Every year the Curis Christmas list (or “Curistmas list”) features swathes of miniatures suggestions. Family assume I’m no longer a teenage nerd (haha! half true!) and that I can’t possibly still want tiny toy soldiers. However, me and a group of miniature-loving friends arranged a Secret Santa so there was a teenage nerd present under the tree on 25th December.

ADD6 Paladin and Gobslob the Bugbear from Citadel Miniatures.

The Dungeons & Dragons Paladin was gifted (thank you anonymous Santa) on the condition it was painted before the day the festive surfeit of Baileys was finished. I painted him alongside the Bugbear as that’s the first of the monsters needed to run the Lost Mine of Phandelver scenario from the 5E D&D starter set.

This Paladin is such a thin miniature, he’s almost a Paper Mario character.

Everything on the Paladin is a sculpted texture. All the armour panels are festooned in splodgy texture. The cloak is splodgy fur texture on one side and splodgy abstract tree texture on the other. It makes his overall form difficult to read as it’s a mound of details akin to a Michael Bay Transformer design. On the plus side it does make him gloriously quick to paint, and I could spend a load of time on the only smooth surface – the plastic shield. I painted a rampant griffon design, hinting he’s a distant relation of Lord Weuere in my Norman army.

Drool-worthy painting?



“Gobslob” is the Bugbear from Citadel Miniatures’ 1983 Dungeon Monster starter set. With a name like that he had to have a big bit of drool hanging out of his mouth. It’s made by melting blister pack into transparent stringy goo with a soldering iron, then dribbling contact adhesive down it. Though I assumed the glue would remain clear when dry, it went a cloudy green colour. I’ve decided to run with this and say Gobslob has an excessively bacterial mouth.

Sir Griffiths du Filigrann lost in a mine, somewhere in Phandalin.



Congratulations to Asslessman and Rochie for getting their Secret Santa miniatures painted and blogged too. Now on to paint more of the monsters needed to run Lost Mine of Phandelver.