Wandering Wednesday: Get a Leg (or eight) Up

Greetings, fellow web spinners. Look before you step, because we’ve elevated a previous take on a free 3D print and gave him a few buds to join his side of the fight. Let’s go!

One of our office mottos here at 3DRPG Studios in sunny Chandler, AZ, is “always do better.” That translates to if we see an area to improve or learn from, we pounce at that opportunity. As novice painters and average DnD hobbyists, we know there’s always a takeaway from every DnD project we do. For example, DM Ben keeps a painting journal stuffed with all sorts of notes to remind him about what he has learned on any given STL so he can apply it the next time the opportunity presents itself.

Enter one magnificent DnD Shield Spider 3D print by the mighty Schlossbauer. We featured this amazing monster in an earlier TTRPG blog post, and while researching our article, we found some really fun alternative paint schemes. We already knew we loved this miniature, and we already committed to 3D printing some more of them to harass our adventurers. So, we printed up two additional spiders, and of course, we remembered those other earlier fan paint schemes, and we’re determined to try and emulate ’em.

The fan versions really inspired DM Ben. They gave the edges a more bony feel and tried the spider’s body in several base colors, including a wicked-good purple and an all-brown version. They also edged the deeper lines within the two front shields to give that part of the spider more depth. Fantastic!

So, let’s revisit the paint steps so you can try your own steady hobby hands on these icky spiders:

• Prime Flat Black | Slapchop Base.
• Shell: ASP Rigor Mortis + Citadel Athonian Camoshade Wash.
• Legs: ASP Nuclear Sunrise.
• Shields: FAN Oak Brown.
• Face: ASP Holy White.
• Eyes: ASP Blood Red.

Then all we did for our other versions was try different wood shades for their shields and a different shade of brown and purple for the bodies. We also applied the appropriate washes and finished them off with a soft drybrush in a lighter shade than the body’s earlier darker base color. Easy. Thank goodness for fellow hobbyists’ inspirational pics.

We were in a bit of a spidey mood, so we also ran off this tiny but deadly Snow Spider, which was also by Schlossbauer. Now, candidly, we need another spider miniature like we need another hole in our shield. Still, we had this furry, little creeper in our Pile of Opportunity, and DM Ben just started slowly painting it over time.

DM Ben hates wasting paint, so if, for example, he put down a dab of a FAN Uniform Grey for a different sculpt, he’ll reach for another mini or scatter terrain piece and apply that unused grey to it. Now, if you look real close, you’ll see that a few supports inadvertently failed, and we lost part of his mouth. Since we hate wasting 3D prints, we just used this STL to experiment and mess around with…besides, the Arm’s Length Rule solves all. 😉

In terms of gameplay usage, DM Ben envisions these defensive crawlers lurking in deep dark caverns and attacking from above once they realize someone is disturbing their lair. Putting these freshly painted 3D prints on some Dwarven Forge Cavern terrain and then having them leap from above is going to be a fantastic wandering monster encounter, baby!

Until next time…and don’t forget to check your shoes for spiders. 😉