Meet the Cynocephali!

Hi!

Another group of miniatures finally got the loving they deserved after two years in the "tomorrow, really" drawer.

This time it is a group of Cynocephali, the dog-headed race from the other side of the Rotten sea that is known for their war-like, cruel and human-hating nature in general.

They are generally described as having human bodies and dog heads, but some claim they have goat legs or even one eye at the front and one at the back of their skull!

The eldest will have you know the dreaded soldiers ride in battle on horse-back and howl!

While the idea of Cynocephali is really, really old, the resemblance to Atila and the Huns is evident. Later, the Pasjeglavci/Pesjani/Pasjedlani as they are called in Slovenia, were associated with the Turks, whom in their invasion of the Balkans and push to the Vienna left a lasting impact on the region to a point where everything bad was associated with them for hundreds of years after they were gone.

Among others, there is a tale of Pes Marko ( "Mark the Dog",). Marko was born by a count's daughter that was locked up in a jail (tower) by her father. He gave her a dog to play with, which made her pregnant and thus she born Pes Marko. He eventually became the leader of Venice and pillaged the city in rage.

This tale supposedly originates from middle ages, during the wars between the Holy Roman Empire (that included most of today's Slovenia) and Venice, which is known for Saint Mark and venetian lion - you get the rest!



I imagined these ruthless creatures would be the most common enemies of any heroes wandering in the land of old gods and made four of them. A leader armed with an axe, a bow man for some long-range support and two spear grunts.

For the soldiers, I simply used some of left over GW Ungors I had from the Dunwich project. I have to admit I really like the miniatures. They are plastic and easy to work with, they are on the large side and quite cartoony, which I think fits well with the fantasy. I did, however, cut the axe to something more manageable.  

 Other than that I gave them a quick paint job and that's about it. They were kept very simple and I really have to say the photos don't do them justice. Surely I shouldn't just go with black pelt and the brown is all wrong, but overall I am quite satisfied.

In other news, I am preparing some of my own sculpts/conversions for moderns and fantasy and looking at my Strange Aeons collection, I really think I should start a campaing - which brings me to my Moderns, that I would like to at least remotely finish first. Ah, so many plans!

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