Online Store: Star Hat Miniatures (https://starhatminiatures.com/).
Heroic scale fantasy miniatures, sculpted by hand and cast in metal, for your roleplaying and tabletop games.
Yesterday a small and unassuming parcel arrived from Macrocosm with some resin dungeon terrain for me to paint. I really enjoyed giving the Throne of Bones a quack paint job. This is probably my favourite terrain skull-pture to date - it has plenty of detail and took paint from the brush beautifully. I am sure you will think of some humerus puns while painting to tickle the funny bones of your players when you bring it to your gaming table.
By The Power of Greyduck!
Mordux on the Throne of Bones!
The metal Mordux sits comfortably on the resin throne of bones, but you could glue his butt to the seat if you like. I am leaving mine unglued for those times when Mordux is out and about.
Mordux was made available thanks to backers of the DuckQuest Kickstarter and is available for preorder (last week!) on Backerkit.
Time to explore Duckwyrld... where four valiant Heroes of Quackmoor have been summoned by Mandrake, founder of the Guild of Delvers, to do battle with the nefarious Mordux and his evil minions. Seated upon the legendary Throne of Bones, the power of the Duck Lord grows with each passing night. You must boldly descend into the darkest dungeons of Castle Greyduck, defeat the Champions of Chaos and end the wicked rule of Mordux! What's this you ask? More ducks?! Yes!! My latest range of miniatures will now have their very own game. A couple of years ago I sculpted my first duck knight, Sir Drake. That diminutive miniature took me on the journey of a lifetime. A noble crested duck (and the small party that followed him) brought me to the attention of duck-loving gamers around the world. In particular, legendary (Hall of Fame) game designer and artist, Jennell Jaquays. Together we worked on Quack Keep and the small party of ducks grew to a village of quacky characters, Reedy Bend.
Yes, you can paint and play with these miniatures in your own quest games (and especially with settings like Quack Keep!) but after multiple messages asking for more information about Duckwyrld, Quackmoorand Greyduck... I have brought a personal project to this campaign.
It's the thought that came with that original duck knight. What if the ducks of a fantasy world were the main characters? It's what made Quack Keep unique. I called the original party of five "Duck Quest". Like the nursery rhyme; five little ducks went out one day, over the hills and far away. That's a quest, right? Unlike other games where ducks are relegated as side-kicks or comic relief, imagine they're the star players; the heroic explorers on an epic adventure.
It's an idea that didn't go away. The more I looked around, the more I noticed that ducks got a raw deal. Something had to be done. So combining the need for ducks to be represented in a better light and a lifelong dream of writing my own fantasy heartbreaker RPG. I took the plunge and dived in! This is the cover to DuckQuest, with gratitude to Jon Hodgeson for his stunning illustration and Rom Brown (Whippersnapper Artworkz) for the brilliant logo design and layout.
What will be beyond the cover? As much as we can pack into it! This is the opportunity to indulge in a world that takes nothing too seriously but delivers on high adventure and the occasional fowl pun. But wait, there's more...
Magic Mushrooms!
Mercenaries!
Minions!
Crows!
Turtle Warriors!
So what are you waiting for? Come join in the DuckQuest!
Here is a heavy piece of (resin) terrain for your next dungeon crawl. There are times in a sculptor’s life when they do something completely different. I blame Murray. Functions as a temple entrance (Dagon or Cthulhu?), or the throne room of a benthic king, or the janitor’s closet at Star Hat University, or as an inter-planetary gate. Travis loves the versatility.
“The Double Doors of Doom,” Nika whispered in hushed tones, “you open them.” Nanook stared up at the ornate doors with an uneasy feeling, “It’s your turn.” “What, again?” “Yeah, I opened the chest in the last room,” he said. Nika coughed abruptly, “chests don’t count.” “I think we’re being watched,” he said quietly, “and not in a good way…” “Is there ever a good way?” “It’s moving!”
This is my 5th Kickstarter and it's really exciting to have a couple of fantastic sculptors on board. Here are the giants from Anton Ducrot (Flytrap Factory):
Anton's Giants: Milton, Cecil with boar, and Kongeegenan!
Gary Hunt (Gary Hunt Miniatures and Weta) has also gifted his pet Black Dragon to the Law Vs Chaos campaign:
If you see anything you like, or just want to say hello, you're welcome. It only takes NZ$1 (about 50 UK pence or 66 US cents) to become a backer that can comment and be part of the journey.
Casting and shipping are from New Zealand (Regal Enterprises and Star Hat Miniatures), Ohio in the United States (Effin Cool Miniatures) and Gloucestershire (Macrocosm) in the United Kingdom.
Greetings Delvers! With the last of the Duck Dragons flying to new homes around the world, it’s time for the next Kickstarter campaign. Delvers Lost in the Dungeons of Doom V: Law Vs Chaos!
In preparation for the launch I have been sharing photos and video clips of the new sculpts, mainly on the Book of Faces. However, for those who have found my humble gaming blog, here is a Hits To Kill exclusive peek.
As you can see, I have done my best to capture the theme of a great battle between the forces of Law and Chaos. Yes, Rom Brown from WhipperSnapper Artworks and Cult of Game is back to help me with my banners.
Ok, yes, so there is one duck... and a Fowlbear of course - but why wouldn't they turn up to an "end of the world" party? Suffice to say, it's the ultimate battle of Law Vs Chaos and you're all invited! There is a draft campaign page for the next Kickstarter here. Please, do stop by and check it out. You can even leave comments, as I am still fine-tuning it.
Finally, you may have noted I spend a lot of time thanking people? Well, I have a lot to be thankful for. Nothing would've happened two years ago without people around the world backing my first Kickstarter. We certainly wouldn't be here now! Over those two years, I have made new friends (and relied heavily on old friends) who have shared the Star Hat Vision and helped create a place where "Little Things Bring Big Grins!"
For everyone who backed Quack Keep - A thousand thank you's! Everyone of you! And especially... Jennell Jaquays for the amazing Quack Keep journey.
Ian and Allan Farelly at Regal Enterprises.
Elton Waters at Scotia Grendel.
Rom Brown at Whippersnapper Artworkz.
Lewis Morgan (aka Zebong). Grant Stone (Archchancellor of Star Hat University).
Anton Ducrot (FlyTrap Factory).
The Box Trolls!
My beloved wife Deb and our wonderful children.
Remember, if you're painting these miniatures and posting photos online, please tag #StarHatMiniatures so I can see them! Star Hat Miniatures is also on Facebook.
I hope to welcome you back soon for Law Vs Chaos! The Kickstarter campaign launches in a week from now and I have a few surprises in store! Maybe this deserves a fresh blog post? Stay tuned...
Here we are in the final week. What can I say, the support for this Kickstarter has been amazing! Here is the main Dragon Slayer Pledge Reward with 11 miniatures so far and more to come:
I have never reached a point like this in a Kickstarter where I have felt so much passion for (and been committed to) sculpting some of the most wonderful miniatures for you. As you can tell, I really enjoy sculpting. I thank God for this new skill and honestly, there is a satisfaction that comes from creating what my beloved wife calls "little men".
So what's been going on? Well, it's lambing season and we got another set of twins this morning... oh, and we also unlocked Drake, a duck that was inspired by the Durulz from Runequest. Funny thing is, Jennell Jaquays - legendary artist and game designer - found my post on Facebook and shared it. To be complimented by her was an unexpected surprise! However, it was her art that inspired my sculpt...
It was this art by Jennell Jaquays that inspired me to sculpt Drake.
I didn't really know the history of how ducks became part of Runequest but it appears that Archive Miniatures produced a Barbarian Duck and his Lady (before Runequest). Later, Greg Stafford and his friends added the Ducks/Durulz to Glorantha so people could use these miniatures in their games!
Archive Miniatures Duck Barbarian
I had a lot of comments on Facebook and here on Kickstarter about Howard the Duck, mainly the rather weird movie from 1986. Here is the comic that inspired that Duck Barbarian miniature (from 1976!)
Howard's First Appearance in Marvel Comics (with Red Sonja and Spiderman!)
Ducks aside, the next Legendary Hero is bound to make a splash!
Delvers Lost in the Dungeons of Doom III. They're back! More delvers lost in the Dungeons of Doom! This time they're hunting The Dragon!
Feluria & Yako By Luke Butcher
Feluria and Yako were not always the inseparable duo you see today. They both seem to have the same care-free, whimsical attitude about the world.
Yako had always been a prankster, travelling from his favorite fields to create mischief in the nearby sleepy villages. When he judged the time was right, Yako would pull pranks and make it seem like an unsuspecting villager had been the one to pull them.
One day he went too far. Yako made the mistake of digging out a bit of dirt near the town apothecary. This caused a section of the wall to fall out, crashing into the village center, where the well which provided water for the entire village was.
Shelves full of many different concoctions fell into the well, from which erupted an angry water elemental! Polluted by the potions, the once benevolent elemental water elemental demanded the one responsible to come forward and face judgement or it would destroy the whole village.
A frightened apprentice stumbled from the rubble, drenched in the perfume of various salves and ointments, while terrified villagers stood rooted in terror. Just as the water elemental was about to pass judgement Yako leaped in between the two; facing down the elemental and conveying he was the one responsible.
The sentence for polluting a water spirit was death and Yako knew this. He was fine with people taking the fall for petty pranks but letting someone die from his tom-foolery was out of the question. As Yako stood there ready to accept his fate, a fairy appeared and petitioned to be his guardian!
Feluria had been tailing Yako for a very long time, albeit unseen from afar as his occasional companion. Upon birth intelligent beings such as Yako are assigned a watcher fae (as they can be destructive if uncared for).
Being a watcher was common enough. A fae becoming a guardian was by far a more rare occurrence. They had to feel a true sense of empathy for a creature; which could be difficult considering how often their view of the mortal world shifted. Yako took after Feluria's own heart; a spirit of nobility and liberty that knows no bounds.
Whether moved by Yako's gesture or Feluria's plea it remains unknown. The elemental allowed Yako to live but only as long as they were bound as mistress and familiar. Ever since that fateful day Feluria and Yako have been inseparable, though sometimes only by force of the magical bond set upon them.
The funding from this Kickstarter will pay for the moulds and casting of at least 8 new miniatures. Legendary Hero pledge backers will unlock more miniatures from 5k onwards. Reaching 10k funding will unleash The Dragon!
Delvers Lost in the Dungeons of Doom III. They're back! More delvers lost in the Dungeons of Doom! This time they're hunting The Dragon!
The Long, Sad Tale of Horsepuncher Jones By Grant Stone
Not every halfling has the luxury of a loving uncle or occasional visits by an indulgent wizard. As a rule, halflings are happy to sit, to smoke and drink, and enjoy each other's company. But every now and then, there's a halfling who just doesn't fit.
Lortho Balbins was a halfling of unusual cynicism, more mocking and arrogant than most. Those who knew him would say he was a hard halfling to love. Even his own mother had been known on occasion to refer to him as "a bit of a dick". Lortho's face was twisted in a continual sneer, and he held himself as if he had coconuts in his breeches.
Eventually, Lortho felt he had outgrown his home. Or perhaps his home had tired of him: it was communicated to him, by coughs and raised eyebrows and missing invitations to certain parties, that he was no longer welcome. So one evening he left his front door and the valley of his home, stopping only to break into the house of the most famous halfling, steal some blood-stained armour from his study and piss on his gate. Then he made his way into the night.
If Lortho thought he would find a warmer welcome in the world of men, he was soon disappointed. Halflings were rarely taken seriously, but at least the charming and eager-to-please nature of most of them, combined with their willingness to share their strongest pipeweed, they could often find employment in the hospitality trade. Lortho thought he might be able to do the same, but his arrogant demeanor did not go over well with either tavern keepers or quiet drinkers. The best he could do was earn a few coppers as a stable boy, but even this was doomed to failure. Lortho had never before seen the mounts of humans and elves. At the first appearance of such a giant beast, snorting and stamping in the stable doorway, Lortho was terrified. He was found several hours later by the barman, curled up in the corner of the far stable, whimpering.
Dismissed from employ, Lortho continued to travel. He moved further into the world of men. The cities he travelled to grew larger, as did the four-legged monsters the men rode. If Lortho were to have any hope of surviving in this world, he needed to find a way to avoid these beasts.
By the time he arrived in the next city, he was calling himself Horsepuncher Jones. For a while things looked up. He was treated, if not with respect, at least with a little more wariness. After all, someone called Horsepuncher Jones was clearly not a person to mess with. But he still needed to eat and his new name was an employment issue. Nobody wanted to order their lunch from a halfling waiter with a face like his, particularly if he gave his name as Horsepuncher.
Eventually Horsepuncher found himself falling in with the lowest parts of society. The rag-thieves, and cart-tippers, the false cripples and goat-renters. But his pride would not let him stay. He wanted money. More, he wanted to return to his valley a rich man, pulling his fortune behind him in a series of carts. For a Halfling such as Horsepuncher, there was one option.
He fell in with a band of adventurers, brigands who travelled to delicate underground ecosystems, trampling flora and murdering fauna in a never-ending, and often futile search for treasure. What gold they did find was spent on healing broken bones and repairing broken weapons. No matter how many times he dove into those black, fetid caves, Horsepuncher never seemed to make any money.
Finally, his luck, never in abundant supply, ran out. Lost below ground, his party scattered and barely sober, Horsepuncher stumbled into a nest of very large, very angry rats. They climbed up his legs, crawled under his stolen armour and bit him into blackness.
It should have ended there. Pointlessly dead and bound for halfling heaven where, like any other meeting of his kind, he could expect to be shunned and eventually disinvited. But there was no light in the sky, the amber of fresh beer. Instead, Horsepuncher woke at the mouth of a sewer near the city, body covered in scars but otherwise untouched.
He stumbled out, wincing into the morning sun, wondering what had happened. It was early and the moon was still in the sky, waning, just a slice falling behind the hills. He felt strong, as if he'd enjoyed a hearty meal. Perhaps, Horsepuncher thought, he'd had a lucky escape, the first of his life. Perhaps things were going to go his way from now on. He continued to feel that way for a few weeks.
Then the moon rose full and Horsepuncher realised his woes were just beginning.
The funding from this Kickstarter will pay for the moulds and casting of at least 8 new miniatures. Legendary Hero pledge backers will unlock more miniatures from 5k onwards. Reaching 10k funding will unleash The Dragon!
My latest RPG rulebook. A plethora of random tables within!
What happens when you create two successful Kickstarters, sculpt a few dozen miniatures and launch a new hobby business? You get less time to share your hobby on the good old Hits To Kill blog, that's what! Lewis mentioned the lack of recent activity as I was enjoying a break from my Dungeon Master role last night. The regular Monday Night crew were put through a Dungeon Crawl Classics funnel that Lewis had written himself. It's a fantastic module that will most likely see it's own Kickstarter before Christmas. We were all having a ball,
So what do we play on Monday Nights? D&D, AD&D, DCC, Traveller, Wasteman, Road Wolf, Star Wars, Mordheim, Warhammer 40k, Epic, Bolt Action, Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, and many more commercial and homebrew tabletop RPGs and wargames. We have even played Adventure Time Munchkin! There are plenty of rulebooks (Tunnels & Trolls, Dragon Quest, Rune Quest, MERP, GURPS, etc.) on the shelves that don't come down but hey, I guess we will wait and see. In particular I would love to play Paranoia and Dragon Warriors sometime in the near future. Blair's Traveller campaign would morph into Paranoia easily enough. Although I could easily drop the AD&D characters into Alpha Complex!
I can tell you that for me, the game system doesn't matter. The players matter. Oh, yes, every one of them can referee like a boss (and they bring that mastery to the way they play). More importantly we compete, collaborate and create memorable experiences. I feel blessed to know them and share Monday nights in worlds beyond our own. Sound soppy? Well, it should. Sometimes Monday night is what gets me though the week!
So, here you go Lewis... an update! What's happened since the last post here at the end of February?
March rolled by with plenty of communication with Ian and Allan Farley at Regal Enterprises. They handle all my casting and the metal masters are the first step towards sharing my creations with gamers around the globe. Holding my creations in metal is almost as exciting as sculpting the originals out of putty.
Some of the Metal Masters.
I also tried unsuccessfully to get a license to sculpt characters from the DCC rulebooks. Alas Goodman Games weren't ready to let their characters go. They allowed me to keep Hugh for personal use though. I painted him and gave him to Lewis, I gave away the unpainted metal extras from the spin casting to the backers as a unexpected gift. He won't be available for sale.
An Unofficial Tribute to Hugh.
April saw the launch of a Star Hat Miniatures website. As a life-long gamer and collector/painter of classic metal fantasy miniatures, I now also enjoy sculpting miniatures for tabletop games. Star Hat Miniatures was born in 2016, after a successful Kickstarter campaign: Delvers Lost in the Dungeons of Doom! A second Kickstarter (Delvers Lost in the Dungeons of Doom! 2!!) launched early in 2017 expanded the initial range of figures to 30 odd weird and wonderful adventurers, ready for your gaming table.
I painted these for pledge backers of the Ken St. Andre Troll.
If you see anything you like, or are interested in having your own favourite fantasy character sculpted, please contact me via social media. Because I live in New Zealand (a stone throw from Hobbiton), and all miniatures are cast to order, it may take a few weeks for your order to get to you.
These miniatures are also available at Game Centre in Hamilton, New Zealand. Game Centre also stock a fine variety of brushes and paints for all your hobby requirements.
May was a fantastic month! The unpainted pledges from the 2nd Kickstarter were packed with care and sent to their new homes with help from the Box Trolls: Dave, Blair, and Greg. It was awesome to deliver on time! I also traveled to Taupo for Queen's Birthday Weekend to attend LexiCon - an opportunity to hang with some Sci-fi and Fantasy fanatics.
Lewis, John and I were part of a panel that talked about roleplaying games and miniatures. It was cool to see Lewis fill a table with his work so far. A massive dungeon filled with special terrain, trappings and miniatures.
Dungeon of Doom Kickstarter
June is here! A week ago a new Kickstarter launched that has me conflicted: Dungeon of Doom. However, I do believe this is the best terrain available in the US (or anywhere really) - Dwarven Forge is amazing and Stefan Pokorny is an inspiration!
So where is the feeling of conflict coming from? Shipping entire dungeons to New Zealand costs a Dwarven King's randsom! Long ago, Lewis came to me with this Kickstarter: Dwarven Forge's Game Tiles: Revolutionary Miniature Terrain. I said it looked great but since we live in New Zealand, it would cost a ton to get it here... hey, let's just make our own! The result?
We (er, by 'we' I mean 'ew', as in Lewis) make our own terrain (from wood, cardboard and goblin entrails) here and I think that's how it's going to stay unless a 3D printer magically appears one day in the Man Shed...
The Delvers Lost in the Dungeons of Doom! are not related to Stefan's Dungeon of Doom but I received this photo from a backer that showed how well they go together:
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How does our DWARVEN FORGERY™ compare? Here are some photos from last night's game:
May was a fantastic month! The unpainted pledges from the 2nd Kickstarter were packed with care and sent to their new homes with help from the Box Trolls: Dave, Blair, and Greg. It was awesome to deliver on time! I also traveled to Taupo for Queen's Birthday Weekend to attend LexiCon - an opportunity to hang with some Sci-fi and Fantasy fanatics.
May was a fantastic month! The unpainted pledges from the 2nd Kickstarter were packed with care and sent to their new homes with help from the Box Trolls: Dave, Blair, and Greg. It was awesome to deliver on time! I also traveled to Taupo for Queen's Birthday Weekend to attend LexiCon - an opportunity to hang with some Sci-fi and Fantasy fanatics. 
