Train Tuesday Part 119: Boom Chicka Boom

Greetings, fellow firework fanatics! Today’s weekly Train Tuesday installment introduces a brand-new Hovertrain tactic that is all the rage in Waterdeep these days. Let’s see what all the noise and smoke are about and get the skinny.

We’ve mentioned what a brilliant, innovative dungeon master Brennan Lee Mulligan from Dimension 20 is and how his creative team made all these neat add-ons for their airship battles in their sensational series Cloudward, Ho. Seriously, this series is beyond words, so be sure to pick up a month’s subscription on Dropout.tv because you’ll burn through the episodes in no time.

Anyways, their prop team put together all these amazing add-ons that the adventurers could buy, like special weaponry, energy boosts, and armor. That level of creativity was so inspiring that we really want to make some of those same cool gizmos and gadgets for our Hovertrains. We already 3D-printed a harpoon gun, but we’re thirsty for much more!

Thankfully, our newest Living Smart Bomb is a free download, courtesy of the mighty Schlossbauer. We somehow missed this STL at first, but then the fab rendering leaped out at us as we were trying to think of new attachments for our Hovertrains’ defenses or as attack weapons for the raiders storming them.

These ticking boomers are very paint-friendly, so DM Ben was happy to give them a go…especially because he had come up with a really good cannonball color scheme earlier.

• Prime Flat Black | Slapchop Base.
• Base P1: Layer on FAN Gun Metal.
• Base P2: Spotty drybrush of black.
• Base P3: Random stippling of FAN Gun Metal.
• Face: ASP Slaughter Red + FAN Red Wash.
• Fuse: FAN Oak Brown.
• Fuse Rim: Citadel Stormhost Silver.
• Flame P1: Layer on ASP Zealot Yellow
• Flame P2: GSW Gloss Varnish
• Fame P3: ASP Blood Red edging.
• Eyes: WAR Elven Armour.
• All: FAN Soft Wash.

This was a batch paint project, so DM Ben cranked these out fast. The darker red face felt very superhero cartoonish, which is the precise vibe we’re shooting for here.

He also loves it when he always learn a new paint step or trick. Army Painter Zealot Yellow is a super color, but that same paint with a gloss varnish over it, then edged with some ASP Blood Red, is literally fire. We’re certainly going to employ this combination on all things flame in the future.

You probably noticed in all our pics here that we also made these DnD Living Bombs in different miniature sizes. We plan to treat these TTRPG as mini fireballs with feet, so the smaller ones would just get half the stats of the larger minis. Once their fuse is lit, the owner assigns a target area to it and yells the simple command, “Go get ’em!”

The 5th Edition SRD has the perfect DnD 5e stat here, but feel free to scale these based on party level and number of Living Bombs you put on the gameboard: AC 17, HP 51, Speed 40 ft, CR 3, Damage: 4d6 fire and 4d6 piercing in a 20-foot radius (Dex DC 14 for half). DM Ben just isn’t sold on the whole heat token mechanic and just might rely on hit points to detonate early. Otherwise, the bomb simply accelerates its fuse when it reaches the desired target. He also won’t give them the Grab mechanic, as they have no arms. 😉

Until next time!