Wednesday 26 February 2020

"The Trapper Will Smother Any Prey Trapped Within It."

"Those caught by the initial attack are prevented from using weapons by the great musculature of the Trapper."
This 45mm square pre-painted plastic model of an Earth Elemental is produced by “Wizkids” and is miniature number 031 their Volo's and Mordenkainen's Foes range of "Dungeons & Dragons" figures. A "large sheet-like monster that disguises itself as a floor or ceiling", the rare creature made its first appearance in December 1975 within the pages of "The Strategic Review".

"Resistant to both fire and cold damage" the amorphous form was initially primed using a double-layer of “Vallejo” Dark Grey, positively drowned in “Citadel" Nuln Oil and dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo Dark Grey. I then applied a couple of even coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey to the 'flat body the fiend conforms to the floor surface of its lair' and washed that with (more) "Citadel" Nuln Oil.
"Dungeons & Dragons" WIPs - The Banderhobb has had been used as a test-piece for a number of techniques
As "Trappers are 95% likely to appear as a normal stone floor when tested by any normal means", I dry-brushed this upper surface with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey, just as if I were painting the paving tiles of a dungeon. This process actually made a bit of a mess of some of my earlier work with the "Vallejo" Dark Grey, so as a final touch I simply went back and tidied the monster's edges up.

Despite the Tenth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge entering its final few weeks, and my still needing to pigment approximately another forty or so 28mm miniatures to achieve my annual target for the event, I have spent some of my precious hobby-time fooling around with a large plastic Banderhobb by "Wizkids". This giant bipedal toad from the New Jersey-based company's "Dungeons & Dragons" range arrived with a horrible pre-paint job which predominantly consisted of a jarringly yellow dry-brush all over the figure's dark green base-layer.
"Wizkids" WIPs - The Yochlol has been primed, shaded, dry-brushed and tidied-up
Having scrutinised some 'official' illustrations depicting "the enigmatic monsters of shadow and flesh", this colour scheme itself wasn't actually too wide of mark; albeit its their bloated stomach and gullet which are predominantly yellow. As a result I've been testing out some wet-blending, sponging and simple layering to see which technique works best for me, as I've little experience of painting paler underbellies...  

Far more straightforward a subject have been three "Wizkids" Yochlols, which despite some initial priming problems, now seem to be close to completion. The 28mm scale demons really didn't like my disconcertingly translucent "Vallejo" Heavy Goldenbrown until they'd be undercoated with a couple of layers of Heavy Brown first. But now they just need their red cyclopean eyes to be 'dabbed' in place before being finished.

12 comments:

  1. The finished Trapper looks fantastic... I REALLY like how its been done :-)))

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    1. Thanks very much indeed, Steve. I need to post it up in action, as the pics for this posting don't do its size justice. It really is quite big.

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  2. Nailed the Trapper, great job Simon.

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    1. Cheers Michael. Took a bit longer than I anticipated, but got there in the end :-)

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  3. Nice work Simon. I do like the weird and wonderful figures we see on your blog every day. Never heard of a Trapper before, but love the idea, keep up the great work!

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    1. Thanks ever so much, Ray, very much appreciated. I do like to mix and match my minis, and the current range of "D&D" stuff from "Wizkids" has some really old favourites in it.

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  4. Great work on the trapper Simon, the Yochlol are progressing nicely.
    With your Banderhobb's belly finishing painting the belly, and go a little further past where you want the edge to be, once fully dry, apply a glaze of the main body skintone over the edge of the belly colour, this will help look like a natural transition

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    1. Cheers Dave. The Yochlols should be finished tonight. I shall give that glaze a try once I've got the belly and lips where I want them. I'm not a fan of the yellow lips tbh, so I might return to them at a later time and make them green.

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  5. Some interesting and different mini's there Simon, nice painting too.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks Roger. I've got a fair few "Dungeons & Dragons" minis to come, and they're all pretty "different" tbh :-)

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  6. Some very "intersting" models here; the trapper seems a little unimaginative 'moster', no matter how well you've painted it. but the other two 'on the workbench' are a lot better.
    DnD has changed a lot ...

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    1. Cheers Joe. As I recall the Trappper was created back when all adventures took place within a dungeon, and came about at a similar time to a Lurker, who looked like the ceiling. I guess they were intended to scare any explorer every time they took a step forward.

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