All Hail the Prince of Demons!

Wide on the wasteful Deep; with him Enthron'd
Sat Sable-vested Night, eldest of things,
The Consort of his Reign; and by them stood
Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name
Of Demogorgon
— John Milton, Paradise Lost II. 961-965

Ever since I first picked up the Monster Manual way back in 79 (or 78, I started playing in 79) there were some names that jumped out at me as an invitation to use them in some way;  Orcus, Tiamat, Asmodeus, and Demogorgon.

Back when 4e was the new hotness I picked up the Orcus mini. No surprise, he is the bad guy of not one, but two campaign capstone adventures.  He is also the "mascot" of both Necromancer Games and Goblinoid Games. So yeah, he is pretty popular.

Before that, I picked up the Mage Knight Apocalypse Dragon to stand in for the full Tiamat.  Works well.

For Asmodeus, I figure just about any devil will do really. He doesn't even really need to be big.

I have my Tharizdûn and my Lolth.
What I didn't have was a good Demogorgon.

Until now.

Last year I picked up a Demogorgon last year at AdeptiCon. Earlier this year I grabbed the Classic Creatures Collection from WotC which had two Demogorgon figures; a full size and an aspect.

I was ok, though I wished all of them were bigger.  THEN I discovered the Loot Crate DX Demogorgon.   Well, I wished I hadn't because I became obsessed with finding one.

Finally, this weekend my quest ended.

He is huge!

As you see he compares nicely to 4e Gargantuan Orcus.

He compares even better to his smaller "aspects".  That is my demon-hunter paladin there.  I hope he is ready!

None are exactly the same and that is a good thing.  Demons, especially this demon, should have shifting forms.

Right now I have him hidden.  My kids know all about the older Demogorgons (and Orcus and Tiamat), but this one will be a surprise.

My wife saw it too and I told her what I was doing and she is very excited.  I can't wait to pull this bad boy out!

Now I all I need is a good Graz'zt mini.

Gog and Magog!

A while back I presented stats for two Balor that I use in my games, Gog and Magog.

I always wanted to get minis for them, I always thought it would be fun to have them both and have them encountered by a party at the same time.

Well since it had been a cold, rainy weekend here in Chicago my wife decided to do some painting.

Here is the original Balor that I got with some mini set years ago.

Here is the repainted Balor, Errtu from the Legend of Drizzt board game.

I love the new lightning whip and fire sword!  The brass talons on his wings are a great touch.
LOVE the black touches on the wings.

I think it looks fantastic!  So glad my wife loves doing this.

Can't wait to use them in a game!

Kickstart Your Weekend: My Last Sunrise

This one started out with a limited amount of time and we are already near the end!

My Last Sunrise - Gothic Horror 28mm Miniatures

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1512506318/my-last-sunrise-gothic-horror-28mm-miniatures

If it didn't have me at "Gothic Miniatures" or at a Dracula mini it had me at their witch mini.

Yeah, I am predictable.  But that also means that when these things hit the internet I will share them with you.

Back on Track! Minis and more!

Just got off of Spring Break with my kids. Had a great time, but now I am back in the grove of work (or at least that is what I keep telling myself as I weep into my coffee).

Got a ton of stuff done on various projects including my next Swords & Wizardry one.

But more important to me is what my wife has been doing.  Last week we started off our Spring Break by going to Gary Con and to Adepticon.  It was great and my wife picked up this miniatures painting starter kit from Reaper.  Well, a week later we are at our FLGS +Games Plus during their 35 Anniversary celebration to buy more minis, more brushes, and more paint.

Here are the fruits of her efforts this past week.

I have found my "Lolth" character.  The blonde witch in the red robes is Tanith, one of my newest characters.

This Vrock is my favorite.
I had to mount it so it would stand up right.

She is still working on learning different techniques and getting better, but this is going to save me hundreds of bucks!

This is going to be a lot of fun.  Plus while the boys and I play D&D she can sit there and paint with us. Which, truth be told, she enjoys more.

Con Weekend!

Great weekend to start my Spring Break.

Frist up, met up with a friend at AdeptiCon on Friday for some Chicago style pizza.
On my way I picked up a copy of Tales from the Yawning Portal and Paternoster Investigations.  Just not sure if it needs to go on my Doctor Who shelf or my Victorian Age shelf!

Saturday we I got up early and drove up to Gary Con.
I ran into so many people I knew. It was so great to see +Erik Tenkar, +Jeff Talanian, +R.J. Thompson, +Frank Mentzer, +Bruce Heard, +Tim Kask, +Tim Burns, +Venger Satanis, +Satine Phoenix, Stephen Chenault (+Ends Meet Productions), +Mike Mearls, +Bill Barsh, and Danny O'Neill of Hammerdog Games.

Ran into Erik and picked up the AWESOME S&W Light. Helluva job on that!

Bill Barsh of Pacesetter was there too selling also sorts of great stuff.  I picked up his new 5e adventure Beyond the Caves of Chaos and some great minis; a "demon witch" which looks exactly like the Pacesetter Witch of Monte Rosa and Demogorgon.

Speaking of Caves of Chaos...
The word is out that Goodman Games will be producing reprint/updates to classic modules.
First up are B1 and B2. The new books will include the original versions, a new version for 5e and a bunch of additional material.

Ran into Bruce Heard and got "our favorite book" signed.

He says expect some more Calidar material soon!

Also ran into Frank Mentzer again.  He signed my British Basic book print.

It says: "To Tim (and Family) best 'Witches' from Frank"!
Hoping the see something really great coming up from Frank here soon.

Stopped by the Troll Lords booth and picked up the C&C and 5th edition versions of "Mystical Companions".  Both look fantastic. Can't wait to review them.  Also grabbed a copy of Bluffside.

Spent the rest of the time playing 5th edition Against the Giants.
The party entered The Hall of the Fire Giant King!

Right before I left I was sitting at the table playing running G3 when Danny O'Neill comes by a sees my GM screen, which he notices is one of his World's Greatest Screens from Hammerdog Games. He takes some pictures and notices my screen has a manufacturing defect in it. I was going to fix it with some duct tape (of course) but he goes downstairs to his booth and brings back a brand new screen for me! How is that for customer service! I mean seriously. I am glad I own two of these (one for D&D and another for Ghosts of Albion). THAT is dedication to customers.

Sunday it was back to Adepticon to pick up some more minis!

Everyone had a great time. Especially my wife who has now taken up painting minis!
She has no idea how much I am going to throw her way. ;)

More Hero Forge Minis, Part 2

About a month ago I posted pictures of my new +Hero Forge Minis.   Since then I got in contact with +Epic Die Studio and they were looking forward to painting some Hero Forge minis. Plus they were nearby, so it looked like it was going to be good match.

I was wrong.

It was a GREAT match!

Here are the unpainted minis:

And here they are again after Epic Die Studio did his magic.

Love the design on the shield.  Great for a warrior of Bahamut

Skylla!

Taryn and Mojo

Taryn, my Pathfinder cover girl.

If you live in the Chicago area they are totally worth checking out.
I am beyond pleased with these.  Can't wait to do some more.

More Hero Forge Minis

Got home Monday night to a really nice surprise.  My next batch of Hero Forge minis had arrived.

I opted for the new "Premium Plastic" figures this time.  They were more expensive (which is why it's been two years since I ordered any) but they are really sturdy and nicely detailed.  I picked up two new witches and my son got three for the first time. Two assassins and a dragonborn paladin.

This shot is a bit dark, but this is Skylla and my iconic witch Taryn.

This is Taryn in the premium plastic next to her mother Larina in the nylon plastic (used to be called "strong plastic").
The detail for the premium plastic is night and day difference.

Here is my attempt to make a 28 mm Skylla. Not 100% the same but good enough!

The minis really render nicely from the software.

Once again, just need to get them painted.

My son noticed that these mins are much sturdier than what we get from Wizkids (D&D 5 and Pathfinder) now.  Also if you put a texture on the base they are even sturdier still.

Now I just need to find someone who can paint them for me.