Wednesday 25 November 2015

Castle Ravenloft Kobolds

This is my last post reviewing the Monsters from the Castle Ravenloft board-game. However, I have only reviewed four of the eight Villains of the game. Still to come are the Flesh Golem, Howling Hag, Zombie Dragon and best of all, Gravestorm the Dracolich. The figures of the Kobolds in Castle Ravenloft stand about 15mm tall and come on smaller diameter bases than the other figures. Three Kobold Skirmishers are led by Klak, the Kobold Sorcerer. Let's take a closer look at them.
Klak, the Kobold Sorcerer oversees Lord Strahd's arcane experiments. He is a sneaky git who is hard to pin down. He is a Level 5 Villain and activates at the start of each Villain Phase. His stats are AC14 and 6HP.
Klak's tactics are -
If Klak is on a tile with an unexplored edge, draw a tile from the bottom of the Dungeon Tile stack and place it adjacent to the unexplored edge. The active Hero places a new Monster on the new tile.
If Klak is on a tile with a Hero, he attacks each Hero on the tile with a burst of Fire.
If Klak is on a tile with a Monster, activate that Monster.
Otherwise, Klak teleports. Place him on the closest tile with an unexplored edge. 
A Fire attack gives a +8 bonus to hit and causes 1 damage, as well as placing the Hero 1 tile away from his or her tile. 
Kobolds are classed as reptiles in the game and so I painted them with scaly green skin (actually Foundry Bright Green 25). Their armour was painted in Foundry Spearpoint 35C and given a wash of Citadel Seraphim Sepia.
The stats for a Kobold Skirmisher are AC13 and 1 HP.  Killing one earns a Hero 1 Experience Point.
The Kobold Skirmisher's tactics are:
If the Kobold is within 1 tile of a Hero, it attacks the closest Hero with a thrown Javelin.
Otherwise, the Kobold moves 1 tile toward the closest Hero.
A Javelin gives a +9 bonus to hit and causes 1 Damage. 
I like these figures a lot. For sure, they are rather weak but they are still a menace. Klak reminds me of Yoda if he had turned to the dark side of the Force! 

17 comments:

  1. nice, Kobolds are always meant to be just a nuisance rather than super deadly! i like the minis they're very characterful :)

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  2. I like what you have done with the figures.
    personally I think Kobolds are usually underplayed, very few D&D refs ever play them with intelligence. They are usually just weak monsters for low level characters to butcher.

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    1. Cheers, Clint. Once again, I'm in complete agreement with you.

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  3. Bryan, I've never really understood why, but Kobolds are by far my fave D&D creature, and your wonderful paint-jobs on these little fellas are absolutely terrific. I especially like the facial expressions you've given them. Great stuff :-)

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    1. I must admit that I, too, have a fondness for Kobolds as well. They are much maligned and as Clint said, quite often mismanaged by DMs. I really enjoyed painting the little fellas.

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  4. They are cute little buggers Bryan! Pretty green meat for the Herogrinder Dude!

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    1. I don't think they'd appreciate being called "cute," Bob. Lol! In one game I played a single Kobold Skirmisher administered the killing blow to a Hero. They're not to be underestimated!

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  5. Lovely painting on some very characterful models, Bryan. I especially like Klak, although he does look like he's ordering something -"I'll have a dozen glazed and a decaff latte...Apologies for the blood on the gold, the last owner was a little...careless." Both the Dunkin Donuts concession stand and the Castle Ravenloft gift shop tiles mysteriously went missing just prior to the game going to the printers...
    Regards Jez

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    1. Lovely comment, Jez, that brought a smile to my face. I think you've summed up Klak perfectly well.

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  6. Strangely, I had always thought that Kobolds were dog-derivatives, not mini lizardmen. So, Kermit's ancestors then? Oh, well, something new learnt every day...

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    1. "Kermit's ancestors" - laughing my ass off, Hugh!

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  7. Kobolds are one of my all time favourite `iconic` D&D Monsters. What is so very cool about them in the Dungeons and Dragons Adventure System Game is a very subtle thing they do on the game`s built in artificial intelligence (AI), called "Sentry". They have a nasty habit (when activated) of acting like guards, and when hero comes into view, they attempt to rush to the edge of the tile they currently occupy and shout for reinforcements to come to their aid; effectively pulling more monsters into the
    fight.

    I just love these little critters.

    Lovely paint job Bryan, suitably green and scaly looking. God don`t you just love Kobolds. I know I do.

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    1. I do love Kobolds, Steve. You should underestimate them at your peril. "Sentry" sounds like a thoroughly nasty ability to give them if you're playing a hero but so cool if you're the dungeon master. Even in SDE, with their Mob ability, I've known them to take out a powerful Hero.

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  8. Nice fodder for the heroes to plough there way through. Great paint job on them they look really good.

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    1. Many thanks, Simon. I was delighted with their paint jobs.

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