Meet a henchman!

Hello,

here is the final EM4 gangster / agent / whoever. For purpose of my SA bestiary page (clickable above this post if you have missed it) I've decided to mark him as henchman. In game of Strange Aeons, he is just what you'd expect him to be - human right hand of the evil-doers. While not as fanatically connected to the cause as cultists, he does know how to use his weapons more efficiently and is thus quite viable lurker. Obviously, I have never used him in the games before, but he really isn't that bad!

I bought this mini because of the characterful pose, primarily to use as an agent, of course. As you can see, he is reloading his revolver (don't see too many of those, do you?). He is dressed in stripped black suit with a matching hat and elegantly wears a carnation and a handkerchief...except for being not being comically fat, he would make a great mafia boss, dressed so elegantly.

I didn't include any scale shots, but he is somewhat short, when put next to other figures.

Very brief post today, but there really isn't much else to say. It is pretty modern to be a tease these times, so you can expect to see some THINGS THAT SHOULD NOT LIVE in next couple of posts (and sorry, still not zombies :( ). Feel free to guess what it might be, but can't offer you any candy - I didn't really give you too much information, hehe.

Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo

Meet Threshold Operatives 4!

Hello,

I've finished remaining three EM4 gangsters/dunwich detectives I had. I have decided to show two as Threshold agents and one as an evil henchman (but, yet again, it could be any way around, obviously). Reason fully lies in filling the spots in the bestiary :P.

Here, I got an agent with double barreled shotgun (had none until now!) and a priest that I have painted as some kind of professor, spelling spells from a book that shan't be written and shan't be read! Oh my...

So, the double-barreled old chap, jolly good fellow is not really like any of my other agents. Compared to daring youngsters, he is old and has probably seen it all. I could see him as someone who enjoys a shot (or three!) of courage and a pipe before he goes on a hunt. Not hunting foxes this time, however!

Second guy looks a bit like Mel Gibson, doesn't he? Anyways, I have decided not to go the "priest way" and I have painted him in sandy colors. Pretty simple paintjob overall but I quite like it. He could be used as a special agent - spiritualist that you can hire. Or an evil High priest, perhaps? There is no way we could tell he doesn't want to bring lurkers out of space to Earth!

Other than that, they're nice addition to my ever growing pile for a game that (I quote) "only needs a handful of models"!

Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo

Meet the Servitor of the Outer Gods!

Hello,

another great EM4 sculpt I've painted is Servitor. A squid-fish-something-else-like alien playing blasphemous music on his pipe, driving people mad all over the place! Now, I am no expert, but I suspect him being Scottish!

I went with rainbow colors on this one,  but they are only notable on the eyes. It is a nice miniature that takes washes and drybrushing well, so that is what I did. I believe it could always be better, but then again it could always be worse.

In Strange Aeons, profile for this lurker was introduced with their latest expansion, Shocking tales of madness and mayhem volume 3. He is quite an expensive little fellow and pretty much useless in direct combat. If he is given enough time to pipe his music, however, he calls in a Godling (the ultimate lurker, ala Cthulhu) and that...that is worth something! He is mostly reserved for special scenarios where Lovecraft himself is in play, but having a miniature gives me no excuse to use it in bigger games.

EM4 sells it in various positions - I only needed one so I went with this one as I liked it the most.

Also, if you look carefully above this post (but below the name tag), there is a page called SA Bestiary. It comes in most handy to people that actually play Strange Aeons, but it is a nice collection of all the lurkers in game and my interpretations. I had some problems with lurkers as Rogue Threshold agent and character, henchmen and such who are nothing but your ordinary humans and one miniature easily fits all the slots (and could still be used as a good guy!). Feel free to go check it out if you think you could find something that interests you but you've missed it in the past.

Thanks yet again for looking,
Mathyoo

Meet the Night-Gaunt!

Hello,

While at the Salute, I made sure I've checked out EM4 stand. I know EM4 since my early days of blogging, as I wanted to order some gangsters for my zombie games from them. I have decided against it, because postage to Slovenia included mandatory tracking, due to previous experiences of lost parcels sent to my country. I never had any problems myself, but anyways, I've decided against ordering because I've only wanted a couple of miniatures. This time, I've ignored the gangsters all together and I've picked up three "agents" (well, armed humans - will show them later once I paint them), this little fellow  and another monster that I will show you next time. I must say I love them all. I am not too fond about their females, but if I would pick again, I'd certainly pick one - got no female agents!

Back to nightgaunt. You got option of one standing normally (the one I picked and I just love it!) and one with raised paw, that looks a bit silly to me. You can get nightgaunts from many other companies, but I've picked this one. One reason is price, but to be completely honest, I really like this sculpt. I like its simplicity, albeit it is somewhat on the small side.

Nightgaunts are the monsters of Lovecrafts childhood nightmares and I must say...those had to be some wicked dreams, because the concept of the monster sends shivers down my body. We are talking about slick and rubbery black (hence the gloss varnish) humanoid figure with barbed tail, claws, horns and no face. NO FACE!

 I would like to have a bit bigger nightgaunt, but their wings tend to take lot of space and I plan to play games with my buildings more and more - plus I was just at EM4's so there was really no reason not to get one.



In future, expect even more "meet the" posts, as I am working my way trough England pile. Out of my head, I have monsters, policemen, civilians, agents and bunch of horrorclix (thanks Bryan) to work on. Once this is done or the starts go wrong again, I will paint some more of my modern zombies, which I got loads of from England (thanks again ;) ),  but got neglected a bit - the reason lies in lack of rules and sheer diversity that eldritch horrors pose compared to hordes of walking dead. They were the start of this blog and they will reappear for sure!


Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo

Meet the Kindred!

Hello,

Kindred is relatively new lurker in Strange Aeons, introduced with their third (or fourth if you count the scenario book) expansion. They represent the Dunwich folk from Return to Dunwich black dossier (short linked campaign). After the event in 1928 (so, the Dunwich Horror story by Lovecraft, accessible here) Threshold agency is keeping an eye on backwater village of Dunwich. They weren't informed about curious events of Horror's appearance, but have decided to keep an eye on village in case of any other... indescribable  macabre events or rituals would took place. And they couldn't be more right...the Dunwich folk have gathered and stored liquified remains of Wilbur, son of Yog Sothoth and are now drinking it, wishing to please the God! They've starting to get goatish appearance and various other mutations (tentacles, goatish legs, even an eye here and there!).

I have decided to convert Warhammer Beastmen Ungor (the small ones) herd. I know, I know, Warhammer, but it is still a plastic kit of goatmen nevertheless. I've only made 3 for start, as the conversion process soon bogged down. They use less sophisticated weapons than Threshold agency or your ordinary cultist, shotgun being their strongest weapon. I give mine only "common" weapons they can pick among - .22 pistol, a club and short bow.

There is one thing I hate...darned hornes. I've managed to cut them from the one with the bow, I could do it to the one with the pistol, but I've opted against it. The thing is, some heads have horns and ears in one piece, so removing the horns would remove or damage the ears. So I just went with it, it isn't all bad.
First from the left is upgraded Kindred  - patriarch. He is the hierarchical leader, so I picked the head with biggest horns and painted his hair and beard greyish white. It isn't noticable too much, but he is kinda fat. I didn't sculpt any pants on him and didn't want to give him a shirt to show the belly (which, sadly isn't all that visible). To make him at least a bit converted, I've given him a small gift of Yog Sothoth - tentacles at at his belly area. Oh, and I gave him that hair. I can't find an english word for this style, where you "knit" the hair in one long snake...how is that called? If I put it in dictionary, it comes out as "two whales", as our word for it has two meanings :P.
Anyways, I've decided to give some modern firepower to second guy, so he got .22 revolver. For a rush job, I think it looks quite decent, but its barrel has slided off the wire. On the side you can't see, however, is a mess.  I've given him some hair and ripped shirt, as his fragile body suddenly got all musculate. I've kept the little bones, they don't seem too out of place with inbred kindreds of god forgotten village.
Last guy was actually my first guy, I gave him a bow from the box and nice pair of "hillbilly pants" - but I am sure there is a better word for those pants?
He is my favorite, but I didn't want everyone to wear the same pants - which now I regret a bit.

As you can see, they're unified with blue colour, which wasn't really planned, but I quite like it. I wanted to paint the jeans blue, so when I had colours mixed, if just figured I'd applay it to all of them. I didn't want to do leather armbands in browns as there is enough brown all around as it is. It unifies them, which I don't really like in skirmish games. I have yet to decided if I will paint next ones with blue as well or something else - one they'd get mixed those three perhaps wouldn't stand out as much.

Overall, I think they are good enough, but if I could do anything, I'd have my kindred as bunch of hillbillies, some with goatsih legs, some with tentacles, multiple eyes and way more human in appearance than those are. Being from GW, they are also somewhat large, but well, you can't have everything!

Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo

Meet the Hound of Tindalos!

Hello,

originally, I wanted to show you cool EM4's nightgaunt, but as I've changed my profile picture to Hound of Tindalos, I've figured I should show it, to let you see what I've got here.

The Hound is my sculpt, influenced by a drawing of somebody apparently known as Sorrow king. I have saved this drawing when I came across it months ago while searching the subject.

The Hounds live in angles of time and space (humans live in curves, according to the story by Frank Belknap Long available here) and they enter our word from angles - 120° or narrower. So, I wanted my hound to be emerging from angle. After much thought, I've settled on a simple rock, as nothing else I've tried worked in limited space of 30mm base. Hounds' appearance is not described in much detail, but there is something about lean, hungry bodies and tongues. I've read somewhere that they're supposed to be more bat-like in appearance and that hound refers to the way they act, not the way they look. As much as I like the concept drawing I sculpted my on, I would do it rectangular, with lots of angles - check the link to story for drawing. I imagine them more like snakes myself, but angular - kinda like 2D lines or how should I say...hard to put it out in a 3D model, but disturbing enough to fit in the horror theme.  It wouldn't look as demonic, but it would fit well with a description of a being from other dimension, wholly different from what we are used to. My sculpt has tentacles, which works okay, I guess.

I've been sculpting it really, really slowly. I did it in layers and took my time. I've made a lump for a skull, then I slooowly added more texture, teeth, cheekbones, tentacles and such. I was really proud of it until I've painted it...it honestly doesn't do it justice!
As for the tongue, you can see it is quite "alienatic" (is that a word? :P) - the reason is I couldn't make smooth putty coating on a wire, so I sculpted some kind of lumps on it...it does add a horror effect, I believe.

I have painted it gray at first, but it was dead boring, so I've turned it to dark red eventually. I forgot to paint tentacles in another color (red tentacles on grey body offered nice contrast). Blue tongue and eyes seem to be correct choices. I could probably do better paint job if only I was more patient at painting my miniatures!

In game of Strange Aeons, there is a special scenario devoted to "demonic hound" (that I will use my model for), which I will play as soon as I get a chance. I will make sure I post a report here!

 

Thanks yet once again for looking,
Mathyoo

Meet Rogue Threshold Agent!

Hello,

third figure from a pack I've shown last time - rogue Threshold (I've found out I've started misspelling the word and am now greatly ashamed :D). This one has a greatcoat on, which is probably what makes him appear so evil I just had to use it for a rogue. As they are all human agents, I could honestly switch them around as much as I'd wish.

In game, you can pick between Rogue Threshold Agent and R.T. Character - both with option of special weapons, not even available to Threshold lists until they manage to get 15 wins and get promoted! So, packing unique prototype weapons, they can be potent enemies!

I've painted mine in your common evil doers colors - black and red. I was thinking about painting inside of the coat blue-greenish color, as I am thinking about using that for my cultists robes. It is a color of the Deep ones. I still went with red, as it simply looks that much better. I have huge difficulties picking the right color for my cultists - blue-green would suit well for Atlantis game setting I'd like to play eventually, but red and black would be easier to paint and would suit nazis well (my ever present wish is to grab a certain movie character, look at the nazis and say "Nazis....I hate these guys!". Eventually!


Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo

Meet Threshold Operatives 3!

Hello,

The two threshold agents I am about to show you are from Artizan's Thrilling Tales range. I bought a pack on Salute, so I could say those are my first painted miniatures after the show! I've painted them few days back, but anyways...I've used two for the agents and third for rouge Threshold agent. It had this evil look about it, so I figured it was supposed to be evil. I have actually played a game with them just yesterday - Rogue threshold agent has stolen Heat ray gun from Threshold Special branch and my (new, as previous' list character died in his 3rd game or so) Threshold group went after him. With my luck, I had an agent killed and evil villain ran away with our prototype weaponry!

Anyways, here they are. I am not too fond of the sculpts...I mean, I like the style but I don't like the miniatures too much...there is just something that doesn't appeal to me. Other than that, very nice figures.

I've picked the pack impulsively, because of the Lewis gunner. I needed (well, wanted) a .30 cal machine gunner and this one wasn't too bad. Again, none of the two appeals me too much, but they were quite fun and easy to paint. The guy on the left had a tommy gun, which I didn't need (I got a tommy gunner + got another one as I bought a policemen pack on Salute :P). He also carries a dynamite (which made this pack even better!), so it was perfect for Strange Aeons. I cut the thompson gun away and sculpted torch. There are rules for torches in game, but I haven't actually use them yet - I just figured it would look fun as he needs something to light those red sticks with! Plus, if I do use torch in a game, I have a miniature to represent it with. I've painted red cross on one of his bags, so he can also be used as a medic. The other guy is nothing special, so I believe no explanations are needed.

As you can see, they have some static grass on the bases. I've bought same color, 2 and 4 mm that I've mixed together and applied to every painted miniature I've shown so far. I will show you the third guy from the pack next time!

Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo

Meet the Degenerate!

Hello,

yet another Mantic conversion, I present you degenerate. In game of Strange Aeons, it is represented with a quote from Robert E. Howard's Black stone. It is not called "degenerate" there, but it does represent a wild man, wearing goat furs and wolfs head as a mask. I figured it is an entertaining representation for a model, so I went with it. Honestly, any weirdo would fit the description.

At first, I wanted to sculpt my own from a scratch, this is how far I've came before my enthusiasm vanished and it sat on my desk since. After I did my ghosts from Mantic zombies, I've figured I could do a degenerate as well. Its rags were turned into a fur and I've sculpted a mask over its face.

I have painted it blue because I felt an urge to paint some body paints for a while now...I think I went quite over board with it on this one, but well, at least it pops out. The model holds a pine branch, as per story, if I got it right! :P

Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo