Heavy hoofbeats on a the gloomy forest path. a cloaked figure, mighty of frame...
His Face hidden by a sinister helmet...
...The Lord of Chaos!
Some say he is the child of a mortal woman and a demon, others that he is the right arm of the devil himself....Frightened rumors say he has risen again after years of sleep and is recruiting a warband from amoung the forest horrors which he will soon lead forth to spread murder and rapine across the land...
Still others, that he intends to go to war with the Wizard Kobel Yarr. Though none can guess the reason for the feud, they say The Lord of Chaos intends to lead his host of devils and horrors against the hordes of the Yellow Tower of Yugg, and to destroy that accursed edifice forever.
Already the forest lanes and glades are noisome with the clink of weapons and the rustling of great, sinewy bodies as Gnolls and floundering beasts come awake and heed the call of The Lord of Chaos...Liquescent Terrors glide forth from the depths of forest pools and winged, misshapen figures are seen passing across the moon, The Lord of Chaos is coming...beware, Lord of the Tower of Yugg!!
I bought these guys in 2007. I only know that because I know I bought them in the middle of my Iraq deployment. I naturally would have liked a whole army of them. Such a venture was too expensive for me, but I allowed myself one squad for my Inquisition army, which consisted of a weird and wild retinue of arco-flagellants, Sisters of Battle, half man, half machine retainers and converted armored vehicles. For some time they made up the bodyguard of my Inquisitor, the dreaded Simion Phang.
My choice of models made for a pretty wonderful looking collection, and even my conversion work wasn't too bad, but my painting wasn't there yet. Probably didn't help that I was trying to paint in a tent in Iraq with lousy light and crummy gear. In the end I wasn't happy with the army and I never finished it. There are a lot of great miniatures still sitting in boxes wondering why I abandoned them. I have a converted Rhino which the guys used to ride around in somewhere, too. I shall have to dig that out and paint it.
I pulled this sinister looking bunch out of a drawer a few days ago where they'd been sitting almost forgotten for about a decade and decided that they didn't look too bad, they just needed some re-basing and a little touching up, so here they are, Big Sarge out front, leading the assault...
These really are marvelously menacing and characterful models, with their blend of Dystopian Sci Fi and WW 1 trench warfare elements...
...I can almost forgive them for being plastic. They lack the goofiness of my more regular Rogue Trader stuff, though. I never made an effort to see if they would fit in with my Rogue Trader Imperial Guard guys. Maybe they could be a squad of elite shock troops or something.
Flame thrower guy.
The Grenadiers assault through the cactus forest...Space Orks beware!
Any game setting needs a splash of local color running around doing their day to day business. Most of that business would naturally be mundane, but a good deal of it would undoubtedly be nefarious, especially in a nest of adders like Little Cairo. Take William S. Burroughs' fantastical Tangiers, stir in a real life Cairo of the 1930s, smouldering with espionage and revolution, add a cup of H.P. Lovecraft, a dash of Raiders of the Lost Ark, a teaspoon of Casablanca, and you've got an idea of the spirit I'm going for. These folks are a necessary part of the back drop that my Adventurers, Secret Agents and Cthulhu Cultists will be acting out their roles against.
Random citizens wandering about a market that has nothing in it for them to buy yet. I just got some Scotia Grendel fantasy bazaar pieces to use for the market stalls but of course I haven't painted them yet.
Ali from Pulp Figures gets the drop on a resolute fellow from Old Glory,
Random citizens. I bought all of these on the Old Glory Miniatures website, but I think they come from different lines...
Lovely Ladies of Little Cairo in outdoor and indoor wear...
Desperadoes three...
Fatima! (of the seven veils)....
...The swingingest, number one dancer in the Sultan's whole harem! (If you get that reference, you're probably really old.)
Well, that was a helluva posting gap! So much going on the last few months that hobby time sort of flew out the window for most of it. Lots of changes going on in Mouse's life. Fortunately they are mostly changes for the better and I should have plenty of time coming up for painting and posting. Meanwhile, meet Mr. Forest giant.
Mr. Forest Giant is an alumni of Grenadier's marvelous Giant's Clubline and was a product of the rich imagination of the great Andrew Chernak, one of my favorite-est fantasy sculptors.
This figure came loose in a big lot of stuff I bought a few years back. He is supposed to be out hunting a nice lunch of wild boars, but I never had his box or the boars he originally came with. Those would have been nice to have but no matter, really. He's a great burly fellow and I like him.
Painting him was something of a joy after spending so much time squinting desperately at the tiny 'true 25mm' D&D stuff I've been working on lately. It was so easy to see everything! I can see myself working on a lot more larger monster figures in the near future.
I have a number of the other giants in the series. I intended to use the Dwarven Giant and the Chaos giant as heavy hitters in my Warhammer Dwarf and Orc armies respectively, but they haven't yet made it onto the painting table. I also have the Hill giants and the Fire Giant, who I'd like to get painted soon. And there is also the splendid Frost Giant set which is so beautiful I don't dare to try and paint it for fear of screwing it up. It's still sitting almost untouched in it's box.
Two wandering adventurers run afoul of Mr. Giant...rough break!
