This week Ben shares a smattering of structures that serve nicely in the guard post capacity. A common transition in any D&D adventure, a security checkpoint makes for a handy encounter – whether it’s a brief battle or a fact finding exchange.

Ben retrieved four different buildings from his bookshelf to represent a typical sentry’s station. Each has its own uniqueness and possible storyline spin.

- Lookout Post: This stone tower is a bit on the wee side but perfect for those smaller creatures. One can easily perch a goblin sharpshooter at the top with a few heavy swordsman on the ground. You can nab this item over at JR Miniatures.

- Defensive Tower: This magnificent fortification is part of the Miniature Building Authority European Castle Building Series. This looming battlement is your clear choice for any city entry. You’ve got lots of Wizards miniatures options here too including the Arcanix Guard and the City Guard.

- Woodland Hut: Ben picked up this little shelter off a Gen Con display case but couldn’t even begin to tell ya who makes it. The material is actually all plastic and the company had lots of interesting pieces. Post a comment here if you know the author. Ben puts this building in the poor man’s outpost category – perfect for a middle-of-nowhere locale with tribal-like monsters.

- Turtle Shell: This dwelling comes from that same who-knows manufacture as the Woodland Hut. Ben sees this building placed in a swampland area or as the home of a single crazed creature. The giant turtle shell roof is a sweet-ass touch.

Questions to Ponder: What was your favorite building? Got a mod in mind that had a great guard tower scene or battle opportunity? Who makes those pre-cast plastic pieces in that one pic?

Could D&D miniatures be making a comeback? Well, the latest gargantuan figure from WotC (along with the first previews of Lords of Madness) is a fine start. Ben decided to unbox this evil bastard and take a detailed look under the hood.

Ben first spotted a prototype of the Orcus fig way back in 2007 at Gen Con. There sat the Prince of Undeath, taunting him from behind the glass. This latest release is the first in the Icon series since the Icingdeath gargantuan white dragon in September 2007.

This demon lord does not disappoint. Lots of positive pleasure points including:

- a daunting wingspan
– killer facial features
– a creepy, skeletal weapon (Ben’s fav)
– a sweeping, spiked tail
– a towering disposition alongside the blue, red or black dragons
– his own Twitter account
– a striking resemblance to the Aspect of Orcus

Sure, Ben would like to see something in that off-hand (maybe a dangling victim) but no mini is perfect. So, where does the series go from here? Does the gargantuan Dracolich re-appear? Nah, Ben would rather see another non-dragon – maybe a spider of some sort.

This Orcus may be a bit pricey ($75-plus) but the value and quality are absolutely there. Besides, you want him on your shelf…you need him on your shelf.

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Did you know you can fill your miniature void by building your own D&D figs out of the old Mage Knight series? Our latest home-brew installment shows you all the simple steps and tricks.

It will be nearly 9 painful months between D&D Miniature sets from Wizards of the Coast when Lords of Madness releases at Gen Con in August 2010 (previous set, Savage Encounters, was November 2009).

Ben is an avid miniature collector and was losing his mind. Luckily, a crafty co-worker had a brilliant idea to rescue and convert Mage Knight miniatures from the eBay scrapheap.

We’ve made a two-part video series on our YouTube channel to show you the way: a general overview where Ben chats about the gang’s latest home-brew venture and a video montage featuring a step-by-step guide.

Getting an abundance of Mage Knight miniatures requires a sort of search-and-rescue approach on eBay. Now Ben has had good and bad experiences buying large assortments. Your best plan: buy a 400-count-lot first ($75-ish) to establish a base selection and then go the singles route to round out what you need. Grunhir’s Game Emporium is a great choice (amazing packing, fair prices, awesome service).

So, here are down and dirty steps to mini bliss:

1. Acquire your Mage Knight miniatures (usually on eBay)
2. Remove the original, ugly, oversized click bases
3. Select and paint new D20 bases
4. Glue on the mini to the new base
5. Flock the new base
6. Spray on a Matte seal.
7. Touch-up the old legion markings (yellow, red, blue) with a Sharpie.

The bestest news of all – Mage Knight had a huge run by WizKids (nearly 3,000 miniatures flew off the assembly line during their reign). Ben nearly fainted on this discovery.

Your new mins will also complement your existing choices well. It’s much more fun to have six semi-different Orcs than six of the exact same. See Ben’s Azer Raider and Skeleton examples.

Even better, the exciting new Dark Sun campaign is nearly upon us and Mage Knight has some killer options for this desert setting. And lots of fun choices is what it’s all about in your miniatures collection.

Now don’t get Ben wrong, he absolutely loves WotC’s miniatures but he just had to do something to fill the gap. He is counting the seconds till the next release and is praying the Wizards’ minis series will continue on for many moons.

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A good dungeon needs many obstacles, known and unknown, to spice up the RPG experience. This time Ben went with an oldie but a goodie – the ominous terrain cave-in. This classic creation is yet another golden opportunity to make your three-dimensional game board come alive.

Ben utilized the Fieldstone molds (# 70, 75, and 701) to craft the core base of this piece. He then cast some smaller Woodland Scenic boulders to accent the crumbled walls. Finally, a Skullcrafts Oregon Beach Sand flock and a Games Workshop paint scheme round out the job.

The keys to building this terrain boils down to two sets of steady hands and of course, lots of glue – four types to be exact. Ben and Rob (the voice of Magnum & Red Dawn on our weekly podcast) then did a dry assembly run on the piece including some helpful reminder photos.

The slickery paint scheme included:

• First mix 2 drops of Games Workshop Codex Gray with 1 drop Chaos Black.
• Now dry brush that darker gray combo onto the piece.
• Then apply a lighter dry brush of just Codex Gray.
• Then paint a lighter brush of Citadel Delvan Mud wash (for that dirty feel).

So whether it’s a sudden dungeon cave-in, an unfortunate sprung trap, or a simply portion of a ruined room, damaged terrain needs a permanent place in your own D&D pile.

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What in the bloody hell happened to our once proud world of miniatures?! We go from a bursting abundance to near annihilation in less than four months! Wizards officially gave the bad news back in January that they were cutting back to one little ol’ set (Lord of Madness) for all of 2010.

Reaper Miniatures, long known for its unpainted metal sculps, decided to dip its toes in the pre-painted arena in March 2007 with Legendary Encounters. The depth of its first line (5 figs) is paltry in comparison to the WotC Harbinger debut (80 minis) in November 2003.

The results are encouraging though. Monsters like the spider, great worm and ghost are slam dunks for any D&D game session. However, Reaper’s release schedule is painfully slow – maybe those boats from China just need more horsepower.

Reaper has released additional miniatures since then but sadly, at a near glacial pace. New product managers, poor selection (a unicorn – really?) and the rising cost of raw materials are the biggest culprits. Still, one can only dream if Reaper had gotten right and could have capitalized on Wizards’ downsize decision.

Ben gives props to Reaper for giving it the college try. They brought us the pack concept (Skeletons and Orcs). And they’re only one of two companies (with Rackham being the other) to try and give Wizards a run for their money.

It’s a very high probability that the industry will move to depressing flat cardboard tokens for 2010. Let’s say a prayer to Bahamut that this isn’t the case. Let minis reign!

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Your party’s trips back to town can be real snoozers. Thank goodness there’s lot of ways to fix this common game-drag problem. As a DM, Ben drops in a couple buildings and simple accessories to give these otherwise humdrum affairs a real boost.

When you build street scenes, a whole new world of intrigue opens up. You can add new side quests. Run a skill challenge (courtesy of This is my Game). Or, drop in a little more story dialogue interaction. Any or all of these module ideas brightens up game play and enhances the main plot.

And anyways, BensRPGPile.com was long overdue for another building review. This time Ben thought a simple, yet effective multi-use structure would do the trick. Ben snagged this cottage from Miniature Building Authority at an earlier Gen Con. He’s used this pre-painted, out-of-the-box piece to represent an out-of-the-way outpost and a general store.

MBA’s superior quality and attention to detail once again shine through. A few of these buildings are a must for any Dungeon Master’s arsenal. Pop open a box, place it on a Battlemat and let your imagination take you the rest of the RPG way.

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D&D publishes its third and final miniatures set of 2009 in the new box format – Monster Manual: Savage Encounters.

Ben digs this Monster Manual theme as it reaps an absolute bountiful harvest of miniature goodness. Each booster mini count is still the same as its 2009 predecessors (5 per pack, 1 visible, 8 different packs in all).

So here’s our Savage top five: Sorrowsworn Reaper (put the “bad” in “bad ass”), Tiefling Necromancer (total package: great pose, paint job and detail), Zombie Hulk (green is in), Death Giant (an adventurer’s first instinct is to run away), and the Angel of Valor Legionnaire (perfect use of clear plastic).

And here’s our un-saveagely bottom five: Bloodspike Behemoth (dinosaurs are for dime stores), Bodak Skulk (looks like an alien sighting from the deep south), Githyanki Mindslicer (enough already on this lame race), Legion Devil Legionnaire (think a toy eraser from the school store), and the Skeletal Tiefling (a total leaner – too thin).

With no Players Handbook Heroes III set anywhere to be found (last released on July 2009) but rumored to be set for release in February 2010, it seems likely that a shuffle of the overall format might again occur in 2010. Still, it’s been a great year and let’s just hope miniatures stick around for another one.

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Ben believes a kill on the battle map needs to be celebrated and properly noted. Sure, you could just tip your mini over and crudely call it a dead body but where’s the proper bliss and recognition in that? You own that square – now show it!

Dragonfire Laser Crafts makes the perfect corpse marker. Their death symbol is part of their RPTiles series and more specifically, comes in their Crypt Tiles set. Ben got sneaky though and was able to purchase an extra clump of singles out of their “bit box” by visiting their booth at GenCon earlier this year.

To mix it up, we also use the coffin marker (also part of the Crypt Tile set) to symbolize the bigger kills on the board. After all, those bosses or especially pesky monsters earned the right to have a fancier tombstone.

The Dragonfire corpse tile also allows for easy stacking of multiple bodies. This function is key as our game group’s house rule says two or more bodies in the same space makes it difficult terrain.

Great stuff, fellow gamers…and remember, it’s the little accessory touches that ultimately set your game board apart from the others

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Every DM reaches a point in their game where they decide to throw up a terrain Hail Marry. For Ben, he wanted to seal the deal on his Thunderspire Chamber of Eyes dungeon with a memorable piece of terror.

The assembly components touched on all the building basics including:

▪ Dire Vampire Wolf: D&D Miniatures Unhallowed.
▪ Rocks: Concrete Rubble Mix from GaleForce nine.
▪ Floor terrain & Accessories: Hirst Arts molds (#203 & #85)
▪ Chain: Michaels Craft Store
▪ Paints: Games Workshop series (Graveyard Earth, Silver, Blood Red, & Chaos Black)
▪ Flock: Grass and Dirt ground cover from Skullcrafts.

Ben’s finishing touches included body parts from the land of misfit minis (the bit box at Gamers’ Inn). He also grabbed an old toothbrush (and not his wife’s existing one) for the ominous blood spatter effect.

So now Torog’s Shrine has a focal terrain piece that is sure to make the party shat themselves. Pick a big battle in your own module and one up, Ben. If he can do it, so can you.

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The Thanksgiving holiday seem like a perfect time for another installment of our hand painted miniatures. Ben just can’t paint to that ridiculously fine point of detail so he continuously gives thanks to the master craftsmen who can.

The second set of our multi-part metal minis installment includes a gnawing Dwarven skeleton, a mischievous human thief, an evil demon lord, and a brave human fighter.

Ben pulled all these beauties out of the Gamers’ Inn display case during separate joyous store runs. Ya just never know when some gems will poke through the trade-in rubble. You need to survey and sift.

Price varies but typically you’re looking at anywhere from $4 to $15 a mini (depending on the quality of the paint job and popularity of the mini). You can always check out eBay for online finds.

Ben loves to use his unique metal figs as special characters or heroes in his Dungeon and Dragons 4E battles. It raises the party’s kill salivation and also lets the group know the DM means “bitness”.

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