Nearly Halloween & New Artists Added & Mystery Boxes

Hello & Welcome!

Yep - its nearly Halloween! We have the pumpkins ready to be carved in the week and of course both Mitz & Simz are ready for the holiday all year round being the black cats that they are.

Hopefully everyone is having a safe and nice October so far and maybe having a Spooky adventure for the holiday.

Last time I wrote that if I do manage to get on top of things that I'll hopefully add some new models to the shop and as luck would have it, over the last two weeks I managed just that!

So announcing the addition of two new artists to the inventory - The Toadstool Weaver and Stormborn Collectibles. I'll do an Artist Focus post for each of them in short order but suffice to say I think they both slot in quite well into our general ethos of the kinds of artists we like to support and their styles each bring just another dimension to the many items we have on offer to custom print for you.

And customers have already agreed as a few have already ordered some from both of them. That is a pretty quick turnaround - I think it was within a week which is reassuring as it means you like them as much as I do.

In fact, the Banshee depicted as the Blog image is from Stormborn (painted by me using the Speedpaint Pens) and it featured as a set piece in last week's Rimw of the Frostmaiden session (I'm sure Adam will write-up the adventure summary soon for you all to read). 

Also, Sharron painted up the Drag Queen Wizard by The Toadstool Weaver and we gifted it to our friends who were down from Brighton a few weekends ago. You can see her masterpiece in the Image Gallery.

But I do have to say that the record for fastest order of a newly added artist accolade goes to Ella's Arcanum Minis - someone ordered an item from their catalogue within 24 hours of me adding them newly into the shop. 

The rest of our artists are doing great designs so definitely be sure to check them out. I'd printed Adam's girls the latest spooky animal folk designs from La Louve (hopefully they'll enjoy painting them). Later this month we'll be getting new Pirate Ship themed block from the Dungeon Blocks folks which I am separately excited for because I happen to have a need for them in chapter 2 of Rime of the Frostmaiden. 

Regarding the campaigns - we are having a blast running both Rime of the Frostmaiden and Tyranny of Dragons. Both Adam and I have really been enjoying making the stories our own and weaving in elements for the backstories of our characters. While of course following the general outline of the adventure book, the more we dive into our campaigns the more we are tweaking and adjusting them to play out better and weave more interesting plot lines and encounters.

We'll be finishing Chapter 1 soon in RotF and I'll then soon be doing another Behind the Screen post on how its gone and give some teasers regarding chapter 2 which I'm switching up quite a bit to help it flow more coherently while maintaining most of the arcs they have put in there originally.

And finally I would like to just briefly comment on the Mystery Boxes. We offer three different packages and each one offers more items that the previous one. And I know what I have written in the listings about each one in terms of how many items each one has etc etc. But let me just say that I like to be quite generous with them so people get a lot more than what I have written.

Why? Well, truth be told, because its also quite fun for me to go through my library and select a variety of items to print. Of course, I still make a profit (I'm not that silly) but the few people who have setup monthly subscriptions say it is excellent value for money and my selection of random items has been really good each time. 

And for those that do subscribe I reach out over email monthly to ask for any guidance in terms of what I should look for. Things like preferred artist styles, any games they may be running, a preference on player characters or monsters, or type of monster. It adds to the fun for me to select items. Also, its always great to hear from customers and interact. D&D is a social game at its core and here at Mitz & Simz we like to keep that social interaction going and the personal touch as well. 

I do the same quizzing even for the non-subscribers so if you are not sure what to get someone special on your list for a birthday or the next upcoming big holiday (its too early for me to even breathe the C word!) then try a Mystery Box and reach out and let's have a chat about it!

Or even if you are not going for a Mystery Box, reach out for a chat!

That's it for now. Wishing everyone a fun and scary Halloween!

Until next time, happy continued painting and gaming and continued to send us your pictures as we love to see them and generally just get in touch as we love to hear from you!

-Pete (& Mitz & Simz who are no doubt planning to summon some nefarious demon during Halloween!)