Saturday 7 March 2020

"Yochlols Were Most Numerous In... The Demonweb Pits."

"Within it they commonly served as Lolth's enforcers, scouts, and appropriately as handmaidens."
These three 28mm scale pre-painted plastic models of some Yochlols are produced by "Wizkids", and can be bought as miniature number 012 from their Storm King's Thunder range of "Dungeons & Dragons" models. A chaotic evil creature, this shape-changing demon were able to slam "away at their foes with their numerous tentacles", and introduced in the 1980 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" game adventure module, Queen of the Demonweb Pits by David C. Sutherland III (with Gary Gygax).

"A type of lesser tanar'ri demon", which were also known as Handmaidens of Lolth, each figure was super-glued to a 25mm circular base, and originally undercoated with some "Vallejo" Heavy Goldenbrown. However, due to the rubbery texture of the Yochlols' figure, this extra opaque Game colour simply didn't take to its surface, so in the end I applied a couple of helpings of "Vallejo" Heavy Brown.
"Otherworld Miniatures" WIPs - These two Barrow Guardians are slowly being weathered
Once this had dried, I then re-applied the "Vallejo" Heavy Goldbrown once again, and subsequently shaded each 'handmaiden' with an old pot of "Citadel" Gryphonne Sepia. This seemed to pool really well amongst all the sculpts' soft details, and create precisely the yellow, oozy, effect I was after to suggest how their "bodies seemed to be constantly melting and piling back up like a sickening living candle." Later, I gave each miniature a rough dry-brush of (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Goldbrown and 'picked out' their eyes using a combination of Heavy Red and "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson.

Sticking with "Dungeons & Dragons" denizens, I have made some more progress on two Barrow Guardians by "Otherworld Miniatures". These animated stone statues from their official "Barrowmaze" range, are slowly being weathered using a combination of "Citadel" Nuln Oil, Biel-Tan Green and Agrax Earthshades washes. Plus some patient dry-brushing with "Vallejo" Heavy Blue-Grey.
"Wizkids" WIPs - This 115mm x 160mm shield has been primed and partially shaded
I'm particularly pleased I've got these two figures to practice on as I'm also making some significant headway on my Walking Statue of Waterdeep: The Honorable Knight by "Wizkids", and plan to use precisely the same palette on that as my Barrow Guardians. Indeed, having finished priming the 300mm tall plastic model, I've put some time in undercoating his separately attached sword and shield, with the intention of actually finishing these 'smaller pieces' first before tackling the 'Big Yin' himself.

Weighing in at a whopping 115mm x 160mm in size, the shield in particular is proving rather difficult to handle and pigment simultaneously, at least without "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey" getting everywhere, as I'm having to hold some part of the piece's surface whenever I apply a brush to it. Resultantly, I'm doing both it and the sword in piecemeal stages, in the hope that I can then apply any tricks I pick up on the Knight's significantly larger plastic main torso.

10 comments:

  1. I wonder would it be worth temporarily pinning the shield to a skewer or dowel for ease of handling while painting?

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    1. I have contemplated using some pliers to hold the wrist whilst painting the shield, Myincubliss. But ultimately, having seen how well the "Vallejo" paint sticks to the rubbery plastic, I have decided to simply (man)handle it, and touch it up afterwards if needs be. I'm not sure where I'd skewer it tbh, as it'd be a sizeable hole for a fairly hefty chunk of plastic.

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  2. I like your painting on the yochlols a lot, they look great. However, having read most of the Drizzt books and these demons appear from time to time the sculpt is not how I imagined them to be honest. The Barrow Guardians look ace, really coming along well. Big models are such a pain to paint at times so just do what works for you with the sub assemblies and good luck!!

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    1. Thanks Undercoat. I haven't read the books, but from all the illustrations I've seen the Yochlol sculpts are pretty spot on. I certainly wish I'd bought some more, as they're rather nice, but I'm not sure they're a horde race of demons tbh. Hopefully the Barrow Guardians will be finished soon... as will some of the Knight's sub-assemblies.

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  3. The yochlols (lols) are an intersting monster (and only slightly amusing), but I must have just left playing DnD when these rrived on the scene as (of course) I've never heard of these.
    I do like the barrow guards !

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    1. Cheers Joe. I really like the Yochlols, but I guess three is as many as I'm ever going to need. The Barrow Guardians are now finished, and I'm hoping to paint a third (and last) one up before the month is over if I can.

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  4. Great work on all your D&D mini's Simon, are you going to add anymore plant growth to your living statues ?

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    1. Thanks Dave. No, I've settled with just some green and brown washes on the Barrow Guardians to suggest age. The Knight however, has some very visible moss etc sculpted onto it, so that'll all need picking out, shading etc. It even has a bird nest on one shoulder LOL!!

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  5. I`m not sure those Yochlols are right but the miniatures you have painted do look lovely. I think yours are too tree like, and lose the horror of Lolth.


    https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Yochlol&FORM=HDRSC2

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    1. Cheers Tarot. I'm wasn't in any way familiar with Yochlols until the I first spotted the minis, and I just thought they'd look good on the tabletop. Plus, I don't get much opportunity to paint yellow tbh, so wanted to see if I could come up with an acceptable palette combination. There certainly seems to be some rather different interpretations of what they look like :-)

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