Saturday 20 January 2018

The Last of the Christmas Models

Introduction

The Christmas & New Year holiday is well and truly over; I've been back at work for 2 weeks now.  However, I'm still sorting through and putting away models which I painted during that period.  Here are some of them - it's quite a mixture!


Damsels in Distress



These are some classic "damsels in distress", from Bob Murch's "Pulp Figures" range.  Specifically, they come from pack PWM 10 - Cringing Captives.  I plan to use these in games of Pulp Alley or Congo (fairly obvious, I would have thought!).  As such, I don't really need the other two figures from the pack; sawmills and railway tracks aren't really a feature of Darkest Africa, where my games are set.

Note that I've painted up both of these models in an identical colour scheme.  This will enable me to use one as a replacement for the other in a game, thus indicating whether the heroine is currently tied to a stake or not.


DreadBall 2

From L to R: score marker, turn (rush) marker, new style referee 

Early this month (i.e. January 2018), I received my Dreadball 2 Kickstarter package.  I'm not buying any new teams, as I already have 12 (I think), of which only 8 are painted.  However, I did receive the new rules, new cards and new game markers.

1st edition DreadBall supplied cardboard counters for the score and rush markers.  This worked well enough, but the 2nd edition has some rather nice models instead.  The new score marker is a miniature trophy, while the turn marker is a robotic commentator/linesman in a floating disk/chair that is liberally equipped with spotlights and/or cameras.  There is also a different figure for the robot referee.

I did need to replace the support pillar on the floating chair with a transparent post.  This was mainly because the moulded pillar was somewhat bent and wouldn't have produced a very good effect.  Still, that conversion/repair was easy enough.

Note that I'm experimenting with transparent bases for the figures which will be on the pitch.  The referee is the first such model to be completed.


Lady Godiva - Fiction and Reality

Lady Godiva: the myth

The fictional tale of Lady Godiva is simple: a Saxon lord was oppressing his people.  His wife (Godiva) asked him to lower rents or some such, to which the husband replied that he would do so only if his wife rode naked through the streets of Coventry.

Of course, he didn't expect her to do this, but she arranged for the local townsfolk to close their doors and window shutters and then disrobed and rode the streets, unobserved by all.  Her husband was true to his promise and treated his people better thereafter.

A later addition to this tale: one man did steal a glance at the naked lady, but was immediately struck blind as punishment.  His name was Tom; from this incident we get the phrase "a Peeping Tom".


Lady Godiva: the reality?

In reality, Lady Godiva was a virtuous Saxon noblewoman who would be much more likely to look like the figure above.  It's entirely possible that she did indeed soften her husband's harsh rule - but not by riding naked through a town!


Super Dungeon Explore: Last of the Kinoko

Finally (for now), I have finished my Super Dungeon Explore "Kinoko" warband!  These are mostly aggressive, mobile mushrooms, though they also have some truffle pigs.  Here are the final two groups to be painted:

Kinoko spawn points

Kinoshrooms - minions
There's not much more to say about these; either you'll like them or you won't...


Conclusion

I completed a goodly lot of models during the Christmas/New Year break just past; these are just some of them.  It helped that we didn't go away and that the weather was not good enough for us to be outside much.  Still, it's very satisfying to have made such progress!


22 comments:

  1. What a great mixture these minis are, Colgar6; plenty to admire imho. I like the damsels in distress and the "Dreadball" minis. but those Kinoshrooms are awesome. Love the faces and the cheeks :-)

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    1. The Kinoshrooms are sculpted like that (with the spirals on their cheeks); I just painted them. Still, it does add colour and texture to what would otherwise be a rather bland miniature :-) .

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  2. An interesting post, Hugh, with not a bad figure amongst them. Despite my love of Chibi miniatures my favourite figures from this post are the Dreadball trio, especially the floating turn marker (just superb!) and the android ref. That said, your mushrooms come a close second!

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    1. Thanks, Bryan - I hoped there would be at least something for everyone in this post. Oddly, I've been painting mostly stuff for Congo recently, yet none of that made it into this post.

      I'm doing quite well on painting my Super Dungeon Explore models; just one more warband and a boss to go before I complete the stuff I have. Must finish more Dreadball figures, though...

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    1. The mushrooms are actually quite hard to paint, as they looked very bland after the main colour was applied. They needed a little, very subtle shading before I was happy with them. At least they're *meant* to look cartoonish, so single colour schemes aren't too out-of-place.

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  4. Variety really is the spice of life, and what a treat of a post Hugh :-)
    Terrific brushwork as ever (especially on the shrooms).

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    1. Glad you liked it. I don't know if I just got lucky with this bunch, but they're all figures that I'm pleased with. Not a bad one amongst them!

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  5. Big fan of the cringing captives they look ace. Maybe I should get some. Something for all in this post. For me it was the captives.

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    1. Captive heroines is very much a staple of "classic" Pulp, isn't it? Modern sensibilities often lead to our heroines being a bit more pro-active, though :-) . Either way, these are some very characterful models and I like them too.

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  6. Absolutely brilliant! I didn't realize that a saw blade also came with the captives set, how neat is that! Can't wait to see them in a game :)

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    1. Thanks, Ivor. Yes, the Cringing Captives set has a saw! Not much use outside a sawmill, though :-) .

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  7. As you stated, quite a mixture in this post, none of which are bad in any way and f course that's a lot off the painting table.
    I could probably find a use for the capitvem but I'd have preferred a standing, freed version too.

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    1. I deliberated for a long time over the Cringing Captives set, as I don't think all the figures are equally useful (for me, at least). In the end, I bought it and painted up the 2 models you see here; the other two are in the "sometime/never" bucket...

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  8. Certainly an eclectic mixture of miniatures. I love the mushrooms again they look fun to paint and will stand out nicely on the table.

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    1. Thanks, Simon. Yes, the mushrooms do seem to be very popular, don't they :-) ?

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  9. I love the damsel in distress C6, Lady Godiva is a cracking figure... thanks for the history lesson too, I must confess my ignorance to the origins of the story

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    1. Well, my version of the Lady Godiva story is very simplistic - I think there's rather more to it than I have given in my summary here. Still, glad you liked the figure and the history :-) .

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  10. In distress or otherwise, damsels are always a good subject matter for painting. Excellent work on all of them! :)

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    1. Thanks! I'm quite pleased with each and every one of these models :-) .

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  11. The damsels look cute, the mushrooms scary but cute, I love them a lot!
    The Dreadball models are also great, I've linked your post in our article about the base set: DreadBall Ed2 base set from Mantic Games

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