6 May 2014

WIP table and projects

 Hello guys,

while I have insurgents painted that I could show, I've decided to share my WIPs with you. While not everyone likes to share their work in progress, I think it's a great way to get motivated to continue working on project that haven't moved anywhere in weeks (or months :3), plus comments are usually very helpful with ideas. 

Today I'll show you miniatures for Slavic mythology game I've been talking about. For good guys, I will buy a pack of plastic Vikings or Dark Age warriors. I'm still clutching to my money, so I haven't bought a box yet as I figured I'd work on monsters and creatures with what I have at hand. This seemed like a great idea at start, but I think some plastic models would make my life much easier!

To start with - a dragon. There is no mythology worth something that hasn't got dragons in it. I am basing mine to represent something between an olm and carp. So far, only rough framework has been done and I'm not too satisfied. He was done low on ground intentionally, but I think he ended up too low. I think I'll bulky his body further more. Legs are tight at body to make the model more sturdy (which is also a reason he lies on the ground).

 Next, I am working on two centaurs. In Slovene mythology, centaur is called a "Polkonj" (Pou-kon), literally meaning half-horse. Nothing much to say here, they are your ordinary centuars, I plan to arm one with a lance and the other one with a bow. If I can pull it off, I'd make one a female :D.
In tales they are either just as horrible as Cynocephali ("dog heads") in their quest to kill everything human. In western parts of the "Slovene inhabitated area" - today's Italy - Centaurs fight valiantly against Cynocephali to protect humans. To  sum it up - they could be used on both sides.
Moving on, I am converting HorrorClix Fiend ("Frankenstein's monster) to Kresnik. Kresnik is a bit of a complicated figure in Slovene mythology. It is believed to be the main god of ancient Slavs in this area and thus could be representing Perun, Slavic god of thunder under a different name. There are also theories that Kresnik's brother Trot is actually a Peron. To make matters worse, Kresnik is also a demigod protecting humans, fighting spirits and demons that want to hurt humanity. He is kind of a "Slovene Heracles". I've figured I'd use him as a "last resort" in my games - when good guys would get into a losing battle in their campaing, prayer to gods would give them chance to "spawn" Kresnik so that saga can continue.

He is your usual barbarian, long haired, long bearded, dressed in what might be a typical Ancient Slavic clothing and wielding a thunder axe. I am not sure about his other arm and I figured he could use some lightnings or a knife. Or another axe. The only thing better than an axe are two axes.
 
 Moving on, there is a "Malavar" lizard. A giant black lizard, so poisonous, his breath could kill. When you kill one of those, you have to put him on an ant hill and wait long enough that only bones and a diamond he carries under his skin are left there. Im effectively making a small dragon and I got a weird feeling he won't be finished any time soon.
 Lastly in this category, are "Pasjeglavci" (Pasyeglavtsee  - its plural). Cynocephali if you prefer, or the dog-heads. They are described as humans with dog head; beings with human torso, goat legs and dog heads; can't look up and so on and so on. They live on the other side of  the "rotten sea" and hate humans with all their soul. Every now and then a particular vicious dog soldier is born (as a child ofa princess locked in a tower that only has a puppy for a company - you get the picture) and he leads his army against humans. They are a representations for Huns, Mongols, Turks and all other "evil guys". I have used the remaining of my Ungor herd from WG for those and I am quite happy with them. I have cut the ears, turned horns into dog ears and added longer mouth. I like the looks of them and all the bones go along well with their savage nature. As they are from GW, they are much larger than ordinary humans, which is also a plus.  On the other hand, buying some dark age warriors would give me enough humans to turn into dog soldiers.
 Only thing I hated was ridiculously oversized axe, which I believe looks much better now.

 I actually wanted to show you my other WIPs as well (got moderns, Strange aeons and WW2 related miniatures I'm working on), but as this came out to be quite a long post on it's own, I'll show them at a later date. As I've said, I got some insurgents painted and I'd like to show them next time so I don't bury my blog in ideas and half done work.





In other news, I'm going on a representation of a book today. The book is about Rommel and his "visit" to Soča (Isonzo) river during WW1 (Caporetto anyone?). As the author wrote about Rommel's book I've read before and Stormtroopers (my bachelor thesis), I was quite interested at first. I've got the book in my library today to see what I should be expecting and I wasn't overly impressed - a nice read for people that know nothing about it, but apart from some nice maps it seems to be translation of Rommel's book and Wikipedia entries on Stormtroopers and "Infiltration" tactics.

Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo

18 comments:

  1. The "Dogs heads" are looking great. The rest is looking a little crude at present, but I suspect that will change in time. An interesting dragon, I like it being low to the ground, make it seem solid and robust.

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    1. Thanks! The rest will look crude for a little while, he he.

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  2. Gosh, GW making oversized weapons! Who'd have thought? Anyway, sarcasm aside, you have some interesting stuff going on here, Mathyoo. Anyone brave enough to make their own dragon has my respect! I like what you have done to Frankenstein's monster, especially as I know where he came from! COUGH! COUGH!

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    1. Ah, sorry! I planned on writing down where it came from, naturally, but it somehow escaped my mind!

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  3. Excellent start on them all mate. Good to see the Centaurs taking shape. Looking forward to seeing the dragons have more work done to them I'm sure they will be great!

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    1. Thanks mate - I hope the Centaurs will be as good as I imagine in the end, he he.

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  4. Some interesting stuff Mathyoo,
    I'm particularly interested to see how those Centaurs and Dragon turn out

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    1. Thanks Dave, hopefully I'll have some decent progress to show soon,

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  5. I like seeing wip's posts (pour encourage les autres) as for your dragon, I'd look around for either a cheap plastic dragon (there are some out there) or a plastic dinosaur as a starting point for your green-stuff skills to transform.
    Your initial dragon reminded me of a dinosaur/alligator type critter.

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    1. I was thinking about that option, as well. Been looking around for decent dinosaurs for a while now, but haven't found any. I have some old and almost dried out air drying clay laying around, so I figured I might as well use it :D

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  6. Nice to see your WIP sculpts and stuff. Kresnik definitely needs two axes,(big ones) as befits a demi-god. I like what you done to the axes of the dogheads though.
    I think Joe's right about it being easier to dragon-up a plastic dino/lizard than start one from scratch.

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  7. Really like the dogheads mate! Well done.

    It is good to see these WIP from you. Love the creativity!

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    1. Thanks! Just wait till they get painted! :D

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  8. Great start on the dragon Simon!

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    1. Cheers mate,but who is that Simon you are talking about? :P

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  9. The dragon reminds me a bit of Dimetrodon - is that a conscious decision?

    I agree with everyone else - the dog heads do look good. Most of the other models are very interesting concepts, but it's a bit too early to see what they'll look like finished. I'll be looking forward to further updates :-) !

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  10. Not really, but as he is very low on ground, I figured about that one, too. I don't plan to give him ridge this high either, he he. I'll try to make fish head and we'll see what happens :D

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