I tried making my own tiles with my Hirst Arts molds, and while the results were pretty decent, I had some issues with them. The pieces were large, heavy and somewhat delicate, making them difficult to store. I eventually sold the tileset I'd made for Castle Ravenloft, and looked for something else.
Some of the tiles I'd made using Hirst Arts molds.
I'd heard of Dwarven Forge for many years, but they were always out of my price range. After becoming a Software Developer I was able to justify the higher cost of the sets, although I'm still hesitant to spend a lot in one go. I bought a painted cavern set in dwarvenite and was surprised by how big the pieces were, but also by how I could probably achieve a similar paintjob without too much effort. I was also very impressed with the durability of the pieces. They can be thrown in a bag and rattle around together with no loss of detail or damage to the paintwork. This was perfect for my dodgy storage solutions!
One set is not enough for a game of Castle Ravenloft however, so I thought I'd paint up my own sets in future, as the price is considerably lower for the unpainted versions. A few months later I got myself an unpainted basic dungeon set and set to work painting it up.
Some close-ups of the tiles I painted most recently. I did them in batches of 4x4 to fit with the Castle Ravenloft layouts.
I now have 2 of the basic dungeon sets as well as a set of castle walls and windows. I painted up the last tiles at the weekend and tested them out by playing a game of Castle Ravenloft with Laura.
Our mission was to enter the vaults under Castle Ravenloft and steal Vampire Lord Strahd's treasures whilst he slept. The remaining hours of daylight were our egg-timer, so we had to be swift.
For this task I took Aenur - the Sword of Twilight, on a brief reprieve from his explorations of the doomed city of Mordheim. Laura took Ingrid, a Middenheimer whose father was slain by the evil vampire - she took up his hammer and swore she would not rest until she had her vengeance.
Our first monster - a blazing skeleton! (which I need to paint - oops) Ingrid charges the monster and dispatches it handily whilst Aenur explores the immediate surroundings.
A zombie lurches down a passage towards the heroes, and Ingrid leaps forward to intercept the foul creature. Meanwhile, a scraping sound can be heard from a nearby sarcophagus...
An animated skeleton emerges from the sarcophagus, wearing rusty armour and bearing ancient weapons. Aenur prepared to face off against the fiend whilst Ingrid dealt with the zombie.
The zombie falls, and while Aenur injured the skeleton, it mysteriously avoided him and went around to attack Ingrid. The Middenheimer is clearly capable of handling the undead so Aenur continues his exploration of the crypts. A mysterious runic area has a statue sitting in the centre of it. It's motionless, but its eyes glow red. Aenur readies himself.
Upon stepping on the runic floors Aenur is caught by foul magicks! He's teleported away deeper into the dungeon, and reappears surrounded by monsters! The gargoyle comes to life and staggers towards Ingrid, who swiftly manages to get behind its guard and strike it with her hammer.
Aenur fights off enemies from all sides.
A wandering ghoul is attracted to the noise of battle and approaches Ingrid, looking for something to add to its meal of a severed arm!
The monsters are no match for Ingrid's fierce warrior spirit, and she slays the gargoyle and the ghoul with a single swing of her hammer. She ventures further into the darkness, looking for her lost companion.
She finds a old armoury, filled with ancient weapons and armour. The equipment is covered in grime and dust, but is of superior quality. She takes what she can, this is an excellent prize to take home.
Ingrid manages to regroup with Aenur in the depths of the crypt.
Aenur faces off against a foul necromancer - likely the source of the undead monstrosities which have harrassed our heroes.
Aenur and Ingrid managed to slay the necromancer, and claim some equipment of his as treasure to take home as well.
Feeling satisfied with the haul, and aware of how close dusk must be, the heroes quickly scout the rest of the crypt then depart.
Aenur takes the spiral staircase out of the dungeon.
Ingrid makes a fighting retreat back towards the main entrance to the crypt.
A hideous giant spider bares it's bloodied mandibles at her.
A strange fane devoted to some dark god was discovered. The heroes did not dare to enter it. Ingrid took a wide berth around the corpse filled effluence in the corner as well.
Aenur discovered a room covered in bloody matter. He deigned not to enter such an evil place.
