Thursday 20 December 2018

Out of the toybox ...



A project that my children and I have been planning for a while is to repurpose some of their old toys for gaming. This ceratosaur is the first fruit of that endeavour.

My son has had it since he was two or three; I think my wife bought it in a batch of second-hand dinosaurs in a charity shop. It's by no means a high-end toy (like those made by Schleich or Papo), and it came with a flat, blotchy orange factory paint job. But it's quite a nicely posed beastie, and it's the perfect size for a Hordes of the Things behemoth element. It fills the 60mm frontage nicely, with enough height to clear a typical infantry or cavalry element to its front. And because it fills the base nicely, it'll work well for RPGs and skirmish games too.



The ceratosaur's first role, however, will be as behemoth element in a HotT slann army. I have quite a few of Citadel's slann miniatures, some acquired when I was a child and a few more - especially cold-one riders - accumulated since. 

My plan for the slann is to base the slotta-based ones individually and the solid-based ones, which are  a little smaller, on HotT element bases. The palace guards and armoured warriors will form blade or spear elements. The tribal warriors, who have blowpipes and throwing axes, could be shooters or warbands - and might also see service as lurkers, water lurkers or even sneakers. Cold-one riders could be beasts, riders or knights. And then I'll add dragon-man flyers, a magician on a palanquin and probably some more dinosaur behemoths.

8 comments:

  1. Repurposing children's toys for wargaming is the way to go!

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  2. Ha! Yes, indeed. I've already turned a damaged antelope into a corroded bronze statue, and might even tread on your virtual toes by making some 90mm monsters into either behemoths or statuary (or both: a talos, perhaps).

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  3. I have a few monsters and figures that I do not need that I could donate to you if you like?

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    1. That's very kind! But I fear I must refuse: this project is about recycling and reducing what already lurks in the house. Thanks very much, though!

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  4. How are you doing? Stumbled on your blog as I am doing a bit more fantasy these days.

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    1. Ha! Very well. What are you working on?

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  5. Dug out some dwarf rangers just trying to sort out what colours to paint them. Also have some lovely undead to paint.

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  6. It looks good! Should think of recovering some from my son's toybox...

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