The very mention of Dungeons and Dragons would not be possible without the brilliant vision and endless creativity of our founding father, Gary Gygax. Plus, look at all those Gs, baby. It’s obviously a sign that he’s the right pick here.

Gary’s impact on the RPG industry is as big as the Colossal Red! None of it – the name, the dice, the minis, the monsters, the books, the Con, or the adventures would ever even be part of Ben’s Pile if it weren’t for this humble Lake Geneva resident’s lifelong work.

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Let’s start by a welcoming veteran tinkerer and innovater from Band of Misfits as this week’s guest author! If this RPG site isn’t part of your weekly read routine, you’re making a grave mistake. Take it away, Benoit.

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Evangelical seemed like a nice way to highlight the ever present role that church and religion play in any D&D storyline. But can Ben’s own RPG Pile rise up to this holistic challenge? Come on…was the Last Supper BYOB (aka bring your bread)?

Let’s start by turning over some stones to see where religion might be hiding in our Dungeons and Dragons game.

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Can dinosaurs and dragons live together in harmony at your game table? With a little creativity, Ben thinks there’s no bones about it.

Let’s start by unearthing some possible homebrewed plot lines. Maybe dinosaurs actually pre-date elf, dwarf and man…so much so that there has been an outcropping of strange bone discoveries in outlying areas of your character’s home city. A paranoid king then sends your party out to collect them all before more pop up and a panic ensues. Or, how about a crazy old wizard accidentally discovers some prehistoric bones and becomes obsessed with bringing these creatures back to life to do his own bidding?

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While often true that only a famous death will do, you better have the right gladiator miniature in hand first. This week Ben rubs some arena sand between his terrain-glistened fingers and shows you the way.

We all know inspirational clips from Crow’s Gladiator or Whitfields’ Spartacus Blood and Sand have inspired many a D&D encounter. And now with the recent ushering of the Dark Sun campaign setting, gladiator arenas become a natural fit for your next far-away city.

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Who knew that Wizards’ historic miniatures line could actually be re-supplied by Wizards’ old Dreamblade line? Ben shows you the ins and outs of re-basing these twisted miniatures for your next 4E d20 game.

Operation Re-base was originally inspired by Mage Knight. However, Ben caught a brief Youtube video from Terrainaholic that finally pushed him to give Dreamblade a whirl.

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Milliput’s many uses makes terrain touch-up and mini basing a snap. Ben shares the skinny on “the what and the why” in this week’s post.

The Gamers Inn crew thankfully turned Ben on to Milliput during one of his many shop stops. It’s is a diverse modeling clay and has a slew of
uses to model and seel your table terrain.

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Our initial home-made Mage Knight minis were such a hobby hit that we decided to do a follow-up and re-populate your D&D dungeon. This time Ben will spotlight some of his more recent holiday ebay acquisitions. You can search for any of these by name on ebay.

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Wizards of the Coast releases its possible minis swan song with Lords of Madness and it was almost worth the year-long wait. Enjoy our top/bottom 5 picks and overall set review.

This D&D set is easily one of the series’ best but it’s hands-down the most expensive. WotC moved back to the random format but added a very rare category. Ben bought two cases and came up 9 short including 6 very rare minis. His total cost for a complete set was $200 for the boosters and $156 in singles from Troll and Toad. Those very rares are silly expensive – on average $34 each.

Our esteemed judge panel (the voices and talent from our weekly video podcast) debated the picks heavily. We rarely agreed and had to do several vote-offs to come to a conclusion.

Here’s our top fab five: Astral Giant (belongs on a book cover), Iron Golem Juggernaut (big and badass), Minotaur Mangler (just sick in it detail), Water Archon Shoal Reaver (the complete package), Zhent Champion (best fighter from any set with great face detail).

And here’s our bottom feeder five: Shadar-Kai Witch (a Borg-wanna-be), Human Marauder (too wimpy), Kenku Warrior (snooze-city), Will-o-Wisp (under achiever), Mind Flayer Noble (got run over by a truck).

There’s no arguing the slick paint jobs, noticeable accents/detail, and creative poses. The smaller minis actually outdo their huge counterparts. The item minis were a great theme. And the common monsters are well represented. Ben is also a little puzzled by all the wings (12 minis in all) – must be a prerequisite to madness.

This should be a celebrated set but its release is covered in a shroud of sadness. Despite one set for all of 2010, the Gen Con preview seminar did not include the announcement of any new sets in 2011. We appear to be at the end of an era…1,200-plus miniatures that began with Harbinger in 2003. Wizards seems to be leaning towards cheap, flat cardboard tokens – oh the humanity.

So, what now? Are miniatures dead? We say “hell to the no!” There’s still Mage Knight re-bases, Reaper (metal & maybe pre-fab), and Crystal Caste. You gotta get creative in your hunt.

Until next time…well, if there ever is one:(

Questions to Ponder: What are your top and bottom 5 minis from the set? What will you do for minis in 2011? Is this set too pricey? What minis should have been in this set?

See It | Make Your Own Minis | Savage Encounters Review

Fresh off another holiday can only mean it’s time for another installment of Hand Painted Miniatures. Some fun Gen Con 2010 finds are also included in this week’s entry.

Ben constantly gets asked the age-old question, “Why don’t you paint these metal minis yourself?” Easy answer – too small brushes and too steady of a hand required. Terrain is so, so much more forgiving. An avid gamer knows his limits.

The third set of our multi-part metal marvels installment includes: a hard charging barbarian, a sniper rogue, a dark slayer, a traveling halfling, a loyal war dog companion, a one-eyed man, and a wise wizard.

Ben had hit a bit of a dry spell with the Gamers’ Inn display case so these beauties were a welcome sight. He had nearly given up hope but that’s a key to good miniatures hunting – never get discouraged and never stop looking

Gen Con 2010 was the source of a few of these latest finds but man oh man, it is tough to dig through those endless plastic bins. Hunched over on mobbed convention floor is a backbreaker. Sometimes you just gotta dig deep.

Questions to ponder: Do you use metal minis in your game or have you gone all plastic? How many metal figs do you paint in a month? What is your favorite metal line for D&D miniatures? And when in Elminster’s name is Lords of Madness going to be in our hands?

See It | Installment I | Installment II