Sunday 8 February 2015

SDE Scenery Items 01

Today I am going to review two important elements of the Super Dungeon Explore game - Spawning Points and Treasure Chests.
There are two types of Spawning Points found in the basic game - Kobold Warrens and an Egg Clutch. Spawning Points do not move, have an Armour value of 1 and a Wound value of 3. Their main function is to spawn monsters but they also have a secondary role, which I'll mention later.
The 4 Kobold Warrens must be fielded in pairs. I painted two with orange lava flows and two with red lava flows to differentiate between the two pairs. Each Kobold Warren can spawn a combination of 1 Dragon Priest, 2 Flingers, 3 Gougers, 2 Ironscales and 2 Knuckleheads.
Usually, each Spawning Point can spawn 4 Skulls worth of monsters. Dragon Priests cost 3 Skulls per figure, Ironscales cost 2 Skulls per figure and the other Kobolds cost 1 Skull each. Skulls are a measure of how powerful the monster is. These are all 8-Bit monsters and so can be spawned at any time in the game, providing the Spawning Point hasn't been destroyed. When the 16-Bit level is reached on the Adventure Tracker the Mini-Boss, Rex the Kobold Ogre, may be spawned from any of the Kobold Warrens Spawning Points. Rex costs 4 Skulls to spawn.
The Egg Clutch Spawning Point, shown in the middle of my photos, spawns the Dragonkin monsters - a combination of 2 Hatchlings, 2 Whelps and 2 Wyrmlings. Wyrmlings cost 2 Skulls per figure, whilst the Hatchlings and Whelps cost 1 Skull per figure. Spawning takes place every Turn at the beginning of the Consul's Turn. Note that the purple amethyst crystals have been gloss varnished to give them a nice shiny look.
SDE comes with five Treasure Chests. Treasure Chests contain magical relics denoted by a deck of Treasure Cards. These ancient relics are more powerful then the ordinary Loot Items that can be found in a dungeon. As with the spawning points, only one chest is allowed per dungeon tile. Once a Treasure Chest has been searched it is removed from the game.
At the far right are the dreaded Boo Booty! Treasure Chests. Boo Booty! disguises itself as a Treasure Chest but it is actually one of the Consul's more fiendish monsters. Once revealed by the deck of Treasure Cards it must be fought just like any other monster. If defeated, the Hero is allowed to draw another Treasure Card to see just what relic Boo Booty! was hiding, and yes, he or she does get to keep the relic.
Spawning Points play a major part in the game and are key to winning or losing. They help the Consul in two ways. First, and most obviously, they spawn monsters every Turn. Secondly, once the Dungeon Boss arrives they no longer spawn monsters. Instead, they allow the Dungeon Boss to activate twice per Turn. As long as at least one Spawning Point is still active when the Dungeon Boss arrives, he gets this bonus every Turn. Multiple Spawning Points do not grant the Dungeon Boss multiple bonus Turns. As I found out the hard way, this is bad news for the Heroes. I can't stress enough how important it is for the Heroes to destroy all of the Spawning points before the Dungeon Boss arrives.
The Loot Items that the Heroes can find in the dungeon are useful and helpful in aiding them to defeat the Consul. But the magic relics found in the Treasure Chests are far more powerful. Use them wisely as some relics are more useful to certain types of Heroes than others. Note that when a Hero finds a relic item, he or she may give it to any Hero or keep it for him or herself. However, all Heroes are only allowed one relic item each.

30 comments:

  1. Wonderful stuff Bryan. How did you get those lava flows to look so lava-ish!?! Presumably pure paint in the grooves with a heavily watered-down wash afterwards. They look very good. Thoroughly enjoying your explanations too. This series of posts is fast becoming the one-shop SDE stop for me. Keep 'em coming... my boxed set has arrived I just need to find some time to get the critters glued together :-)

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    1. Many thanks, Simon. I'm really pleased that your own copy of the game has arrived. I spent well over an hour gluing the figures together but I very much enjoyed the experience. Just remember, superglue is your friend! And dry fit everything first before applying glue.

      As for my lava flow effects, I painted the lava last of all. I first dry-brushed the areas around the grooves with a dark red and dark orange. Then I carefully painted all the grooves in white paint to make the actual lava stand out better. Finally, I painted the grooves again in bright orange and bright red with a bigger brush that filled the grooves and went over onto the sides of the grooves. I hope that helps.

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  2. Very imaginative, a treasure chest with teeth that attacks you Hahaha like it a lot, nice job mate.

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    1. Boo Booty! is a nasty critter who can be a very unpleasant surprise for the heroes. He just adds to the fun of the game.

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  3. Now this are very cute I like the lava effects and I really like the purple crystal effects how did you do that with glazes?

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    1. Thanks, Robert. I've never painted crystals before so this was very much trial and error for me. I painted each facet separately in various shades of purple, mixing in the colours whilst the paint was still wet. Then I very carefully edged each facet in white paint. When the paint was dry, I gave it a coat of gloss varnish. It wasn't easy but I am happy with the result.

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  4. Cracking paint job Bryan. The crystals are amazing, awesome job. The lava flows are looking great too. Lots of practice for painting bones too. I love the various metals you've used on the treasure chests.

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    1. Many thanks for the kind words, Bob. They all came out far better than I could have hoped for. I guess if you're painting something you genuinely love then you can't help but give it your best shot.

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  5. Those are really cool nice one Bryan. Love purple tones on the throne

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    1. Cheers, Simon. I like the way the purple tones came out as well.

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  6. Maaan d they look great!!! The crystals came out really cool!

    Again well done mate

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    1. Thanks, Johnny. Painting this crystal feature on the Egg Clutch Spawning Point stood me in good stead for painting crystals on some of my other SDE figures, which you'll see in the future.

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    2. Oooh... looking forward to them

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  7. Lovely brushwork and colors on these!

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  8. Slightly strange terrain (lava pouring from a skull?!), but nicely painted.

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  9. Nice work Bryan, love the treasure chests!

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  10. When I stared painting the SDE stuff, I began with the characters themselves. It never occurred to me to paint the totems and chest. I guess that's no surprise seeing I rarely have time to play board games nowadays. :( Nice work by the way! :)

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    1. Funnily enough, FEM, the spawning points and treasure chests were the first figures I painted. As for playing games (board games and miniature gaming) I'm actively making time to play. My New year's resolution to play more games is looking good!

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  11. Sorry Bryan and no offence meant but I just cannot get on with this chibblie (or whatever style) but I can appreciate your painting.

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    1. I know you and some others don't like the Chibi style and that's okay by me. We all collect the figures and play the games we like. If others don't like them, then so be it. Live and let live. I'm a big fan of SDE and the Chibi style and I won't stop my posts just because of some naysayers. Peace and understanding, man!

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  12. Excellent Bryan, you are completely correct, the Spawning Points and the Treasure Chests are vital to the game, and subsequently, are also worth that extra attention as well, in making them look that little bit more special when it comes to painting them to look suitably atmospheric for the game.... this you have, as always, done admirably (in Fact, you have excelled yourself this time).

    The Spawning Points are one of my favourite Super Dungeon Explore miniature types; made even more special to me by the fact there are (to date) three different types to use in the game: one for the generic critters (Kobolds etc), one for the grim Undead, and another (Egg Clutch) type for the Dragon hatchling monstrosities.

    I especially enjoyed painting all these with my wife, as they are, truly, a major focal point (aesthetic eye candy) for the board set up, and play a big role in any game.

    The treasure chests you have painted look suitably awesome Bryan, I really like how you`ve done them. Actually, after wifey saw yours, she got me to go back and do a touch up job on the ones she had painted, to improve them... which I did, and now they look a lot better (thanks for the motivation you gave us to go back and do that, end of the day, it made a huge difference to our collection).

    The Boo Booty are a straight take off from the Dungeons and Dragons `Mimic`, which in turn is stolen from Terry Pratchett`s Disc World creature “Luggage”. But I really like Super Dungeon Explore`s take on this critter; which almost by-passes the D&D version and feels more in tune with the original Disc World creation. Super stuff, and your paint job on the BB is awesome.

    Your rule tips and in play advice is spot on, and, I`d say, is would be very helpful to all newbies to the game looking to experience their first few excursions into the dungeon depths. Full of atmospheric snippets of survival tactics to help the fledgling adventurer survive to tell their tales... in fact, your words of advice ARE, effectively, a survivors tale of how to enter the dungeon and live, hehe ^^

    Sweet stuff Bry`.

    Steve :)

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    1. Awesome comment, Steve! I always make it a point to lavish as much care and attention to my scenery items as my figures. After all, scenery helps bring any game "alive." Even though SDE is a board-game with minis, I still wanted the scenery to look good.

      Actually, to date there are more then the four Spawning Points available. The Undead Spawning Points come in two flavours, although both can spawn undead, and there are the Caverns of Roxor Spawning Points for Flame Monsters and the Rock Top Turtles, which you forgot to mention. I've got all of them painted already.

      I'm glad you and Hils liked my Treasure Chests so much that you were inspired to repaint your own. That is so cool!

      You are spot on about the origins of Boo Booty! I fondly remember both the Mimic and Terry Pratchett's "Luggage." Boo Booty! really appeals to me and I love the figure and the concept of him.

      I'm happy to pass on any hints and tips for surviving the dungeon that I can. I've noticed there is a lack of advice on tactics for SDE out there. Sure, there are plenty of tutorials on how to play the game, especially on You Tube. The one thing I learned very quickly is that it is so easy to lose sight of the main objective - killing the Dungeon Boss. As a Hero, your chances of defeating him rise immeasurably if you can destroy ALL of the Spawning points before he arrives. Never forget that!

      Thanks for taking the time out to leave such a full and fascinating comment.

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  13. ... I mean of there are three Spawning Points in the base game. There are, of course, more in follow up expansions.

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  14. Not as flashy as the heroes, but just as important to the game!

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