Thursday 27 November 2014

28mm Greek Mythology: the Satyrs

Introduction

I'm trying to get back on track with my twice-weekly postings; it's been slipping down to once per week recently.  Still, I should have enough time tonight to show some more mythological creatures.  They'll fight against (or perhaps ally with) Jason and the Argonauts, whenever I get round to staging such battles.

I'm wavering between using Song of Blades and Heroes or 7th Voyage as the rules for my mythological games.  I have both rulesets already and have used SoBH very happily for both my Witch Hunter and Robin Hood settings.  Although I still haven't decided for sure, I might give 7th Voyage a go this time.  After all, it's specially designed for exactly this type of game!

The Satyrs

Satyrs are often represented these days as half-man, half goat, though that's more accurately the appearance of the Roman faun.  Still, only a few people would recognise the traditional  horse-tailed Greek version, so I'm happy enough to use these models instead as Greek creatures.

In ancient mythology, the Satyrs have a deep connection with nature.  For the most part, they're the original party animals: carefree, drinking heavily and chasing women!  However, if they feel threatened or get too drunk then they can become wild and really mean.

The Leader

"My, what a big spear you have..."
My figures come from a Fae starter pack for the Fanticide game, though I believe that the models originate from  Eureka Miniatures of Australia.  They're all painted straight out of the packet, apart from Hylaeos, the leader.

As supplied, the head for this model had large, branched antlers on his head.  I didn't like this for 2 reasons:
  1. Antlers really don't fit with the goat aspect of the faun, or indeed with the horse features of the classic Greek satyr.
  2. On a practical level, the antlers would have stuck out a long way and thus made the model vulnerable to damage and hard to store.
So, I removed the antlers and replaced them with some curled horns from an old Games Workshop skeleton set.  This guy is clearly the boss: he's got bigger horns and a bigger spear than any of the other satyrs!

The Spearmen (spear-satyrs?)

There are 10 fauns with spears in the warband; 2 models each of 5 different poses.  I've used a variety of shades of brown and grey on the goat legs of these figures; there's very little else to differentiate them.

As with many of my figures these days, I've given them appropriate names.  Note that these models are very straightforward to paint; they have very little equipment and so it's just flesh, faces, hair and hooves!

The Archers

The other 8 members in the warband have bows, although 2 of them seem to have picked up rocks to throw.  This might be because they've run out of arrows; their quivers are empty!

Once again, there are 4 distinct sculpts, with 2 copies of each pattern in this group.  The extra equipment means that they took slightly longer to paint than the fauns with spears, but even so these are very straightforward models.

Conclusion

So, now I really have little excuse for not planning at least one game that involves Jason and the Argonauts.  I can see a scenario where the satyrs defend themselves fiercely against an accidental intrusion by the band of human adventurers.  I've also noticed that my Harryhausen-inspired giant cyclops model has some of the goat-like appearance of these guys, so perhaps he might even ally with them.  It's untraditional, but it might just work...

Next in this series inspired by Greek myth will be...harpies!

24 comments:

  1. My word you've been busy! Great job Sir.

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    1. Thanks, Michael. Not that busy, really - these did take a while to paint.

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  2. Very nice. I love the look of the OW Satyr just wish they had a few others to join him. I think everyone struggles to get stuff done this time of year. Lacking motivation myself lately.

    I think some lanky wolfhound type dogs would go well with this army.

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    1. I hadn't thought of hounds, but that's a most interesting idea :-) . It would probably be more traditional for the satyrs to be accompanied by (or chasing) Maenads: frenzied, out-of-control women. Something like shoppers sensing a bargain...

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  3. Good grief... You are quite clearly a veritable painting machine my good sir :-) Lovely paintjobs on them too.

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    1. I do appreciate the praise, but these are really very simple to paint and therefore don't take as long as many other figures :-) .

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  4. Nice work! This is a project it's going to be interesting to follow.

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    1. Thanks, Edwin. I'll keep you all posted with further developments :-) .

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  5. Superb paint jobs, Hugh. I look forward to seeing them in action... hopefully, soon.

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    1. Thanks, Bryan. Yes, it really feels that I have critical mass on this project now; I need to get some games planned!

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  6. Lovely job C6. Nice sculpts too.

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    1. Thanks, Bob. The rank-and-file satyrs are good, straightforward sculpts, indeed. I have slight misgivings about the leader, though - he seems to have a slightly odd posture.

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  7. Every time you start a project like this I end up thinking how much I would like to do it. I also have both rule sets and for me it would be a tough choice as well but "Songs" I think would be the eventual winner.

    More inspiring stuff.

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    1. Ah, we're all like that, Clint :-) . I see so many nice projects from other people that I find inspiring. Sometimes I act on it, sometimes I manage to reign in my fleeting enthusiasm...

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  8. That's a nice warband Colgar!
    I am looking forward to see more of this project, it's just what I need to continue working on mine that I started a while ago, but never really done much with it!

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    1. Thanks, Mathyoo. If you're anything like me then you'll have bursts of enthusiasm for one subject for a while, then switch to another for a bit. As long as you return to the half-finished work *sometime* then that's all right :-) .

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  9. You're always spoiling us with nice surprises and these are yet another; great painting and basing, as always it'll be interesting to see what scenario you come up with for these.

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    1. Thanks, Joe. As for scenarios, I'm thinking for starters of either the heroes having to travel through the satyrs' lands and escape off the other side (like the playground game "British Bulldogs"), or 2 or more warbands searching for a legendary artifact guarded by a fierce monster. Perhaps such an artifact might be hidden in a ruined bathhouse :-) ?

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  10. Phew ... that's a lot of miniatures finished and done well too.

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    1. Thanks, F.E.M. It's not really so much work - these are very easy miniatures to paint.

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  11. Ecellent job, most impressive figures!

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    1. Thanks, Phil. But as I said before, these are really easy models to paint :-) .

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