"Possible Draco-Lich 2.0" Topic

I visited Michaels Craft Store a few days ago. I checked out their Halloween Decorations, to see if there was anything of interest…

New Draco Lich figure: different sculpt; different pose; movable wings and lower jaw; legs might be movable.

They had a 20%(?) off, sale going on: $16.99 USD x 0.8 = $13.59 USD, for a very large Draco-Lich model: raw Photo1, raw Photo2, raw Photo3.

I passed, as I have my first one (different style, but similar size -- see links below). Still, the new model is very tempting.

The screw holes, and the divisions between the body halves, can easily be filled in with White E6000 Glue. Cut out, and glue on, paper wings, painted with Minwax Polyshades Urethane Stain -- Royal Walnut, to create aged leather bits of wings, then paint the same Minwax on the whole, and you would have a nice, unique gaming model, unavailable anywhere in your version of it.

For more details on how to convert this new model, check out my previous post on a 14 inch Skeletal Dragon Halloween Decoration. A photo of my original, raw, unconverted, and a photo of the finished, converted, and based model ready of the tabletop. Here is a link to an album showing all of the previous project's photos.

Note also, that the white paper wings can first be painted/dyed any color you wish (use colored construction paper if you like), before turning them into aged leather, with a heavy application of Minwax Polyshades urethane stain… Cheers!

Nice addition with those wings! hope you used a durable paper so they never rip! Construction paper seems fairly flimsy, but there are some real strong papers that could be used

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the reply. I hope someone else will give this a try. It is loads of fun to make these Halloween decorations into tabletop gaming figures.

My middle son worked for a couple of years in a print shop. When the big rolls of paper get to the last 30 feet, or so, they can no longer use them. He brought home a couple of rolls of heavy paper, more than 110# cardstock. I used a piece off of that.

Once glued in place, with E6000 Glue, they've been pretty resilient, but I handle it typically by grabbing the body of the Draco-Lich, or its base. Not worried about tearing up the wings.

I picked up the new Draco-Lich model, last night. I am hoping to apply some Minwax Polyshades urethane stain to some green and red Construction Paper, tonight? I can also use the same cardstock paper from my first Draco-Lich project, as I have plenty of that left over on the roll: I can dye it with Food Coloring, Koo-Aid mix (used by hobbyists to dye textile fibers such as wool), or I can paint it with the watercolor set of paints I purchased for my d20 Globe project, years ago. I need to see how it will look when it dries. I have this new Draco-Lich pegged as either a Green or a Red Dragon, for AD&D and 2e BattleSystem games (2e AD&D mass battles rules system).

I've decided to skip putting any skin on the body, as that will be a nightmare to achieve something that looks acceptable. I'll just 'clothe' the wings.

I am plotting and planning how I can put them into my RPG and 2e BS games, without making them unbalanced, munchkin games…

My Undead army is the largest army I have, larger even than my Human Armies. Running Draco-Liches as the Army Commanders, with Human Necromancers and Vampires, as Captains, is a plausible concept. It would give me a chance to play with pretty much my entire Undead Army. For Living opponents, I have quite a variety to choose from: Dwarves (Hill and Mountain), Gnomes, Elves, Centaurs, and quite a variety of Humans. I can throw in Humanoids joining forces with their usual enemies, to battle the Undead: Orcs, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Bugbears, Ogres, Giants, etc.

I've got plenty of armies, plenty of players, plenty of tablespace. What I don't have is plenty of free time for gaming. <Sigh!> Cheers!

Some shots of the new, Draco-Lich 2.0.

Internal Ribs, showing more screws holding it together than the 1.0 version, due to its movable wings -- these will all be covered with White E6000 Glue, to mask them;
Facial shot, showing its serious underbite (LOL);
Side-by-side comparison of 1.0 and 2.0, atop a 1"-grid;
Size comparison with a Schleich Red Dragon on its left, and a Mage Knight Red Dragon on its right, on a 1"-grid;
Family portrait with everyone together -- right before things got out of hand/claw…

As the facial shot shows, this Draco-lich has nice sinus structure. It is well sculpted. The ear wings, prominently displayed in the facial shot, will be painted Red, and aged, to represent what's left of its skin and ears.

I could not locate my construction paper, but I did find our AstroBrights paper of varying colors. I took a sample of each of five colors to test. I applied the three colors of Polyurethane Stains that I have on hand, to see how each worked, and how they affected the paper, when dried.

Here are the samples, with oil-based Minwax Royal Walnut, lightest color on the left, water/ether-based Rustoleum Kona in the middle, and water/ether-based Minwax Antique Walnut, darker on the right.

Dk. Blue, backlit;
Lt. Blue, backlit, and lighted from the front, on a dark tabletop;
Dk. Green, backlit;
Lt. Green, backlit;
Dk. Red, backlit.

The oil-based, Royal Walnut is the most transparent of the three urethane stains, when applied to the papers. It also creates the least texture in the finished paper, making it the most bland. The Kona is more dark brown, while the Antique Walnut is medium brown to the point of covering up most of the paper's color.

I like the Kona the best on the Red paper, which is what I will finish the Draco-Lich with, so Kona and Red paper it is. The Kona is what I used on Draco-Lich #1, and I like how the wing textures came out on that cardstock paper, so that answers that question.

Having that settled, I can progress with tightening, and sealing all of the screw holes with White E6000 Glue. After that cures, I can paint the ear wings, Red. Then I will begin clothing its wings with Red Paper, followed by Kona Urethane Stain application to the wings, and to the whole of the body. Cheers!

Making progress: screw holes, and skeletal gaps filled in with E6000 White Glue, head wings painted, whole thing Dip'ed with the first coat.

Front

side 1

side 2

rear

3/4 view.

The leathery wings will be next. I will apply the second coat of Royal Walnut urethane stain after the wings are applied, with an application of white E6000 Glue to the top surface of the wings to model the underlying bones. After that cures fully, a matte clear coat, with model being glued to an MDF base. Cheers!

UPDATE

I decided to go with black talons, spikes on the back, and for bone protrusions from the wings. I like the color scheme found on the Mage Knight Red Dragon, which is what I based my color scheme off of, along with the 1e Monster Manual's cover showing a Red Dragon in flight.

Here are some images of the latest painting work done on this Draco-Lich model: Frontal View, Left 3/4 View, and a Right 3/4 View.

The next step will be to attach the leathery flesh (red colored paper) to the wings, trim to size, and the add E6000 Glue to create bone ridges on the tops of the wing skins. Once that is dry, I will brush on another layer of The Dip Technique. This will be followed by a matte clear coat, and mounting it to a base. Cheers!

I think I liked it better before the black tips!

Update 2.0

Finally, progress. Never found my red paper, bought another pack of colored paper so I could get one red sheet from it…

Painted the entire sheet with water-based Royal Walnut gloss urethane stain, and I let that dry fully. I cut the tinted red paper into two pieces slightly larger than each wing, and I attached it with White E6000 Glue.

On Draco-Lich 1.0, I used spring-loaded clothes pins to hold the paper in place; I also used multiple pieces of paper, gluing them in place, one at a time, separately. This time, I chose to go for it: I coated each wing bone with White E6000 Glue; I laid the cut sheets of paper down on top of Freezer Paper (excess glue should peel off, easily); I covered each wing, on top, with another piece of Freezer Paper to guard against excess glue pushed out; then I put stacks of books on top of the covered wings, to press and hold the paper into place, while the Glue dries, overnight. This is a little risky, as I have no control over how it will flex into shape, when I remove the books, but I can always peel the urethane stain and Glue off, and do the wings again, if necessary.

Tomorrow, I will trim the red paper, to proper shape; I will 'damage' the wings, mildly, to make them look aged and well worn; after that, I will cover the cut edges of the paper with more urethane stain, if necessary; I will matte clear coat it, and I will base it. Hoping to finish it tomorrow.

Albus Malum, the black horns, and wing tips, are based on official D&D models and color drawings I've seen. I, too, am uncertain how it will look, finished. If I hate it, I will rub off the black paint, and stain it again, to leave it as worn, aged bone. Cheers!

Wings trimmed to match the bone structures, with some additional gluing to the wing bones. I will add some damage to the wing skin surfaces, giving it an appearance of having had a few scrapes since it became one of the living dead. Once this dries, I will apply more White E6000 Glue to the upper surface of the paper wings, to make them appear to be attached to the underlying bones. These, when dried, will be coated with more Royal Walnut Minwax Urethane Stain, to help them blend into the model. This will also further darken the wing's skin material.

The plastic wings, under pressure beneath the books, did flex. They did not, however, bend sufficiently to fully attach the wings, as desired. This required this extra step with additional glue, to attach the 'skin' to the wings near the body.

If there is a next time, I think I will try placing some open cell foam between the books, and the freezer paper over the wings and the paper 'skin'. This might actually press the paper down, against the plastic bone, to achieve better contact, with a tighter bond.

I made an interesting discovery about the Minwax application to this paper. It is much stronger, tougher, and more resilient thanks to the urethane coating. This is very noticeable when I tried to cut it with a razor knife. I could tell it was much tougher, with the scissors, as well.

When cutting the strengthened paper wings, I tried using a sharp razor knife, first. Too little control, and the paper flexed too much for accurate cutting. I then used a scissors, and that worked superbly for cutting the majority of the paper away. I had to use a razor knife, on a cutting mat, to trim the delicate parts away from the blackened bones coming out of the wing skin, and to trim around the bits.

Once the attachments beneath the clothes pins dries, I will apply the glue 'ribs' atop the wings. After that cures, I will stain them. A matte clear coat, and it will be ready to be mounted on its base. Cheers!

Nearing the Finish Line…

The Draco-Lich figure is done: matte clear coat applied, dried. Only thing left to do, is to make a base for it, out of MDF, mount the figure to its base, and to cover that in colored sand mixtures. Unfortunately, I do not have a base ready. I may need to purchase a small sheet of MDF, and cut it down to size on my table saw.

Here are some images of the finished conversion model: Original Store-bought model; Front, 3/4, Right Side, and top-down views. The Human Female figure is 28mm, the grid is 1"-squares.

Now to convert it to 2e BattleSystem stats:

Red Draco-Lich:

AD: 12+10 (Red Dragon, adding +2 to the original +10, to account for its Chill Touch effect)
BW: 8d12
AR: 2
Hits: 10
ML: 19
MV: 9" (Jump: 3")/30" (Maneuver Class C)
CD: 9"
Spells: 1 x 4th Level (1 x 1st, 1 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd, 1 x 4th Wizard Spells)

Special: Horror, (-2); Take Command of any Undead Unit within its CD, once per Turn (Magic Phase), lasting until the next Turn (Magic Phase); must control a different Unit of Undead, each time; may Attach itself to any friendly Unit, as a normal Commander/Hero. Jump during the enemy's Movement Phase, if within Range (3"): if it lands atop an enemy Unit, it will get AD12+10 on all figure bases 75% covered by its base (surrounding figures/bases are not subject to the attack, only those covered by its base -- excess Hits are ignored; AR checks apply) -- this attack is immediate, but it cannot attack again, during the Melee Phase. The monster hopes to break the enemy Unit's Morale with its ferocious Jump attack and its Horror aura.

Special powers of the creature won't make/break the game play, and this is a very special monster, so I feel good about giving it some latitude. After all, they are extremely rare, and more or less, the Army Commander/Hero. LOL! YMMV. Cheers!

PS:

Looking at the front view photo, I can hear the woman saying,

"Fetch, Boy! Fetch the staff!" LOL! Cheers!

OOPS!!! I posted the wrong "Original" image for Draco-Lich 2.0. I mistakenly posted Draco-Lich 1.0's original image.

Here is the correct, original image of Draco-Lich 2.0, on the store shelf, before I bought it. Here is a similar view of the finished model, for direct comparison. Cheers!

Finished the Draco Lich 2.0, an ancient Great Red Wyrm Lich. Here are the photos: broadside view, with a Gnome, and two Humans (28mm); frontal view, with the same dead men walking; rear view‌, from above; 3/4 view, from above; and the raw model, on the store shelf, to compare it to how it started.

The figures are sitting atop a Chessex Mondomat, with 1-inch squares. The Draco-Lich is mounted onto a 6-inch x 12-inch MDF base. I used a mixture of two shades of green sand, with model Rail Road Ballast (rocks); the other sand mixture is reddish gravelly sand I acquired from the North Shore of Lake Superior. I find that random areas of each sand blend creates a much more visually appealing base for larger creatures. It looks really good on top of my tight weave, green indoor/outdoor carpet ground cloth for my mass battles games.

Now I need to create a 2e BattleSystem game scenario to bring this bad boy onto the scene… Cheers!