Juvenile dinosaurs

At the weekend I spent an inordinate amount of time browsing the local gift shop for suitably-sized toy bugs & reptiles that could be used as monsters in my Lustria-themed Warhammer Quest set.  As it happened, I did pick up 'D12' very cheap lizards (plus 2 hatching from eggs), although once I got them home next to my Lizardmen, they proved a little large even for the usual 'giant' vermin.  However, I remembered that there are 3 sizes of spiders in the WQ Bestiary - Giant, Great (ridden by Forest Goblins), & Gigantic.  So I will deem the lizards (yet to be painted) as 'Great Lizards', & knock-up some appropriate stats (something between Giant Rat & Wolf threat level).

I  also found a couple of toy dinosaurs of superior sculpting & ready-painted quality - they were a bit pricier (£2 each) than the lizards (£4 for 14), but still a lot less that wargaming miniatures!  An Ankylosaurus (Basilodon in Warhammer terms), & a Tyranosaurus (Carnosaur in Warhammer terms).  These are manufactured in Germany by Schleich, & required little preparation - I scalpeled-off the manufacturing text on their bellies, & repainted there, before mounting on Ø40mm bases. I also neatened-up the eyes, & painted inside the Basilodon's mouth (even the roof of it's mouth is fully detailed!)

So now adventurers in my Lustrian dungeons may encounter these juvenile dinosaurs... Stats-wise, I'll cook up something at about Troll difficulty level for these I think.  Not sure if I should go as far as having them herded like Squigs, disturbed whilst nesting, or just standard Monster encounter rules.

The larger Schleich-manufactured dinosaurs that were in the shop were stunning quality sculpts & really well-painted for mass-produced items.  Maybe as my Lustria collection continues to grow, I might pick 1 or 2 up as Large Monsters...

Saurus Temple Guard

I've spent far too much time on them for only four figures, but this weekend I finally finished painting these Saurus Temple Guard for Warhammer Quest.  The miniatures are the slightly older metal Temple Guard (they have been replaced by similar but all-plastic models since).  As part of my Lizardmen ebay haul, I picked up a pack of Temple Guard fetishes from the newer plastic kit, & used these to spice-up the shields a bit, adding tusks, jawbones, a shrunken head & so on, to further-emphasize the elite status of these Saurus.

The sculpts are nicely detailed, but a bit static in pose.  I like how they are slightly beefier & a lot more decorated than standard Saurus though.

In the semi-official stats for Temple Guard at the excellent Warhammer Quest Chronicles, these creatures are pretty damn nasty - worth 500 gold each for slaying.  For comparison, a basic Saurus is 150 gold, whilst a basic Orc is 55 gold!  So the adventurers in my Lustrian dungeons may not be encountering them anytime soon (or if they do, maybe only a single one as a boss!).