Castle Ravenloft Gargoyles and Wraiths

This is the first of many reviews of the monsters found in the Dungeons and Dragons board-game of Castle Ravenloft. Gargoyles and Wraiths are the two most powerful types of monster you can encounter in Castle Ravenloft. For each type of monster, you get three figures, all identically sculpted.

The Gargoyles look suitably menacing and are quite tall. Their stats are AC16 and 2HP. Killing one grants your character 3 Experience Points.

A Gargoyle's tactics are -
If the Gargoyle is within 1 tile of a Hero, it moves to the closest hero's tile and attacks each Hero on the tile with a whirlwind of Claws.
Otherwise, it does nothing.
A Claws attack has a +8 bonus to hit and causes 2 damage plus inflicts Slowed status on the victim. If the attack misses, it still causes 1 damage. Slowed reduces a hero's Speed rating to 2.

You can't tell from my paint-work that the Wraith figures were made of translucent blue plastic. I gave them a wash of Citadel Drakenhof Nightshade (dark blue) and painted the inside of the Wraiths' robes in black. The skull and hands were painted with Foundry Canvas 8B and highlighted with Foundry Canvas 8C.
Wraiths are classed as Undead and they are fearsome opponents. Their stats are AC15 and 2HP. Killing one grants your Hero 3 Experience Points.

A Wraith's tactics are -
If the Wraith is within 1 tile of a Hero, it moves adjacent to the closest Hero and attacks that Hero with a life-draining Claw.
Otherwise, the Wraith moves 1 tile toward the closest Hero.
A Claw attack gives a +6 bonus to attack and causes 3 damage if it hits or 1 damage if it misses.
Wraiths have a Special Ability - Death Shriek. When this monster is destroyed each Hero on its tile takes 1 damage.
These are the only two monsters in the game to grant a Hero 3 Experience Points for killing one. They are tough opponents - the Wraith, in particular can cause a lot of damage. Gargoyles are nasty if your Hero is within 1 tile of it. Move further away and they are no threat whatsoever.
I like how they have been sculpted and I very nearly left the the Wraith in its translucent blue colour for its robes but in the end I went with a much darker colour scheme. It's more in keeping with my own ideas of what a Wraith should look like.

EM4 Elfsera Undead Figures

I recently had to place an order with EM4 miniatures for some dice for my friend Mathyoo and for some counters for myself. It didn't amount to much so I thought I'd have a look at the figures they sell. Whilst checking out their pre-painted figures boxed sets I discovered amongst their Elfsera 28mm scale fantasy figures this set - set 5, the Undead. I don't know how I hadn't spotted them before. Most probably because I'm not that interested in fantasy figures. I already own some of their pre-painted figure sets and was very impressed with them. Given that I run a blog called "Vampifan's World of the Undead" I simply had to buy this set.

At the far left is a liche. As I said, these are all pre-painted figures and I have done very little work on them. They came with 25mm square slotta-bases but I have glued them to 25mm diameter slotta-bases, to which I have added sand and gravel. The only paintwork I have done on this figure was to add black lines around the bracelet on his right arm to help better define it. Liches are primarily found in fantasy settings so it's unlikely that I'll get much use out of this figure.
The mummy was just perfect so I haven't altered his paintwork at all. All I had to do was paint his base. He's my third favourite figure of this set and he may get used or he may not.
The vampire is almost certain to appear in one of my scenarios. I repainted his teeth and mouth as they didn't have much of a contrast. Other than that, he was fine. I should point out that these figures are made of pewter and not lead. As such, they feel a lot heavier than most metal figures.

Moving on, we come to my least favourite figure in the set - the wraith. I have nothing against the figure per se. He is very well sculpted and painted. It's just that I have even less use for him than the liche, who could always double up as an animated skeleton. Being by far the tallest figure in the set he is also the heaviest.
Finally we come to my favourite figure out of the set and the one whom I shall use the most. Yes, of course, he is the zombie. I repainted his eyes, which were originally red. All of my zombies have white eyes with no pupils showing. I also added some Tamiya Clear Red to his wounds to give them a wet look. When it comes to painting blood and gore on zombies (or most any figure) you simply can't beat TCR. His clothing is more fantasy based than contemporary but I don't think that'll matter if he's just part of a big horde. Who'd notice anyway? Don't answer that, Joe!
In addition to the five figures, the boxed set also included five d20 dice, with skull symbols replacing the number one. Elfsera set 5 - the Undead costs a mere £11.25, which in my opinion, is excellent value for money. They are well sculpted, well painted and you get five free exclusive dice. What's not to like?