Dungeons and Dragons: Our Traveling Companions

Over the course of our Out of the Abyss 5e campaign we have amassed a number of traveling companions.  Most of the time these characters are just hovering in the background but even so I wanted to have minis to represent them.  Saying that you're traveling with this big group and actually being able to see them are two very different things.  Some of these I painted but a majority are prepaints from the various D&D lines.  Either way, I really like the minis that I was able to find so let's meet our "friends", shall we?

Prince Derendil

A refined and sophisticated fellow, Prince Derendil is an elven prince that was cursed, turning him into a Quaggoth.  As long as he remains in the Underdark the curse will continue but if he can return to the surface... in theory the curse will be broken?  Maybe?  None of us are really buying this at this time but the few times he's been involved in a fight he just decimated people so we're happy to keep him around for now.

This cuddly fellow is a Quaggoth miniature from the Rage of Demons line.  I had considered adding the collar that his character portrait shows but he really has been a minor character for us so I decided to just leave him as is.

Jimjar

A gambler through and through, Jimjar is a deep gnome that has been trying to get us to make a bet with him since the first time we talked to him.  So far he has been one of the less troublesome companions that we broke out with us... though he might have died recently... except he's still with us...  Yeah, I'm sure it'll be fine.

Jimjar was one of the tricky minis to find as there just didn't seem to be any good deep gnome sculpts.  Ultimately I decided to go with the gnome trickster from the Blood War line.  Sure his skin is the wrong color but other than that he fits the bill so I'm good with him as is for now.

Ront

Seeming to be your generic "smash first, talk later" orc, Ront has the distinction of also being a coward.  While running away from an earlier combat, he was captured by the Drow and sent to the lovely day spa that is Valkenveld.

Since Ront was just a generic orc warrior, I decided to go with the orc sergeant miniature from the Aberrations line.  There were several other choices that were pretty good but this one particularly caught my eye.

Shuushar

A pacifistic fishman, Shuushar was one of the hardest minis to pick out.  There aren't many kuo-toa sculpts out there and most of the are armed.  After quite a bit of digging I stumbled across this sculpt and knew right away that it fit perfectly.

While he is listed as a kuo-toa whip in the Night Below line, this mini looks far more priestly which is perfect in this case.  Very happy with this figure and I'm glad that I stumbled across it.  He was a noncombatant the whole time he was with us but our DM did such a good job with him and his Spongebob style voice that I just had to add him to the group.

 Eldeth Feldrun

A shield dwarf scout from Gauntlgrym, Eldeth was the first of the companions to approach us when we reach the "luxury resort" of Valkenveld.  Of course the DM actually said that she was a dwarven shield maiden, not a shield dwarf, so I instantly thought of her as some kind of defensive fighter.  I headed over to the Reaper site and quickly found the perfect figure for her.

This is Freja Fangbreaker sculpted by Werner Klocke.  This mini perfectly captured what I thought a shield maiden would look like plus I was thinking about using her as a replacement character if Jaaren died so I wanted to make sure it was a figure that I liked.

Buppido

A mad derro who is convinced that he is a god and that we should all worship him... man, does he just get under my skin.  In fact I wanted to kill him since we first ran into him because he is just that annoying.  So why did I buy a figure for him?  Because he became our DM's favorite character and it was only right that he be represented as well.

Drawing from Reaper again, this is the derro mage by Derek Shubert.  I honestly have no idea if Buppido has any magical abilities at all but the pose and overall feel are perfect.

Those familiar with the campaign might notice that there are several characters missing.  We managed to loose a few on our travels so I haven't picked up figures for them yet.  Two of them never even made it out of Valkenveld (Topsy and Turvy) so I probably won't worry about them but Sarith Kzekarit was as close to a friend that one can be with a drow.

Sarith and Jaaren quickly reached an understanding that we all needed each other if we were going to survive and he was key in getting us to the Neverlight Grove.  Unfortunately we realized on the way there that something was possessing him in some way and in the end I felt it was only right to end his suffering.  Our DM still talks about how awesome it was for us to say prayers over his funeral pyre so someday I'll probably add him to the group as well.

Snowman's 2018 Year In Review!

I just rolled out of bed and thought "I haven't done a year in review in a while. Why not do one now?" only to see that the last one I did was for 2013.  Yoozah!  Explains why I don't remember how this is supposed to go.  Let me see...

Minis, Minis, Everywhere...

Total miniatures bought... hmmm... more than I had originally thought

Total miniatures painted... a few dozen or so?

Terrain pieces "built"... 2

I haven't kept track of these numbers at all (there's no easy to enter fields for this on BGG.com) so I can't even hazard a guess about totals.  I have an almost completely painted army for Konflikt 47 (just need to finish painting some US heavy infantry along with some proxies I have for the super soldiers) but unfortunately they've just been sitting in the carrier most of the year.  K47 hadn't really caught on as much I had hoped around here, even with a strong Bolt Action community, and our new home made the trip to the gaming store further than I was comfortable traveling with a potentially unreliable car.  We were finally able to get the car into the shop for some much needed maintenance but she's still acting up so she needs to go back in, but thankfully we think we've got a handle on what's going on so it shouldn't be too bad.  Finger crossed anyway.

Looking back, I've actually picked up a fair number of minis for other games including Mars Attacks (the base game plus the Martian army set and some more Martian minis to round things out), Wrath of Kings (I currently have enough minis to field small armies for three of the different factions), and at least 750 points for three different armies for Beyond the Gates of Antares (a game that I'd hoped to push locally but then we moved and the car started getting worse).  Yeah, so a lot more than I'd originally thought.

The downside is that I haven't been able to do much with them.  Life is always a thing and between still trying to unpack and get things settled in our house (it really is getting ridiculous and I'm ready to just chuck the lot), my wife unexpectedly switching jobs, me cross-training at my own work, my daughter becoming a drama geek... well, things have been very busy.  My goal is to smooth out some of the hiccups that we are dealing with and finally get us moving forward on an even keep again.

And How About Those Boardgames?

Total games played... 61 recorded but its actually more

Unlike my miniatures, our boardgames have been seeing more regular action.  A friend of ours starting coming over for Monday game nights (school work permitting) so that has meant more action at the table for us.  He's super competitive but a really good guy so its been fun exploring more games with him, and I'm looking forward to more Monday night gaming in the year to come.  The question now is which games hit our table the most?

Coming in at number five with five plays is No Regerts, the game of tatoos and poor life choices.  I'd Kickstarted this game and we've had fun getting it to the table.  It's a fairly simple game but there are some ways to quickly turn the tables on your opponents so you never know when someone is going to hit you with a curve ball.

At number four with six plays is Ghostbusters Protect the Barrier.  A mass market reskinning of Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters, this game is a lot of fun but holy crap its hard to win!  We've literally been one die roll from clearing the hotel only to have a cascade of card draws set off a haunting chain reaction that ends the game.  Even so its been a ton of fun and I know we'll be getting it to the table more in the future.

Number three with seven plays is one of our old standbys, the Resistance.  Its a game of lying and false accusations, what isn't there to love?  That said I have heard a review where they didn't like the game as they felt it bogged down too much but it sounded like they were kind of overthinking it.  For us this has always been a quick game, even when I've had to explain the rules to new players.  I really think that the key is to not take it too seriously and just enjoy the ride.

With ten plays is Sushi Go Party.  I enjoy Sushi Go and the extra options that Party brings to the table really add to the replay value.  It does make the game a little more thinky as you need to look at what's in play and adjust your strategy but that just makes each game a fresh experience in my mind.

Finally with a whooping fifteen plays is Unusual Suspects, the game where the witness to the crime doesn't know what the suspect's face looks like but somehow knows everything else about them.  This is another one that based on the reviews I read about it can be taken far too seriously.  Its just a game so have some fun with it.

And there we have it!  Overall a its been a good year full of ups and downs but we are finally moving in the right direction and I'm looking forward to the challenges and opportunities the new year will bring.