So in the late 80's RAFM put out a series of boxed sets of miniatures under their "Shadows and Steel" line. The idea is that you'd get an adventuring party with a backstory and adventure good to go. Collect all four boxed sets and you'd have a mini-campaign. I picked up a couple of these two years ago and through some ebay action have managed to snag the other two. Last week, I finished the antagonists of the series.
Behold! The Vampyres of Tandaloor!
The terrible overlords of their hidden valley, these Vampyres and their associates are a menace to all living things. Note that we say "vampyres" -- the background text makes it clear that these aren't vampires although they are very similar. In particular, sunlight weakens, but does not destroy them and they have a range of small bonus powers the "canonical" vampire wouldn't have.
And what fuels their unholy power?
The coffin -- pardon me -- the "communing bed" of Tandaloor. The large vampyre bloodstone above the gem acts as a focus allowing the vampyre to connect to the Negative Plane and draw strength. Naturally, stealing or smashing the stone will render the vampyre powerless. This is the only piece of "scenery" in the Shadows and Steel set and it's a nice piece. It painted up well, the "gemstone" was a very nice touch, and any fight involving the vampyres is almost certain to revolve around one of these communing beds so it's nice to have one on hand.
This piece also highlights a new technique I was trying out for this round of figures. The stone paving the coffin sits upon wasn't part of the kit. Instead, I used paper clay to cover a metal base and then scored lines into it in a brickwork fashion. Then I painted and drybrushed it up and got the result you see here. I did this for all the figures but you can most clearly see the results here and I rather like it. I think it has some possibilities outside of simple stonework, but it did take a while to dry out completely so I'm not sure how soon I'll repeat the process.
Now that they've got a place to lay their head, let's meet the vampyres. Starting with their fearsome leader:
This is Tandaloor, High King of the Vampyres. A creature beyond the petty concerns of mere mortals...and fashion. Interestingly, I discovered that what I thought was mauve, wasn't. I envisioned mauve as a kind of dark, reddish-purple-y color. So I was surprised at how pink the paints all were. Still, when I looked at the box art, it was that same bright pink and I think it's actually not too bad after some shading and highlights. The wings were a little tougher. I'm still not super happy with the way the yellow came out although I did undercoat with a dark-yellow to help get the bright yellow to pop out some more and that worked ok.
In any event, Tandaloor has a +1 magic sword, but honestly, his unarmed attack is 3d8 so he's better off just ripping you to pieces in most cases. He's presented as a cautious, careful opponent which gives an opening to impulsive attackers, but they'd better get the job done fast.
Then there's Tandaloor's family:
That's Tandaloor's main squeeze Lady Elvira (because it's the 80's of course she is -- I'm a little surprised they didn't try for more of a resemblance). She has a reputation as a deadly practical joker since she's immortal and bored. The fellow next to her is Count Nosferatu a long-time ally of Tandaloor whose gem got a little cracked during a move and now he's playing his vampire role to the hilt. If there's one thing worse than a vampyre, it's a crazy vampyre. He vants to suck your bluud!
Naturally, someone needs to keep these jokers in line:
The guy on the left is Veratu Mikto and despite appearances, he's actually a Vampyre too. He just can't be arsed to maintain a passable human form. As Tandaloor's majordomo, the look help keeps the peasants in line. Again, he's got a +2 magic axe, but his hands do 2d12 so taking away his toys might make you worse off.
The guy next to him isn't actually part of this box set. It's a figure from Reaper listed as Iks, Overlord Sergeant. He was a random giveaway from Reaper one Gencon long ago and I figured as long as I'm painting up armored skeletons, I might as well do him too. That's why he's on a different base.
For inclusion in this set, I've renamed him to Gorte and declared that he's a Revenant created by Veratu Mikto to help offset his workload. Mostly Gorte's duties consist of hanging around Count Nosferatu and making sure he doesn't go on a blood-sucking rampage through the valley.
I really like the way both of these guys came out. I tried out some new shadings on Gorte's magical sword that came out well and I like the splashes of red against the dark metallics.
But it's not all vampyres and the undead here at Castle Tandaloor:
You'll also find a pair of Gargoyles. Here we have Nagy (on the left) and Glatu (on the right). Yeah, their boss is Vertu Mikto -- look it's no dumber than naming them after New York boroughs. Anyway, these two guys just lurk around the communing beds until some unwary adventurer passes them by and then Whammo! They were dirt easy to paint up (since I basically painted them the same way I painted the flooring) and I think they came out pretty well.
So that's the whole necrotic bunch. There's just one more set of guys to paint up and then the whole set will be finished. I might actually try putting them on the table in the actual adventure written up for them. Although players will have to control an entire team...or maybe it'll be more of an ensamble game where people play different members of each group. We'll see.
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