Malebranche

In going through my inventory/monstrous manual files I discovered something interesting. I looked at the illustration for the 1st Ed. Horned Devil (Malebranche) and realized that the sculpt for the 3E WOTC DDM Earth Element Gargoyle is nearly identical. It is also very similar to the 2E artwork for this creature.

In the original Monster Manual, the Horned Devil is listed on page 22, and is subtitled "Malebranche". In the Outer Planes Monstrous Compendium (MC8), a creature with similar abilities is called a Cornugon. The Cornugon is reprinted in the first Planescape Monstrous Compendium, on page 21. In the 3rd edition Monster Manual, the Cornugon appears on page 52. In the v.3.5 revision of the Monster Manual, the same creature is now listed as "Horned Devil (Cornugon)". This poses no great continuity problem except that the 3rd Edition Monster Manual II lists "Malebranche" as a completely separate type of devil (page 69) which lacks the magical abilities of the Horned Devil/Cornugon, and relies on brute force for its power. (thanks to Echohawk at Enworld for his research efforts)

As far as minatures go, the issue was settled by WOTC when they released the Horned Devil in the likeness of the previous Cornugon artwork. In all subsequent materials, Malebranche seems to have beome its own unique fiend. I don't know if the Earth Element Gargoyle was originally meant to be a rendering of the 1E artwork for the Malebranche or not, but if it is only a coincidence it is a happy one for me. I'm very pleased to have a miniature, by happy accident or design that resembles that artwork so closely. I like very much the artwork from the 3EMM2 for the Malebranche, though it looks like it is on steroids. The Fiendish Codex version is really magnificent--and it would be great if they released a miniature of this concept art. If WOTC does, then I'll just have to have Greater and Lesser Malebranches in my world.

You can get a side by side comparison of various official D&D devils (artwork by edition, including miniatures) here.

Even more information about WOTC devils can be found here. This is a great article on the WOTC website discussing design & development of the devils.

Devils: Gelugon

I admit that ever since I started playing D&D I've had a real fascination with Devils and Demons. That didn't make me want to kill myself or kill anybody else, and the only reason anyone I knew was "bothered about Dungeons & Dragons" was because I would talk their ear off about it.

As I go through the Monstrous Manual I'm making, I linger long on the Baatezu (which prior to 2E were devils).

Please enjoy my minis of the Gelugon, or Ice Devil.

Vreesar is a named Ice Devil from the Villain's Lorebook supplement. I've made this figure a named personality because it is the OOP Ral Partha Ice Devil and I'm very unlikely to ever get another one. I like the paint job on it. I painted it with the Snow Shadow Master Series paint by Reaper, because it very nearly matched the shade of light blue used on the WOTC Ice Devils. I tried using the Reaper blue ink to do the shading, but it bled and I ended up using it as a wash instead. It came out this amazing electric ice blue. So, I went with it on all my ice devils.These are the version of the Gelugon done by Reaper Mini. The product name is Mantis Demon and it is sculpted by Bob Olley. It is a little smaller than either the WOTC or the Ral Partha versions, but adds a lovely variety to the species and they are easy to get hold of so you can build up a pretty massive army of them pouring out of Stygia. I painted them the same way as Vreesar. The eyes are a shade of bright green from Reaper, I forget which, and then washed in the green ink.And here they are all together for reference. I've got 3 of the WOTC minis, but I'm not sure I'm going to experiemnt with adding the ink wash to them.

What I really wish I had were 20 or 30 pit fiends, but with them going for $25 a pop or better on eBay, I've got to find another source for the pit fiend personalities and armies I'd like to build. You can't find the Ral Partha pit fiend anywhere anymore, it is too highly sought after and worth over $90 per mini now.

The only Reaper pitfiend is the perosonality one I am using for Bel, and if Bel is a pit fiend of tremendous size, I can't really buy more of them for that purpose. Maybe I can talk Reaper into a smaller set of pit fiend minons for their big guy.

Are you listening, Matt?

Devil: Martinet

Martinet
Constable to Asmodeus

This is the WOTC Half-Fiend Ogre. Whatever a half-fiend ogre is. I realize that the description for Martinet is more of a diplomat than this armored sword holding guy, but most fiends are naked or nearly naked so I'm taking his wearing armor as a sign of the fact that he is "not greatly powerful himself" and that even with the backing of Asmodeus fiends will want a modicum of physical threat present in order to take the diplomat seriously.

At any rate, this is the best use I could find for this particular mini.

Devil: Geryon, Lord of the Fifth

Geryon
Arch-devil

This is a wholly scratch built mini. I took the snake body of a WOTC Fienish Snake and cut off the head. (Don't tell the wife I used her best and sharpest carving knife) Then I took a DC Heroclix Wendigo and cut off his legs. (Don't tell the wife I did it again)

Next, I found a small screw which I used to bore into the torso of the wendigo to about the right length of additional snake body needed. Once I did that, I plugged up the empty space with green stuff. I added some detail, put the wings from the succubus I used for Fierna, and then painted the whole thing to come as close as I could to the illustration in the Book of Vile Darkness.

It isn't a particularly skillful sculpt, but it makes a servicable mini.

Devil: Glasya, Consort to Mammon

Glasya
Princess of Hell

This is a composite of a Reaper demoness. Glasya is described as having a fluked tail, which is here made from a Reaper phase cat's tentacles and some green stuff. A little more green stuff rolled out and glued to her forehead became her horns.

I wasn't sure about how I'd feel about the copper skin, but the description is very specific about it...in the end I liked it a lot more than I thought I would.

Devil: Fierna, Daughter of Belial

Fierna
Princess of Hell

Actually, after the Reckoning, she co-rules with her father Belial, but none of that has probably happened yet in my world, which is in 1368 DR.

She is another Reaper mini, a succubus, but I took off her wings and filled in the holes in her hair with green stuff. It was her hooves that made me decide to use the Reaper Belial for her father.

Devil: Titvilus, Duke of Hell

Titivilus
Duke of Hell

This is a good representation of the devil named Titvilus. It is actually a Reaper faun or satyr, but I added wings from an old lead Ral Partha demon.

Devil: Hutijin, Duke of Hell

Hutijin
Duke of Hell

This is another Reaper mini that works pretty well as a hellish personality.

Devil: Bael, Duke of Hell

Bael
Duke of Hell

This is a Reaper Mini of a Water Buffalo minotaur. Again, it isn't a perfect representation, but it comes pretty close to the 1st edition desctiption.

Devil: Amon, Vassal of Geryon

Amon
Duke of Hell

This is a Ral Partha wolfwere, and the "Winter Wolf of greatest size" is a Grenadier worg, I think.

It certainly isn't an ideal representation of Amon, but it will do until something better comes along.

Devils: Moloch, Lord of the Sixth

Moloch
Arch-devil

I can't remember where this mini comes from originally, possibly RAFM. Because he was nekkid, I added some anatomy and some horns with green stuff.

Devils: Dispater, Lord of the Second

Dispater
Arch-devil

This is a Star Wars mini, Mas Amedda, which I admit is somewhat cheesey for an arch devil, but I don't have anything else even close to working for Dispator. Just think of one goat foot under that robe.

Reckoning of Hell?

As is obvious, I'm working on mini representations of the denizens of Hell, but a stumbling block for me is trying to determine when in Dale Reckoning the Reckoning of Hell (as described in A Player's Guide to Hell) took place.

I might want to incorporate A Paladin in Hell into my campaign, but want to know when in DR it would be appropriate. This has major consequences as to the form some of the transformed Devils would have if encountered, who the rulers of the different planes are and so forth.

I'm currently in DR 1368. Can any one tell me if the Reckoning has already happened, and if so, when? If it hasn't happened, when will it? I know that a fair rule of thumb is to check the release date of the product against the year in DR the product is set in...but does that work with non-Realms products?

For example, 1368 given as the "present day" for the revised campaign setting release and Prince of Lies and other products released in Real World Reckoning 1993.

A Paladin in Hell came out in 1998, and A Player's Guide to Hell came out in 1999, followed by The Apocolypse Stone in 2000.

Does that mean that the Reckoning of Hell begins with A Paladin in Hell in roughly 1373?

What's the buzz, tell me whats a happenin'--

Is Mammon a fat and bloated pit fiend or is he a Geryon impersonator in 1368?

Is Baazebul a bug eyed demon or a giant slime drooling slug in 1373?

Iquiring minds want to know. If possible, cite me a source if you have the information.

Thanks!

Though I hate Wikipedia when my students cite it as a source in their papers, it is pretty much the only source for collected information on RPG game settings.

Wiki Entry on The Reckoning

Unfortunately, it doesn't give a Forgotten Realms approximate date for any of the events.

Devils: Bel, Lord of Avernus

Bel
Pit Fiend, Lord of the First

Bel is a bit of a success story in hell, an infernal Rags to Riches saga of a lowly Lemure who picked itself up by its own damned bootstraps and rose to become lord of an entire layer of Hell.

Normally I tend to use the WOTC minis for unique characters in my world, since as a collectible that will go out of produciton in a few months, it makes sense to use minis in regular production for monsters of which there are more than one. The WOTC Pit Fiend just isn't as awe inspiring as the Reaper Mini Agramon: pit fiend, though, so I had to make this guy out of one of those.

Bel has a flaming sword which is described as "curved" and "odd" but I couldn't find any curved and odd swords large enough to look remotely OK in his hand, so I went with a good sized greatsword from one of the Reaper weapons packs and added flames with brown stuff. I also ended up having to use brown stuff to adhere the weapon to his fist, with a little ball on the bottom for the pommel.

Then I painted it with Reaper Master Series paints (plug plug plug)using the WOTC figure as a painting guide.

Devil: Mephistopheles

Mephistopheles
Arch-devil

This is also a Reaper Miniatures figure. In fact, Mephisto here is sort of responsible for my reconnecting with Matt Clark. I was searching for a miniature of Mephistopheles and found it on eBay, but too late to bid on it. I discovered it was a Reaper Miniature and from that found the Reaper website. Along with my order for the miniature I included a note asking if my friend Matt still worked there, and the rest of the sgtory is a very full basement.

I like how this one turned out, though it was frustrating to have painted really cool coral and brick red wings only to re-read the description and be reminded that his wings and horns are blue. Durn it.

I went over the wings with blue ink and all was well again.

Devils: Belial

Belial
Lord of the Fourth

This miniature is by Reaper, and is a representation of Belial, but originally I didn't think it fit the description of Belial in the 1st Edition Monster Manual II (p. 46) very well. He's supposed to have a military fork and there is nothing to indicate hooves in the description. I had thought about using him (and even originally posted this as) Titivilus, who is supposed to look like a demonic faun. That seemed to fit this guy perfectly.

I changed my mind, though, when I picked a figure to represent his daughter, Fierna. She is described as being succubus-like, but without wings. I picked a Reaper mini of a succubus that had faun legs and curving ram's horns as Fierna (I'll post her later this week). Since she had goat legs, I decided this was a trait she inherited from Belial, her father, and have switched back to using the Reaper Belial as that arch-devil.

I don't know what I'll do if WOTC ever comes out with more Lords of Hell minis. I suspect they plan to, since Mephistopholese is pictured in the Miniatures Handbook, but who knows. I have both the WOTC Orcus and Demogorgon, but am using the Reaper mini versions of them in my game world instead because they are so much more demonic looking, so if WOTC stays true to form, I'll probably continue to use the minis I'm using now for those hellish personalities and see if I can find some other use for the WOTC versions...like statues or new devils and demons.

This paint job was also a lot more orange red until I did a red ink wash on it. I didn't do as good a job on the wings as I'd like, but I'm still re-learning my painting skills.

Devils: Asmodeus

Asmodeus
Arch-Devil

This is a recast from a vintage mold, done by the guy over at Classic Miniatures. I don't know who the original manufacturer was.

I am very new to painting with the methods described for use with the Master Series paints. I am fairly pleased with the results, though. I was never the best painter in the world, but I do think I'm improving a little with each figure.

Thanks, Matt, for helping me get back into the hobby of painting the minis I've been collecting. And you are right, the Master Series paints are fantastic. I'm still not very confident with washes or the inks, but I'm working on learning how to use them from scratch. This guy had a lot more yellow tones until I gave the whole thing a wash with the red inks to play up the infernal quality I was looking for. It evened everything out and I like how it looks even if it isn't what I had in mind before applying the wash.

Also, as I am sure is not a suprise to anyone, I am old school with the overcoats too. In the 70's and 80's everyone used gloss varnish and now all you can find at hobby stores now is flat overcoat. That's all they stock from Games Workshop.

I really can't get used to the flat overcoat so I have gotten some gloss varnish from a craft store and use it. If they don't shine, it just doesn't feel like AD&D to me.

Devils: Baazebul

Baazebul

Arch-Devil

This is one of the monsters from the Birthright boxed set of miniatures put out by Ral Partha. I've always wanted to build a collection of the named devils and demons from the old TSR books. This mini was pretty close to the description of Baazebul on page 21 of the Monster Manual for 1st edition. I took some brown stuff and made the big compound eyes in the description and then painted it.

My friend Matt at Reaper has helped me build a really nice assortment of the Master Series paints. I've got a retail display rack for them that he sent me and I've been painting away for about 24 hours straight.

I think the results are worth the effort. Oh, while I've been painting I've been watching the entire DVD collection of Stargate SG 1 loaned to me by a friend while my wife is out of town at a conference.

My big question is how the heck did they get the SG 1 team out of those gliders and into the shuttle at the end of the season 2 opener? There is no way two gliders would fit in the cargo bay of the shuttle and opening the canopies would be fatal in sapce.

Of course, all it takes on TV is a jump cut to save them. Kind of spoiled it for me.