The Snow Spirit Cuteness Compels You!

Well, hello, Miniature Monday! It’s always a delight to bump into you to start our week off with a DnD bang! Don’t look now, but we think we’re being watched in the cutest of ways.

While we’ve never really met a TTRPG miniature we didn’t like, we always enjoy those mysterious ones that seem to be following us as we travel to our next mission point in our DnD adventures. We think these peculiar little creatures certainly fit that curiosity bill.

Our inspiration today comes from the beloved Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and those adorbs Ewoks on Endor. We especially liked the initial scene when Leia first encounters the feisty Wicket after a tumble off her speeder bike. We’re really into outdoor forest encounters, so when we grabbed today’s featured STL file, we knew a homebrewed encounter was almost certainly on the horizon.

We originally found this cuddly but mighty Snow Spirit miniature by Dragon Trapper’s Lodge during their 2024 12 Days of Christmas promotion. They did one free DnD mini a day for 12 days, and it was heavenly. Really hoping they do it again this year! Be sure to watch their Instagram for upcoming announcement details.

We didn’t even initially realize that there are five different creatures in the Frosthearth Lodge set, so we’ll ultimately be using a Black Friday code to snatch them up at 60% off.

DM Ben volunteered to try these out as he wanted to test drive a new fur paint scheme tutorial he watched on YouTube. Rob Paints Board Game Miniatures did a polar bear tutorial, and he was itching to try it out. We rarely nail professional painter guides, but they always give us a fantastic starting point, while removing some of that initial “color picking” anxiety.

We also increased the STL size slightly here so that these new spy guy miniatures occupy a full d20 square. And we thought that a more neutral, clear base gave us the most flexibility in encounters.

We forgot our trusty painting journal notebook on the kitchen counter (Mondays…am I right?), so we promise to circle back tomorrow morning and update our specific paint steps. However, they loosely went like so:

• Prime Flat Black | SlapChop Base.
• Layer on GSW Skull Linen Dipping Ink.
• Drybrush GSW Grey Mist Dipping Ink.
• Remaining steps coming on 11-18.

Shockingly, ol’ YouTuber Rob sorta sours on GSW Dipping Inks, which is crazy to novice painters like us because we have found them to be particularly awesome and the perfect complement to Army Painter Speedpaints and Citadel Contrast Paints. Of course, to each his own.

Winter, snow, and ice encounters are rather rare for us and our two DnD Campaigns. With so many other more common TTRPG environments like caverns, dungeons, deserts, villages, and even Hovertrains, it’s just low on our task lists. Hence, we didn’t want polar bear white per se, and instead, opted for a dirtier white fur so we can use them in multiple settings.

Now, there isn’t a Snow Spirit DnD 5e monster stat block, but DM Ben plans on reskinning a beefed-up Kobold, Bugbear, or Dwarf, all of which are excellent starting points.

We lost a few spear bottoms during all the printing and painting brew-ha, but oh well, we think a smaller spear still works here. Throwing away 3D prints because of some inadvertent snappage never sits well with us, so we either try to save them or donate them to our local game store for others to bring them back to life!

Lastly, there’s nothing to say these fury creatures are the enemy. These mysterious furballs could come to the party’s rescue in a mismatched fight! DM Ben is planning to introduce them midway through a forest battle that isn’t going the party’s way, and then give each player a stat card so they get to control one.

These smiling fellas would also be prime candidates for our Kinda, Sorta, Portal encounter series or even a one-shot Christmas game with the fam!

Until next time!