Why bother with a giant riding lizard miniature?
Giant riding lizards are the most common source of transportation in the Underdark, apart from using your own legs, of course. If you are running a campaign in the Underdark, you will probably want one. Even if your players aren’t riding on giant riding lizards, the drow and duergar often will be, among others. Of course, if you aren’t in the Underdark, the likelihood of bumping into them is pretty low (versus the giant lizard, which is found aboveground), so you might not want one of these miniatures. But the mini is so very cool. Besides, this mini works just as well as a giant lizard miniature. I use it as my giant riding lizard mini purely because I have a different mini as my giant lizard mini.
What about this mini?
This metal miniature, like the ochre jelly baby, the cat, the raven, the toad, the weasel, the pixie, the sprite, the giant weasel, the giant boar, the violet fungus, and the hezrou miniatures, is a bit problematic. This unpainted metal miniature is from Otherworld Miniatures, a company which I have bought many minis from over the years. It has very recently closed as a result of the owner’s retirement, so their minis are no longer available for purchase directly from them. However, it’s closed so recently that Otherworld Miniature products are still available in retail shops and on the internet. As a result, I’m putting a number of videos of their miniatures up now so if you like their mini(s), you can scout around for them before they are all gone. Supposedly, they were going to sell their molds to another company, but nothing has been heard on that for months, so it’s anyone’s guess who has the molds or if anyone will be making more of their minis at this point. If you want one of their minis, this is probably the time to look for them, in case they are not available in future. I have quite a few of their miniatures, because I really like them. This particular one is Giant Lizard I #WE4a. The sculpt is by Jo Brumby, who has made some amazing miniatures, and this one is no exception. The base size for this giant riding lizard is large, as it is meant to be, so I am pleased.
UPDATE: Fenris Games got about 100 of the miniatures from Otherworld Games, and Crooked Dice also got some of their miniatures, so if you are looking for any of their minis, keep an eye on their websites as they add the new (to them) models, which is great news!
I painted this miniature to look like a Komodo dragon. The mini looks like a Komodo dragon, and is about the size of an adult Komodo dragon, so it was kind of a no brainer for me, especially since I have worked with Komodo dragons and am a conservation biologist. Komodo dragons totally look like they should be in Dungeons and Dragons. They are so big that they just don’t look real if they are not moving. They are seriously big lizards. Giant lizards, you might even say. They are such delightful big chonky boys.
How useful is this mini, really?
Giant riding lizards are included in 2 (kind of) published Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition books:
They are listed in the Monster Manual as a variant on the giant lizard, but aren’t given a name there, so they’re only kind of in there as well. Basically, if you are going into the Underdark, this is a great mini to have, but otherwise maybe not. Although, my druid used to wild shape into them pretty regularly as well, since they can be ridden as well as climbing upside down, and don’t immediately trigger the “kill it with fire” reaction from others that humongous spiders do. If you’re not going into the Underdark, you can also buy this mini to use as your giant lizard though; there are a lot of uses for them. Heck, use this mini for both giant lizards AND giant riding lizards. It’s your game, do what you want. I personally bought this mini for giant riding lizards and a different mini for giant lizards, because I need no excuse to get nice minis for animals, and I quite like this miniature, but you do you. I have way more miniatures for Beasts than any other creature type.
But why are you doing this?
As usual for these videos, my aim is to both provide good views of the featured miniatures from all angles, as well as giving you accurate sizing information about them. As I already pointed out, the giant riding lizard miniature is on a large size base, which is the correct size. I would also like to thank the wildlife artist Sherrie York, an amazingly skilled reduction linocut artist, for kindly allowing me to use one of her reduction linocuts, Shivano Sunset, as the backdrop for my minis in the video.