Creatures of Evil

Rangers of Shadow deep is a ruleset I am currently playing with friends. It is very easy to get into, so the group has people dropping in and out all the time. Our campaign has currently reached the “Dying light” scenario, where the party has made their way into the shadow deep to find a cure for the zombie plague.

The campaign has inspired me to work on a lot of various fantasy miniatures in my backlog (and to buy a bunch more), including a bunch of monsters. The theme of RoSD is fairly dark, and I have tried to show that in the minis and basing, with muted colours and a muddy, cold basing scheme. Painting up monsters and various heroes is a nice change of pace from armies.

Spiders are a staple enemy in the shadow deep. The little buggers are easy to slay, but their venomous fangs can cripple adventurers, so it pays to kill them at range. The miniatures are reaper bones. The small spiders are fairly bendy, which is great for posing them differently. Also extremely cheap and easily painted minis.

Some desperate humans, left to survive in the shadow deep, start to turn on their fellow man for sustenance. However, a cannibalistic diet and a life in the shadow deep turns these vile humans into something else – ghouls. Gathering in small tribes, they terrorise survivors and adventurers, and are sometimes driven ahead of the shadow deep, attacking settlements and travellers in Alladore as they flee the greater terrors within. The miniatures are mainly from Heresy. Fantastic character in the ghoul family, and suitably horror level. There is also an old school GW ghoul in there.

The Strigoi is the king of the ghouls. It is unknown how these foul creatures are created, but the sight of one is a sign of terror for an adventurer party. They are incredibly fast, capable of short flight, resilient, and with long powerful limbs capable of ripping even armoured knights apart bare handed. Extremely frustrating miniature to take pictures of, as he is very low and the wings cover his body, but very cool in person. Heresy miniature.

The shadow deep seems to infect every part of the nature it envelops, including bugs. Massive mosquitoes often emerge from the shadowlands, leaving dry desiccated corpses in their wake. Also used as a Cazador in Post apoc gaming. Heresy miniature

A horrible plague has befallen the Kingdom of Alladore. Those that do not survive the sickness arise again, now as mindless husks only intent on destruction. Hordes of these zombies are also driven ahead of the darkness from the fallen kingdom of Lorenthia. Clad in the green and red livery of the Lorenthian army, they are a grim foreshadowing of what awaits Alladore if they cannot contain the sickness. Privateer Press miniatures

Some sorcerers have fallen to the darkness, or possibly always been aligned with it. Necromancers, shadow weavers and others walk amongst the forces of darkness, empowering their forces or engaging in direct damage spellcasting. Heresy miniature

While giant rats is but an annoyance to the average solider, they murder peasants in their huts and eat stored supplies. As such, there is a substantial bounty on rat tails in Alladore. GW miniatures

Hellmites are a constant presence in the tunnels and caverns of the shadow deep, feeding off the corpses that carpet the lairs or monsters…but not averse to attacking any wandering heroes either! Slower than the other insectoids, they are not seen as as big of a threat, but the mites are more resilient, and suck their victims dry of blood, so an unlucky adventurermust still be wary of them. Heresy miniatures

Shockworm, the terror from the deep. Massive burrowing snakes burst from the ground at the most inopportune moment. Several adventurers have been swallowed in their sleep, bedroll and all, by an ambush of these monsters. Once surfaced, it is less dangerous, as it cannot swiftly re-burrow, so at least the adventurers know where it is. Heresy miniature

The Manshler, a hideous amalgation of human and reptile found deeper into the shadow deep. It is unknown if these horrors once were humans, or if they are deamonic enteties. With no eyes or other visible ways of identifying foes, they still manage to viciously slash adventurers with their scaled snake-like arms ending in spikes. Unknown manufacturer.

The Wandering Asmuth is a nightmarish creature that can be found gibbering and howling, prowling the deeper reaches of the shadow deep. An Asmuth has no eyes to see with but tastes the air using its tongue, and frenziedly attacks any creature it encounters immediately, lifting it into the air with it’s powerful tongue and lowering it into its dual set of jaws. where the victim is crunched, munched, and bitten into pieces. Curiously, the Asmuth doesn’t appear to possess much in the way of digestive tract, and after the terrific mauling, a victim is simply dumped to the ground behind the creature after an extremely short trip through the Asmuth’s two orifices, in and out. Heresy miniature

Many of the creatures of the shadow deep are only dangerous in large groups to the experienced adventurer. However, there are some that can take on several adventurers at once. A previous hero of Lorenthia, this man is now transformed into a mighty champion of darkness. These men are known as autonomor, a warrior of death who – through seduction and sacrifice – has become a devotee of the shadow deep. Accompanying the dark hero are familiars of darkness, probably also corrupted denziens of Lorenthia, now turned into entertainment pieces of evil. Champion is Mierce Miniatures, familiars from Simon miniatures