Redbrand Ruffians and Glasstaff

In the second chapter of Lost Mine of Phandelver, the main adversaries are the Redbrand Ruffians. They are a gang of human bandits led by the wizard Glasstaff. I used the Andalusian Light Infantry for the gang, painting them with a burnt sienna with red belts and turbans. I applied my black and brown wash pretty thickly to make them grimy-looking.

For the Glasstaff miniature, I used the spear-weilding bearded man from the same Andalusian set. I cut off the point of the spear and painted the shaft white with a blue wash to make it look something like a glass staff. The model has a turban, but I painted the top of the turban the same grey as his beard and hair, while painting red the first fold of the turban and knot in the back. This way it looks  like he has a strip of cloth tied around his head.

I finished off the minis with 1-inch washers for the base. I coated them in white glue, then added uncooked grits. I painted everything black, then overlayed with a tan drybrush.

Sildar Hallwinter and guard

The first minis I painted from my Andelusian Light Infantry kit were a couple of armored guards. After starting, I realized that I'd need a mini for Sildar Hallwinter, the knight who appears in the first chapter of the adventure.

I modified the armored crossbowman by turning his hand around and cutting off the crossbow at the stock and trimmed up the bow to make crossguards. I then took a paperclip (similar to this style) and cut the flat part at an angle to make the blade. I superglued the blade into a notch I cut at the tip of the crossbow to make a nice-looking sword. I then took a flat pushpin with a paintable surface and glued it over his other arm for a shield.

For both figures, I followed the easy paining guide from Black Magic Craft. I used a thin solution of black paint, water, and dishsoap for my wash. I glued both figures to 1-inch fender washers, coated the surface of the washer in white glue, sprinkled on some salt and painted the bases black. I drybrushed the base with tan to make the rocks stand out.

Andalusian light infantry

For the second and third chapters of Lost Mine of Phandelver, several humanoid figures will be required.  The most cost-effective way to get 28 mm scale figures is to go with wargaming miniatures rather than fantasy minis. These tend to be cheaper because they are molded as multiple figures on a plastic tree (a rack) rather than individually. The ones I got were the 28mm Hat 28006 Andalusian Light Infantry  (Amazon link). The 28 mm Hat 28002 Spanish Light Infantry  (Amazon link) look pretty good too, if not better, but were more expensive on Amazon for some reason. If you're having trouble finding either in stock search for Hat + the model number on multiple hobby websites.

This is one of 4 trees that I got in a box that cost $10. All four trees have the same 8 model poses, but I plan to modify some of the models extensively to make them distinct characters.

To prepare the figures for painting, I first washed them in warm soapy water, rinsed them well, and allowed them to dry thoroughly. I then spray-primed one tree with white primer and will spray prime another tree with gray primer.

Once the primer was on, I noticed the prominent lines from the molding process. I used a hobby knife and sanding stick to remove these lines.

The figure poses are as follows:

Left to right from the top:
1. Short bow, robe, no head covering, full beard
2. Javelin held upright, socket in hand for holding second javelin horizontally, robe, turban, no beard (spear is molded separately but was broken in 3 out of 4 trees)
3. Sling, robe, no head covering, no beard
4.Crossbow, chainmail, helmet and turban, face covered (crossbow and hand are molded separately and glued on)

Going back right to left on the bottom:
5. Short bow, chainmail, no head covering, no beard
6. Two javelins (second arm and javelin are molded separately and glued on), running, robe, turban and beard.
7. Spear facing down, small shield (molded separately and glued onto peg on arm), robe, turban, and beard.
8. Crossbow, robe, turban and beard (hand, arm and crossbow are molded separately and glued on.

I'm pretty happy with my purchase. I got a total of 32 figures for what would usually buy between 2 and 5 D&D figures. One downside is that these figures are true 28mm scale. I had assumed that D&D figures were also 28mm, but measuring the ones I got from WizKids and a few others that I have from another campaign, they are typically 30-35mm. The difference makes these figures look out of scale when placed right next to the larger D&D figures. However, since these will mostly be baddies, I'm okay with letting my PCs be literal Big Damn Heroes.