Pig Can Do

We’re calling in the pig guns for today’s Miniature Monday, and this particular DnD miniature happens to also be a perfect fit for The Forgotten Rails Construct crew. Man your stations!

Dungeon Masters don’t get a lot of mechanical minis that can pack a big punch from afar, so we’re pretty stoked about today’s pick. Also, we have a couple of scenarios and stat ideas to go along with this rumbling, gear-stuffed beast.

Our 3D-printed resin miniature comes courtesy of Rocket Pig Games. They have just a smattering of free downloads over at Printables, but this Clockwork Boar was a must-print. The resin printing was a piece of cake.

Resident painter Kimmy Utah reported for duty and colored up this angry artillery piece. Ain’t she a beauty? Look at all that copper and silvery goodness! We can practically hear all the gears turning as it lumbers into place to fire its large cannon!

In terms of inserting this clockwork boar into your game, we have a couple of ideas:

• Escaped tinkerer’s toy, on the loose & lobbing shells into the town.
• Guard duty for a bandit’s hideout, firing on intruders from afar.
• Ranged support for a roving band of Orcs or Kobalds.
• A valuable artifact that requires protection during transport.

Plenty to unpack and use for an upcoming encounter, right?

DM Ben has an even better idea for the Forgotten Rails hovertrain campaign setting. Readers will recall that he’s made three types of Constructs to operate our inaugural railroad through the Realm: Security, Service, and Secondary.

This arcane android certainly falls with the protective Constructs. DM Ben plans to have this metal artillery ride on one of the flatbed cars and act as a deterrent to any Rail Runners (a term used to describe railroad robbers). We’ll be sure to share a follow-up pic once we start sharing our painted train cars with y’all.

For its stats, we’re treating it like an arcane artillery shell that hits the ground and bursts outward (like a grenade or traditional cannon explosion).

Several interesting stat options out there, including:

• Siege Equipment | Ballista, Trebuchet, etc
• Traditional Cannon | +6 to 1 target; 8d10 damage
• Fireball | 20 ft radius; Dex sv; 8d6 damage
• Grenade Launcher | Excellent writeup!

DM Ben really liked the Grenade Launcher approach from Reddit (by “thomanthony“).

So, we gleamed onto his “Arcane Artillery” suggestion and Frankensteined the stats together:

• Range: 400 feet | Anything over is at disadvantage
• Radius: 10 feet
• To Hit: +8
• Save: Dex DC 12 for half damage.
• Damage: 4d6 force.
• Note: can be outfitted for additional fire, acid & thunder  damage

So there you have it: your first artillery piece that comes on command.