So I'd just finished writing a website for Pendraken Miniatures and after putting up a photo of their 10mm barbarians I thought the detail on them was good enough for using in RPG games.
So the plan was simple, 10mm RPG dungeon bashing!

Stage 1

So I went through Pendraken fantasy range and found figures suitable for player characters (as you can see from the picture) but quickly came to the conclusion that 10mm fantasy ranges lacked specific fantasy monsters.
They were ok for goblins, skeletons and the like but not for unique type monsters. So I set about making some 10mm monsters as you can see in stages 2 and 3.

Stage 2

I was very pleased with the way the monsters came out, especially given that this was probably only about the third range of miniatures I had ever sculpted. I used only green stuff to sculpt them and started to learn to have patience when sculpting. For instance the rock man from stage 2 was made a layer at a time. i.e. feet then when that had set I did the body, then the head etc. I'm sure other sculptors would have sculpt the main body in one go but this method worked for me.

Stage 3

In all I created some 26 fantasy monsters. It was great fun putting my own style to many famous creatures from mythology or the multitude of fantasy role-play games.

I now had characters and monsters so the next step was the dungeon it's self. At first I was going to make a 10mm paper dungeon like my 25mm one but Pendraken suggested sculpting a resin one.

So from the start I planned to make the dungeon pieces modular so people could build what every dungeon layouts they wanted. stage 4 shows the corridor and junction pieces I came up with.

Stage 4

I also made some standard size rooms. 10'x10', 20'x20' that sort of thing. With those rooms you can make layouts like the one shown in stage 5.

Stage 5

For the scale of the dungeon I went with the floor squares being 16mmx16mm. This seemed ideal for being able to pick up and move the figures while making sure they aren't miles apart. It is a dungeon afterall and so shouldn't appear spacious. The wall I went with 25mm high. Again this seemed a good height to be higher than the figures but not to restrictive for moving them around.

Stage 6

Once I'd finished making the actual dungeon it occured to me that I should also make some furniture to make it look more scenic. This was great fun and it felt like I was making dolls house furniture. Pic 6 shows a 10mm figure in the dungeon and some of the furniture I made.

Stage 7

In the end I made some 22 scenic items including tables, beds, a weapon rack, a bookcase, even a torture rack and camp fire. You can see examples on Pendrakens website here.
stage 7 shows some examples as well with some painted versions of the monsters.

Stage 8

For the treasure pile shown in stage 8 I really went to town on the detail level. For the pile of coins I cut slices off of a cured piece of green stuff and stuck them together. Stage 9 below again shows a figure in the dungeon and also a painted example of the treasure pile from above.

Stage 9

The above picture also shows one of the doors. The doors were a stroke of genius even if I do say so myself. They come in three parts, two sides and a top and actualy fit over the dungeon walls like a peg. This means they not only hold the dungeon sections together but you can put them anywhere on the dungeon. I made a few different types of door from plain wooden to double doors, stone doors and prison door as you can see in the picture.

Stage 10

Just to give you one last idea of the dungeon scale. Stage 10 shows a 28mm Foundry Gladiator figure in the dungeon with a 10mm barbarian from Pendraken.

I think the 10mm dungeon is one of the best sculpting jobs I have done and it was done as a pure labour of love. I created it because I wanted to and thankfully Pendraken agreed to produce it for me.

I'm pleased to say the Dungeon is experiencing a bit of a renaissance at the moment thanks to the work of Pendraken. Check out other peoples dungeon set ups on the Pendraken Forum

The 10mm dungeon is available from Pendraken Miniatures if you have any questions about it do drop me a line.