The 1981 Vintage Giant Mini Restoration Project

Greetings fellow shut-ins! Hope you're all staying safe & well! Here's another blog entry to help you waste away a few minutes...
Planning for this extra time off...I've been staying busy painting some minis I had purchased recently. Mostly vintage Ral Partha & Grenadier giants.
I had planned on trying to find a replacement for this old giant mini a friend had gifted me years ago...searched Ebay and the web...to no avail...couldn't find this guy anywhere.
So I thought to myself a couple of days ago..."Why not see if I can restore this old mini to some of his former glory?
His base identifies his having been made back in the halcyon days of 1981...

My old friend was a young teen at the time...pre-interwebs and such...and didn't put much effort into painting this mini...to say the least...that and old age hadn't been kind to the old fellow.

The paint was chipped and sloppy...he was missing a horn that was broken off his noggin...and his weapon had also broken off. So I determined that a restoration was in order...I thought "Let's see if I can do this old mini justice...bring back some old magic he once possessed!"
First a repainting...I wasn't going to make a special trip to any store to find a product to strip the existing paint...I just lightly painted over what was there...1 dark wash and then some highlighting...I was happy to see how much hidden detail reemerged!
Next task was replacing his horn. I have some Testors putty...stuff that hardens like concret...seemed like it was worth a shot.

Crude...but passable. Seemed a bit out of proportion to the other horn. I decided to go with it. Let it cure a while...then added some Gorilla Super Glue gel around the points of contact to the metal for some extra strength.
Then his missing weapon...looked to me (I couldn't find any pics on the web of this mini that hadn't suffered the same fate of losing his weapon) like a bone was his weapon of choice. I determined that might be beyond the scope of my molding skills...and the extra weight it might have would work against me.
So I sculpted  a blade for him...much easier & its crude shape seemed to fit his humble demeanor.

I let everything dry over night...painted his new horn & blade...set about giving him an outdoor looking base...and here's the final result...

When I finished him he brought back memories of when my friends & I started down the dungeon stairs into the world of D&D...some mystery and magic...I'm actually impressed at how well he turned out...and glad I invested the time in restoring him. The old guy still has some "razzle dazzle" in his game after all!
Hope you all continue staying out of harms way during these strange & trying times...use this time to paint some minis yourself!
As always...'till next time...EXCELSIOR!
***Update***
Thanks to Tom, a kind & wise soul on a FB mini fan page, I now have an image of the mini and the name of the manufacturer. He's a "Hill Giant"...produced by the Superior company. Now I have to look for more of their minis to buy! Bonus! Thanks again Tom!

Have Map---Will Travel: My growing collection of D&D inspired maps

Greetings my fellow D&D veterans! Hope the New Year is going well for you all! 
I've been picking up some old school maps as of late...Ebay & elsewhere. Care to take a look? Good...let's get started then....
Maps have always held a certain fascination for me. As a child I would stare at my Grandfather's Atlas and imagine the places he had traveled to...the incredible things that he had seen as a "Knight of the Open Road" during the Great Depression!

So Fantasy maps have also always held a great deal of mystery and awe...the Hyborian Age map of Conan, The Middle Earth maps of Tolkien, and the lands of Narnia by Lewis....all have let their mark upon my creative mind.
I'll start with the older maps that I picked up back in the 80's....not 1880's you wisenheimers! The Middle Earth maps that came with the ICS MERP games were, in my eye, the gold standard of fantasy maps! Here's both Northern & Southern Mirkwood!

Even though they don't fit together correctly (how did that slip by quality control?!?) its still a brilliant map! The close up shows the incredible amount of detail! I've always strove to create my own maps that were just as detailed!
Recently I picked up the "World of Greyhawk" maps...that were created by Darlene for TSR...

I never owned these while I as actively gaming in the past...they are truly beautiful maps. My group of friends were more interested in our own campaigns rather than the TSR modules that came afterwards. Pity...these are magnificent maps!
I also picked up the map to the game "Search for the Emperor's Treasure" that was included in issue #51 of the Dragon magazine!

This map to the Tom Wham game was also created by the extremely talented Darlene...and has the added bonus of having had David Trampier doing the lettering! Being a collector of all things TRAMP I had to have it! 
Speaking of TRAMP...I also picked up the rare board game Divine Right specifically because TRAMP created the map for the game! 

Great detail in the map...the swamps, the forest, wetlands & mountains...the symbols are very similar to the ones TRAMP used in the board game TITAN that he created with Jason McAllister! 
Another recent purchase was a map of Krynn...the World of Dragonlance!

Very cool map! I enjoyed the books...not so much the modules that TSR created ...seemed too "railroaded" for my taste!
Lastly I picked up the map #1 of Judges Guild's "City StateCampaign".

As with everything that I've picked up of Judges Guild this is very high quality! Very detailed and nicely drawn!
And here's a few examples of my own maps...for campaigns I plan to run in the future...and just create at my leisure.

Two Hand drawn & two created on my PC!

Titan: The Monster Slugathon

Hail fellow Grognards! Ready for another installment of this D&D blog? It's GO TIME!
As I've shared here over the past couple of years...I've been building a David A. Trampier collection...hard to find posters, original art...last week I really took the plunge and added the very rare,but extremely influential & popular, TITAN board game! 
This game was designed by TRAMP & his friend  Jason B. McAllister. They formed the Gorgonstar Co. and put the game out themselves in 1980. Avalon Hill bought the rights and published their own version for the next 20 odd years...leaving the 1980 board game a hard to find collectors item.
Here's a look at the condition of the box & the game contents...

Art on all 4 edges of the box...The Dragon & Behemoth 

Bottom of the box showing some coloring due to age.

And inside...

The rules to the game, "The LAW of TITAN". Very neat pamphlet with the TRAMP minotaur drawing...the original of which sold for over 2K this summer on Ebay!

Everything included & in pristine shape...the game pieces are "unpunched"...as in this game has never actually been played/used.

A warning from the creators...

Not to worry, I won't be playing this copy of the game, nor spraying any "clear-coat" on it to preserve the pieces! 

A nice "tip of the hat" from Tramp & Jason to their friends & brother!

The game board...which is a poster. Slightly different than the Avalon Hill version. You can see how the back of it has become discolored with age.

I can hear you asking..."What did you pay?" You already know...it was a lot of cabbage! I just knew that any real collection of TRAMP's work needed this piece of history. I read somewhere on the interwebs that only 500 or so of this version were sold by Gorgonstar...I really don't know the validity of that number...I just know that with the art...the box, the game pieces & the board designed by TRAMP...that I needed it for my collection. 

I teased this on some FB groups...a Gorgonstar Publications business card that was included with the game!

And...for comparison...here's the TITAN box next to the transparency used in the silk screening of the box covers!

I'll continue to keep my eyes open for more TRAMP collectibles...if any surface. He's my absolute favorite D&D/Fantasy artist.

'Till next time...Up the irons & roll for initiative!

Excelsior!