The Club of Herakles & Other Oddities

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends...
(As ELP once sung)

Another day and another bunch of weird and wonderful figures. I'm getting these figures painted at a pretty good pace and really enjoying it. My new painting routine (listening to audio books) is working well. I've finished listening to Imajica and moved onto another Clive Barker tale: The Great and Secret Show - an old favorite.

Anyway, before you go on I should issue a WARNING!!!
One of the figures on display is displaying something a little bit naughty and may not be suitable for work or in the vicinity of kiddies. I'll give you another warning before he comes in to view.

Today's figures are a bit of a mixed bag. The majority are, once again, from Eureka Miniatures with a Bones figure, a conversion, and a the inclusion of an original sculpted figure.

First are these little creatures: I don't know what they're called on the Eureka website but I'm calling the Sidhe (pronounced "she" - As in: "She has a funny shaped head."). These look great. They are about 18mm and they're pretty delicate. I like them and I think I'll get a few more.

This is another figure from Reaper Bones. It's some sort of demon or devil, I don't know which and I don't know it's exact name. It looks nice, was easy to paint and it will be versatile so that's 3 points in it's favour! It's a little taller than an average 28mm, but it is a supernatural entity to that's okay.

This pair are from Eureka's Chaos Army range. I don't know what either of them are supposed to be but their sheer weirdness is good enough for me. I don't know what they're called - They could be named Stumpy Joe and Slug Head as far as I'm concerned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WARNING! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WARNING! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Club Of Herakles is a mighty symbol. It is a weapon of legend and is the emblem of the Greek city of Thebes. It is a symbol of great power. He who bares the Club of Herakles must be mighty in battle and mighty in deed for the Club of Herakles is the weapon of a demi-god! 

The family friendly version.

And there it is - Clearly visible: The mighty Club of Herakles.

.

The Not family friendly version.

And a mighty club it is.

The figure was a conversion of a naked 18mm Spartan hoplite from AB Figures. He has a Warlord Miniatures plastic Gaul head and a cloak from a plastic viking set. His "club" was painted by me. And I made his massive knob too. I am the guilty party. Mea culpa.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And finally, something sculpted long ago.

I made this tree guy a long time ago out of copper wire, putty and greenstuff. He was originally made for a treeman kit, so he was made, cut into sections, put into molds and cast in resin. I sold a few of him over several years. He has been sitting in a box in several pieces for the past 10 years or more. But now his time has come and he's getting ready to stomp onto the wargaming table sometime in the future. 

And that's January. I've made quite a lot of posts this month and, with one day left, I don't think I'll be posting anymore before February comes along. Painting individual figures is very different to painting massed battalions or other military formations. For me painting these type of detailed individual figures is a much quicker process and it's easier to get things painted and ready for the world to see.

The Carrion are Gathering

After my last effort to paint up a bunch of forgotten figures I decided to go one step further and revisit some figures that have been sitting, undercoated and part painted, on my table for a few years.

The figures below are from the time when I started this blog. They're some samples of the Moorcock Hawkmoon/Granbretan figures that I made for Eureka Miniatures. I made somewhere between 50 to 60 figures and they were never officially released. I'm unsure of the reason why.

Anyway, I had these ones sitting on my desk so I brushed the dust off them and gave them a paint job. I think I might get more of them and make a Dragon Rampant sized fantasy army. I'm also wondering if I should expand the range - Between these guys and the Prussian Landwehr from last week, I may just get my sculpting mojo back again.

These figures are from the Vulture Legion - A mercenary band that wear vulture masked helmets. In the Hawkmoon world the Granbretanian Empire all wear animal masks for some class related reason. I've seen a few other people's take on these figures (don't get me wrong, many of them did get sold regardless of official release) and they've all done them with dark (evil) pallets. I sculpted them with outlandish colour in mind. Something like the colours of landsknecht during the Renaissance with a bit of a Medieval feel. So I painted them as they should be painted ~ Colourful!

I've prepped another batch with different weapons. The original idea was to make them so that whole battalions of pike blocks and other weapons could be fielded. These ones below have a scythe weapon. This is not something mentioned in the novels but more of a signature weapon for the miniatures range. It looks pretty cool but would probably be completely useless in reality.

A minor leader type.

New Life for an Old Project #2

A quick post.

I've painted up a few of my Landwehr and this is how they look. They're not the best figures out there, but I'm okay with them. I sculpted them to be clean & simple as well as quick & easy to paint. They are that but I definitely could do with a few more poses.

As mentioned in my last post, I was concerned that one of the figures was missing some of his nose that must be stuck in the mould. I knew there was something wrong with his face but I couldn't figure out what it was. Then I realised: he's missing his moustache (which must be stuck in the mould). No worries. I mixed a little putty and added a few moustaches on the figures.

Anyway, here's the first painted batch:

Hawkmoon Redux

I'm getting ready for a sales day at my wargaming club this coming weekend. Whilst sorting through the vast amount of wargames junk I've accumulated over the years I discovered a bag full of metal figures. Amongst this treasure trove of delight (most of which is destined for the sales table) I discovered a few castings of a figure that I made for Eureka Miniatures several years ago.

For those unaware, this blog started as a diary of my miniature sculpting (thus the 28mm title). I made a whole bunch of figures for Eureka for a range of figures based on author, Michael Moorcock's Hawkmoon series of books (The Jewel in the Skull, The Mad God's Amulet, etc.). The figure I found was an unreleased figure of the main character Dorian Hawkmoon.

So I decided to paint him up to see how he came out. I think he looks pretty nice and I'm happy that I found him. Well.. several of him!

Landwehr Sculpt #3

It took me a bit longer due to unexpected events but I finally managed to finish the 3rd sculpt for my Prussian Landwehr.

This one's a little different in that he has a different cap, his right leg is forward and his knapsack is on his hip instead of on his back. Other than that he's pretty much the same. His cap makes him appear a bit taller than the other two.

I like the sense of determination on in this sculpt.

Sorry for the bad pics (I really need a better camera).

Landwehr Sculpt #2

It's been a few weeks but sculpt #2 is finished.
I had to wait for a musket to be cast (so that I don't have to sculpt them over and over again) and that took a bit longer that I anticipated.

Anyhoo, here is #2. He's pretty much the same as the first figure except that he seems much uglier than his pal. With this chap I decided to lean his body further forward. This gives a couple of nice effects - a) It make him look more animated, and b) it gives him more forward momentum & urgency. Both hands holding the musket gives him a look of more determination as well as a sense vulnerability.

Another thing that is different is the inclusion of cuff on his sleeves. Landwehr of this period wore a range of clothing and not everyone in a regiment could be expected to be dressed the same so the inclusion of variations is accurate.

You may also notice the axe which is carried in place of the sword normally carried by the line infantry. This was also a common occurrence with various tools carried in this manner.

All in all, I quite like this one.

One thing that I noticed is that in the photos his right arm looks a bit thin but on the actual figure this isn't the case. On a more critical look it's due to a crease in the underside of his coat sleeve. I think I might need to fix this.

I was loaned a book detailing all of the Prussian Landwehr units of 1813/14 and it has some nice detail. One image that I like is a Landwehr Pioneer. I've never seen one of these in 28mm so it's definitely a figure worth making.

Prussian Landwehr Test Sculpt

I need Landwehr for the two Prussian corps that I'm building. Unfortunately, I need about 180 of them. To me, that's a lot of figures and that means 'expensive' (especially if I buy them from Perry). I could get them from Elite Miniatures who have a distributor here in Australia but that still comes to a cost of bout $500 for the lot.

So, I decided to try sculpting them. The pic below is my test figure. I've never made any Napoleonic figures before and, when it comes down to it, these guys are a good starter due to their no-frills uniforms.

I'm quite happy with him for a first attempt and the photos don't really do him justice. Size-wise he'll fit well with Perry metals. He's a bit chunky next to their plastic Prussians but, then again, so are their own metals. I'll be taking him for a trip to Eureka for some critique later today.

I had to change the way I sculpt for this figure. Part of the reason for this is that I haven't sculpted for a while and I'm a bit rusty. However, the newer method I tried proved to be much easier. All it involved was using lots of smaller pieces of putty and using a different combo of tools.

Anyway, here's Landwehr Ludwig:

Hawkmoon ~ New sculpt

Well folks, Christmas was busy and I managed to sculpt a whole bunch of Runestaff figures. Unfortunately the breakdown of my pc and the loss of photoshop means that I didn't manage to get any pics of them. I made an Order of the Wolf foot knight, Baron Kalan - Master of Time, the final Vulture Legion troops and modified the Vulture cavalry (they now have wings like the medieval Polish Hussars).

However, today I finished Dorian Hawkmoon, Duke of Koln and got a couple of decent pics (using a different editing program). I think Hawkmoon is going to be a controversial figure as most folks are going to have a very specific idea of how he should look. Keep in mind that this is Hawkmoon arrayed for battle.

I tend to think of Hawkmoon as a pretty tough customer. Unlike many of Moorcock's heroes, for the most part he only has his wits, fortitude and his combat skills as a to rely on. It's not until later that he weilds the Sword of the Dawn. With this in mind I made him look like he was ready for a fight.

I decided to make his armour very different to anyone else in order to make him stand out & his helmet makes him appear quite tall (but he's still smaller than my thumb). He has a mix of armour from a pseudo 2-piece sculpted torso (ancient) to chainmail and bronze scalemail. The helmet is more reminiscent of the Renaissance (or maybe a Napoleonic dragoon). On the other hand his shield is more like that of an ancient Greek hoplite.

A strange mix, certainly. But he is a fantasy character and should look like one.

He is a two part sculpt: Body and shield arm.

(there is a blob of blutac holding his shield arm in place)