Deep Rothe

I have always wanted a herd of Deep Rothe ever since I started reading the Drizzt books so long ago. The current NWN2 computer game shows them as really big cattle, and it is true that they are described in the back of the 2E book Drow of the Underdark as being like musk oxen, but they are also listed as being 4' tall. A four foot tall musk ox would look pretty silly. (I'm also re-reading the Drizzt books, and when he is on the Isle of Roethe, Salvatore describes them as coming up to between the knee and the waist.)

In my mind, they were always a little more like big horn sheep, so when a search for miniature musk oxen in any scale turned up zip, I did a web search for 25mm Big Horn Sheep. The best I found are an accessory for the Aegyptian line of War Gods minis from Crocodile Games. I got the minis six months ago...ordered them while I was in North Dakota over Christmas. I got six of them, two of each type available.

This is the conversion process:

First, take the mini and remove all flashing.

The next step in the conversion process is to roll out some brown stuff in a very small quantity and then spread it out thin like a pancake. Once you have a nice piece, press it to the side of the mini like you're putting a coat on it.

I want to say again how useful the 1.5x reading glasses are when working with minis. I got amazing detail as I pressed the Xacto blade into the brownstuff to furhter adhere it and also to create the thick hair of the creature.
The hardest part about working with brown or green stuff is cultivating patience. You really need to work with small sections and not mess around with it until it is hard. That is about 24 hours. When it is hard, you can add the next little section and sculpt detail without screwing up the work you did earlier. It takes a lot of time. I am not very patient, but I'm learning. Also, be very careful, but it is important to wet your xacto blade frequently so that the brown stuff does not stick to the blade and pull away from the mini. I've seen people use a small sponge in water, KY jelly, and other lubricants, but I think spit is the best and if you are careful, licking the blade is pretty good--it is what I do.
To encourage patience, it is a good idea to work on several miniatures at once. That way while one mini is hardening you can be distracting yourself by working on another one.

Or two.

Or six.

Finally, the minis are done and ready for painting. Again, I go back to the Compendium sheet to re-read the description and then get to work with my Reaper paints. These don't need a lot of detailed painting, so it goes pretty quickly. I used Woodstain Brown for the fur and Dove Gray for the horns. Black for the hooves and I also painted the snout like a cow's instead of like a goat, to make it seem a little more like the bovine aspects of the musk ox. Then the whole thing gets a thin black wash.