by Doug Hamilton

Hello, Monsterpocalypse players! I know it’s odd to see multiple Insiders from me on Monsterpocalypse, but when a cool new Faction is thrown into the mix, sometimes you have to change direction—which is exactly what happened with the Ancient Ones.

In part two of my series of new monster sculpts, I am bringing you Warden of Teocali! As usual, I don’t get a lot of the rules and background on the monster at hand when sculpting first begins; that information will come as the release date gets closer. So, I work from concept art.

Warden of Teocali was one of the final pieces of art I received for the Ancient Ones models I was working on. After sculpting the Lord of Mictal, I was starting to feel more comfortable with the style of these Aztec-influenced monsters, so I wasn’t quite as intimidated when I first saw the concept art for the former sculpt.

One of the things that stood out was how thick the Warden was looking, so I wanted to convey that in the sculpt. The other thing—and I know I say this a lot—I do is try to pick out the one or two features that really have to look good to sell a model. All the detail in the world can’t save it if you don’t nail those core features that define the sculpt. In the case of the Warden, I felt it was the head itself and the overall bulk that was going to sell its aesthetic.

So, with all that in mind…I screwed it up! Not too badly, but as you can see in the review notes from Ron below, the face was not quite where it needed to be, and the mouth was not mean enough! Also, the stonework on the arms and legs were mostly cylindrical, and Ron asked for multiple layers to help make them look more multi-dimensional and characterful instead of a boring cylinder with some cuts.

After working on the changes, the Warden of Teocali was really starting to take shape. Once all the changes were incorporated and the pose was worked out, we made a few more minor adjustments here and there in order to finish up what I hope will be a great addition to your Monsterpocalypse games while looking amazing on the tabletop!

Let me know how you like Warden of Teocali on the Privateer Press Monsterpocalypse page and be sure to post your painted models after the Warden releases early this summer!