Here's a Bugbear Chieftain by Jeff Dee, circa 1980. According to the Monster Manual, a chief has "armor class 3, 28-30 hit points, attacking as a 4 hit dice monster, and doing +2 damage". The MM further specifies that bugbears use a range of weapons "from swords to clubs with spikes set in them (morning stars)", fitting with this fellow's sword and morning star. This bugbear wears similar armor (vest & arm pieces) as the one in the main illustration by David Sutherland in the MM. The Chieftain's shield appears wooden, with a knight emblazoned, and slightly damaged - perhaps plundered from a fallen adventurer?
Like the Drow Captain from last week, this art was a design for a mini in the Grenadier Action Art Set Monsters (8002), 1980, although the sword was lowered, and it was retitled "Bugbear Chief", per the MM:
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| Bugbear Chief, Grenadier Action Art set Monsters 8002, image from the Lost Minis Wiki |
As with the last two pieces in this series, this art work originally surfaced in 2004. The Bugbear Chieftain art was resold on Ebay last November for about $240, along with the written description sheet for the artist to use:
Very cool, thanks for finding & posting this. I'll have to check my stuff in the basement but I believe that the Axction art Dungeon Explorers set also attributes the designs of each figure to a different TSR staffer. It's amazing that these sketches survive (because they were in Grenadier's custody, maybe?) while so much TSR art was thrown in the trash...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments, Mike. If you look back at last week's post, you'll see that these artworks were found ~2004 in some kind of junk shop, meaning they very well may have been recovered from the trash at some point. Quite a find.
DeleteAlso, it's interesting that the original design called for him to be slightly pigeon toed ... I thought that was just an oversight.
ReplyDeletehttp://mikemonaco.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/bugbears-for-breakfast/
Great paint job on that figure! If you are reading this, go over to his blog and see it. Here's an html formatted link:
DeleteBugbears for breakfast