Scratch Print

Greetings, fellow monster hunters! Another work week is upon us, and that leaves just four days before we drop weekend dice again. So, let’s get you a free download to spin up prior to your next game day! You could even get two 3D prints if you have the time and resin.

Deciding which initial Wandering Monster list to attach this week’s baddies to was quite the office debate. We ultimately concluded that mosquitoes are outside dwellers and then come inside to fuel up. Still, you can drop these guys in a swamp, in a wooded forest, in a dark cavern, and even in a damp dungeon. Monster placement flexibility abounds!

Stumbling upon and inadvertently disturbing a monster’s lair is a DnD tale as old as time. That “oh no – what did we just do?” moment when the group suddenly realizes that their curiosity has got the best of them never really gets old. Even better, you can scale up or down this encounter depending on how much craft time you have.

Today’s featured minis come courtesy of the mighty Schlossbauer, who once again gives us another free download to grow our never-ending library of monsters. These pesky Mosquito Larvae give you all the annoying bites you need to set up a wandering monster encounter that gets out of hand in a big hurry.

DM Ben had these primed and ready to roll months ago, but he just couldn’t settle on a paint scheme he was comfortable with. It’s not exactly easy to visualize Mosquito Larvae. Besides, 3DRPG Studios is based in sunny Chandler, AZ, and we’re blessed not to run into these bug biters very often.

Still, our Google search technique for potential paint scheme suggestions has been working so well lately that he just decided to trust their paint step suggestions and slip in a few colors of his own.

• Prime Flat Black | Slapchop base.
• Body P1: ASP Maggot Skin.
• Body P2: Highlight with FAN Brainmatter Beige.
• Body P3: FAN Military Shade Wash.
• Protrusions: ASP Pallid Bone.
• Head: ASP Gravelord Grey.
• Face: ASP Holy White.
• Eyes: ASP Blood Red.
• All: GSW Gloss Varnish (for a wet, hatchling look).

We tend to shy away from using shades of black on our miniatures, but since DM Ben was suffering from some paint paralysis, he decided not to overthink everything. It’s not like someone can hold up a perfect museum portrait of these Mosquito Larvae and cry foul! 😉

Nothing spells success after a completed paint sesh more than when you come up with a new color combo that you know has legs for future applications. And that’s right where we netted out with this buggy green baby. This fun shade of green will be perfect for future creatures – friendly or adversarial. Army Painter has so many amazing washes, and this was the first time we tried that Military Shade, which sings on ASP Maggot Skin.

With regards to our Mosquito Larvae DnD 5e stat block, this was a trickier search because just about everything was positioned as a swarm, and these particular miniatures are well past their tiny stage. The closest we stumbled upon was this Carrier Mosquito by World Anvil. Our Larvae aren’t fully formed, so their flying mechanic just didn’t make sense here.

So, then we found this Giant Mosquito Creature by Pyroka3D. He actually made a really slick STL, and you can download it for free here. He even added some DnD 5e stats (AC 18, HP 63, Att: Proboscis +6/2d6+2, Bash att +6, 1d6+2 for a fully formed creature. So, since these nasty buggers haven’t completed their full transformation, DM Ben will just lower the AC to 14 and hit points to half 33. However, it would be fun to have a few of them turn into full blood suckers during combat!

So, we’ll give this one a go in the coming weeks and see how it comes out. Should be a fun follow-up post!

Until next time!