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Hello and greetings to all from Western Canada, the small city of Penticton in British Columbia to be exact.

After a long hiatus that involved a major technical issue ... my laptop not being able to recharge properly, I am borrowing a computer to start a new P&M Blog!

I started collecting Dungeons & Dragons miniatures made by Ral Partha back in the early 1980's, and they were cast with such names as "Feenor the Past Master" and were cast originally in lead making them heavy plus prone to bending and/or damage.

During this time, a set for J.R.R. Tolkien's "Fellowship Of The Ring" was produced by Grenadier Miniatures and another by Citadel Miniatures; these were the epitome of the fantastic world of Dungeons & Dragons ... one wizard, one elf, one human ranger, one human fighter, one dwarf, and the supporting cast of rogues were what I imagined were the start of amazing adventures.

However i never had a favourite metal miniature for role-playing and in no time the world of Warhammer Fantasy Battle took my time and imagination; instead of just having one dwarf, i could have an army of dwarves. Instead of one elf, an army of elves. And even better, an army of undead skeletons was available as Citadel had just released the plastic Skeleton Army box set which included infantry, skeletal horse riders and even bone chariots! As these new miniatures were cast in plastic, not only were they easier to assemble but much lighter to transport and best of all, no eyeballs to paint.

Alas although tabletop wargaming was a lot of fun to collect, model and paint; it was easier to find opponents in larger cities and as such i have been drawn back to Dungeons & Dragons again!

The availability of plastic paintable miniatures was not a novel concept as I have seen WizKids produce pre-painted miniatures for many games from Dungeons & Dragons to BattleTech to Star Wars. These highly-detailed and well-painted miniatures can be customized yourself, however i had no idea that there were pre-primed WizKids miniatures specifically for Dungeons & Dragons!



Affordably priced and finely sculpted with not just a wide range of character classes but also NPC's and also decorations and details for your towns and dungeons!

The miniatures are sculpted and cast in 25mm scale, making the miniatures fairly compatible with Games Workshop's "Lord Of The Rings" line and even 28mm plastic Goblins, Skeletons and even Zombies can be used in a pinch as adversaries! For example here is an Elf Cleric, Gnome Druid, Minas Tirith Fighter, and Dwarf Paladin!



The classic monsters from Dungeons & Dragons lore are well represented, including the Bugbear, Beholder, Gelatinous Cube, multiple Dragons, Giants, Spiders, etc.

So far i have collected about a half dozen sets and found them to be an addictive delight to paint up, although i hate painting faces and eyes... Check them out in your LGS!

WAVE 5 - 73347 : Elf Cleric
WAVE 5 - 73370 : Witch's Den
WAVE 3 - 72631 : Dwarf Paladin
WAVE 5 - 73368 : Magic Dais
WAVE 5 - 73346 : Gnome Druid

Cheers and happy gaming & modelling!

. . .

I look forward to more pictures of your models!

I have a few DnD models saved in one of my galleries. I like to have a painted model for my PCs, but I have had a long hiatus from DnD which only ended during lockdown. Now I am playing DnD again, but only online, and I find myself DMing.

40k is taking up all of my painting time right now, but I want to get back to some DnD miniatures at some point soon.

Nolzur's/Wizkids does some good stuff. As with most PVC lines, the larger the model, the better, but a steady supply of cool monsters can only be a good thing. I like how you have tinted the clear portion on the gnome (?) magic user.

 Fifty wrote:
I look forward to more pictures of your models!

I have a few DnD models saved in one of my galleries. I like to have a painted model for my PCs, but I have had a long hiatus from DnD which only ended during lockdown. Now I am playing DnD again, but only online, and I find myself DMing.

40k is taking up all of my painting time right now, but I want to get back to some DnD miniatures at some point soon.

Hello and greetings Fifty, thank you from a fellow Commonwealth nation for coming in to check out my Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures P&M Blog!

It has been decades since i actually played a game of Dungeons & Dragons ... I can honestly say that high school was the last time I actively participated in a campaign so that was in 1992.

I have been playing Games Workshop games from 1986 (the original Rogue Trader WH40K with plastic beakie Adeptes Astartes), Warhammer Fantasy Battle, and even the Specialist Games.

My first WFB army in fact was the Skeleton Army as I mentioned due to the large amount of miniatures for the cost, and ease of painting! From the original BloodBowl to Battlefleet Gothic, Adeptus Titanicus to Epic 40,000 I enjoyed all of the GW games as I was employed as a retail employee in their Park Royal Mall location in West Vancouver, BC Canada.

However my girlfriend has several lesbian friends who have started a rabid interest in Dungeons & Dragons; the most inspirational is Brooklyn who is also an professional graphic artist.

Although I was already aware that WizKids made pre-painted miniatures for various games, these two ladies introduced me to the pre-primed Nolzur's Marvel which came ready-to-paint and were sculpted in the "official" D&D character classes.

Normally I play Imperial Guard in WH40K and prefer Undead in WFB, however Dungeons & Dragons follows the classic fantasy archetypes laid down by great writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien and as such, I wanted to play a demi-human character. Ideally I wanted to have some armour and fighting ability, with spell casting as this is what fantasy is about!

I choose the male Elf Cleric miniatures sold as:

WAVE 5 - 73347 : Elf Cleric




It has been many months since I broke out the paints and brushes due to the fantastic weather we have been enjoying in Western Canada during 2020.

First step was to mask off the cloak by wrapping a thin plastic grocery bag around it, then spray prime the areas desired with Citadel Chaos Black.

I have been out of practice with spray cans, and although Citadel spray primers are fantastic as they produce a fine, misty cloud I applied too much Chaos Black during the initial process.






Original miniature,sorry for the huge image; i forgot how to resize the image 50%




After spray priming with Citadel Chaos Black :






Layer painted with Citadel White Scar :




Metal and armour drybrushed with P3 Cold Steel :




Layer paint with Citadel Mechanicum Standard Grey








I didn't have Citadel Elf Flesh so I borrowed my girlfriend's Medium Flesh ... very dissapointing :





Washes of Citadel Nuln Oil and Reikland Fleshshade :




Auric Armour Gold details and Druchii Violet Shade for the cloak :






WizKid's example of Unpainted and Painted Elf Cleric miniatures :




My inspiration for painting the miniatures from fantasy art :






Completed Wood Elf and Dark Elf Cleric miniatures; I had a blast painting the clear plastic spell effect with Tamiya paints, more to come about that :






I also enjoyed learning how to paint gem stone effects, I found a neat painting guide which I hope will help!




I sign off thanking you all for checking out this Blog, many of you grew up with Dungeons & Dragons before progressing to larger pastures and projects but feel free to show me your favourite miniatures and characters!

Interestingly enough this is my 420th post, and I would like to wish all of you the best of health in this crazy year ... Blaze Away All Day!

Lovely start to the blog mate!

I don't get to play enough DnD in a good year let alone this crazy milhouse of one, but I have a few Nolzur's minis kicking around for use in it too. Love the coloured plastics - interested to see how you achieve those effects! - and your black-white-suddenly purple cloak came out really nicely too. The step by step pics are a nice touch, getting to see the process from bare plastic to finished model is really cool.

Can't wait to see more!

 youwashock wrote:
Nolzur's/Wizkids does some good stuff. As with most PVC lines, the larger the model, the better, but a steady supply of cool monsters can only be a good thing. I like how you have tinted the clear portion on the gnome (?) magic user.

Howdy and happy Monday to a fellow North American, thank you youwashock for coming in to check out this P&M Blog!

You are absolutely correct about the scale of the model, I had no idea that the material is PVC but I did observe that the poly vinyl chloride plastic used by WizKids is softer and thus bends more easily than Citadel or Games Workshop miniatures, but also flexes more and is more forgiving and less prone to snapping and breakage.

I re-discovered the use of Tamiya model paints; while Tamiya is quite the giant titan of hobby for Gundam and RC hobbyists, I find their "acrylic" paint formulation troublesome to work with due to the need for thinners and brush cleaners.

Much like the Testors line, vivid clear transparent paints are available however the dry time is less than conventional water-based acrylics, and as I mentioned before clean-up requires thinner.

This is made easier with the use of Tamiya acrylic Drying Retarder, which I read a Reddit article online that you can dip your brush in just like GW Citadel Lahmia Medium, or add to the paint you are using.

 tzurk wrote:
Lovely start to the blog mate!

I don't get to play enough DnD in a good year let alone this crazy milhouse of one, but I have a few Nolzur's minis kicking around for use in it too. Love the coloured plastics - interested to see how you achieve those effects! - and your black-white-suddenly purple cloak came out really nicely too. The step by step pics are a nice touch, getting to see the process from bare plastic to finished model is really cool.

Can't wait to see more!

Thank you so much for coming in tzurk, I have nothing but glowing words and admiration for the tough guys and gals from down under!

Your steadfast defense of the Commonwealth during many bloody conflicts with magnificent sense of wit and humour while living with such endearing creatures as man-eating sharks, salt-water crocs and poisonous fangs not to mention the latest pandemic...


I have been actually playing D&D at least once a month now, and I definitely take a back seat to the adventures while providing painted miniatures.

I just completed my first Commission work! My girlfriend is a "green witch" and bought the "Witch's Den" set for scenery; i was excited to paint another clear plastic detail, and the spell book!


WAVE 5 - 73370 : Witch's Den




Witch's Den painting example provided by WizKids




Since the miniatures came already primed with Vallejo off-white primer, I brush-painted cheap dollar store Black on the Holy / Unholy Water Pedestal Basin and Cauldron :






The Pedestal Basin was then Drybrushed with Standard Mechanicus Grey then Skull White, while the Cauldron was Layer painted with Auric Armour Gold :




The Cauldron was then drybrushed Mithril Silver and received a wash of Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade, then both the Pedastal Basin and Cauldron received a watered down wash of Biel-Tan Green.

Biel-Tan Green was washed into the contents of the Cauldron as I had not purchased any other colours of Tamiya clear other than Red at this point.

The Spell Book and Pulpit were both painted with watered-down Rhinox Hide, then Layer Painted with Mournfang Brown.

Spell Book fine details were painted with Chaos Black then Auric Armour Gold; the gemstones were painted Skull White then Red, Blue and Green gems just like the previous post!




Finally the pages of the Spell Book was accomplished using GW Citadel waterslide decal transfers, from the original Sisters of Battle sheet :



. . .

Very nice work! That decal looks like it was made to be there

 amazingturtles wrote:
Very nice work! That decal looks like it was made to be there

Howdy fellow Canadian, great to see you again amazingturtles!

The decal from GW Citadel original Sisters of Battle transfer sheet is highly detailed, and I learned about applying decals properly first by applying a layer of Gloss Varnish then allowing to dry.

After soaking the decal for about 30 seconds it can be slid off the backing with a brush and positioned in place with a drop of Vallejo Decal Medium. After allowing to dry, a final layer of Matte Varnish protects.




Now onto my next PC ... having decided on playing a Dwarf character, I noticed that Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures produces both Male and Female gendered figurines.

Checking out the poses, armour and equipment options, and last but not least the clear spell effects, I decided on the female Dwarf Paladin.


WAVE 3 - 72631 : Dwarf Paladin




Painted examples provided courtesy of WizKids :




I did a Google search for artwork as with the Elf Cleric because I enjoy seeing visual artistry as inspiration, found this righteous example :




I was so motivated to paint these two miniatures that I decided to do two different paint schemes, and also wanted to replicate the glow effect in the artwork.

Blocking the armour in Chaos Black made it easy to drybrush with Mithril Silver and Layer painting Auric Armour Gold.

Red cloth areas were Layer painted Mephiston Red then received a wash of Carroburg Crimson.
Blue cloth areas were Layer painted Regal Blue then highlighted with Macragge Blue.

Wood and leather were Basecoat painted Rhinox Hide and highlighted with Mournfang brown.
The entire miniature received a thinned Wash of Nuln Oil, then the armour, wood and leather areas were washed with Agrax Earthshade.










I recently learned how to hand-paint glow effects and was thrilled to see my first attempt on the hammer!

THANK YOU to Warcradle Studios for the informative YouTube video - Painting Glow Effects : A Quick Guide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFlP8xTNqeE









I also learned to use Tamiya Paint Retarder to produce a smooth, even application of Tamiya clear acrylic X-23 Blue paint on the clear sword!




Thank you for reading, and another set coming up soon!

Howdy and happy Turkey Day or American Thanksgiving!

The latest set to be painted up is another commission work, and for the second time the set is scenery pieces.


WAVE 5 - 73368 : Magic Dais

Consisting of three (3) separate pieces, the Magic Dais can be used as one magnificent summoning altar as shown on the back of the package, or three separate elements on the field!




WizKids example of unpainted and painted Magic Dais :




Although all of the Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures come pre-primed with Vallejo paint, I wanted to produce a stone effect and a black base colour was preferred.

Getting out the trusty Games Workshop / Citadel spray can of Chaos Black, I applied a thin coat to the top section with skulls and clear plastic candle effects upside down, the entire base and middle section.

The widest base piece was cast with two distinct sides; a flat side with trefoil pattern and on the other side an inset circle for the middle section!


Bottom side of base piece :




Top side of base piece :




Complete set :




Completed work in package :




Thank you for checking out this P&M Blog, wishing you all a wonderful week!

Good to see you here again! I've been spotty in participation as well, due to Life, the Universe and Everything, so missed your triumphant return at the beginning of the month. (I sympathize with the laptop charging problem- even a Boomer like me gets a little queasy in the stomache when the 'indispensible box' develops a hiccup. I actually spent a week recently in an Interent-free, no signal region of DOOOOOM! recently for work. It was interesting watching the younger people around me go into withdrawal and eventually curl up in the fetal position on the floor. I had a few nervous twitches but then whistled the theme to Gilligan's Island and carried on.)

Lots of nice work here, I especially liked the tutorial, step-by-step paint study you did, showing all the colors and the effects as you went. Very instructive.

As was the gem painting chart you posted- very helpful. Faces, gems and headlight/lenses are all things I want to get better at doing; this is a pointer in the right direction.

I look forward to seeing more of your work here, and maybe a complete army shot of your WWI-themed Imperial Guard?

Rock on!