Wednesday 29 April 2015

Serendipity Strikes!

Every so often this hobby throws up a little slice of serendipity: someone says something which sparks an idea for a new model; you watch a TV programme and think of a cool new scenario; you drive past a truck and immediately want to copy its livery as a new colour scheme.

Yesterday, I had one of those serendipitous moments. I went to post my newly painted Elite Ganger over at the Yatribe forums, and I see an announcement for a new painting competition, launched the very same day that I painted my ganger.

The theme of the painting competition is A House of Cards:

Build a group with at least two members of a Noble House, Brats, Servants or a Lord for Necromunda... A Made Ork, who earned his place on the hulk for Gorkamorka... or an equivalent for Mordheim - Mayor, Knight!

My mind fizzed at the idea - that's exactly the kind of figures I enjoy working on. There and then I decided that my Elite ganger would be a bodyguard. I just needed somebody for him to guard, and probably a third figure for my grouping. I rummaged around in my boxes and turned up a nice little pair of figures:

 
The little lady in the centre is a Citadel's version of Romana from their 1985 Doctor Who range. I picked her up last year with no particular plans, other than she'd make a nice noble type. The figure on the left again dates from 1985, this time a Citadel fighter. Working on the fly, I quickly decided that my grouping would be a young lady / daughter from one of the Necromundan noble houses. Accompanying her would be her tutor and personal bodyguard (never fear, Eduardo will still be utilised for his original intended purpose).

In order to strike while the iron was hot, I broke out the paints again last night and got cracking on the noble lady. I present to you Anamuria, Marcisa of House Ulanti.



I wanted Anamuria to share a similar colour palette as Eduardo, but I decided to drop the yellow in favour of a more restrained white, cream and blue outfit. In case the layered robes and fur weren't enough of an indicator of high class and wealth, I added a discrete gold fringe to her underdress rather than paint it as yet more fur.



I think she and Eduardo make a good pairing. Hopefully it will only be enhanced when I get round to painting up her tutor.

Marcisa Anamuria and her personal escort.
The model I've selected for the tutor is another that I picked up on a whim, purely because I liked his hat. Although armed with a sword and bow, he looks more like a scholar or a wizard I think. I've done some minor conversion work on him - the bow has been removed and I replace his left hand with a little tech-device from the new Skittari kit. I also added another similar device hanging from his belt.


I'm looking forward to painting him up and seeing what the resulting group looks like.

10 comments:

  1. Nice selection of funny hats ! Marcisa looks even more attractive with these 2 guys around to contrast. I'm probably going to get some Kev White models at some point to fill the "sexy noble" role.
    The converted noble is really good because of his hat for sure but to me it's his body shape which is the best, we don't get enough fat or short people and models tend to always be of same height and weight (not to mention origins) I'm all for diversity.

    Great job again.

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    1. There's something about a silly hat, worn with utter seriousness, that appeals to me :)

      Much as I love the Hasslefree females, I worry that they're just a fraction too 'pin-up' for my tastes. That said, some of his recent female magi are lovely.

      I'm an equal opportunities employer - no discrimination based on age, sex, body shape, species or any other factor here :)

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  2. The big hat theme is what absolutely makes this group, its like something from a Terry Gilliam film, exactly the sort of weird social tradition that we take for granted, but that in reality is utterly ridiculous, like wearing a huge wig in court, or wearing a kipper tie.

    The figure sourcing here is just brilliant. The Doctor Who figure is really excellent too, I wouldnt mind getting one of those myself. Is it rare/expensive/common?

    These will make a great little set. This is the second time recently that you have mentioned the Yaktribe forum(s?). I must check them out.

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    1. Believe me Paul, I have half a dozen other figures with big hats I could recruit into this group :D

      I think I paid £5 for Romana - I don't think she's particularly uncommon or rare. Certainly there hasn't seemed that much competition for old Citadel Doctor Who figures for the couple I've picked up. She's a smidge smaller than a lot of RT figures, but given she's a young woman, that's perfectly acceptable.

      Yaktribe is primarily Necromunda focussed (with a seasoning of Mordheim and other related games). It's certainly an excellent resource for some of the various rules for those games, and some pretty interesting discussions too.

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    2. As a lawyer, I must take exception to your comment that wearing a huge wig in court is ridiculous! ;) I love the robes and wigs....

      These minis all look great though - an excellent project and I am looking forward to seeing it completed.

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  3. Great work, particularly on the cream color.

    The tutor though looks to be interesting. What will you paint on him I wonder? Techy variant of a wizard's star robe? Yellow livery colors?

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    1. I'm leaning towards yellow livery on the tutor I think. Not decided on his hat colour yet, which is the most important element clearly ;)

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    2. Yellow with a cream band to bridge the gap between "hired help" and "staff"?

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  4. Great work! Always inspiring. I'm glad you like the theme of the competition and decided to join. Good luck. Wait until you see my entry ;)

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    1. Thanks Steve! I've actually been so engaged by the concept I've got a longer term project planned to make a Lord, range of advisors and some household guard :)

      Looking forward to seeing what everyone else has planned!

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