Most of the monster groups in Descent are pretty easy to understand. Cave Spiders can inflict poison, Zombies are slow and shambling, Goblin Archers have ranged attacks and are cowards, Merriods can attack two targets (one with each tentacle)… these are pretty straight-forward. Then you have the Flesh Moulders. What are these guys?!?!
Obviously, they mould flesh. This explains the duplicated left leg and the giant clawed arm growing out of their spleen. It also explains how they can “mend” their own wounds and the Master can heal other monsters. But they perform ranged attacks, presumably with those fancy glowing balls of energy flowing from one hand to the other. This begs the question, why bother with all the extra limbs??? It doesn’t matter how many butts you can kick with your three legs when you can throw frickin’ fireballs!!!
All that aside, these monsters did feature in one of my favorite quests from the Shadow Rune campaign, The Masquerade Ball. The heroes need to enlist aid from a person of interest who, along with several servants of the evil Overlord, is attending a masked ball. The guests must be “unmasked”, at which point they are identified as either innocent civilians (who must be escorted to the door) or Flesh Moulders in disguise (who must be mercilessly thrashed). Success in the first encounter grants key information to be used in the second encounter, which is a thrilling chase through locked rooms to prevent a lieutenant from reaching the treasure vault. Together, this was a very challenging and memorable quest.
So, what about the miniatures? Well, like the other small monsters from the core box, the Flesh Moulders have a lot of mold lines and flash, some hard to reach areas, and some soft sculpting (the magic cloud looks like bunches of bananas). While somewhat larger than the Goblin Archers and somewhat more refined than the Zombies, these minis are still more frustrating than inspiring. Still, with some patience and perseverance, I think the end result is still respectable.
For the Minions, I went with blue robes and green “magic”, as I felt this provided a good contrast to the skin tones. As always, Master monsters are identified by the inclusion of red in their paint scheme, so I chose to keep the red robe and purple “magic” for the single Master. However, I decided to make the robe darker and less vibrant thank the card art, as brighter reds really distracted from the rest of the model. In addition, I chose to completely ignore the decorative trim seen in the character art. Although other painters have included this detail, the edges of the robes were just too irregular and misshapen for me to achieve a satisfying result.Â
Unfortunately, I think I got a bad batch of Testors Dullcote, which seems to be a recurring problem. One can that I used, way back on the Barghests, had small metallic flecks in it. This more recent can did not provide a matte finish. While not exactly glossy, there is a bit of a sheen on these figures which creates a glare from some angles, and a haziness from others. Luckily, this seems to be negligible in-hand, and only a problem in regards to enlarged photos (such as these), but it also caused issues for the last couple of Chaos Warriors from HeroQuest.
This completes the small monsters from the core set of Descent, 2nd Edition. Next up, the over-sized two-headed Ettins! Then some heroes, then some lieutenants, then some expansions, and on and on it goes…. Until next time!
Flesh:
Base coated with Vallejo Nocturna Fantasy Pro (VNFP) Base Flesh (74.004). A first layer of VNFP Natural Flesh (74.006) was applied, leaving the Base Flesh in the shadows. In some areas, a 1:1 mix of Base Flesh and Natural Flesh was used to blend into the shadows as well. Highlights were applied with the progressive addition of VNFP Highlight Skin (74.008) to the Natural Flesh, with very focused point highlights of nearly pure Highlight Skin. The sections of “scaly” growths on the leg and arm were painted with Vallejo Model Color (VMC) Pastel Green (70.885). The lips were painted with a mixture of Base Flesh and VNFP Reddish Flesh (74.003).
Hair and Belt:
Base coated with VMC German Camo Black Brown (70.822). This was highlighted with incremental additions of VMC Green Brown (70.879).
Blue Cloaks:
The base coat for these was a 1:1 mix of VMC Luftwafe Unif. WWII (70.816) and VMC Prussian Blue (70.965). Layers were created by adding incremental amounts of Vallejo Game Color (VGC) Electric Blue (72.023) to the base mix. Final highlights included the addition of a small amount of Schmincke Titanium White.
Green Magic:
A base coat of VMC Uniform Green (70.922) was applied over the entire “cloud”. The deepest recesses were shaded with a 1:1 mix of the Uniform Green and VGC Scurvy Green (72.027). Layers were added with a 1:1 mix of the Uniform Green and VGC Escorpena Green (72.032), followed by pure Escorpena Green. Some Schmincke Titanium White was added to the Escorpena Green for final highlights.
Red Cloak:
The master’s cloak was base coated with a 1:1 mix of VMC Black Grey (70.862) and VMC Red (70.926). Layers were added with the progressive inclusion of Vallejo Nocturna Fantasy Pro (VNFP) Reddish Flesh (74.003), with pure Reddish Flesh for final highlights.
Purple Magic:
The base coat for the master’s magic spell was VMC Violet (70.960). A midtone layer of VMC Blue Violet (70.811) came next. This was blended down to the base color, and then up to an initial highlight of a 1:1 mix of Blue Violet and Schmincke Titanium White. Final highlights were added with nearly pure Titanium White.
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