Nine Lives
28mm scale
Even the smallest feline is a masterpiece of nature.
In the overgrown ruins of a long-abandoned human city, a colony of cats are living their best lives...
Most of the cat miniatures are from Bad Squiddo Games. The diorama base is made from thin plywood and foamcore board, coated with polyfilla. This piece was inspired by playing the video game "Stray", as well as a couple of stunning dioramas by Roman Lappat:
Priest of the Yellow King
28 mm
“This is the thing that troubles me, for I cannot forget Carcosa where black stars hang in the heavens; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon, when the twin suns sink into the lake of Hali; and my mind will bear for ever the memory of the Pallid Mask. I pray God will curse the writer, as the writer has cursed the world with its beautiful stupendous creation, terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its truth--a world which now trembles before the King In Yellow.”
― Robert W Chambers, The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories
This cultist of the King in Yellow is a piece from the board game "Mansions of Madness". I made the crude idol he worships before in the style of a similar one that appeared in "True Detective".
Crawling One
28mm scale
“Great holes secretly are digged where earth’s pores ought to suffice, and things have learnt to walk that ought to crawl.” - HP Lovecraft, "The Festival"
Crawling Ones are created when dead wizards or evil mystics die and their remains consumed by masses of worms and invertebrates. Their evil life essence possesses the mass of creatures, forming a humanoid mass of squirming horror. This is another "Mansions of Madness" figure.
Innsmouth villagers
28 mm
... but I'll take yours too
You fire your musket but I'll run you through...
The Trooper
28mm
Staggering forwards, he clenches his bloodied sabre and raises the battle standard in the enemy's face, as shots ring out all around... What can victory even mean, in this slaughterhouse of flesh and metal?
The Trooper is easily both one of Iron Maiden's best and most memorable songs, and one of their most iconic images:
The song is inspired by the Crimean War, specifically the 1854 "Charge of the Light Brigade" in which British soldiers attacked in the face of Russian field guns with severe losses. So, there's a definite theme of mutual pointless death and the futility of war.
The Trooper is another figure from the excellent Iron Maiden Zombicide box set.
Zimone, Magic Researcher
28mm
Some magic users bumble about in dusty sanctums with dried frogs and herbs. Some pore through ancient books seeking to uncover the old knowledge of others. And some, like Zimone, seek to determine an underlying structure of it all: the reproducible mathematical patterns that bind together every spell from simple fireworks right up to demon summoning... the science of magic.
Zimone is a "Magic: the Gathering" miniature, and the chalkboard is scratch built. I had a lot of fun with this one 😁
Both these figures were painted using the underpainting and glaze technique I've been practising to try and do "quick, fun" paint jobs. It results in satisfying deep contrast (eg. my WWI style Tau) but I think I'm learning to use it for a variety of subjects, both "grim/dark", and more brightly coloured.
Wererat Duelist
28 mm
With his two blades, he'll challenge you to defend his honor, or the last slice of pizza...
Ghoul Queen
28mm
To her, you ARE the last slice of pizza.
Harriet Tubman
28mm
“I had crossed the line. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land; and my home after all, was down in Maryland; because my father, my mother, my brothers, and sisters, and friends were there. But I was free, and they should be free."
Harriet Tubman, born an enslaved person in 1822 in Maryland, finished her life as an American hero who personally liberated over 70 other Black people from slavery, and guided a Union naval raid of Black troops that freed 750 others and destroyed their enslavers' plantations.
After escaping slavery as a young woman she secretly returned again and again, on foot, to guide others north to Union states where they would be free. She worked as a nurse and spy for the Union Army and was an associate of abolitionists like Frederick Douglass, and armed anti-slavery insurrectionst John Brown.
Later in life she was a suffragette, working alongside activists like Susan B. Anthony to demand the vote for women.
This figure is from Bad Squiddo Games as part of their "Community Miniatures project".
I had fun painting up a few Halloween themed minis this year! I kept them fun and quick, and I think they turned out pretty well! All of these are from my stash of old minis, and several had made it as far as being cleaned up and glued to a base before my attention... wandered.
Skeleton and Wolfman
28mm
A bone-chilling pair! The classic Wolfman is a Reaper figure, the gangly skeleton is Confrontation.
Man-Bat
28mm
And this Orctober Orc soldier, which is a very deep dive into the lead pile indeed...
Who knows where this guy is from, though a good guess might be pre-slotta Citadel... I love his hangdog attitude and crude appearance, he's really the most expendable tier of greenskin grunts.
Chaugnar Faughn
(sort of) 28mm scale
"Originally from a dimension very different from our own, Chaugnar Faugn travelled to Earth in its far distant past. Chaugnar Faugn appears as a 'statue' made from an unidentifiable element of a disgusting humanoid hybrid creature which combines the very worst aspects of the octopus, elephant, and human being. His proboscoid trunk sports a horrible lamprey-like mouth at the tip, which Chaugnar uses to drain his prey of their essence. This process also causes the victim to slowly transform into the likeness of The Elephant God himself." - Monster Wiki
This monstrosity is a Cthulhu Wars plastic figure. It was my first paint job done using underpainting, so I painted the whole thing black, dry brushed it in light gray and white, and then glazed over it with thin colors. I made the gore stretching from its proboscis to its claws using hot glue.
Pharaoh Eddie
Cyborg Eddie
28mm
There's a time to live, and a time to die
When it's time to meet the maker
There's a time to live, but isn't it strange
That as soon as you're born, you're dying...
These amazing models are from the Iron Maiden Zombicide box set. In addition to a bunch of game cards to use in a variety of different table top games, it comes with six detailed figures of Eddie in his different guises: Pharaoh, cyborg, Reaper, trooper, samurai and undead. And there's a whole other box I didn't get, with six more!
"I don't want to die, I'm a god, why can't I live on?"
Dr. Luwazi Elsebo
Zan usu Zan usu Midaxon
Brett Solaris
28 mm
Well, we had a lot of luck on Venus
We always had a ball on Mars
We're meeting all the groovy people
We've rocked the Milky Way so far
We danced around with Borealis
We're space truckin' round the the stars
I recently finished this fun trio of science fiction figures: very different concepts and designs but I think they'll all fit into my collection nicely. Dr. Elsebo is a Starfinder figure, an explorer and scholar seeking to discover new things and unravel mysteries of the universe. The other two... it's less obvious. I see the non-human Zan usu Zan (Stargrave) as a telekinetic/psionic or Force user, and "Brett" (Ganesha Games) as a neutral-good leaning rogue or freelancer. Like Han Solo... but with a lightsaber.
Astro Princess Warrior
28mm
Must be an alien, swear to god I am
dropped down, from another planet
With her laser jezail, this alien princess warrior is ready to defend her space kingdom from all enemies!
I deliberately went with a highly colorful campy look for this character, because the whole concept is pretty reminiscent of something from Buck Rogers or even "John Carter of Mars". Or... Astonishing Science Fiction.
Slade, Cyborg Hero
28 mm
Man Machine
Pseudo-human being
Man Machine
Superhuman being
I knew I had to add some color accents to this figure, because otherwise he's extraordinarily similar to the DC comics character Cyborg, from the Teen Titans. And since orange is the best color... 😄
Both of these are Reaper Bones miniatures, acquired in my very first expedition to the incredible Meeplemart in Toronto.
Rhox Gangster
28mm scale
"Can I go in?"
"Are you on the list?"
"Not... technically."
"If you're not on the list, then you can't go in. Now, shove off!"
This rhino man puts his muscle to work as a gangsters' thug, guarding, fighting, or intimidating as the need arises...
Rhox lawyer
28mm scale
Single rhino lawyer
Filing an objection
Up at night and reading law
For his clients' protection
Single rhino lawyer
Working pro bono cases
Got some brand new evidence
So back to court he races!
(w. apologies to Futurama)
... While his law-abiding brother argues in court. His clients may be guilty, innocent, or something in between, but either way he'll make sure they receive the toughest defense he can muster.
This pair of thick-headed fantasy figures are a set from Magic the Gathering.
