Arduin Monsters

My first exposure to the world of Arduin was through a copy of The Runes Of Doom that I picked up one summer when visiting some older, college-aged friends in Pasadena. I think it was the art of Greg Espinoza that first captured my attention and triggered my buying decision, but after reading the book, my mind was reeling. The overpowered character classes, over-the-top magic items, crazy monsters, and all of the little snippets of information laced throughout the book became fuel for my imagination.

Over time, I purchased all of the digest-sized booklets, and even though we never played a game of Arduin Grimoire, monsters, magic items, and background found in the books would make appearances in my campaign.

Not too long ago, I picked up a copy of Arduin Eternal Bestiary & Treasures, as I was interested to see if there were any changes made to the monsters that I remembered so fondly. Whereas the old books described each monsters in about 6-8 lines, the new book presents a page of information for each monster. About half of the space is devoted to stats, followed by a section on combat style, and some additional information on monster physiology.

To tell the truth, I was a bit disappointed with the book, but this is mainly due to the fact that I had no interest in the actual mechanics of the current version of the game. My major issues are that the book does not catalog of all of the Arduin monsters from the original volumes (where are the Ghost Crab and Hell Maiden?). Secondly, despite the expanded text, I did not feel that the description for each monster was any more in depth than what was presented in the classic digests. But like I said before, this is because my interest is more in the Arduin fluff.

Anyway, on to my monster miniatures. All of them were produced by Archive and are now OOP, except for the vroat which is still being sold by Center Stage Miniatures.

Doom Guard: "Dull black plate armor... They must litterally [sic] be dismembered to stop."

Hell Maiden: "Voluptous bodies valkyrie like warrior women with bare skull heads."

Octorilla: For some reason I couldn't find the stats or description for the Octorilla in the original books.

Shadow Golem: "Looks are also obious [sic] and so also omitted."

Vroat: "Mutational cross between giant toads and crocodiles, thus earning the nickname "Jumping Jaws"!"

Wobra: "Emerald green winged cobra with ruby red eyes."

The miniatures are relatively large with respect to 1/72 figures, but I think they could all be used without a problem, although the Doom Guard and Hell Maiden would probably have to represent exceptionally large specimens.

Emperor's Choice currently makes some monsters for Arduin, but I'm not fond of the sculpts in that they have a 3D modeled regularity and smoothness that make them too artificial in appearance for my tastes.

Limei Architectural Models

There are a number of vendors on eBay that sell figures from the Guangzhou Limei Model Design Company (广州利美模型有限公司). I think that the figures are meant to be used as scenery for architectural models, but they are typically marketed as model train accessories.

The set that first caught my eye was of their Arab figures. They are sold in bulk, so are probably not really a good value unless you need a large number of figures for a crowded souq or bazaar. I'm guessing that the figures can be used for time periods from at least the 19th century on up to modern times.

There were four male poses, and three female poses in the set I received, but I think there is supposed to be four of each pose. Unfortunately however, the mix was random, so there is no guarantee that you can get all of the poses.

Also available are figures of beach goers in an unknown number of poses.  These are typically sold in smaller batches, but again come randomly, so you never know what you will receive.

The beach goers look like they date from the 1940's or 50's, and are rather flat, since I think they were mostly meant to be laying flat sunbathing.

All of the figures are listed as 1/75 scale, but are probably larger, since they fit in perfectly with 1/72 scale figures.

More Hobbits

Tolkien writes that hobbits are between two and four feet in height, a fact that is echoed in this Warner infographic. But then, counter to depicting Bilbo as an everyman hobbit, Peter Jackson makes him a heroic 4' 2", almost as tall as his legendary great granduncle Bandobras Took.

I believe that most sources however, would agree that Bilbo was just average height at best.

WARNING! Not suitable for all audiences.

The hobbits from the Lord of the Rings HeroClix CMG are about two-thirds the height of a human-sized HeroClix. They can't be used as hobbits in 1/72 scale, but they are perfect as normal humans.

For miniatures that are more suitable as hobbits, we have to the left, four halflings from the Ral Partha Fantasy Collector Series. These are all taller hobbits that can be used to represent Fallohides. To the right is a Heritage hobbit from the Little People set (Fantasy 1311), and the R-Kiiv Merry Hibbot now produced by Center Stage Miniatures as a Halfling Adventurer (FEP-003).

The R-Kiiv Hibbot reminds me of the Ducreux self portrait used for the Archaic Rap meme, and seems even more appropriate given that he seems to hold a sack of coins in his hand.

Unfortunately, this is the best I could do...

Smaller hobbits include the Essex 15mm halflings, which seem to be scaled down versions of their 25mm line. To me they seem to be a bit undernourished, and don't quite have that chubby look that I like to see in a hobbit.

Last are some Irregular halfings. I know that I made fun of their 10mm halflings, but the 15mm halflings are actually quite nice. They are a bit on the short side, but are nicely rounded as hobbits should be.

I now have more hobbits than I know what to do with...

(Or try this link if you cannot access the video.)