Protect the Money!

On our sister Facebook page last week, we teased a new Construct bodyguard for The Forgotten Rails. Today, we thought we would expand on this mighty miniature and how it can fit into our Hovertrain campaign setting! Fall in!

Our first bodyguard miniature build featured an imposing Construct (aka the Veneranda villain from Rime of Frostmaiden) that DM Ben decided to assign to one of the 3M Cofounders: Leeland Farce (the magic). The three co-founders have a love-hate relationship and naturally don’t trust one another. So much so that the paranoid Wizard built his bodyguards using some of his mysterious magic. That hasn’t sat well with the rest of the Hovertrain consortium.

Well, not to be outdone, Cornelius Fitzwalter (the money) wanted to ensure he had his own proper security, completely untethered from everyone else. The only problem is he couldn’t reach out to Leeland Farce or Collis Strut (the muscle) because there’s no way to know if they’ve done something shifty with his Constructs order. He has nightmares where they could suddenly turn on him and attack!

So, Cornelius and his towering bank account turned to Waterdeep’s best gnome, tinkerer Tink Urbelle, to build him his own “army of Constructs.” Being built by an independent party ensured no one could pull a fast one. Of course, his security team can’t possess the raw power of Farce’s intimidating bodyguards, but he can use his gold to overwhelm them with numbers while he runs off to safety.

Our STL search led us straight to another free download by mz4250 and these adorable little Tin Soldiers. We even got two different poses, which made this a perfect pick. Rich guys love to throw their money around, so it would make sense for Sir Fitzwalter to have these little metalheads running all around him. It’s the same sort of idea as the original droid soldiers from Star Wars Episode 1. They were never the smartest fighters on the battlefield, but their tactics were quite simple – overwhelm the enemy.

Novice painter DM Ben took a wholehearted shot at coloring these pesky little guys up, and it was a challenge. His 53-year-old eyes and Wisconsin sausage fingers weren’t doing him any favors here. Still, they’re at least presentable, don’t you think?! He’ll have to 3D-print another set or two, but we have a solid paint scheme, so things should go quicker next time.

Regarding the overall look, DM Ben immediately thought of the Pope’s Vatican guards when he initially saw mz4250’s cool sculpts. Don’t those puffy sleeves remind you of the Pontifical Swiss Guard? He used The Army Painter Metallic Speedpaints (except for the boots, which were done in Citadel Contrast Snakebite Leather). Of course, we’ll include these minis in a future Coloring Constructs paint guide.

DM Ben envisions a future encounter in which Omin Dran will summon all three members of 3M to air out some issues at Acquisitions Incorporated’s HQ. It’s rare for all four to be in a room together because so much is at stake if anything happens. Still, sometimes Sending Stones won’t do, and the brain trust must meet in person. So, then you have this cool gameboard set up where each co-founder marches in with their bodyguards, and you can cut the tension with a knife. Man, that is gonna be such a fun encounter!

Now, all we have left is our blacksmith’s strongarmed entourage. Collis Strutt certainly won’t allow his two rivals to outdo him in any way, shape, or form. He can build anything, so his security Constructs need to be epic. We have a couple of ideas but are still mulling them over here. Thankfully, EC3D Designs’ Ghost City Kickstarter and Novus Landing Kickstarter are giving us plenty of options! We’ll share our favs in a future DnD blog post.

Until next time!