descended upon Florence in
January 1494, Michelangelo was tasked
by Piero de' Medici (his patron) to create
a statue made of snow in the courtyard
of his palace.

By 5th ed. however, artistry seems to have gone by the wayside, and snow golems became crude anthropoid figures.

It is this version of the snow golem, that appears from D&D Icons of the Realms (Snowbound #28), and Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures (WZK90417).

I don't really care for the use of blue and silver to represent snow on prepainted miniatures, so I will repaint the Icons Snow Golem at a later date.

Some other figures that fit the snowy theme include a couple of chwinga miniatures from D&D Icons of the Realms (Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden #3, #16).

One chwinga is throwing a snowball, while the other holds an icicle (or rather, an "icicle staff"). I included a space chwinga from a previous post for comparison purposes.

Last up are a couple of frost salamanders from an older post with a pair of extra arms added on.

For the snow on the bases, I originally wanted to try some of the various commercial products described at Meandering Shade, but for expediency, I went with white glue and baking soda.

Generic brand sodium bicarbonate

Baking soda has small reflective crystals in it, unlike Woodland Scenics Scene-A-Rama Snow which is perfectly matte white, and requires the addition of some embossing powder, or extra fine glitter to give it that sparkly snow look.

Boggles and other Wizkids miniatures

This post will show some recent miniatures that I bought, and consists of various non-related things that I found interesting.

The first groups of figures are Boggles. D&D Boggles take their name from the folkloric bogle. They made their first appearance in AD&D Module A2 – Secret of the Slavers Stockade.

The two painted Boggles are from the Icons of the Realm line (Fangs & Talons #05, Wild Beyond the Witchlight #06), while the unpainted figures are from Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures (WZK90437).

The figures are based on the 5th edition depiction of the creatures, with enormous heads, and scale out almost exactly to their stated 3' height in 1/72.

The next figures are the Brigganock Miner (Wild Beyond the Witchlight #01), Ija, Human Summoner (Advanced Iconic Heroes 20F8), and a Sewer Ooze (Bestiary Unleashed #23).

The Brigganock comes from the Icons of the Realm line, and remind me of Kobolds from World of Warcraft (except for being lime green).

I was more interested in the Soul Light that is part of the figure, which I will use as a standalone hitodama miniature.

Ija is a Pathfinder miniature representing one of their so-called iconic characters from the Mwangi Expanse. She is the perfect size to use alongside 1/72 scale figures, but I don't know why her right arm was sculpted so short. In any event, I went and lengthened her arm with a metal staple, and Kneadatite.

I don't have too much to say about the Sewer Ooze other than the fact that I got it because it reminded me of the riding beasts from Ralph Bakshi's Wizards.

The next miniature is an Icons of the Realm Amber Monolith (Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft #28).

I'm not sure if an Amber Monolith is the same as the Amber Sarcophagus also mentioned in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, but it is described as the vestige of some powerful dead entity that is trapped in a gigantic block of amber.

The final miniature is an Icons of the Realm Zombie Clot (Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft #27). Not much information is given about the creature, and it is merely described as being formed by "crushing an entire horde into a single, rotting titan".

When I first saw this figure, I thought of the Brian McNaughton story The Return of the Colossus from the anthology The Averoigne Legacy (which I read not too long ago).

However upon re-reading the original Clark Ashton Smith story The Colossus of Ylourgne, I realized that the McNaughton version of the Colossus was quite different from the one described by Smith.

In the McNaughton story, the Colossus is made up of fused cadavers, while in the Smith story, the flesh of the cadavers was rendered down, before being used to construct a giant zombie (something that somehow slipped my mind despite being shown on the cover of one of my favorite D&D modules).

In any event, the Zombie Clot (despite its massive size) is too small to represent the Colossus, and in hindsight is more like The Rotten from Dark Souls II.

Froghemoth

The froghemoth’s 18‘ long, 10’ wide body is yellow-orange on the belly, shading to a medium green on its back and thick, bowed rear legs. From its shoulder area sprout four tentacles, two from each shoulder, which are green on top and yellowish underneath. The creature’s nostrils are stalk-like, and its three eyes are housed on a retractable protruding appendage which is withdrawn when danger threatens the optics. The froghemoth will often submerge its body several feet beneath the water, trail its tentacles ashore, and watch with its eye appendage at water level - this, along with the nostril stalks, appears to be a plant growth of some sort.

The frog-thing is also able to capture prey with its long, barbed tongue. This member can be flicked out to a distance of 10’. Unless the creature caught by the tongue is able to hold fast to something quickly - such as a tree, rope, etc. — it will be drawn that very round to the froghemoth’s gaping jaws and torn to shreds. It will swallow prey whole on a “to hit” roll of 19 or 20.

The froghemoth made it's first appearance in AD&D Module S3 – Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, and was fittingly illustrated by Erol Otus.

I don't know if anyone has ever commented on how the froghemoth resembles the monster on the cover of Planet Comics 42, but somehow I don't think it's a coincidence.

Planet Comics, May 1946

The tadhemoth is described in the AD&D Monster Manual II as the juvenile form of the froghemoth, and it is possible there are other growth stages of the monster if these models created by David S. Sutherland are any indication of things.

The creature has been updated in the latest edition of D&D, but there is only cursory information about the life cycle for this new version.

5th Edition Froghemoth

The first froghemoth miniature that I bought was the pre-painted Froghemoth from the DDM Icons of the Realms line (Dungeon of the Mad Mage #25).

The model was much larger than I expected, measuring almost 90mm tall to the top of the eyes. It does not have the nostril stalks from the original description, and looks a bit like the 5th edition version of the monster. As such, I would have liked it better if it was sculpted standing upright like in the artwork.

An unpainted version of this model is available from Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures, but seems to cost twice as much as the painted version. Some larger models from Reaper and Pacesetter Games & Simulations are also available, but they're not particularly useful for 1/72 scale gaming.

The most faithful rendition of the froghemoth in my opinion, is the resin model from Gale Force 9.

I was originally hesitant about buying the model because of the price, but I changed my mind because the DDM model was so underwhelming.

The kit is cast in light gray resin, and consists of 12 parts.

The model goes together fairly easily, but there is definitely work to be done with respect to cleaning mold lines and filling seams. In addition, the two lower tentacles do not align well with the base, and will need to be adjusted using heat to get the ends to line up.

The GF9 model measures 70mm to the top of the eyes, and is fairly close to the dimensions of the froghemoth in 1/72 scale.

A comparison of the two froghemoths.

For some 360º views of the models, visit 72chan. If you like the content, I would be very grateful if you like the video and subscribe to the channel.

Lava Children

Lava Children are often scorned as one of the absurd joke monsters from the Fiend Folio, and people have laughed at the illustration for bearing a striking resemblance to Alfred E. Neuman, but something about the harness it wore had a vaguely Polynesian look that made the association with lava work for me.

On the other hand, I didn't care for the 5th ed. incarnation of the Lava Child, which looks like the unholy spawn of Carrot Top and Pennywise.

There are no miniatures of Lava Children, and I doubt that there ever will be, so I took it upon myself to make my own version based on the original Russ Nicholson illustration.

I started out by sculpting the face out of Kneadatite.

What– Me worry?

To make things simpler for myself, I decapitated one of the Deep Fire Dwarves from Sgt Major Miniatures (now sold by Battle Valor Games) to use as the basis for a body.

I'm guessing that the miniatures are supposed to be Azers from the Monster Manual II, which are probably even more obscure than Lava Children.

First the head was attached, and some lines were scribed onto the kilt.

Then I sculpted the harness to the best of my ability.

My plan for painting is to undercoat with black, and then use a foam brush to dab gray and white over it to replicate the appearance of a charcoal briquette after being used in a barbeque.

A closely related monster for which there are three miniatures is the Magman (Magmin). The first miniature is from the D&D Miniatures line (Angelfire #56), while the next two miniatures are from the Icons of the Realms line (Elemental Evil #01 and Monster Menagerie 3 #1).

The Angelfire miniature was my original candidate as a proxy for a Lava Child, albeit undersized. The Elemental Evil miniature was rather underwhelming, but I liked the Monster Menagerie miniature so much (because it is made of transparent plastic), that I bought a whole bunch of them.

Another lava related miniature is the Magma Mephit (Monster Menagerie 3 #02a), which has an alternate paint version that is the Mud Mephit (Monster Menagerie 3 #02b).

I really like the look of these miniatures, and if you don't want to use them as mephits, they could just as easily pass for imps or homunculi.