Search the Community

In Bones 2, Reaper had several large sea monster creatures, one of which, the Goroloth (Reaper’s answer to the Aboleth), came in the Expansion 2 set. This was one of the figures I was least interested in, and figured that if I ever got around to painting it, it would be because I was trying to finish up the set. Primordial evil fish monsters just aren’t my thing. Of course then my DM decided to introduce one into her game… so… Now I’m painting an aboleth. My inspiration from the 2e Monster Manual. After digging it out of my boxes of Bones minis, I did my usual washing in hot soapy water and scrubbing with a toothbrush. Mold lines were minimal, and ignored, but I did notice that the plastic on this guy was much softer than I’m used to. Reminded me a lot of Kaladrax’s head. Along with assembling, I went to the 5e Monster Manual to check on the size of an Aboleth. Large, aka a 2” base. Far too tiny for this mini, so I upped it to a 3” base. I glued the flying stand to the bigger base, and then covered it with blocks of cork attached with hot glue. I was picturing an underwater ruined palace. Sadly I don’t have a good statue that I could have ruined on the base. Once the mini was all assembled, I primed it with Blue Liner, and then blocked out the colors with Deep Ocean Blue, Oceanic Blue, and Marine Teal. The bony bits were painted with bone, as were the stripes on the tentacles, while the gills and suckers on the tentacles were painted with Monster Maw. The many eyes were painted with Heraldic Red. I then gave just about everything a wash with GW’s Leviathan Purple. It seemed appropriate. Returning to the base I primed it with black craft paint, and then dry brushed it with Mountain Stone, with more and more linen white added to it. I then applied dots of Jade Green to look like sea moss growing on it. I still need to bring the highlights back up, but this is where he's at now: Gonna call that ready for game!

Love this mini, still considering basing it somehow, but for now the flying base will have to do. Rather quick job I did while visiting out cabin almost a year back. Very limited paint selection, brush selection and working space, but I think it worked out rather OK even if the blending leaves a lot to be desired.